Treasury of the True Dharma Eye

by Zen Master Dogen

  This is how to understand: Is there anyone who knows what a person’s birth is like in its beginning or end? No one knows either birth’s end or its beginning; nevertheless everyone is born. Similarly, no one knows the extremities of mountains, rivers, and earth, but all see this place and walk here. Do not think with regret that mountain, rivers, and earth are not born with you. Understand that the ancient buddha teaches that your birth is not separate from mountains, rivers, and earth.

  Again, all buddhas of the past, present, and future have already practiced, attained the way, and completed realization. How should we understand that those buddhas are practicing together with us? First of all, examine a buddha’s practice. A buddha’s practice is to practice in the same manner as the entire earth and all beings. If it is not practice with all beings, it is not a buddha’s practice. This being so, from the moment of arousing the aspiration for enlightenment to the moment of attaining enlightenment, all buddhas realize and practice the way together with the entire earth and all beings.

  You may have doubts about this. But the ancient buddha’s word was expounded in order to clarify your confused thinking. Do not think that buddhas are other than you. According to this teaching, when all buddhas of the past, present, and future arouse the aspiration for enlightenment and practice, they never exclude our body-and-mind. Understand this. To doubt this is to slander buddhas of the past, present, and future.

  When we reflect quietly, it appears that our body-and-mind has practiced together with all buddhas of the past, present, and future, and has aroused the aspiration for enlightenment together with them. When we reflect on the past and future of our body-and-mind, we cannot find the boundary of self or others. With what delusion do we believe our body-and-mind is apart from all buddhas of the past, present, and future? Such delusion is groundless. How, then, can delusion hinder the arousing of the aspiration for enlightenment and practice of the way by all buddhas of the past, present, and future? Thus, understand that the way is not a matter of your knowing or not knowing.

  A teacher of old said, “Chopping down is nothing other than chopping down; moving about is beyond discussion. Mountains, rivers, and earth are the entirely revealed body of the dharma king.”

  A person of the present should study this phrase of the teacher of old. There is a dharma king who understands that the body of the dharma king is not different from chopping down, just as mountains are on earth and the earth is holding up mountains.

  When you understand this, a moment of beyond understanding does not come and hinder understanding, and understanding does not break beyond understanding. Instead, understanding and beyond understanding are just like spring and autumn.

  However, when you do not understand, the pervasive voice of dharma does not reach your ears; in the midst of the voice your ears remain idle. But when you understand, the voice has already reached your ears; samadhi has emerged.

  Do not think that understanding is small and that beyond understanding is large.

  Know that beyond understanding cannot be discerned by a self; the dharma king’s understanding is just like this.

  In the dharma king’s body the eye is just like the body, and the mind is the same as the body. There is not the slightest gap between mind and body; everything is fully revealed. Similarly, understand that in illumination and discourse the dharma king’s body is revealed.

  There has been a saying since olden times: “No one except a fish knows a fish’s heart; no one except a bird follows a bird’s trace.”

  Yet those who really understand this point are rare. To think that no person knows a fish’s heart or a bird’s trace is mistaken. Know that fish always know one another’s heart, unlike people who do not know one another’s heart. When the fish try to go up through the Dragon Gate [a waterfall], they know one another’s intention and have the same heart. Or they share the heart of breaking through the Nine Great Bends. Those who are not fish hardly know this.

  Again, when a bird flies in the sky, beasts do not even dream of finding or following its trace. As they do not know that there is such a thing, they cannot even imagine this. However, a bird can see traces of hundreds and thousands of small birds having passed in flocks, or traces of so many lines of large birds having flown south or north. Those traces may be even more evident than the carriage tracks left on a road or the hoof-prints of a horse seen in the grass. In this way, a bird sees birds’ traces.

  Buddhas are like this. You may wonder how many lifetimes buddhas have been practicing. Buddhas, large or small, although they are countless, all know their own traces. You never know a buddha’s trace when you are not a buddha.

  You may wonder why you do not know. The reason is that, while buddhas see these traces with the buddha’s eye, those who are not buddhas do not have the buddha’s eye: they merely notice buddhas’ attributes. All who do not know this should search out the trace of the buddhas’ path. If you find footprints, you should investigate whether they are the buddhas’. Upon investigation, the buddhas’ trace is known; and whether it is long or short, shallow or deep, is also known. To illuminate your trace is accomplished by studying the buddhas’ trace. Accomplishing this is buddha dharma.

  93

  BIRTH AND DEATH

  AS A BUDDHA is in birth and death, there is no birth and death.” It is also said, “As a buddha is not in birth and death, a buddha is not deluded by birth and death.”

  These statements are the essence of the words of the two Zen masters Keqin [Jiashan] and Dingshan. Never neglect them, as they are the words of those who attained the way.

  Those who want to become free from birth and death should understand the meaning of these words. If you search for a buddha outside of birth and death, it will be like trying to go to the southern country of Yue with your spear heading toward the north, or like trying to see the Big Dipper while you are facing south; you will cause yourself to remain all the more in birth and death, and miss the way of emancipation.

  Just understand that birth-and-death is itself nirvana. There is nothing such as birth and death to be avoided; there is nothing such as nirvana to be sought. Only when you realize this are you free from birth and death.

  It is a mistake to suppose that birth turns into death. Birth is a phase that is an entire period in itself, with its own past and future. For this reason, in buddha dharma birth is understood as beyond birth. Death is a phase that is an entire period in itself, with its own past and future. For this reason, death is understood as beyond death.

  In birth there is nothing but birth, and in death there is nothing but death. Accordingly, when birth comes, face and actualize birth, and when death comes, face and actualize death. Do not avoid them or desire them.

  This birth-and-death is the life of a buddha. If you try to exclude it, you will lose the life of a buddha. If you cling to it, trying to remain in it, you will also lose the life of a buddha, and what remains will be the mere form of a buddha. Only when you don’t avoid birth-and-death or long for it do you enter a buddha’s mind.

  However, do not analyze or speak about it. Just set aside your body and mind, forget about them, and throw them into the house of the buddha; then all is done by the buddha. When you follow this, you are free from birth and death, and become a buddha without effort or scheme. Who, then, remains in the mind?

  There is a simple way to become a buddha: When you refrain from unwholesome actions, are not attached to birth and death, and are compassionate toward all sentient beings, respectful to seniors and kind to juniors, not excluding or desiring anything, with no thoughts or worries, you will be called a buddha. Seek nothing else.

  94

  HEART OF THE WAY

  IN SEEKING THE buddha way, make the heart of the way primary. Those who know how the heart of the way should be are rare. Inquire of those who clearly know it.

  There are those in the world who have a heart of the way but in fact lack the true heart of the way. There are also those who have a true hear
t of the way but are not known by others. Thus, it is hard to know whether one does or does not have the heart of the way.

  Above all, do not listen to and trust those who are unwholesome. Also, do not make your desire primary, but make the dharma expounded by the Buddha primary. Keep well in mind, day and night, how the heart of the way ought to be. Wish and pray by all means to realize genuine enlightenment in this world.

  In this declining world, there is a general lack of those who have the true heart of the way. However, for the time being, keep your mind on impermanence; do not forget that this world is transient and that human life is precarious. But do not be preoccupied with reflecting on the impermanence of the world. Determine to regard the dharma as weighty, and your body and life as lightly weighted. For the sake of dharma, do not withhold any part of your body and life.

  Then, deeply respect the three treasures—buddha, dharma, and sangha. Vow to respect and dedicate yourself to the three treasures even if your life or body changes. Asleep or awake, think of the merit of the three treasures. Asleep or awake, chant the three treasures.

  When you leave this life, and before you enter the next life, there is a place called an intermediary realm. You stay there for seven days. You should resolve to keep chanting the names of the three treasures without ceasing while you are there. After seven days, you die into another intermediary realm and remain there for no more than seven days. At this time you can see and hear without hindrance, like someone with a celestial eye. Resolve to encourage yourself to keep chanting the names of the three treasures without ceasing: “I take refuge in the Buddha. I take refuge in the Dharma. I take refuge in the Sangha.”

  After passing through the intermediary realm, when you approach your parents to be conceived, resolve to maintain authentic wisdom. Keep chanting refuge in the three treasures in your mother’s womb. Do not neglect chanting while you are being born. Resolve deeply to dedicate yourself to chant and take refuge in the three treasures through the six sense roots.

  When your life ends, your eyesight will suddenly become dark. Know that this is the end of your life, and be determined to chant, “I take refuge in the Buddha.” Then, all buddhas in the ten directions will show compassion to you. Even if, due to conditions, you are bound to an unwholesome realm, you will be able to be born in the deva realm or in the presence of the Buddha. Bow and listen to the Buddha.

  After darkness arises in your eyes, continue to chant refuge in the three treasures until you enter the intermediary realm and further.

  Thus, keep chanting, birth after birth, world after world, until you reach enlightenment, the buddha fruit. This is the way all buddhas and bodhisattvas have practiced. It is the way to deeply realize dharma. It is an embodiment of the buddha way. Resolve not to involve yourself with thoughts other than this.

  Work to create a buddha image in your lifetime. Once it is created, dedicate three types of offerings: a mat, sugar water, and candles. Purify them and offer them to the image.

  Also, create copies of the Lotus Sutra in your lifetime. Write it or make a print of it and maintain it. Place it on your head and then bow to it. Offer flowers, incense, candles, food, drink, and clothing. Be sure your head is clean before you place the sutra on it.

  Do zazen regularly with your kashaya on. There is a precedent for attaining the way in the second next lifetime as the result of wearing a kashaya in this lifetime. It is the robe of all buddhas in the past, present, and future. Its merit is immeasurable. Zazen is not a method of the three realms. It is the method of buddha ancestors.

  95

  RECEIVING THE PRECEPTS

  THE GUIDELINES FOR Zen Monasteries says:

  It is said that all buddhas in the past, present, and future have left the household and accomplished the way. The twenty-eight ancestors of India and the six early ancestors of China who transmitted the seal of buddha mind were all monks. Their strict observance of the precepts made them excellent models in the three realms. Thus, in practicing Zen in pursuit of the way, observing the precepts is a prerequisite. If you do not refrain from making mistakes and avoid taking wrong actions, how can you become a buddha, become an ancestor?

  To receive the precepts, you should first prepare bowls and clean, new robes. If you cannot get new robes, you should have freshly washed and purified robes. Do not borrow someone else’s bowls for receiving the precepts at the platform [site of ceremony]. Be single-minded, unconcerned with other matters. Taking the form of the Buddha, embodying the precepts of the Buddha, and maintaining the receptive samadhi of the Buddha are no small matter. How can you take it lightly?

  If you were to borrow someone else’s robes and bowls, you would not actually receive the precepts you are given at the platform. Without receiving them, you would be a person of no precepts all your life who has mistakenly entered the gate of emptiness and falsely received gifts from faithful donors.

  When you enter the way as a beginner, you may not fully remember the guidelines and precepts. If the teacher does not caution the student, the student may fall into a mistake. This is my advice. Please keep this in mind.

  After receiving the bhikshu precepts, receive the bodhisattva precepts. This is the beginning of entering the way.

  In the western and eastern lands where buddha ancestors have transmitted dharma, entering dharma is always receiving the precepts. Without receiving the precepts, one is not a disciple of buddhas, not a descendant of ancestors. “Refrain from unwholesome action” is no other than practicing Zen in pursuit of the way. The words observing the precepts is a pre-requisite are indeed the treasury of the true dharma eye.

  Because becoming a buddha and becoming an ancestor is no other than transmission of the treasury of the true dharma eye, ancestors who authentically transmit the treasury of the true dharma eye always receive and maintain the buddha precepts. There can be no buddha ancestors who do not. Whether they practice with the Tathagata or with his disciples, they receive and maintain the buddha precepts. This is receiving the life vein.

  The buddha precepts authentically transmitted up to today from buddha to buddha, from ancestor to ancestor, were originally transmitted to China by Bodhidharma, the First Ancestor of Mount Song, and reached Huineng, the High Ancestor of Caodong, through five transmissions. The authentic transmission through Qingyuan and Nanyue is still being maintained, but there are some ignorant elders who are not aware of it. This should be most pitied.

  Receive the bodhisattva precepts. This is the beginning of entering the way. Those who practice the way should know about this. The procedure of receiving the bodhisattva precepts is invariably transmitted to those who study in the inner chamber of buddha ancestors. This is not received by those who are coarse and negligent.

  The preliminary procedure for the ceremony is that the recipient burns and offers incense, makes formal bows to the ancestral teacher, and asks for permission to receive the bodhisattva precepts.

  After permission is granted, the recipient cleanses the body, spreads flower petals, burns incense, bows respectfully to the new or freshly washed robes, and puts them on. Then the recipient bows to all sacred images, the three treasures, and the elders, and removes all hindrances, maintaining a pure body and mind. This procedure has long been authentically transmitted in the inner chamber of buddha ancestors.

  At the practice place, the officiate or the instructor guides the recipient to make formal bows and then to say while kneeling:

  (The recipient chants this three times, repeating the last line three times on the third chant.)

  I take refuge in the Buddha.

  I take refuge in the Dharma.

  I take refuge in the Sangha.

  I take refuge in the Buddha as the most venerable one among two-legged beings.

  I take refuge in the Dharma as the most venerable teaching that frees me from clinging.

  I take refuge in the Sangha as the most venerable of all assemblies.

  I have taken refuge in the Buddha.

&
nbsp; I have taken refuge in the Dharma.

  I have taken refuge in the Sangha.

  The Tathagatha with true, unsurpassable enlightenment is my great teacher. I have now taken refuge in him. I will not take refuge in evil spirits or those outside the way.

  May you be compassionate.

  May you be compassionate.

  [The officiate says:]

  Good person. You have given up incorrect views and taken refuge in the true teaching. The precepts surround you.

  Now, take the three universal pure precepts.

  (The officiate asks the recipient each of the following questions three times. The recipient affirms it each time.)

  One: The precept of observing guidelines.

  Will you maintain this precept from now until you attain a buddha body?

  Yes, I will maintain it.