Treasury of the True Dharma Eye

by Zen Master Dogen

  Shishuang Qingzhu: 石霜慶諸 [Sekisō Keisho]. 807–888, China. Dharma heir of Daowu Yuanzhi, Qingyuan Line. Taught at Mount Shishuang, Tan Region (Hunan), for twenty years. He and his students sat like decayed trees without lying down. As a result, they were called the “Dead Stump Assembly.” His posthumous name is Great Master Puhui, 普會大師 [Fue Daishi].

  Shitā, Mount: 徙陀山 [Shida San]. Mountain in the mythological country of Vimana.

  Shitou Xiqian: 石頭希遷 [Sekitō Kisen]. 700–790, China. Ordained by Sixth Ancestor Huineng, after whose death he studied with Qingyuan Xingsi and became his dharma heir. As he did zazen continually in a hut built on a rock at Nan Monastery (also called Nanyue), Mount Heng (Hunan), he was called Priest Rock Head (Shitou). Author of poems “Merging of One and Many” and “Song of the Grass Hut.” His posthumous name is Great Master Wuji 無濟大師 [Musai Daishi].

  Shiva: Skt. 自在天 [Jizai Ten], literally, Deva of Freedom—a Buddhist epithet of Shiva of Brāhmanism: Īshvara, the Lord of the Universe.

  Shizi: 尸子. A book written by Shijiao of the Warring Period [503–222 B.C.E.], China. It has survived in fragments.

  shō: J. 升. Measuring unit. Approximately 1.8 liters.

  shore, arrive at the other: 彼岸到 [higan tō]. See pāramitā.

  Shouchu: See Dongshan Shouchu.

  Shouduan: See Haihui Shouduan.

  shoulder to shoulder, put: 齊肩す [seiken-su].

  shoulders, cover both: 通兩肩搭 [tsū ryōken ta]. A way to wear a kashāya.

  Shoushan Xingnian: 首山省念 [Shuzan Shōnen]. 926–993, China. Dharma heir of Fengxue Yanzhao, Linji School. Founded a monastery at Mount Shou, Ru Region (Henan).

  Shouxun: See Heshan Shouxun.

  Shouzhuo: See Changling Shouzhuo.

  shramana: Skt. 沙門 [shamon]. A wanderer or a monk.

  shramanas, four fruits of. See also fruits, four. shrāvaka: Skt. 聲聞 [shōmon], literally, a listener; a disciple of the Buddha’s whose goal is arhatship. Mahāyāna word for a sage of “Hīnayāna” Buddhism.

  Shrāvaka Vehicle. See also Vehicles, Three.

  Shrāvastī. See also Kaushala.

  Shrenika: 先尼 [Senni]. A Brāhman scholar described in the Mahā Pari-nirvāna Sūtra who asserted permanency of soul but was argued down by Shākyamuni Buddha.

  Shrīmālā Devī Sūtra: Skt. 勝鬘經 [Shōman Gyō]. Mahāyāna sūtra describing the dedication of Queen Shrīmālā. Expounds the teaching of One Vehicle and is also an early source for teaching about tathāgata garbha [literally, buddha womb, matrix, seed or essence], related to teaching of buddha nature.

  shrine. See also chaitya.

  Shrīvaddhi: 福増 [Fukuzō], literally, Happiness Increase. Wealthy man who lived in the city of Rājagriha, Magadha. Ordained at age one hundred twenty by Maudgalyayana with permission of the Buddha, who was at Kalandaka Bamboo Grove, north of Rājagriha. After ordination, he extensively studied dharma.

  Shuangfeng: See Dayi Daoxin.

  Shuklāyāh: 鮮白 [Senbyaku], literally, Pure White. Woman from Kapilavastu who wanted to be ordained by the Buddha. When the Buddha said, “Come, Nun,” her mundane clothes turned into a kashāya.

  Shūrangama Sūtra: 首楞嚴經 [Shuryōgon Kyō], 楞嚴經 [Ryōgon Kyō]. Mahāyāna scripture explaining the meaning of shūrangama samādhi, a valiant state of meditation.

  shut one out with silence: 梵壇の法 [bondan no hō]. Skt. brāhman danda. Transliteration: 梵壇 [bondan]. Refers to the practice in which members of the sangha do not speak to a fellow member who has committed wrongdoing. This practice—法 [hō]—of punishment is defined by a precept.

  Siddhārtha. See also Buddha, Shākyamuni.

  silence, noble: 聖默 [shōmoku].

  silent, be: 休す [kyū-su]. Literally, come to rest.

  silk cloth, fine: 複袱子 [fufukusa su].

  Simhabhikshu: 師子 [Shishi], literally, Lion Monk. Twenty-fourth Ancester of the Zen tradition in India. Taught in Kashmīra, northwestern kingdom of India, but was killed by a king who persecuted buddha dharma.

  simultaneously attain the way: See way, attain the.

  single great matter: See matter, single essential.

  sit at ease: 燕坐す[enza-su], literally, sit like a swallow.

  sit facing the wall: 壁面打坐 [hekimen taza]. 面壁 [mempeki], literally, facing the wall. A common way to sit in zazen, individually or in community.

  sit in samādhi: See samādhi, sit in.

  sit, just: See just sit.

  sit solidly: 兀兀 [gotsugotsu]. Solid; steadfast. 兀坐 [gotsuza], sitting like a rock.

  sit through: 坐斷(す) [zadan(-su)]. Cut through by sitting. 坐殺 [zasatsu], literally, sit and kill.

  sit through the skin you were born with: 坐破孃生皮 [zaha jōshō hi].

  sit upright: 端坐 [tanza].

  sitting, endeavor in: 打坐功夫 [taza kufū].

  sitting, steadfast. See also sit solidly.

  sitting form: 坐相 [zasō].

  sitting platform, long: See platform, long sitting.

  situation: 機縁 [kien], literally, capacity and conditions.

  Six Excellent Places: 六殊勝地 [Roku Shushōchi]. A garden at the Guangli Monastery, Mount Ayuwan (Zhejiang).

  six pāramitās: See pāramitās, six.

  six paths: See paths, six.

  six sense organs: See organs, six sense.

  six sense roots: See organs, six sense.

  six senses: See organs, six sense.

  Sixin Wuxin: 死心悟新 [Shishin Goshin]. 1043–1114, China. Dharma heir of Haihui Shouduan, Linji School. Taught at Mount Huanglong (Jiangxi). Legend says he was born with purple skin on his shoulders and right side, as if he was wearing a monk’s robe. Awakened upon hearing a thunderclap while on pilgrimage. He once shouted at a monk who was talking a lot, “Stop! Stop! Can you feed people by talking about food?”

  Sixth Ancestor: See Dajian Huineng.

  Sixth Ancestor’s Platform Sūtra: 六祖壇經 [Rokuso Dankyō]. Collection of Chinese Six Ancestor Huineng’s words. Some parts were added by later writers. Dōgen regards the entire text as apocryphal.

  skandha, discernment: 識衆 [shiki shu], literally, discernment assembly. See also skandhas, five.

  skandha, feeling: 想衆 [sōshu], literally, feeling assembly. See also skandhas, five.

  skandha, form: 色衆 [shiki shu], literally, form or matter assembly. See also skandhas, five.

  skandhas, eighty thousand: 八萬蘊 [hachiman on]. 八萬法蘊 [hachiman hō’on]. A number of dharma teachings.

  skandhas, five: Skt. 五蘊/ 五陰 [go’on]. 五衆 [goshu], literally, five types of aggregate or assembly. Five streams of body and mind: (1) form (matter), 色 [shiki]. (2) feeling, 受 [ju], literally, receiving. (3) perception, 想 [sō], literally, visioning. (4) inclination or impulse, 行 [gyō], literally, go or act. Voluntary and involuntary mental facility that forms action. Sometimes translated as mental formation. (5) discernment, 識 [shiki], literally, consciousness. Facility to discriminate. With the understanding of five skandhas, what is commonly seen as a self is explained as a continuous interaction of these elements, not a fixed and independent entity.

  skandhas, realm of: 蘊界 [onkai].

  skillful means: Skt., upāya.方便 [hōben]. Expedient method to remove deluded people’s doubts and lead them to realize true dharma. Expedient phrase.

  skillful means, gate of: 方便門 [hōben mon].

  skin bag: 皮袋 [hitai]. 皮袋子 [hitaisu]; 袋皮 [taihi]. Human being described as a collection of bones enclosed in a bag of skin. Human or animal.

  skin bag, stinky: 臭皮袋 [shūhitai].

  skin, flesh, bones, and marrow: 皮肉骨髓 [hiniku kotsuzui]. Each represents the essence of teaching. Originally, Bodhidharma’s words of confirming his four disciples.

  skin, flesh, bones, and marrow, you have attained my: 汝得吾皮肉骨髓 [nyo toku go hi ni kotsu zui]. Bodhidharma’s words to each of h
is four students are combined in this way.

  skull: 髑髏 [dokuro]. Sitting in stillness.

  skull covers the entire field: 髑髏遍野 [dokuro hen’ya].

  sky, boundless: 漫天 [manten].

  sky, entire: 彌天 [miten].

  slightest hint: 毫忽之兆 [gōkotsu no chō].

  Small Vehicles: See Vehicles, Three.

  smash: 打失(す) [tashitsu(-su)].

  smash sound and form: 聲色を打失す [shōshiki wo tashitsu-su].

  smile. See also treasury of the true dharma eye.

  smile, breaking into a: 破顏微笑 [hagan mishō]. See also treasury of the true dharma eye.

  snap the sleeves and walk away: 拂袖便行 [hosshū benkō]. A gesture usually made before an emphatic departure. In Dōgen’s usage, activity that is free and leaves no traces.

  snow blossom: 雪華 [sekka].

  Snow Mountains: 雪山 [Sessen]. Himālaya Mountains, where Shākyamuni Buddha practiced in a former life according to Mahā Prajñā Pāramitā Sūtra.

  Snow Palace: 雪宮 [Setsu Gū]. Same as Snow Mountains.

  soapberry pit: 木槵子 [mokukan su].

  softening the light and emerging as regional sages: 和光同塵 [wakō dōjin]. Refers to a Buddha not fully manifesting the light of wisdom, becoming close to sentient beings, and appearing as a local deity.

  solitary practice: Skt., aranya. Transliteration: 阿蘭若 [arannya], literally, wilderness.

  somersaults, turning: 翻巾斗 [honkinto]. Also, turn cartwheels.

  Song: 宋 [Sō]. Song Dynasty, 960–1279. Great Song China, 大宋國 [Dai Sōkoku]. Also means China.

  sorcerer: 仙人 [sennin]. 神仙 [shinsen], literally, divine sorcerer.

  Sōtō School: 曹洞宗 [Sōtō Shū]. Japanese form of Chinese Caodong School. One of the two major schools of Zen Buddhism in Japan. Dōgen is regarded as its founder.

  soul: Skt., ātman 霊知 [reichi]. Everlasting identity or consciousness throughout a series of transmigrations. Dōgen denies existence of such a permanent self.

  sounding block: 犍槌 [kentsui].

  sounds, different: 異音 [ion].

  source beyond words, directly clarify the: 直須旨外明宗 [jikishu shige myōshū].

  source, original: 本地 [honji].

  source, return to the: 歸源 [kigen]. 實歸 [jikki], literally, true return.

  south of Xiang, north of Tan: 湘之南潭之北 [shō no nan tan no hoku]. Xiang Region is in the south of Tan Region near Changsha (Hunan). This phrase means everywhere.

  Southern Continent. See also Continents, Four.

  space: 虚空 [kokū]. Open sky; boundless realm.

  Space: 虚空 [Kokū]. Seventy-seventh fascicle of this book.

  space, play with: 弄虚空 [rō kokū].

  space is one piece but is divided with a touch: 虚空一塊觸而染汚 [kokū ikkai soku ni zenna].

  space throughout the ten directions: 十方虚空 [jippō kokū].

  sparks of a gimlet: 鑚火 [sanka].

  sparrow, sick: 病雀 [byōjaku].

  speaking about it won’t hit the mark: 説似一物即不中 [setsuji ichimotsu soku fuchū].

  Speaking of Mind, Speaking of Essence: 説心説性 [Sesshin Sesshō]. Forty-ninth fascicle of this book.

  specks of gold in human eyes: 金屑 [kinsetsu].

  speech: 語端 [gotan], literally, edge of words.

  speech, noble: 聖説 [shōsetsu].

  speechless: 唖漢 [akan], literally, one who is unable to speak.

  spirit: 精魂 [zeikon]. 神 [jin].

  spirit, corpse with no: 無魂屍子 [mukon shisu].

  spirit, full activity of playing with the: 弄精魂の活計 [rō zeikon no kakkei].

  spirit, playing with the: 弄精魂 [rō zeikon]. Twiddling with spirit.

  spirit being: 神道 [shindō]. 神物 [jimmotsu]. 神 [jin]. Deva, fighting spirit, or demons.

  spirit’s hairy head: 神頭の被毛 [jinzu no himō].

  spirits, fighting. See also paths, six.

  splattered by mud and soaked in water: 入泥入水 [nyūdei nyūsui]. Identification with sentient beings in guiding them.

  splendor: 莊嚴 [shōgon]. Adornment.

  spoken, what cannot be: 説不得底 [setsu fu toku tei]. 底 [tei] is a suffix meaning “that which is.”

  spread the bowing cloth twice and make three bows: 兩展三拜 [ryōten sampai]. The way a monastic trainee expresses respect to the abbot: spreads the bowing cloth fully on the floor and makes three full bows, stands up and folds the bowing cloth, spreads it threefold on the floor and makes three full bows, stands up and folds it, then makes three semiformal bows. Customarily, at the beginning, the abbot gestures to simplify the procedure so that the trainee skips the first two sets of three full bows, but still spreads the bowing cloth twice.

  spread the teaching: 弘法 [guhō].

  spread widely: 弘通(す) [guzū(-su)]. Prevail everywhere.

  spring: 春 [haru]. Often meaning total experience of the world.

  Spring and Autumn: 春秋 [Shunjū]. Sixty-sixth fascicle of this book.

  spring, god of: 東君 [Tōkun], literally, lord of east.

  sprout: 才生す [saishō-su].

  squeeze out: 敲出す [kōshutsu-su].

  staff: 拄杖 [shujō]. A long walking stick carried by a traveling monk, or used by a Zen master when lecturing or encouraging students. Thus, it represents a person who practices or teaches.

  staff, arched bamboo: 竹箆 [shippei]. A ceremonial staff used by a Zen teacher.

  staff, iron: 鐵拄杖 [tetsu shujō].

  stage, ultimate: 果位 [kai], literally, stage of fruit.

  stages, ten: 十地 [jutchi]. See also bodhisattvas of the ten stages and three classes.

  stained: 染 [sen]. Separated by dualistic conception.

  stake: 木橛 [mokketsu], literally, wooden stick.

  stake, withered: 枯樁 [koshō].

  stand alone: 獨歩 [dokuho], literally, walk alone.

  stand like a wall: 壁竪す [hikiryū-su].

  stand on one’s toes: 翹足 [gyōsoku].

  standard: 規矩 [kiku], literally, rule, custom. 量局 [ryōkyoku], literally, measure and boundary. 風規 [fūki], literally, style and rule.

  standing bow: See bow, standing.

  statement: 話頭 [watō]. Outstanding statement; words. 頭 [tō] is a suffix meaning “that which is (spoken).”

  statement, confused: 胡説亂道 [usetsu rondō], literally, barbarians’ speech and confused words.

  statement, false: 虚設 [kosetsu]. Fiction.

  statement is just right: 道是 [dō ze].

  statement that kills doubt: 疑殺話頭 [gisatsu watō].

  status: 地位 [chi’i].

  steadfast sitting. See also sit solidly. steadfastness: 兀爾 [gotsuji].

  stick, See also staff.

  stick and shout: 棒喝 [bō katsu].

  stick swallowing both people, a single: 一條拄杖呑兩人 [ichijō shujō don ryōnin].

  still and serene: 澄湛 [chōtan].

  still, remain: 恬靜 [tenjō], literally, peaceful and quiet.

  stone or tile: 碌甎 [rokusen].

  stone woman gives birth to a child at night: 石女夜生兒 [sekinyo ya shōji].

  stoppings, four right: 四正斷 [shishōdan]. Not arousing an unwholesome action that has not arisen, stopping an unwholesome action that has arisen, arousing a wholesome action that has not arisen, and allowing a wholesome action that has arisen to increase. Part of the thirty-seven wings of enlightenment.

  storm, vairambhaka: 毘嵐風 [birampū]. 毘嵐 [biran] is transliteration of Skt. vairambhaka. Horrendous storm that blows at the beginning and the end of an eon.

  story for studying: See causes and conditions.

  story, illogical: 無理會話 [murie wa].

  straight ahead: 驀直 [makujiki].

  straight ahead, go: 劈面來 [hekimen rai].

  straight on: 直趣
[jikishu].

  straightforward: 正直 [shōjiki]. Direct.

  straightforward by nature: 質直 [jitsujiki].

  straightforward expression: 赤心片片 [sekishin hempen], literally, bits and pieces of red heart.

  stream, authentic: 正脈 [shōmyaku], literally, authentic vein.

  stream, enter the: Skt., srota āpanna. Transliteration: 須陀洹 [shudaon]. Translation: 預流 [yoru], literally, entering the stream (of buddha dharma). First of the four stages for becoming an arhat. See also fruits, four.

  stream, homogenous: 等流 [tōru]. Cause and effect are similar.

  stream enterer. See also fruits, four.

  strict observance: 嚴淨 [gonjō], literally, solemnly pure.

  strike a person: 打人 [tanin].

  stringed instrument in tune, keep a: 調絃 [chōgen].

  strings attached, soar with no: 足下無絲去 [sokka mushi ko].

  strive whole-heartedly: 行業純一 [gyōgō jun’itsu], literally, practice single and pure.

  stroke the air: 以手撮虚空 [i shu satsu kokū].

  student, a coarse Zen: 杜撰禪和 [zusan zenna].

  student, thorough: 資強 [shikyō], literally, disciple is strong.

  student, true: 眞流 [shinru], literally, true stream.

  student, Zen: 禪和子 [zenna su].

  students, good: 諸禪徳 [shozentoku]. Addressing Zen students.

  study, begin to: 咨參 [sisan], literally, question and study. For Dōgen, study often means practice.

  study, deep: 玄學 [gengaku].

  study, definitive: さたまれる參究 [sadama reru sankyū], literally, defined thorough study.

  study, further: 趣向の參學 [shukō no sangaku], literally, study going toward.

  study, going beyond: 絶學 [zetsugaku], literally, cut off study.

  study all the way: See examine.

  study and investigate thoroughly: 究徹 [kyūtetsu].

  study shoulder to shoulder: 同參齊肩 [dōsan seiken].

  study simultaneously and all-inclusively: 同參遍參 [dōsan henzan].

  study together: 同參(す) [dōsan(-su)], literally, same going. One practice; those who study together; investigate together; practice mutually; go together; arise simultaneously.

  stūpa: Skt. Transliteration: 偸婆 [tōba]. 塔婆 [tōba]. thūpa (in Pāli). Shrine or tower for relics.

  stūpa principle: 塔事 [tō ji].

  stūpa shrine: 塔廟 [tō byō].