Treasury of the True Dharma Eye

by Zen Master Dogen

  Other laity, including Li Fuma and Yang Wengong, regarded themselves as having filled up with study, but they hadn’t even eaten a milk rice cake. How could they have eaten the painting of a rice cake? Even further, how could they have eaten buddha ancestors’ gruel? They did not have eating bowls yet. What a pity that the skin bags of their lifetime were wasted!

  Let me advise everyone—heavenly beings, human beings, dragon beings, and all other beings—to long for the Tathagata’s dharma, quickly leave the household, practice the way, and succeed in the ranks of buddha and ancestor.

  Do not listen to the words of unaccomplished Zen masters and others. They speak like this because they do not know the body and they do not know the mind. Or they say so because they do not have compassion for sentient beings. These human-faced dogs, human-skinned dogs who have turned into unwholesome dogs, have no intention of guarding buddha dharma; they just want to consume the urine and excrement of laypeople.

  Do not sit with, speak with, or rely on such home leavers. They have already fallen into the animal realm while having human bodies. If these home leavers possess abundant urine and excrement, they may regard it as outstanding. They think so because they are not as good as beasts.

  There is no mention in more than five thousand scrolls [of the entire Buddhist canon] and there is no trace of the statement for over two thousand years that the mind of the laity and the mind of home leavers are the same. There are no such words by fifty buddha ancestors of over forty generations.

  Even a monk who breaks the precepts or keeps no precepts, with no dharma and no wisdom, excels a layperson who has wisdom and maintains the precepts. This is so because a monk’s action is wisdom, enlightenment, and dharma.

  A layperson may have a fair share of merit for having a wholesome root but may ignore acquiring the merit of having the wholesome root of body-mind. This being so, during the lifetime of the Buddha, no one attained the way as a layperson. The reason is that there are so many obstacles that home is not a practice place for studying the buddha way. When we investigate the bodies and minds of those who say that the minds of rulers and the minds of buddha ancestors are the same, we see that their bodies and minds are not the body-mind of buddha dharma. They do not transmit the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of buddha ancestors. How pitiful it is that although they have encountered the true buddha dharma, they have become beasts!

  This being so, Huineng, who would later be Old Buddha of Caoxi, all of a sudden bade farewell to his mother and started looking for a teacher. This was right action. Before arousing the aspiration for enlightenment upon hearing a passage of the Diamond Sutra, he was a house-holder and woodcutter. When he was permeated by the power of buddha dharma upon hearing this passage, he let go of his heavy obligation and left home.

  Know that when you have buddha dharma in your body-mind, you cannot help leaving home. This has been so with all buddha ancestors.

  The crimes of those who tell others not to leave their households are heavier than capital offenses, worse than Devadatta’s. Do not speak with such people, keeping in mind that they are more guilty than the groups of the six monks, the six nuns, and the eighteen monks [of ancient times]. Our life span is too short to waste a moment speaking with such demons and beasts.

  Furthermore, we have received our human body and mind due to the seed of seeing and hearing the buddha dharma in our past life. Our body and mind are like equipment in the common area [of the monastery]. We should not become a member of the demon clan. We should not associate with the demon clan. Without forgetting the benefaction of buddha ancestors, protect the nurturing of dharma milk and pay no attention to the howling of unwholesome dogs. Do not sit and eat with them.

  When Bodhidharma, High Ancestor, Old Buddha of Mount Song, left the Buddha’s country of India and traveled all the way to the remote nation of China, he personally brought the authentic dharma of buddha ancestors. Without his leaving the household and attaining the way, this would not have happened. Before Bodhidharma came from India, beings in the human and deva realms in the eastern land of China had never seen or heard the true dharma. In this way, know that the authentic transmission of the true dharma eye is just the benefaction of leaving the household.

  Great Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha graciously left the palace and did not succeed in the position of his father king. It is not because the throne was not precious, but because he intended to succeed in the most precious buddha rank.

  The buddha rank is the monk’s rank. It is the position that all heavenly beings and human beings in the three realms revere. This position is not shared by Brahma or Indra. Even further, the buddha rank cannot be shared by human kings, or dragon kings in the lower realms.

  It is a rank of unsurpassable, complete enlightenment. This rank expounds dharma, awakens beings, radiates light, and manifests miracles. Actions of this home leaver rank are right actions, embracing actions of all buddhas, including the Seven Original Buddhas.

  These actions cannot be thoroughly experienced by those who are not “only buddha and buddha.” Those who haven’t left the household should serve, bow, and make offerings by dedicating their body and life to those who have left the household.

  Shakyamuni Buddha said, “Leaving the household and receiving the precepts is the seed of being a buddha. This is one who has received ordination.”

  Thus, know that ordination is to leave the household. Not to leave the household is to sink [in worldly defilement], which should be lamented.

  In discourses during his lifetime, Shakyamuni Buddha extolled the virtue of home leaving countless times. The Buddha expounded it and all buddhas testified to it.

  Even home leavers who break precepts and don’t practice attain the way. There has not been a single layperson who has attained the way.

  When the emperor bows to a monk or nun, the monk or nun does not bow back. When devas bow to monks and nuns, the monks and nuns do not bow back. This is because the merit of being a home leaver is excellent. If devas are bowed to by home-leaver monks or nuns, the devas’ palaces, radiant light, and the wholesome results of their actions immediately crash and fall apart.

  Since buddha dharma spread eastward to China, home leavers who have attained the way are as many as rice straws, flax, bamboo, and reeds. But there has not been a single layperson who attained the way. This is why when buddha dharma touches the eyes and ears, people rush to take on home leaving. Thus, we know that the household is not the abode of buddha dharma.

  Therefore, those who say that the minds and bodies of rulers are no other than the minds and bodies of buddha ancestors have not seen or heard of buddha dharma. They are inmates in darkest hell, fools who haven’t even heard their own statements; they are criminals of the nation. Because buddha dharma is excellent, rulers are pleased with the phrase that the minds and bodies of all people are no other than the minds and bodies of buddha ancestors.

  Even if the minds of rulers became the same as the minds of buddha ancestors, these rulers’ minds would not be the same as the minds of buddha ancestors becoming one with the minds of rulers. Those Zen masters who say that the minds of rulers are the same as the minds of buddha ancestors do not know how the mind of dharma moves and manifests. How can they even dream of the minds of buddha ancestors?

  All kings, including Brahma, Indra, human kings, dragon kings, and demon kings, should not be attached to the karmic results of the three realms. They should immediately leave the household, receive the precepts, and learn the way of all buddhas and all ancestors. This will cause them to become a buddha in vast eons.

  Don’t you see? If Old Man Vimalakirti were to leave the house-hold, we should see Monk Vimalakirti as more excellent than Layman Vimalakirti.

  Today we see Subhuti, Shariputra, Manjushri, and Maitreya [in the Vimalakirti Sutra], but we don’t see even half of Vimalakirti. Then, how can we see three, four, or five Vimalakirtis? If we don’t see and know three, four, or five Vimalakirtis, we don’t yet see, know, and ackn
owledge even one Vimalakirti. If we don’t see, know, and acknowledge even one Vimalakirti, we don’t see Vimalakirti Buddha.

  If we don’t see Vimalakirti Buddha, there is no Vimalakirti Manjushri, no Vimalakirti Maitreya, no Vimalakirti Subhuti, and no Vimalakirti Shariputra. Then, how can there be Vimalakirti mountains, rivers, and earth? How can there be Vimalakirti grass, trees, tiles, and pebbles; wind, rain, water, and fire; or past, present, future?

  The reason why Vimalakirti has not seen the power of radiant light is that he has not yet left the household. If he had been a home leaver, he would have experienced such virtue.

  Zen masters of the Tang and Song dynasties, however, without understanding this principle, mistakenly think that Vimalakirti got the point and say that Vimalakirti expressed the point. What a pity! These fellows who did not know the teachings by words were ignorant of buddha dharma.

  There are also a number of those who think and say that the words by Vimalakirti and Shakyamuni Buddha are equal. They do not yet know and cannot access buddha dharma, the ancestral way, and even Vimalakirti.

  Such people say that Vimalakirti remained silent and showed no words to all bodhisattvas and that this is equal to the Tathagata’s words, “I teach people with no words.”

  I say that such people are quite ignorant of buddha dharma and lack the capacity to study the way. The Tathagata’s words are different from those of others. His no words cannot be the same as the no words of other beings. Thus, the single silence of the Tathagata and the single silence of Vimalakirti cannot be compared.

  If we investigate the capacity of those who imagined that even if speeches are different silence is the same, they cannot be regarded as those who are close to buddhas. How sad! They have not even seen and heard form and sound. How can they have the radiant light of leaping away from form and sound?

  Furthermore, they don’t know about studying the silence of silence and are not aware of such a thing. All beings have different ways of moving and being still. How can we discuss whether Shakyamuni Buddha and all beings are or are not the same? Those who have not studied inside the chamber of buddha ancestors speak in this way.

  A number of mistaken people think and say that speeches and movements are temporary phenomena while silence and stillness are real. To speak in this way is not buddha dharma. This is a conjecture by those who have heard the scriptures of Brahma and Indra. How should buddha dharma be determined by movement or stillness? Investigate thoroughly whether buddha dharma does or does not have movement or stillness, whether buddha dharma touches movement or stillness, or is touched by movement or stillness. Latecomers to study nowadays should not be lax in this investigation.

  When I see today’s Great Song China, it appears that those who have studied the great way of buddha ancestors are extinct. It is not that there are even two or three such people. All people think that Vimalakirti is genuine by having a single silence, and that not having a single silence falls short of Vimalakirti. This is no vital path of buddha dharma.

  There are also those who think that the single silence of Vimalakirti is no other than the single silence of Shakyamuni Buddha. This is not the radiant light of discernment. I should say that those who speak in this way have never seen and heard buddha dharma. Do not regard this as buddha dharma although it happens in Great Song China.

  This principle is easy to clarify. Right actions are monks’ actions. This is not known by teachers of treatises and scriptures.

  Monks’ actions are endeavor in the cloud hall [monks’ hall], bowing in the buddha hall, and cleansing in the wash house. Further, putting palms together, greeting, burning incense, and boiling water are all right actions. It is not replacing the tail with the head, but replacing the head with the head, replacing the mind with the mind, replacing the buddha with the buddha, and replacing the way with the way. This is the right action path limb.

  If you go astray and try to fathom buddha dharma other than this, your eyebrows and beard will fall out and your face will break up.

  The right livelihood path limb is having the morning meal in early morning and the midday meal at midday, playing with the spirit in the monastery, and pointing directly from the teaching chair. Old Man Zhaozhou’s assembly with fewer than twenty monks was right livelihood actualized. Yaoshan’s assembly with fewer than ten monks was a life vein of right livelihood. Fenyang’s assembly with seven or eight monks lived right livelihood. This is because they were free from a variety of crooked livelihood.

  Shakyamuni Buddha said, “Shravakas have not attained right livelihood.”

  In this way, shravakas’ teaching, practice, and realization are not yet right livelihood. But nowadays people in mediocre schools say that shravakas and bodhisattvas should not be distinguished, and that the guidelines and precepts of both schools should be used. They judge the bodhisattva guidelines in comparison with the guidelines for shravakas in the Lesser Vehicles.

  Shakyamuni Buddha said, “Ashravaka’s keeping the precepts is a bodhisattva’s breaking the precepts.”

  In this way, what shravakas regard as keeping the precepts is breaking the precepts in light of the bodhisattva precepts. The rest of the three learnings—samadhi and wisdom—are also like this.

  Although the aspects of not killing and so on appear to be common between shravakas and bodhisattvas, they are certainly different, more apart from each other than heaven from earth. Even further, how is it possible that the teaching authentically transmitted by buddhas and ancestors could be the same as the teaching of shravakas?

  There is not only right livelihood but also pure livelihood. Studying with buddha ancestors alone is right livelihood. Do not adopt the views of teachers of treatises.

  Because they have not attained right livelihood, theirs is not genuine livelihood.

  Right effort path limb is the activity of plucking out the entire body. It is plucking out the entire body and hitting a human face with it. It is to ride the buddha hall upside down and move in a circle. Because you ride two, three, four, and five times, it is nine times nine equals eighty-one circles. It is one thousand and ten thousand greetings. It is changing the heads freely, changing the faces freely. It is entering the abbot’s room, ascending the teaching seat. It is meeting at the Land View Pavilion, meeting at Crow Stone Peak. It is an encounter in front of the monks’ hall, an encounter inside the buddha hall. It is two mirrors facing each other creating three reflections.

  The right mindfulness path limb is to be fooled by oneself and achieve eight or nine out of ten. To think that from mindfulness comes the aspiration for wisdom is to abandon your own father and escape [to a foreign land]. To think that within mindfulness there is the aspiration for wisdom is an extreme trap. To say that having no mindfulness is the right mindfulness is to be a person outside the way.

  Also, do not regard spirits of earth, water, fire, and air as mindfulness. Do not call confusion of consciousness mindfulness. Indeed, “You have attained my skin, flesh, bones, and marrow” is itself the right mindfulness path limb.

  The right samadhi path limb is dropping away buddha ancestors, dropping away right samadhi. It is letting someone else take it up. It is drilling the head top and making nostrils. It is holding up an udumbara blossom within the treasury of the true dharma eye. It is hundreds and thousands of Mahakashyapas smiling inside an udumbara blossom. It is using this activity for a long time and breaking a wooden dipper. Thus, weeds keep dropping for six years and blossoms open overnight. Tremendous fires blaze and a billion worlds crumble and disappear all of a sudden.

  These thirty-seven wings of enlightenment are the eyeball, nostrils, skin, flesh, bones, marrow, hands, feet, and face of buddha ancestors. The onefold buddha ancestor is being studied as the thirty-seven wings of enlightenment. Thus, this is one thousand three hundred sixty-nine [thirty-seven times thirty-seven] fundamental points, wings of enlightenment, actualized. Cut through them by sitting. Drop them away.

  Presented to the assembly of the Yoshimin
e Temple, Echizen Province, on the twenty-fourth day, the second month, the second year of the Kangen Era [1244].

  74

  TURNING THE DHARMA WHEEL

  RUJING, MY LATE master, Old Buddha Tiantong, ascended the teaching seat and declared:

  The World-Honored One said, “When one person opens up reality and returns to the source, all the space in the ten directions disappears.”

  My teacher [Xuedou Zhijian] said, “Since this is a statement by the World-Honored One, it cannot help being an extraordinary formulation.” I, Rujing, would say it otherwise: when one person opens up reality and returns to the source, a mendicant smashes his rice bowl.

  Wuzu Fayan said, “When one person opens up reality and returns to the source, pounding and crackling resounds throughout the space in the ten directions.”

  Fuxing Fatai said, “When one person opens up reality and returns to the source, the space in the ten directions is just the space in the ten directions.”

  Keqin, Zen Master Yuanwu of Mount Jia, said, “When one person opens up reality and returns to the source, in the space throughout the ten directions flowers are added on brocade.”

  I, Daibutsu, say, “When one person opens up reality and returns to the source, the space throughout the ten directions opens up reality and returns to the source.”

  The words When one person opens up reality and returns to the source, all the space in the ten directions disappears come from the Shurangama Sutra. This saying has been commented on by these several buddha ancestors. It is indeed the bones, marrow, and eyeballs of buddha ancestors.