Treasury of the True Dharma Eye

by Zen Master Dogen

  After Zhantang passed away, Zonggao followed his recommendation and went to study with Keqin, Zen Master Yuanwu of the Tianning Monastery in Dongjing. One day, Yuanwu ascended the teaching seat. Zonggao said he had a divine enlightenment and presented it to Yuanwu.

  Yuanwu said, “Not yet. You understand in this way, but you haven’t clarified the great matter.”

  Another day, Yuanwu ascended the teaching seat and explained Wuzu Fayan’s words “having a phrase” and “having no phrase.” Hearing this, Zonggao immediately said that he had attained the dharma of great ease and bliss, and presented his understanding.

  Yuanwu said, “I do not want to fool you.”

  These are stories of Zonggao studying with Yuanwu. He served as secretary in Yuanwu’s community. But from beginning to end, he did not seem to have a unique point of understanding. He did not show any point of understanding in his own lectures or talks. Know that the recorder of his words mentioned that he had had divine enlightenment or dharma of great ease and bliss, but did not admit that he had actually had realization. Do not take him seriously. He was merely a student.

  Yuanwu was an old buddha, most revered in the ten directions. After Huangbo there had not been a venerable teacher like Yuanwu. He was an old buddha, rare in any world. But few humans and devas in this Saha Land know this. It is pitiable.

  If we take up Yuanwu’s words and examine senior monk Zonggao, we see that he did not have wisdom close to that of his teacher and he did not have wisdom equal to his teacher. Furthermore, it seems that he had never dreamed of wisdom beyond his teacher. Thus, know that Zonggao had less than half the capacity of his teacher. He only memorized lines from the Avatamsaka Sutra and the Shurangama Sutra and spoke about them. He was not yet the bones and marrow of buddha ancestors.

  Zonggao regarded the views expressed by various hermits who follow the spirits abiding in grass and trees as buddha ancestors’ dharma. Because he thought in this way, we know that he had not thoroughly studied the great road of buddha ancestors. After studying with Yuanwu, Zonggao did not wander around and visit teachers. Groundlessly, he became the abbot of a large monastery and led monks. The words he left cannot come close to great dharma.

  However, ignorant people think that Zonggao was not less than earlier masters. But those who see and know agree that he did not have clear understanding. Without clarifying the great dharma, he merely chattered groundlessly. We know that Daowei did not make the mistake of acknowledging him and thus became an example for later generations. Students of Zonggao still resent Daowei. But Daowei just did not accept his understanding. Even further, Zhantang did not accept his understanding. Whenever Zhantang saw Zonggao, he scolded him. How shameful it is that those in the past and present have resented Zhantang for that!

  There are a number of people in Great Song China who call themselves descendants of buddha ancestors. But there are few who study the truth, and there are few who teach the truth. This can be understood through these stories. It was like this in the Shaoxing Era. It is worse nowadays. These times cannot be compared. Today, those who do not know the great way of buddha ancestors have become leaders of monks.

  Know that the Qingyuan Line has the authentic transmission of a document of heritage through buddhas and ancestors in both India and China. From the Qingyuan Line, the Dongshan Line started. The rest of the world has not seen it. All those who have this realization are descendants of Dongshan, and are highly regarded among monks.

  Zonggao did not understand the words “self-realization,” and “self-enlightenment” when he was alive. Then, how could he have examined other cases thoroughly? Even more so, how can descendants of old Zonggao understand the word “self-enlightenment”?

  Thus, in the words of buddha ancestors, for themselves and for others, there is always the body-mind of buddha ancestors, and the eye of buddha ancestors. Because these words [“self-realization” and “self-enlightenment”] are the bones and marrow of buddha ancestors, their skin cannot be grasped by mediocre people.

  Presented to the assembly while residing at the Yoshimine Temple on the twenty-ninth day, the second month, the second year of the Kangen Era [1244].

  76

  GREAT PRACTICE

  BAIZHANG, ZEN MASTER Dazhi of Mount Baizhang, Hao Region, was the dharma heir of Mazu. His priest name is Huaihai. When Baizhang gave teachings to the assembly, an old man would often appear and listen to his dharma talks. The old man usually left after the talks, but one day he remained behind.

  Baizhang asked, “Who are you?”

  The old man said, “I am not actually a human being. In ancient times, at the time of Kashyapa Buddha, I lived and taught on this mountain. One day a student asked, ‘Does a person who has cultivated great practice still fall into cause and effect?’ I said to him, ‘No, such a person does not fall into cause and effect.’ Because of this I was reborn as a wild fox for five hundred lifetimes. Venerable Master, please say a turning word and free me from this body of a wild fox.” Then he asked Baizhang, “Does a person who has cultivated great practice still fall into cause and effect?”

  Baizhang said, “Do not ignore cause and effect.”

  Immediately the old man had great realization. Bowing, he said to Baizhang, “I am now liberated from the body of a wild fox. Master, will you perform for me a funeral service for a deceased monk? You will find the body of a dead fox in the mountain behind the monastery.”

  Baizhang asked the practice coordinator to hit the han and inform the assembly that funeral services for a monk would be held after the midday meal. The monks asked one another, “What’s going on? Everyone is well; there is no one sick in the Nirvana Hall [infirmary].” After their meal, Baizhang led the assembly to a large rock behind the monastery and pointed out with his staff the body of a dead fox. Then, following the customary procedure, they cremated the body. That evening during his lecture in the dharma hall Baizhang talked about what had happened during the day.

  Huangbo asked him, “A teacher of old gave a mistaken answer and was reborn as a wild fox for five hundred lifetimes. What if he hadn’t given a mistaken answer?”

  Baizhang said, “Come closer and I will tell you.”

  Huangbo approached and slapped Baizhang’s face.

  Laughing, Baizhang clapped his hands and said, “I thought only barbarians had red [extraordinary] beards, but you too are a red-bearded barbarian.”

  The fundamental point actualized now is great practice. According to the old man, there was already a Mount Baizhang of Hao region in the distant past at the time of Kashyapa Buddha, and during the present era of Shakyamuni Buddha there is also a Mount Baizhang of Hao region. This is a turning word actualized.

  Now, Mount Baizhang in the distant past of Kashyapa Buddha and Mount Baizhang in the present era of Shakyamuni Buddha are not one and not two; neither three three before nor three three after [not many in the past or future]. It is not that Mount Baizhang in the past has become Mount Baizhang of the present; nor is it that Mount Baizhang right now was the Mount Baizhang at the time of Kashyapa Buddha. Yet there is the fundamental point of I lived and taught on this mountain.

  My response to you would be exactly like what the present Baizhang said. What you should ask should be exactly like what the old man asked. If you take up one, you cannot take up another. If you neglect one, you fall into the secondary.

  One day on Mount Baizhang a student asked, “Does a person who has cultivated great practice still fall into cause and effect?” Indeed, this question is not easily understood. For the first time since the buddha dharma was introduced to China during the Yongping Era [58–67] of the later Han Dynasty and since Bodhidharma transmitted the teaching from India in the Pudong Era [520–527] of the Liang Dynasty, this former student’s question had been heard through the words of this old fox. It had never been heard before. Thus, this is rare indeed.

  Investigating great practice is nothing but cause and effect itself. Because cause and effect are invariably c
omprehensive and completely full, they are beyond a discussion of falling or not falling, or considerations of ignoring or not ignoring. If not falling into cause and effect is a mistake, not ignoring cause and effect may also be a mistake. Whenever mistakes surpass mistakes, there is falling into a wild fox body and there is liberation from a wild fox body. It is possible that not falling into cause and effect was a mistake during the time of Kashyapa Buddha but not a mistake during the time of Shakyamuni Buddha. It is also possible that even though there is liberation from a wild fox’s body during the present time of Shakyamuni Buddha, during the time of Kashyapa Buddha a different principle was actualized.

  Regarding the old man’s words I was reborn as a wild fox for five hundred lifetimes, what does it mean to be reborn as a wild fox? It is not that there was originally a wild fox and it lured the earlier Baizhang to fall into cause and effect, nor is it possible that the earlier Baizhang was originally a wild fox. To say that the earlier Baizhang’s spirit went out and became a wild fox’s skin bag is a statement of someone outside the way. It is not that a wild fox came and suddenly swallowed the earlier Baizhang. If you say the earlier Baizhang fell into the body of a wild fox, then there must be the liberation of the earlier Baizhang’s body for the fox to fall into. And yet, Baizhang may fall into the body of a wild fox again, later. It is not that Baizhang was transposed into a wild fox’s body.

  How could it be that cause and effect are like this? Cause and effect are not original existence, and do not begin just now. It is not that cause and effect that are inactive wait for someone. Even if the answer does not fall into cause and effect is a mistaken response, it is not that the one who says so always falls into a wild fox’s body. If such a response to a student’s question necessarily causes a teacher to fall into the body of a wild fox, then recent teachers like Linji, Deshan, and their descendents would have become thousands of foxes. Careless elders of the last two or three hundred years would have become wild foxes. However, we have never heard that they have become wild foxes. If there were many such cases, we certainly would have heard about them. Although there are few who give such answers, there are many whose answers are far more confused than does not fall into cause and effect. There are quite a few who should not even be allowed within the neighborhood of buddha dharma. Those who have the eye of practice can discern this point. Those without it do not understand.

  Thus, we know. We do not say that one becomes a wild fox because of a mistaken answer, and one does not become a wild fox because of a correct answer. In this story there is no mention of what happens after becoming free of the body of a wild fox, but presumably there is a pearl wrapped within the [wild fox’s] skin bag.

  Regarding this, those who have not seen or heard the buddha dharma say, “Becoming free of the wild fox body, he returns to the essential ocean of original enlightenment. As a result of delusion he became a fox for a while, but after his great enlightenment the wild fox body returned to the original essence.”

  This view of returning to the original self is not buddha dharma, but from outside the way. This is not buddha dharma. To say that a wild fox is not original nature and does not have original enlightenment is not buddha dharma. To say that after great enlightenment the wild fox body is discarded is not the wild fox’s great enlightenment. This merely belittles the wild fox. Do not speak in such a way.

  The story states that because of the turning word of the current Baizhang, the former Baizhang—an old fox for five hundred lifetimes—immediately became liberated from the body of a fox. Understand the meaning of this story. If you assert that a turning word by an outsider can liberate a wild fox, then there must be innumerable turning words by mountains, rivers, and the great earth from the incalculable past. However, to say that there had never been the liberation from a wild fox body in the past, but the current Baizhang’s turning words alone liberated the wild fox, is to deny the way of the ancestors. To say that mountains, rivers, and the great earth have never uttered a single turning word is to say that there is no place for the current Baizhang to even open his mouth.

  It has also been asserted by many teachers, one after another, that not falling into cause and effect is not different from ignoring cause and effect. But they have never realized the bodily experience of falling into or not ignoring cause and effect within the stream of those very words. They consequently neither experience the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of falling into the body of a wild fox, nor experience the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of being liberated from the body of a wild fox. When the beginning is not right, the end is never right.

  In the old man’s words, Since then I have fallen into the body of a wild fox for five hundred lifetimes, who has fallen and into what has he fallen? In the very moment of falling into the body of a wild fox, what form and color does the world continuing from the past have at present? Why five hundred repetitious births? Where did the dead body of the wild fox come from?

  To say Such a person does not fall into cause and effect is to fall into the body of a wild fox. To hear Do not ignore cause and effect is to be liberated from the body of a wild fox. These instances of falling into and being liberated are just the cause and effect of the wild fox.

  Nevertheless, since ancient times people have said, “Because such a person does not fall into cause and effect is an expression which seems to refute cause and effect, the speaker falls down.” This assertion is without reason, spoken by those who are ignorant. Even if the former Baizhang said, Such a person does not fall into cause and effect, his great practice would not delude others and he would not refute cause and effect.

  It has also been said, “The meaning of Do not ignore cause and effect is that because great practice transcends cause and effect, it liberates the body of a wild fox.” Truly, this is realization eight or nine out of ten of the eye of practice.

  Thus, in the time of Kashyapa Buddha the old man lived on this mountain. In the time of Shakyamuni Buddha he is living on this mountain. Former body and present body—sun face and moon face [in either case]—he covered the spirit of a wild fox, and manifested the spirit of a wild fox.

  How could the wild fox know its life for five hundred lifetimes? If you say that it knows five hundred lifetimes with the intelligence of a wild fox, the wild fox’s intelligence does not even know the matter of a single lifetime, much less a life rammed into a wild fox’s skin bag. That a wild fox knows its falling down in five hundred lives is the fundamental point actualized. While it does not completely know the whole of one life, there are things that a wild fox knows and things it does not know. Even if the body and intelligence were permanent, the fox could not count five hundred lifetimes. As there is no way of counting so many rebirths, the words five hundred lifetimes may be a fiction.

  If someone says that a wild fox knows by using the intelligence other than a wild fox’s intelligence, then it is not the wild fox’s knowing. What person can know these five hundred lives on behalf of the wild fox? Without having a clear path of realization through knowing and not knowing, you cannot speak of falling into the body of a wild fox. If there is no falling into the body of a wild fox, it is impossible to become liberated from the body of a wild fox. If there is no falling into and becoming liberated from a wild fox body, there can be no former Baizhang. If there is no former Baizhang, there can be no current Baizhang—this cannot be conceded at random. Investigate this matter in great detail with a discerning eye and crush the incomplete theories so prevalent throughout the Liang, Chen, Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties.

  The old nonhuman said to the current Baizhang, Will you perform for me a funeral service for a deceased monk? This is not an appropriate thing to ask. Ever since the time of Baizhang there have been numerous teachers who have not been surprised at this statement and who have never doubted it. The fact of the matter is: how can a dead fox be regarded as a deceased monk without having received the precepts, without having participated in summer practice periods, without having awesome presenc
e, and without the status of a monk? If one were to groundlessly perform a funeral service in the manner of one for a deceased monk for such a being, all those who have never left the household—lay men and women—should also be accorded the rites of a deceased monk. If we look for such precedents, there has never been anything like it. It is unheard of and such a case has not been authentically transmitted in the buddha way. Even if one wanted to perform such a ceremony, it would not be possible to do so.

  It is said that Baizhang cremated the body of the wild fox following the customary procedure. This is not clear; perhaps there is a mistake. Know that funeral services for a deceased monk, from the moment of entering the Nirvana Hall to the practice of arriving at the Bodhi Garden [place of death], all have set procedures and cannot be changed at random. Even if the wild fox lying at the foot of a cliff claims it is the former Baizhang, how could this be the practice of a great monk, the bones and marrow of buddha ancestors? Who could clearly testify that this was the former Baizhang? Do not groundlessly regard the transmogrification of a wild fox spirit as authentic, and do not make light of the dharma standards of buddha ancestors.

  As descendents of buddha ancestors, value the excellence of their dharma standards. Do not go along with such an inappropriate request as it appears Baizhang did. A single matter, a single dharma, is rare to encounter. Do not be affected by worldly customs and human sentiments. In this country of Japan, the form and manner of the buddhas and ancestors are hard to encounter and difficult to hear. As you now have the rare opportunity of hearing and seeing them, treasure them more than a pearl in the topknot. Those without such great fortune do not have the opportunity to honor them. This is sad indeed. Without realization of the lightness and gravity of matters, they lack the wisdom of five hundred years, the wisdom of a thousand years.