Soto Zen Writings

8/10/2019 Soto Zen Writings

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/soto-zen-writings 1/84

1

Soto Zen

Writings



2



3

C O N T E N T

To you who has decided to become a Zen monk 5

Takuhatsu - laughter through the tears 9

Two oems !9

"ogen # Shobogen$o %% # Way o& the 'uddha %!

"ogen(s Za$en as Other-ower-ractice )9



4



5

To you who has decided

to become a Zen monk

by Uchiyama Kōshō rōshi

translated from Japanese

by Muhō Noelke rōshi, abbot of Antaiji

The motto for living in the world is: eat or be eaten! Now, if youhave decided to become a monk because you think that life in

this world is too hard and bitter for you and you would prefer torather live off other people’s donations while drinking your tea -if you want to become a monk just to make a living, then thefollowing is not for you. If you read the following, be aware thatit is addressed to someone who has aroused the mind to practicethe Buddha way after questioning his own life, and only thereforewants to become a monk.

For someone who has aroused this mind and aspires to practicethe way, what is important is to first of all find a good master andlook for a good place for practice. In the old days, the practicingmonks would put on their straw hats and straw sandals to travelthrough the whole country in search of a good master and placeof practice. Today it is easier to get informations: Collect andcheck them and decide for a master and community that seems

suitable to you.



6

You should not forget though that to practice the Buddha waymeans to let go off the self and practice egolessness. To let gooff the self and practice egolessness again means to let go off the

measuring stick that we are always carrying around with us inour brains. For this, you must follow the teaching of the masterand the rules of the place of practice that you have decided forloyally, without stating your own preferences or judgements ofgood and bad. It is important to first sit through silently in oneplace for at least ten years.

If, on the other hand, you start to judge the good and bad sides ofyour master or the place of practice before the first ten yearshave passed, and you start to think that maybe there is a bettermaster or place somewhere else and go look for it - then you are just following the measuring stick of your own ego, which hasabsolutely nothing to do with practicing the Buddha way.

Right from the start you have to know clearly that no master is

perfect: Any master is just a human being. What is important isyour own practice, which has to consist of following theimperfect master as perfectly as possible. If you follow yourmaster in this way, than this practice is the basis on which youcan follow yourself. That is why Dogen Zenji says:

To follow the Buddha way means to follow yourself.

[Genjokoan]

Following the master, following the sutras - all this means tofollow oneself. The sutras are an expression of yourself. Themaster is YOUR master. When you travel far and wide to meetwith masters, that means that you travel far and wide to meetwith yourself. When you pick a hundred weeds, you are pickingyourself a hundred times. And when you climb ten thousand

trees, you are climbing yourself for a ten thousand times.Understand that when you practice in this way, you are practicing



7

yourself. Practicing and understanding thus, you will let go ofyourself and get a real taste of yourself for the first time. [Jisho-zanmai]

It is often said that for practicing Zen it is important to find amaster - but who decides what a true master is in the first place?Don’t you make that decision with the measurement stick of yourthoughts (that is: your ego)? As long as you look for the masteroutside of your own practice, you will only extend your own ego.The master does not exist outside of yourself: the practice ofzazen, in which the self becomes the self is the master. Thatmeans zazen in which you really let go your thoughts.

Does that mean that it is enough to practice zazen alone without amaster at all? No, certainly not. Dogen Zenji himself says in the

Jisho-zanmai, just after the quote above:

When you hear that you get a taste of yourself and

awake to yourself through yourself, you might jumpto the conclusion that you should practice alone, all

for yourself , without having a master point the way

out for you. That is a big mistake. To think that you

can liberate yourself without a master is a heretic

opinion that can be traced back to the naturalistic

school of philosophy in India.

When you practice all for yourself without a master, you will endup just doing whatever comes into your mind. But that hasnothing to do with practicing Buddhism. After all, it is absolutelynecessary to first find a good master and to follow him.Fortunately, there are still masters in Japan that transmit theBuddha-Dharma correctly in the form of zazen. Follow such amaster without complaining and sit silently for at least ten years.

Then, after ten years, sit for another ten years. And then, aftertwenty years, sit anew for another ten years. If you sit like this



8

throughout thirty years, you will gain a good view over thelandscape of zazen - and that means also a good view of thelandscape of your own life. Of course that does not mean that

thus your practice comes to an end - practice always has to be thepractice of your whole life.

Copyright © Antaiji, All Rights Reserved.



9

Takuhatsu

laughter through the tears

* li&e o& mendicant begging in +a,an

by Uchiyama Kōshō rōshi

former abbot of Antaiji monastery.

translated by Daitsu Tom Wright

Introduction

The following essay on Uchiyama Kosho Roshi’s life of

mendicancy was written in the early 70’s. For roshi, a life ofmaterial poverty was taken for granted as a necessity for seeinginto and understanding what an authentic religious life should be.

A li fe grounded on zazen and a lifestyle grounded on material

minimalism was essential for leading a truly rich spiritual life. The basis for a life of material minimalism is not some sort ofasceticism or self-deprivation. There are many examples of

ascetics living in Japan. On the contrary, roshi often said that itis the very over abundance of materialism and consumption thatso confuses human beings and becomes the cause for so muchsuffering. He often spole to us of never being afraid or ashamedof material poverty. Dogen Zenji himself urged his followers toalways live the minimal material life, but pursue the highestculture (a life of zazen). Placing this essay within the social

context in which it was written, the year was 1968. Roshi was 56years old. Socially speaking, Japanese heavy industry was



10

beginning its phenomenal economic climb, not in the least thanksto the tanks and other heavy equipment supplied to the UnitesStates military in its war in Vietnam1 Roshi confided to me one

day that one reason he wrote Laughter through the Tears2

was, ina sense, to thank all the people in Kyoto who supported himduring those difficult years of his life of practice. Before readingfurther, perhaps a brief explanation of the practice of takuhatsu isin order. Takuhatsu is the practice of walking through the streetsof the city collecting donations which, in modern day Japan, aremostly monetary. The tradition itself has been handed down

through the ages from Shakyamuni Buddha in India, throughChina and Korea, though in those countries, the donation isusually food. Literally, the Chinese characters mean to “trust inthe bowl.” That is, trust that whatever is needed to sustain one’sdaily life will be provided to the monk or nun. So the attitude ofa person on takuhatsu is entirely different from a beggar whosimply puts his or her hand out wanting to be fed.

The attitude of one on takuhatsu must be one of equanimity,whether no donation is received or a large one is received. Infact, the attitude of the mendicant on takuhatsu is one of givingan opportunity to people to materially support a life of onededicated to zazen and the teaching of the Buddhadharma.Finally, I will feel that this translation has been successful if it isable to convey to readers even a little of the humor and pathos,

sometimes subtle, sometimes not so subtle, imbedded in roshi’sdiscussion of takuhatsu. The stories are humorous enough as theyare, but then after the humor is appreciated, the reader may haveto return once more to think about the purpose in roshi’s

1 During the war Uchiyama roshi was sent to a very remote area in Shimane Prefecture by his teacher, Sawakiroshi . He spent the time making charcoal. Later, Sawaki roshi sent him to a place in Shizuoka where he madesalt from seawater. Both of these tasks were meant to protect him from having to go into the military. Sawakiroshi was fully aware that his disciple, Kosho, was not physically strong and certainly not suited for military life.

Facts like this about how Sawaki roshi protected his disciples from the ravages of war are little known and havenever been publicized. Actually, Roshi was drafted into the military exactly one week before Japan surrenderedin 1944.2 In Japanese, Nakiwarai no Takuhatsu.



11

conveying his message as he did. Perhaps the final chapter onwhy do takuhatsu is the most critical in understanding takuhatsunot simply as a way to get food, but as an attitude towards life.

Daitsu Tom Wright, July, 2005



12

Unromantic life

Here we are living in an age with jet planes streaking through thesky while on the ground, gravel trucks race down paved roads—But what is this coming down the street! A figure in black robesand long open sleeves, with a black bag around his neck, a hugestraw hat on his head and wearing white spats and straw sandals.He walks from door to door, holding a bowl in front of him, thetimes filled with laughter and tears. This is “takuhatsu,”mendicant begging by Buddhist priests. The bowl they carry istheir eating bowl, it is the same practice of Buddhist monksthroughout Asia since the time of Shakyamuni Buddha. Peopleput either money or rice into the bowl and as it fills up, the priestempties the contents into the black cloth bag hanging around hisneck. Today, at least in the cities, most donations are monetary,not food. The famous Japanese Zen monk Ryokan3 lived bytakuhtasu and wrote about it in his poems.iii Picture a warmspring day, the flowers in full bloom, the warblers singing away

and beautiful butterflies flitting here and there. That surely musthave been the setting for Ryokan’s walks through countryvillages from one farm house to the next. Children would run indelight to greet their familiar playmate. Ryokan, always happy tosee the children, puts down his bowl and joins in the children’sgames. Poor Ryokan, the day passed quickly while he wasabsorbed in the games with the children, completely unaware that

all his rice has been eaten by the sparrows in the grass. The deepresonating sound of a nearby temple bell announces that it is theend of the day. The light of the early evening moon shinesbrightly and the children have all headed home. Suddenly,Ryokan feels a tinge of loneliness and heads back to his owngrass hut. He turns and runs back to the village where he vaguelyremembers having left his bowl hours before. Just picturing

3 Yamamoto Ryokan. (1758 ~ 1831) A Japanese monk who lived in the Edo period and was famous for hispoetry and calligraphy.



13

Ryokan all flustered returning to the village to fetch the bowlcan’t help but bring a smile to my face. Of course, I would haveliked my takuhatsu to have been that sort of idyllic, simple kind,

too. Unfortunately, the reality of my life of takuhatsu wasanything but that. In fact, it was the extreme opposite of theidyllic, simple takuhatsu lifestyle. If in going out on takuhatsu,you can do so with the attitude of, well, if people put somethingin my bowl, that’s fine and, if they don’t that’s okay, too, thenyou can say that your takuhatsu is ideal with no complications.However, I was unable to do that. I was dead serious about it,

and I couldn’t hide my feelings. As long as I was going out, I feltI just had to bring home a certain amount of money–I had myquota to fill. Not only that, I felt I had to do it in the mostefficient way, because I needed to get back to the temple asquickly as possible, so my story becomes even more pathetic. Itwasn’t because I wanted to take a rest that I desired to get rightback to the temple. Rather, besides takuhatsu, I had a lot of other

work to do that made my going out all the more important.Knowing how much work waiting for me at the temple, there wasno way I could ever feel what I was doing was in any way refinedelegant or “spiritually uplifting.” But, everyone in the world hasfeelings of being pursued, and of living from hand to mouth. I amnot talking about my presentday life. The period I’m talkingabout began in the summer of 1949, when I first arrived in

Kyoto, and lasted until the spring of 1962. That is, from the ageof 37 until I reached 50. So, perhaps because there is a certainamount of distance between those days and my life now, I amable to talk about the sweet and bitter of takuhatsu.



14

The lifestyle behind takuhatsu

Once you start down the path of poverty, there seems to be nolimit to how far down you can go. I had been prepared for it bythe life I led during the war prior to settling at Antaiji, which waseven worse. In 1949, when I first began going out on takuhatsu inKyoto, the emotion and poverty of the war years had not yetsubsided. In that kind of economically difficult environment, thenumber of fellow practitioners diminished greatly. Finally, therewere only two of us left at Antaiji, the leaf flute artist,Yokoyama Sodo and me4. On top of that, Antaiji had deterioratedso badly during the war that so Sodo had to go out on takuhatsufor funds to refurbish the broken-down temple, while I wentaround on takuhatsu to supply us with food and also to coversesshin expenses. I was not only going out on takuhatsu, I alsohad to take care of the vegetable garden and fertilize it, cut andchop the wood for cooking and heating the bath, plus make ourpickle supply, weed and keep up the grounds, clean the temple,

and so forth. On top of that, I prepared three meals a day and if Ididn’t go out on takuhatsu, I had my laundry to do. So,obviously, I couldn’t blithely go out on takuhatsu like Ryokanand enjoy playing with the children along the way. Far from it, Ihad to keep my mind on how to juggle doing takuhatsu andcaring for the temple. I had to figure out how to cut cornerseverywhere to get a little extra time for zazen and study. Being

careless with even one piece of firewood meant that I would haveto take that much more time to chop and cut up wood. Or, if I lefta light on needlessly, that meant I had to go out on takuhatsu topay for it. Cutting back on needless expenditures was absolutelycritical for the kind of frugal life we were leading. Our life was

4 Yokoyama Sodo Roshi, (1904~ 19 ). Yokoyama Roshi was always interested in poetry and music. After he leftAntaiji, he moved to Komoro in Nagano Prefecture and home of Shimazaki Toson, a famous Japanese writer and

poet. A park was named after Toson and Yokoyama Roshi lived there during the day and did zazen. In his lateryears, Yokoyama Roshi’s’ takuhatsu consisted of writing poetry and musical compositions, for which visitorsstrolling through the park would donate money. He became well known for his unconventional life and his flute-playing and was occasionally to be seen on national television.



15

always on the edge. When Sawaki Roshi would come back toAntaiji to lead sesshin, I wanted to have a special treat of lotusroot on his tray for him, I would go to the market to get some and

not have the few yen the greengrocer asked for. Here was thisforty-year-old adult having to say, “Oh, my God, if it is going tocost me that much, I will take something else.” We were really ina pitiable state. If I had had a wife and family to take care of, Iwould have broken down completely. Fortunately, I was singlethen.v Needless to say, in those days I was never able to purchaseany new clothing such as robes. Actually, from the time the war

began in 1941, I was never able to buy any new clothing, andeverything I had was tattered. Even the covering on my futon wasall torn up. Going to bed was like covering myself with thecotton padding that is inside futons. If I got sick for a coupledays and had to rest, my whole room seemed to be awash in dustballs of cotton batting. Old newspapers served as toilet paper.Our washcloths looked like some sort of netting, since I used

them far beyond the point where they resembled washcloths.Even though they only cost ten or fifteen yen at the time, Icouldn’t afford new ones. I did have one bad habit that I justcouldn’t give up — smoking. I would collect half-smokedcigarettes left behind by guests and smoke the tobacco in longreed-like pipes — pretty despicable, I admit. In those days,Antaiji looked gruesome. The tatami in my room were

completely torn up with straw popping up out of them here andthere. And the floor joists supporting the tatami were as soft ascushions. Twice I fell right through the floor. I just took a coupleof orange crates that were lying around and used them to prop upthe joists and finally, laid the totally torn apart tatami down. Thenormally white-papered shoji looked like a patchwork quilt withslips of paper pasted over the holes. But what could I do, I hadneither the money nor the time to make any proper repairs.Antaiji was truly a dreary and desolate place in those days. Thismade it imperative that I put all my energy into takuhatsu.



17

had to bear his own life and in his own heart. Sodo was living outhis life, and I was living out mine. We were side by side in thislife at Antaiji, and at the same time, each of us was completely

alone. Such thoughts came and went in each of us. They werepart of the scenery of Sodo’s life of shikantaza, as they were forme. Precisely because takuhatsu was a part of our overall lifecentered around sitting zazen, it was a life of entrusting our livesto the bowl completely. If there had been no zazen and onlybegging, my life would have been nothing more than a pitiablelife of poverty5.

5 During this period of his life, Roshi was single, although he had been married twice before becoming a monk.His first wife died of tuberculosis when roshi and his wife were in their mid-twenties and his second wife died inchildbirth (along with the child) when roshi was in his late twenties.



18

Kyoto’s other mendicants

Many of the major Rinzai training monasteries in Japan likeDaitokuji, Myoshinji, and Nanzenji are located in Kyoto. Themonks go out on takuhatsu through the streets of the city, all ofthem carrying bags around their necks with the name of themonastery clearly written on the front of it. Occasionally, I havestopped in front of a shop and some woman would come out andask politely, “Oh, are you from Myoshinji?” “No,” I would reply,“I’m from Antaiji.” Suddenly the bright, friendly smile woulddisappear from her face and with a very skeptical eye she wouldlook me up and down and deftly place a one-yen coin in my bowlinstead of the ten-yen coin she had been preparing to give me. Attimes like that, I have felt so wretched. Going out on takuhatsufrom Antaiji was not selling some famous brand name orreputation. I was often treated more like an ordinary beggar thanlike a religious mendicant. One thing people out on takuhatsucannot abide are all the other people plying the trade. Among the

beneficiaries of begging are, first of all, those monks and nunsfrom the “name brand” monasteries. Then there are monkswearing picturesque pointy hats and carrying a staff with metalrings on top that jingle as they walk around, or the Nichirenmonks pounding their drums, and then there are the goeikaBuddhist hymn singers walking around. I mustn’t leave out themendicants of the Zen Fuke sect, playing the shakuhachi as they

go around wearing the special straw hat that covers their headand face completely, plus the yamabushi, the itinerant mountainhermits. And, last but not least, there is the ordinary gardenvariety beggar. I once heard from one of the shop owners that onaverage five groups a day passed by looking for a handout. Itfollows that the first who come will get the best donations. Thatmeans the first fellow might get twenty yen, the second, five yen,

and by the last one, down to one yen, if he or she were lucky, orperhaps nothing more than a “Get lost!” Just in terms of human



19

emotions, this is understandable behavior. One day I went toYamashina for takuhatsu. I used what little money I had to getthere on the electric train. When I got off the train I took the side

streets first, saving the best street to do takuhatsu for last. But just as I turned the corner to start down Plum Street, lo andbehold, a komuso mendicant playing the shakuhachi came towardme from the opposite direction.vii He had obviously just finishedmaking a stupendous haul! I felt just awful. To rub salt in thewound, the monk stopped in front of me and, with the utmostcomposure, said, “Pardon me for going first,” and continued on

his way. Inside, I wanted to shout, “You rat, I’ve been saving thisstreet for last!” But I took one look at his smirkingly proud faceand the whole situation suddenly seemed so absurdly funny to methat I gave him a forced smile and bowed back. I suppose youcould call that a sort of unwritten etiquette between mendicants.Another time I met one beggar three days in a row. The first dayI met him was in southern Kyoyo near Oishi Bridge, on the

second day, we crossed paths up north near Kumano Shrine andthe third day, I ran into him near Kyoto Station. Running intohim on that third day, I felt as though I had run into a colleagueworking in the same line of business. I almost called out to him,“Hey, how are you making out?” At the time, I guess a feeling ofembarrassment came over me and I never did call out to him.Looking back on it now, I wish I had invited him to some nearby

cemetery to take a rest and share a sandwich or something. At thetime I looked at him thinking, “Oh, there’s a guy in the beggingbusiness.” And I am sure he must have looked at me with thesame eye. I never knew whether he went up in the world or down,although I occasionally glimpsed him begging from door to door,ringing a small bell and reciting and singing a hymn.



20

Takuhatsu neurosis

I had some experience of takuhatsu before I moved to Antaiji,when I lived in temples out in the countryside. There wereseveral of us going out together just once or twice a month, sothe atmosphere was more like going on an outing, and besides, itwasn’t as if our lives depended on it. In Kyoto, my situation wastotally different. Antaiji had absolutely no other income, and itwas a burden to set out alone knowing that I had to bring back acertain amount, and on top of that, knowing that the amount wasreally not much. I had to go out every day it didn’t rain, so itdidn’t take long before everyone in town seemed to know myface. Once my face became familiar, shopkeepers would give mean “Oh, God, here he comes again” look. And I would show a“Hi, well, here I am again” look. After a while, I startedbecoming not just depressed, but totally intimidated. Just beforegoing out for the day, I would imagine the street I was about todo down for the day and very clearly in my mind, I could picture

the tobacconist on the corner and the barber shop next door, thenthe sweet cake shop, and the hardware store and beyond that thefish monger’s. I would imagine everyone giving me the “Oh no,not that guy again” look, and I would start feeling truly dark andgloomy. Once I reached the street, without stopping to thinkabout it I would start walking down the street muttering undermy breath, “ Namu Kanzeon Bosatsu, Namu Kanzeon Bosatsu — I

take refuge in you, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara!” At last I arriveat the intended street and, sure enough, the street is laid out justas I had pictured it in my mind and, sure enough, I’m beginningto feel depressed. I find myself standing in front of that firsthouse, intoning the takuhatsu greeting, “Ho ~~~~~” in the mosttimid of voices. And, sure enough, the woman comes out of herhouse and gives me that disgusted look I knew she would, and

blurts out, “Move along, there, you’re blocking the way.” I justget more depressed and shuffle along to the next door. Just as I



21

expected, the man there shouts at me without any mercy, “Hit theroad, buster!” Now my voice is getting even tinier as I step up tothe next shop. The lady comes out and with a disgusted air tosses

a measly one yen bill into my bowl as though she didn’t reallywant to but felt obligated. Now I begin to almost cower in frontof every house and after taking a quick glance at the owner, Imove on to the following place without looking back or evenintoning the usual takuhatsu greeting. So here I am faced with adilemma of having to go out every day because I have to bring inso much money just to survive, while at the same time walking

through the streets of the city with virtually nothing coming in.So while going out every day walking my feet off from morning‘till night, I really began to develop a neurosis. It was three yearsafter I came to Kyoto and began going out on takuhatsu on adaily basis that I reached this impasse. It took three years tobecome a thoroughly familiar face. And then, though I receivedgrudging recognition as a monk, people still seemed to look at

me as that guy in the begging business. At any rate, I hadconvinced myself that people were looking at me in that way.And, there I was just going through the motions with almostnothing being dropped into my bowl. This kind of takuhatsuneurosis continued for about a year. I’m not very good atinsisting on things going my way, but I tend to be a fairlypersevering person; if there is a wall and I keep pushing at it, I

tend to believe that eventually it will fall. So, I just kept at it andabout a year after I had developed this neurosis something veryimportant dawned on me. One day while standing in front of acertain house and not giving a thought as to whether anyonewould put something in my bowl, I realized my attitude hadchanged. It was just putting all my energy into standing therewithout any reservation and looking straight ahead at the peoplewho came out until they said, “No, nothing for you today.” WhenI realized that, I suddenly felt a sense of relief. Even thoughmany people might be thinking, “Oh, god, here he comes again,”



22

when they saw me, I no longer had that dark, dreary feeling. Iteven seemed to me that people were beginning to express acertain friendliness. From that time on, the people of Kyoto

began to cheerfully put money in my bowl. Going out ontakuhatsu is a little bit like a salesman making his rounds. Theonly thing is, there are no goods to give in exchange. And,because of that, there is always a sharp prick of conscience aboutit. As long as one is unable to feel a sense of joy despite thedegrading spirit of being reduced to receiving something fornothing, then I suppose it is only natural to feel the barb of

shame. No matter how long one goes out on takuhatsu, I don’tthink that feeling ever completely disappears. There is atraditional saying, “If you beg for three days you’ll get ahankering for it, and you won’t be able to quit.” It seems to methat it is better to continue doing takuhatsu while feeling a pangof conscience. Becoming neurotic over it, however, is going toofar.



23

Living like a pigeon

Although this may seem like an overblown way of putting it, toget over my neurosis regarding takuhatsu, it was necessary forme to become personally aware of my religious mission tosociety as a mendicant priest. Even during that period when I waspersonally depressed and feeling terribly intimidated by goingout and there was so little coming into my bowl, the people ofKyoto did donate something to support me, despite the fact thatin those days, most people would look around for the cheapestplace to buy an eggplant, even to save just one sen. During myentire life of practice, I was supported entirely by the people ofKyoto, although it used to puzzle me just what motivated thelocal folk to put money in the bowl of a monk out on takuhatsu inthe first place. One day I was taking a lunch break in the confinesof Toji Temple. As we always had rice gruel for breakfast atAntaiji, it was not practical to prepare a lunch of leftoverbreakfast, so I usually bought a couple of rolls. I often ate on the

grounds of a temple or shrine, or in a temple cemetery.Nowadays, the grounds at Toji are all fenced off and they chargemoney just to get in, but in those days there were no fences orplaces that collected entrance fees — it was an ideal place to restand eat a roll or two. Pigeons approached and I would break off alittle of the bread I was eating and share it with them.Particularly during the period when I was so depressed about

going out in the first place, watching them eat the few crumbs Itossed, somehow cheered me up. At some point, if I knew Iwould be stopping off at Toji, I got into the habit of buying anextra roll to share with the pigeons. As I was feeding the pigeonsone day, I realized that I, too, was one of the pigeons of Kyoto.When the pigeons came around, people would want to feed themif they had any bread leftover simply out of human sentiment. In

the same way, if some monk happens to stop in front of yourhouse, you might think that another one of those pigeons has



24

come around, and you open the door and toss one or two yen intohis bowl, just as you would toss bread to the birds. I realizedthat, in a sense, I had to behave and appear attractive just like

one of those Toji pigeons. Now in Kyoto, there were plenty ofpigeons at other temples, too, but they were pushy. If you lookedlike you were going to give them some bread, they would comeright up onto your hand, take it, and then go after the bread youhad intended for yourself. When they started doing that, I wouldfeel reluctant to feed them anymore. The pigeons at Toji wouldapproach to within a couple of feet. And when I would drop the

crumbs about a foot away from me, they would do a little hop,peck at the bread and then quickly jump back a couple feet. Thisreticence on the part of the pigeons was really quite charming. Idecided that from then on I would be like a Toji pigeon. I beganto play my role gladly, adding to the ambience of this city as amonk doing takuhatsu. My style of doing takuhatsu became morereserved and less pushy, and I stopped thinking in terms of how

much money I needed to get in my bowl each day. I went fromone house to the next as quickly and lightly as I could. Andbefore I knew it, people got used to my new style. They beganputting coins in my bowl almost before I had a chance to showmy face. Sometimes while passing by the front of an open shop Iwould notice that the shopkeeper was on the phone, so I would just keep walking by. Surprisingly, people would finish their call

and chase me down the street to put something in my bowl. Howcould I be anything but grateful when people would do that kindof thing. One day I was sitting on the electric train on my wayback to Antaiji from a day out. It was cherry blossom time, thetrain was crowded and I was standing there holding onto one ofthe leather straps with one hand and a paperback in the other. Aman sitting just down the aisle and looking rather drunk spottedme and shouted, “Oh, monk, come on over here, there is a seatopen.” As he was pretty far into his cups, I would have preferredto ignore him, but since there was a seat open and I was quite



25

tired from the day’s outing, I worked my way over and sat downnext to him. He tried to engage me in conversation, but I madeperfunctory replies and went back to reading my book. He leaned

over to see what I was reading, but unfortunately for him itlooked rather difficult, so for a while he just sat next to mewithout saying a word. Then, all of a sudden, in a most serioustone, he said, “You keep on practicing good and hard, now. Lookaround. Even though everyone is all caught up in looking at thecherry blossoms, here are guys like you going out on takuhatsu.I’m just a tinsmith, and sometimes when I’m working there in the

shop, we can hear the ‘Ho——’ of some monk coming down thestreet. My little girl runs over to me and says, ‘Papa, give mesome money!’ She quickly takes the two yen or three yen I giveher and runs out to put it in the monk’s bowl. And inevitably, themonk very politely bows very low to thank her and then goes onhis way. You know, for two or three yen, you don’t have to be sopolite and do a full bow like that. Anyway, you practice real

hard, now. All the great ones like Ikkyu lived off takuhatsu. Ifwe keep on giving to monks, even if we can’t afford very much,some day another Ikkyu will come along — I’m absolutely sureof it.” I closed the book I was reading and looked straight at thisdrunk sitting next to me, but all the drunkenness had disappearedfrom his eyes, and he looked back at me most soberly. In manydistricts of Kyoto there are still people who think like that guy.



26

Is there such a thing as luck?

By the time I was finally able to throw off my takuhatsuneurosis, my philosophy regarding luck had pretty much takenshape. Generally speaking, I‘m not interested in talking aboutfortune or fate. As a human being trying to live out the spirit ofgenuine religious teachings, you have to have the fundamentalattitude of facing whatever comes up regardless of good luck ormisfortune. Every time you try to succeed at something that is alittle beyond your natural capacity, you generally wind up cryingover the spilled milk of your failure and, to that extent, there cannever be any total peace of mind. When you settle on animmovable peace of mind as your true religious practice, this hasno connection whatever to luck, good or bad. The zazenpractitioner has to sit bearing in mind those words ofencouragement, “ Every day is a good day,” and “Whatever

happens this is an auspicious occasion”6. Although whicheverway things evolve is fine, we still have to do our best to make

good choices. If you are driving down the street and have thechoice of either sticking to your own lane because that is thecorrect one or moving over into the opposite lane to avoidcolliding with an oncoming car that is careening down the road atyou, then moving out of the way of the oncoming car is the wayyour life should fall. When I went out on takuhatsu, I could do sowith a simplistic attitude of just going for a walk whether anyone

put something into my bowl or not. But if my life depends ontakuhatsu, and I need to do it efficiently in order to have time todo the other work in the temple plus have time for zazen andstudy, all of which constitute the vow by which I live my life, itis only natural to choose a route where I know the contribution islikely to be generous. The true meaning of “whatever way I fall”doesn’t deny luck or fortune. It sees luck happening within

6 Uchiyama Roshi has taken the first character of the Chinese word for fortune which is kikkyo 吉凶 andcombined it with another character to form the Buddhist term for auspicious or joyous, which is kichijo 吉祥.



27

whatever way I fall. That is, even if I fall into good luck orcircumstances, that is my great joy. And, if I meet some bad luck,then that is my joy and fortune. Being happy and laughing, every

day is a good day. And, likewise, being sad and hopeless is also agood day. Thinking that once we have attained deep faith or havehad some great enlightenment experience our whole life will beone joyous delight after another and all sadness will be sweptaway, so that all we can see is paradise. This is nothing but afairy tale. Living a life of true reality, while experiencing anongoing restlessness of, now a moment of alternate moments of

joy and sadness, actual ly, there has to be a settling into one’s lifein a much deeper place where you face whatever comes up.Likewise, true religious teaching is not a denial of our day-to-daypredicaments, it is not cleverly glossing over reality, or feignedhappiness. On the contrary, true religious teaching has to be ableto show us how we can swim through one wave at a time, that is,those waves of our life of now laughing, now crying, the waves

of prosperity or adversity. Studying and practicing thebuddhadharma is neither a kind of academic exercise to becarried out only after your livelihood has been secured, nor somesort of zazen performed when circumstances are favorable. I wasforced to search out what true religion is when I was not unlike astray dog always badgered by anxieties over daily life, having topick up whatever scraps I could. As long as we are alive, there

will always be fortunate things and unfortunate things happeningin our lives. Inevitably we go through times of utter collapse aswell. Frequently, during that period prior to throwing off mytakuhatsu neurosis, there were days when one person afteranother would tell me to go away. Sometimes I would just get sodemoralized that I would quit and spend the rest of the day at thezoo. Or, if I didn’t have any money, I would go to the librarywearing my sedge hat and straw sandals. But, eventually, as Igrew used to going out, I began to discover that even on dayswhen I would start off badly, instead of becoming depressed, I



28

began to think instead that I was just unlucky that morning. Littleby little, I would get back my sprit and walk through the streetssearching for that gold vein and, inevitably, my luck would

change. When you start off like a house on fire, then you have topay particularly attention, because while you are all relaxedthinking about what a great morning it has been, bang, your luckdoesn’t last forever. Your happy-go-lucky attitude is clear tothose around you and you end up having to go home with evenless than average. Whenever I started off badly, I just figuredlater my luck would change for the better. And when I started out

lucky, I knew I would have to be on my toes. No matter howmuch experience you have had, there are times when yourintuition about where to go that day completely misses the mark.When one is restricted to bringing in the most results in the leastamount of time, completely missing the mark can be critical. Youcould say that good fortune or luck comes into play preciselywhen you are looking for a certain result in a limited time. But if

you are looking at things from the viewpoint of eternity, thenthere is no such thing as luck. While settled in the attitude thatwhichever way our life falls we feel grateful, we can feel thevarying textures of fortune and misfortune in terms of joy andbitterness during the day’s walk. If we look at humankind from along view of billions of years, this animal called Homo sapiens isnothing more than a single existence that suddenly appeared in

this universe and will leave it without a trace. A single day in thelife of this very small human species is just one tiny joy, oneminute of bitterness. Without an attitude that whatever happens isokay, we are going to wind up neurotic. Still, even thoughwhatever may happen is okay, if you do not apply anybusinesslike principle to your activities, even to one liketakuhatsu, you will end up a fool. Going the Middle Waybetween the neurotic and the fool is precisely what doingtakuhatsu is about.



29

Takuhatsu as a business

Needless to say, before falling back on luck, it is better to applycreative savvy. I think we can call takuhatsu a kind of enterprise,albeit not a particularly large-scale one. If the aims of themanagement are misguided, the company will go down the drain.A healthy business requires always looking at the big picture.Applying this to takuhatsu, we naturally have to have a “businessmap,” but a takuhatsu map is not a kind of tourist informationmap or road map. You have to mesh your own needs with theprosperity of the neighborhood. You have to decide how oftenyour going for donations will be acceptable to the people livingthere. Practically speaking, if all the shops in a particular areaseem to have a steady stream of customers, you can conclude thatthe district is fairly prosperous, but you still need to avoid beingburdensome for the community. Therefore, you draw a line atonce a month. On the other hand, sometimes there’s an area thatalways contributes well, but is obviously an economically

challenged area. You have to put yourself in their shoes and seehow difficult it must be for them to give so much; even thoughthey are good contributors, maybe two or at most three times ayear would be best. When I would go out, I would take note ofthese things in my mind and add them to my takuhatsu map. Ifyou don’t consider them, and go back three or four times in quicksuccession just because they put a lot of money into your bowl

the first time, you are going to be in for a shock. They will get toknow your face and will not only stop putting anything in yourbowl, they will stop looking at you at all and your bowl will soondry up. The reason I think I was able to continue takuhatsu forover ten years without my bowl ever being bone dry in a city assmall as Kyoto, and receiving the patronage of the local peoplewhile raising my “sales” results consistently, was my “business

policies” in regard to takuhatsu as an enterprise. The heavyatmosphere just before storms are strangely good times for



30

takuhatsu. The sky above the northern mountains becomes pitchblack, the thunder begins to roll and the clouds move ominouslycloser. At those times, I am resigned to getting a good soaking,

but as I keep on takuhatsu, the storeowners begin running outsideto get everything under a roof or awning. And when I stop infront of a shop, the owner wastes no time in putting something inmy bowl. Right away, I move on, and right away, the next fellowcomes out to put money in the bowl. These few minutes ofconfusion and hurrying around just before the storm hits are greatfor raising efficiency. Dusk at the vernal equinox, works the

same way. At that shadowy time of the day, just about the time itfeels like there could be some sort of demon lurking around thenearest corner, the atmosphere in the streets turns somewhatfrantic. Kyoto seems to be a place where you would almostexpect some eerie spectacle to appear from out of the shadows.People in Kyoto have long dhad this fear of malevolent spirits.No doubt the thunder and the early evening of the equinox

generate the expectation of spirits and goblins swaggering about.It is in just that atmosphere that a monk out on takuhatsu matchesthe need of the people and surely this boosts sales. Festivals areanother special occasion. Right up to the start of the festival isgreat for doing takuhatsu, but once the floats start rolling downthe street, forget it. It is the same during a fire. At times like this,what else is there to do but enjoy the parade?



31

Nothing carries over

One of the good things about takuhatsu that makes it differentfrom other business enterprises is that there is no carry over fromone day to the next. There are no credit sales and no outstandingdebt. There is no capital outlay and no bouncing of checks thatmight cause someone to track you down. Far from it, the worstthing that could happen is that some unsympathetic person whosehouse you are standing in front of comes out and yells at you togo away. For the moment, you feel rather down at the mouth, butthen you move on down the street and some very attractive youngwoman comes out holding a cute little baby and gives the smilingchild a coin to drop into your bowl. Bingo, you feel all happy andwarm again. Or, perhaps some old grandmother appears and bowsever so politely. As she puts some money in the bowl, standsthere reverently while you while you recite the verse ofthankfulness, and then bows again in thanks. So now, there youare, bathed in the religious atmosphere of deep mutual respect.

The money she put in the bowl seems all the more precious andyou can’t help but thank her from the bottom of your heart. Iguess this is just another inevitable outpouring of humansentiment, in any case none of this carries over to the next day.Actually, there isn’t any carry over even to the next instant. Still,it is my ongoing prayer that as we are alive for such a short time,we carry the feeling of caring for each other through each

moment of our life. Although I said there are no carryovers fromone moment to the next, sometimes there are people who ask forchange. One day an elderly lady stuck out a ten-yen note andsaid, “Look, I will give you three, you give me seven back.” So,there I am chanting the verse of thanks while fishing in my bagone yen at a time for change. The thought of such a scene maybring a smile, but I can tell you personally, the reality of it is not

pleasant. Occasionally a guy comes along who looks at me likeI’m a moneychanger, and thrusting a hundred-yen note in my



32

face says, “Now, I’m going to give you five yen, so give me therest back.” Sometimes, takuhatsu can taste pretty bitter.



33

A few grains of sand

Walking along on a crisp autumn day, the long sleeves of myblack robe billowing in the wind, there really couldn’t be anygreater feeling of elegance than that. In Kyoto, most offerings aremonetary, although sometimes other things appear in the bowl.There was one elderly lady who used to call me into her homewhere she would go back in the kitchen and bring out two fistfulsof rice and empty it into my bag. I could never help thinking, ifonly her hands were a little bigger. On the other hand, to receivea lot of rice would make the bag around my neck a lot heavierand I would wind up going home with stiff shoulders. Besidesrice, I would sometimes get a baked potato from the baked potatoman or a sweet cake a street vendor. A nun who lived in aseparate house on the grounds of Antaiji used to come home withall kinds of things. One time she even brought back a fish. Monksare never that lucky, although one time I did receive four loavesof bread. It made me very happy, but the thing is, four loaves of

bread won’t fit into the black bag. On top of that, I had justbegun the day’s walk, so I couldn’t quit and head back to thetemple. Thankfully, the sleeves on our black robes are very long,so tucking away a few loaves of bread was not all that difficult.Sometimes I will be standing in front of a shop and the ownerwill duck back inside as soon as he spots me. Then just when Ithink, well, no luck here, the owner reappears holding a small

child who is holding tightly to a coin until she drops it into mybowl. This has happened frequently over the years and it alwaysmakes me feel good about Kyoto. Surely, when the parenthimself was once a little boy, his father must have given him acoin to put into some monk’s bowl. This is truly one of thewonderful things about this city. One time when I was outwalking, I was passing a woman holding an infant who was in

turn holding a coin in his hand that was no larger than a leaf ofone of those Japanese dwarf maple trees. The infant smiled and



34

let the coin fall into my bowl. Surprised by how young mybenefactor was, I asked the woman about the child. She repliedthat the baby was just forty days old. I was both touched by the

loveliness of the gesture and grateful by this woman’s very warmspirit of teaching an infant to give money to a monk ontakuhatsu. When I was out on takuhatsu one day, a small boy putsome dirt into my bowl. I chanted the usual prayer of thanks as Iaccepted his offering. I was reminded of the story of how a childput sand Shakyamuni Buddha’s bowl when he was out ontakuhatsu one day. As he was passing near a child who was

playing house, the child looked up and immediately gave him oneof her sand cakes. Shakyamuni accepted the donation and whenhe returned to the monastery, during the subsequent work periodhe had the sand mixed in with the wall plaster. It is said that theboy who put the sand in his bowl became the great king Ashokain a latter life. Then, a second child came up to me and did thesame, and another and another, until five or six children had put

dirt in my bowl, which I continued to empty into my bag. And, ofcourse, in front of each child, I recited the same prayer. Theywere just delighted by all this, although in the back of my mind Iwas thinking that there were just too many King Ashokas thatday. Another day I was on a roll and ten-yen coins were falling inmy bowl one after another. Standing in front of a shop, the ownercame out and gave me ten yen and I began reciting the prayer of

thanks. As I was reciting it, a passerby dropped another ten-yencoin in the bowl and no sooner had I begun the prayer again,when another passerby added ten more yen. Hardly was I finishedwith these when I turned to face the next person and, bingo,another ten yen. After the donations kept rolling in without abreak, I couldn’t help myself and I just burst out laughing. Asthey say, it was the best of times. I feel grateful for being unableto stop laughing over receiving four ten-yen coins. This is a joyful moment for a monk on takuhatsu, especially when thereare so many people who have plenty of money and still can’t be



35

satisfied. Then again, there were also times like the following. Ihad been out walking for about an hour and virtually no onelooked my way. Every once in a while, someone might toss in a

one or two yen coin. After an hour of this, there was barely 30yen in my bowl. Although it was a lousy route, rarely had itgotten that bad, so I recited my “first comes bad luck, then comesthe good” mantra to myself. But good luck never came around, soI finally just went home. Shortly after that, I went to visit mybrother at his home. His daughter was pleading with her motherto give her something. I told her not to be so greedy, there are

days when I walk around for an hour and only get thirty yen.Surprised to hear such a thing, my sister, who was also there,said, “Oh, I’ll donate money for takuhatsu,” and proceeded togive me a thousand yen. Then my brother who heard ourconversation from the next room, spoke up, “Hey, me, too,” andcame and gave me another thousand yen. The next day when Irelated this story to a friend, he pitched in and also gave me a

thousand yen. So, just about the time I was thinking how strangeit was that my thirty yen had now become ¥3,030, an executiveheard my tale and added ten thousand yen to the pot! So, my“only thirty yen in one hour” story had now grown to ¥13,030yen! Who can figure out the meaning of money in the world thesedays?



36

Why go out on takuhatsu?

Most of the stories I have related here about takuhatsu don’tsound very religious, so I would like to close on a slightly moreserious note about why takuhatsu is a vital activity for a personwho chooses to live out genuine religious teachings. During allthe years I went out on takuhatsu this was always a fundamentalquestion: why go out? As I said before, takuhatsu is a kind ofdonation collection. There is no merchandise, no product or giftto offset the donation. It is just walking around accepting charity.Because of that, if I were unable to totally accept myself as abeggar, I would have continued to suffer emotionally. Manytimes, especially when I was neurotic about it, I thought howmuch easier it would be if I at least had something to exchange,like a door-to-door salesman. I thought of giving up and doingsome kind of part-time work. On the other hand, I thought of allthe truly religious figures in Buddhist history, beginning withShakyamuni, who lived by takuhatsu, and the Christians in the

Middle Ages, like the Franciscans and Dominicans, who alsolived by takuhatsu. I thought there might be a crucial relationshipbetween takuhatsu and religion that I could never really know. Ifthere were some intrinsic reason why a person aspiring to liveout a religious life should do takuhatsu, what could it be? I wasthinking about this, ten years passed. It was just at the end of thatperiod that I read a book about the scientists who developed the

atomic bomb. In 1945, when we first heard that a terrible bombhad laid waste to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in the midst of all thathorror no one could imagine what sort of human beings couldhave made such an accursed thing. I myself thught that it musthave been the work of some inhuman devil who never shed a tearand had only ice in his veins instead of blood. Of course, itturned out that they were not some special breed of animal, they

were none other than the nuclear scientists in the vanguard ofphysics. How could these men have made such a terrible weapon,



37

one that, even now, could very well lead to the completeannihilation of all human beings on this planet? Scientists aroundthe world had raced to be the first ones to make such a bomb, and

in the end the Americans had won the race. The horrible result ofdropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki pricked theconsciences of these top atomic scientists and they wanted tostop further research in this area, so they requested that they beallowed to return to their universities. The American governmentsaid they could return to their laboratories, but at the same timethe government issued an order to each of the universities not to

rehire those scientists. Since all of the science departments atthese universities were receiving financial aid from thegovernment, the universities were obligated to follow thoseorders. Consequently, all the universities turned down thescientists’ requests to return and the unfortunate scientistsreturned to the government facilities and continued their work onnew atomic weapons. Thinking about this, I couldn’t help but

feel the weakness of human beings when confronted with money.That was when I realized the importance of going out ontakuhatsu for any person intending to live truly by true religiousteachings. Once you receive money from one designated person,you obligate yourself to bow to the money or to its source. Ofcourse, out on takuhatsu, I might have to lower my head severalhundred or even a thousand times. Yet even though the amount I

receive is just one yen, I am not bowing to the money nor do Ihave to cavil or get down on my knees. In all the years I havebeen at Antaiji, I have never solicited a penny from anyone. Inthat sense, I am my own person. Since Antaiji is a monastery, ithas received all sorts of donations. Still, no matter how large orsmall the amount, to the extent that I haven’t solicited it, it is nodifferent from a donation put into my bowl when I am out ontakuhatsu. For that reason, it is not necessary to bow and scrapebefore the money or its source. I have always tried to live my lifein accord with religious teachings, although, I am not what



38

anyone would call a Orthodox religionist. I have been able to actthis way due to the support I have received through takuhatsu. Ifyou are intending to live out a genuine religious life, then you

must learn never to bow before money. And, for that, you mustnever be afraid of being poor. Once I passed 50, takuhatsubecame increasingly difficult for me. Fortunately, my takuhatsulife ended in the spring of 1962, because of the royalties I beganto receive from the books I have published on my hobby oforigami. I am grateful for that, I have had no teacher or master orboss to bow down before, and the royalties are not something I

need to bow to either. In any event, as long as you keep yourdesires within the parameters of your income, I see no necessityto bow down before Mammon. But if the royalties on my origamibooks ever dry up so that I no longer have even the bareminimum to support myself, you will see me back out on thestreets.



39

Two oems



40

To ,ractice the 'uddha.Way

is to ,ractice +iko / all inclusi0e sel&

If you call , I shall respond

That is just me responding to myself.

I can hear all the news of the world

I am just hearing news of myself .

When you are in pain or suffering

I lend a hand.

That is just me lending a hand to myself.

I follow my teacher and practice (as I am taught)

That is just me following me and practicing.

Whatever I bring up, there is nothing apart from Jiko—all

inclusive self.

Practicing a Self that is a wholly living Self

That is the samadhi of fully-functioning Self

That is practicing the Buddha Way.7

7 This poem by Uchiyama Kosho roshi, translated by Daitsu Tom Wright, is based on a passage in theShobogenzo Genjo Koan that goes:



41

Samadhi o& the Treasury o& the 1adiant 2ight

Though poor, never poor.

Though sick, never sick.

Though aging, never aging.

Though dying, never dying.

Reality prior to division;

Herein lies unlimited depth.



42



43

正法眼藏六十六三昧王三昧

Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma

Book 44

The Way o& the 'uddhaThe Way o& the 'uddhaThe Way o& the 'uddhaThe Way o& the 'uddha

Butsudō

Translated by

Carl Bielefeldt

INTRODUCTION

This chapter of the Shōbōgenzō was composed in 1243, soonafter Dōgen moved from the capital to Echizen (modern Fukui).It occurs as number 44 in the seventy-five chapter redaction ofthe Shōbōgenzō. This text is not to be confused with anotherchapter of the same title (sometimes known as Dōshin, or “Mindof the Way”) found in the twenty-eight chapter “secret”Shōbōgenzō preserved at Eiheiji.

The central theme of “The Way of the Buddha” concerns what wemight call the institutional character or identity of Dōgen’stradition. The title reflects the claim, made at the very outset ofthe text, that the lineage of the ancestral masters of the traditionis continuous with the ancient line of the Seven Buddhas leadingup to Śākyamuni; it is thus the lineage of the buddhas, not merelya Buddhist school. From this, Dōgen goes on to criticize sharplythe common practice of referring to this lineage as the “Zen”(Sanskrit dhyāna, or “meditation”) school.



44

The text then moves to the question of the “five houses” intowhich the Zen historians in the Song dynasty often divided thetradition. Quoting the dismissal of distinctions among the houses

by his teacher, Tiantong Rujing, Dōgen attributes the notion ofdistinct houses to the decline of the tradition in China. He thentakes up each of the five houses in turn, arguing that none of theostensible founders of these houses ever spoke of them as distinctschools. Near the end of this section, he singles out for criticismthe twelfth-century work, Rentian yanmu (“The Eye of Humansand Gods”), which provides a summary account of Zen based on

the history and teachings of the five schools.Finally, the text returns to the broader of issue of school identity,pointing out that the true transmission of the Buddha’s wisdom isnot a school, and that the establishment of a Buddhist school is aviolation of the Buddha’s own practice.

This translation is based on the Japanese edition in Kawamura

Kōdō, Shōbōgenzō, vol. 1 (1991), pp. 471-488. The presentonline text reflects the version appearing in Dharma Eye 19(Spring 2007); a more fully annotated text will be available indue course. Other English translations of this chapter can befound in Nishiyama, Shōbōgenzō, vol. 3 (1983); Yokoi, TheShobo-genzo (1986); and Nishijima and Cross, Master Dogen’sShōbōgenzō, Book 3 (1997).



45

正法眼藏六十六三昧王三昧

Treasury o& the Eye o& the True "harma

'ook %%

The Way o& the 'uddhaThe Way o& the 'uddhaThe Way o& the 'uddhaThe Way o& the 'uddha

'utsudo

The old buddha of Caoqi once said to the assembly, "There are

forty ancestors from Huineng to the Seven Buddhas."8

In investigating these words, [we should understand them tomean that] from the Seven Buddhas to Huineng there are fortybuddhas. This is the way to count in counting the buddhas and

ancestors. Counting in this way, the Seven Buddhas are sevenancestors, and the thirty-three ancestors are thirty-three buddhas.Such is the import of Caoqi's [saying]. It is the instruction of abuddha of correct descent: only a direct heir to the correcttransmission correctly transmits this way of counting.

From the Buddha Śākyamuni to Caoqi there are thirty-four

ancestors. This succession of buddhas and ancestors is in eachcase like Kāśyapa encountering the Tathāgata, like the Tathāgatagaining Kāśyapa.9

Just as the Buddha Śākyamuni studied under the BuddhaKāśyapa, so do the masters and disciples living now; therefore,

8 “The old buddha of Caoqi” refers to the Sixth Ancestor, Huineng. The number forty adds the standard list of

the Seven Buddhas of the past, from Vipaśyin to Śākyamuni, to the thirty-three ancestors in the traditional Zenlineage from Mahākāśyapa to Huineng.9 “Kāśyapa” here probably refers to the First Ancester, Mahākāśyapa, as opposed to the Buddha Kāśyapa,mentioned just below, who is the sixth of the Seven Buddhas of the past, just preceding Śākyamuni.



46

the treasury of the eye of the true dharma [transmitted fromŚākyamuni to Mahākāśyapa] has actually been passed down to usfrom heir to heir. The correct life of the buddha dharma is

nothing but this correct transmission. Because the buddhadharma is thus correctly transmitted, [the masters and disciples]are each the direct heir of the [Buddha's] bequest.

Thus all of them have been fully endowed with the virtues andthe essential functions of the way of the buddha. Transmittedfrom the Western Heavens to the Eastern Earth [i.e., from Indiato China], [this tradition spans] 18,000 li; transmitted from[Śākyamuni’s] lifetime to the present, [it continues] over twothousand years. A group that has not studied this principle rashlyand mistakenly says [the following]. The treasury of the eye ofthe true dharma, the wondrous mind of nirvana, correctlytransmitted by the buddhas and ancestors, they rashly call the"Zen school." They call the ancestral masters "Zen ancestors";they call the students "Zen masters" or "Zen preceptors"; or they

call themselves "lines of the Zen houses." These are all but"branches and leaves" that have taken a biased view as the"root." When, throughout the Western Heavens and EasternEarth, from ancient times till the present, there has not been theterm "Zen school,” rashly to call oneself [by this term] is to be ademon who would destroy the way of the buddha, an unbiddenenemy of the buddhas and ancestors.

In the Linjian lu by Shimen [i.e., Juefan Huihong], it is said,

When Bodhidharma first went to Wei from Liang, he

proceeded to the foot of Mt. Song, where he stopped

at Shaolin. There he just sat facing a wall. This was

not the practice of dhyāna [i.e., zen, “meditation”],

but after a while others, unable to fathom what he

was doing, held that Dharma practiced dhyāna. This

dhyāna is but one among various practices; how



47

could it suffice to exhaust [the practice of] the holy

ones? Nevertheless, people of the time took it in this

way; the historians followed this and recorded him

with those that practiced dhyāna, thus making him aconfederate of the partisans of “dead wood and cold

ashes.” Be that as it may, the holy ones do not stop

at dhyāna, and yet they do not oppose dhyāna. It is

like “change,” which is beyond yin and yang and yet

does not oppose yin and yang.

[Bodhidharma] is called the twenty-eighth ancestor when[Śākyamuni’s disciple] Kāśyapa The Great One is taken as thefirst ancestor; from the Buddha Vipaśyin, he is the thirty-fifthancestor. These Seven Buddhas and twenty-eight ancestors havenever taken dhyāna to exhaust the verification of the way;therefore, our ancient forebear [Huihong] says here, "Dhyāna isbut one among various practices; how could it suffice to exhaust[the practice of] the holy ones?"

This ancient forebear has seen something of the person [ofBodhidharma], has entered the interior of the hall of the lineageof the ancestors; therefore he has these words. Nowadays,throughout the entire land of the Great Song, [his type] would bedifficult to meet, would be welcome indeed. Even if[Bodhidharma were practicing] dhyāna, we should not call [this

practice] the "Dhyāna [or Zen] school,” much less [consider]dhyāna to be a general essential of the buddha dharma.

Yet, there are those who speak of the great way correctlytransmitted from buddha to buddha as the "Zen school.” Theyhave never seen the way of the buddha even in their dreams; theyhave never heard of it in their dreams; they have neverparticipated in its transmission in their dreams. We are not toacknowledge that those who call themselves the "Zen school"have the buddha dharma. Who ever spoke of a "Zen school"?



48

There has never been a buddha or ancestor who spoke of a "Zenschool.” We should realize that the name "Zen school" is a nameused by Māra Pāp ī yān; and those who use Māra Pāp ī yān's name

are the minions of Māra, not the progeny of the buddhas andancestors.10

When the Bhagavat, before an assembly of a million

on Sacred [Vulture] Peak, took up an udumbara

flower and winked, the assembly was silent; only

K āś yapa the Worthy smiled. The Bhagavat said, “I

have a treasury of the eye of the true dharma, the

wondrous mind of nirvana; together with my

saṃghāṭī robe, I bequeath i t to Mahāk āś yapa.”11

In the Bhagavat’s bequeathal to Kāśyapa The Great One, [hesaid] “I have a treasury of the eye of the true dharma, thewondrous mind of nirvana.” He did not go on to say, “I have a‘Zen school,’ which I bequeath to Mahākāśyapa.” He said,

“Together with my sāṅghātirobe,” not “together with the ‘Zenschool.’” Thus, we do not hear of the name “Zen school” duringthe Bhagavat’s lifetime.

The First Ancestor [Bodhidharma] addressed the SecondAncestor [Huike], saying,

The unsurpassed wondrous way of the buddhas takes

vast kalpas [æons] of spiritual fortitude, practicing

what is difficult to practice, enduring what is

difficult to endure. How could one of little virtue

and little wisdom, of frivolous mind and vain mind,

think to aspire to the true vehicle?

10 Māra Pāp ī yān, or Māra The Evil One, is the deva who sent his minions to prevent Śākyamuni from attainingenlightenment under the Bodhi tree.11 The famous story of the transmission from Śākyamuni to the First Ancestor, Mahākāśyapa. The “sāṅghātirobe” is the monk’s formal outer garment.



49

He also said, “The seal of the dharma of the buddhas is notobtained from another.”

And he said, “The Tathāgata bequeathed the treasury of the eyeof true dharma to Kāśyapa The Great One.”

Both the “unsurpassed wondrous way of the buddhas” and the“treasury of the eye of the true dharma” spoken of here are the“seal of the dharma of the buddhas.” At this time, there is nomention at all of a “Zen school,” nor does one hear of reasons tospeak of a “Zen school.” The “treasury of the eye of the true

dharma” here is what has been personally bequeathed in “raisingthe eyebrows and blinking the eyes,” what has been conferred inthe “bones and marrow of body and mind,” what has beenreceived in the “bones and marrow of body and mind.” It is whathas been transmitted and received “before the body and after thebody,” what has been transmitted and received “beyond the mindand outside the mind.”12

One does not hear the name “Zen school” in the assembly of theBhagavat and Kāśyapa; one does not hear it in the assembly ofthe First and Second Ancestors [Bodhidharma and Huike]; nordoes one hear it in the assembly of the Fifth and Sixth Ancestors[Hongren and Huineng], or in the assemblies of [Huineng’s twomajor disciples,] Qingyuan and Nanyue. No one knows when orby whom this name originated. Probably it comes from scholars,unworthy of the name, who secretly sought to destroy the dharmaor to steal the dharma. For later students rashly to use a namenever acknowledged by the buddhas and ancestors will be theruin of the house of the buddhas and ancestors. Moreover, [suchuse] suggests that there is some dharma called the “Zen school”other than the dharma of all the buddhas and ancestors. If therewere [a dharma] other than the way of the buddhas and ancestors,

12 “Raising the eyebrows and blinking the eyes” is another reference to the first transmission on Vulture Peak;“bones and marrow of body and mind” alludes to the transmission from Bodhidharma to Huike.



50

it would be a dharma of those outside the way [i.e., non-Buddhists]. As progeny of the buddhas and ancestors, we shouldstudy the “bones, marrow and countenance” of the buddhas and

ancestors. We should throw ourselves into the way of thebuddhas and ancestors, not shrink off to study what is outside theway. We enjoy the rare opportunity of having the body and mindof a human, due to the [karmic] power of past pursuit of the way;having received this beneficent power, mistakenly to serve thoseoutside the way is no way to repay the beneficence of thebuddhas and ancestors.

Recently in the Great Song, the common classes throughout thecountry hear this false name “Zen school,” and the lay followerscompete to spread talk of such false names as the “Zen school,”or the “[Bodhi]dharma school,” or the “Buddha Mind school,” tillthey would corrupt the way of the buddha. This is the corruptway of those who have never known the great way of the buddhasand ancestors, who have not seen or heard, believed or accepted

even that there is a treasury of the eye of the true dharma. Who,knowing the treasury of the eye of the true dharma, would use afalse name for the way of the buddha?

Therefore,

The Great Master Wuji of Shitou Hermitage on Mt.

Nanyue [i.e. , Shitou Xiquian] ascended the hall and

addressed the assembly, saying, “My dharma

gateway has been transmitted from prior buddhas. It

doesn’t concern meditation or vigour; it merely

masters the buddhas’ knowledge.”

We should know that the buddhas and ancestors who have thecorrect transmission from the Seven Buddhas, from the various

buddhas, talk in this way. [Here, Shitou] expresses the words“my dharma gateway has been transmitted from prior buddhas”;



51

he has no expression of the words, “my Zen school has beentransmitted from prior buddhas.” He does not distinguish theitems “meditation or vigour”; he makes “the buddhas’

knowledge” “merely master.” He does not dislike vigour andmeditation; [they are] “the buddhas’ knowledge” “merelymastered.” This is [equivalent to Śākyamuni’s saying] “I have atreasury of the eye of the true dharma . . . I bequeath it.”[Shitou’s] “my” is [Śākyamuni’s] “I have”; [Shitou’s] “dharmagateway” is [Śākyamuni’s] “true dharma.” This “my,” “I have,”and [Bodhidharma’s saying] “my marrow” are the “I bequeath it”

of [Bodhidharma’s saying] “you have got.”13

The Great Master Wuji was the only child of the Eminentancestor Qingyuan; he alone entered the interior of the[ancestor’s] hall. He was a dharma heir through tonsure of[Qingyuan’s master,] the Old Buddha Caoqi. Thus, the OldBuddha Caoqi was both his grandfather and his father; and theeminent ancestor Qingyuan was both his older brother and his

teacher. The only “hero of the ancestral seat” on the way of thebuddha was the Great Master Wuji of Shitou Hermitage; onlyWuji “mereley mastered” the correct transmission of the way ofthe buddha. In the expressions of his words, every point andevery line is the agelessness of an old buddha, the long presenceof an old buddha. We should take him as the eye of the treasuryof the eye of the true dharma; we should not compare him with

others. Comparisons with Jianxi Daji [i.e., Shitou’s contemporaryMazu Daoyi] by those who do not know this are in error.

Thus, we should know that, in the way of the buddha transmittedand received by prior buddhas, they do not speak of dhyāna,much less, needless to say, of the term “Zen [or Dhyāna] school.”We should clearly understand that using the term “Zen school” is

an extreme error. A shallow group, thinking that it is like the13 “My marrow” and “you have got” allude to the story of the transmission from Bodhidharma to Huike, inwhich the former says, “You have got my marrow.”



52

[scholastic doctrinal categories] “school of being” or “school ofemptiness,” lament that, without a name for the school, therewould be nothing to study. The way of the buddha is not like

this. We should be firmly convinced that the term “Zen school”was never used.

Nevertheless, the mediocre types of recent generations are stupidand do not know the ancient style. Those without transmissionfrom the prior buddhas mistakenly say that, within the buddhadharma, there are the teaching styles of the five schools. This isa natural decline and diminution. There has not been one or ahalf to salvage it. My former master, the old buddha of Tiantong[i.e., Tiantong Rujing], was the first to take pity on them. It wasgood fortune for people; it was mastery of the dharma.

My former master, the old buddha, ascended the hall andaddressed the assembly, saying,

Nowadays everyone just talks of [the five houses of]“Yunmen, Fayan, Weiyang, Linji, Caodong.” To

have distinctions of house styles is not the buddha

dharma; it is not the way of the ancestral masters.

The expression of these words is hard to encounter in a thousandyears; my former master alone said them. They are hard to hearthroughout the ten directions; [those at] the “perfect seat” alone

hear them. This being the case, among one thousand monks,there is none with the ears to hear it, none with eyes to see it.How much less are there those who will take up the mind andhear it, those who will hear it with the body? Even though theyhear it with their own full body and mind for one hundred millionten thousand kalpas, they will not take up my former master’sentire body and mind and hear it, verify it, believe it, and slough

it off. It is pitiful that, throughout the ten directions of the oneland of the great Song, all have thought that the local elders and



53

such are of equal stature with my former master. We cannot takethe group that thinks like this as “equipped with the eye”; wecannot take them as “unequipped with the eye.” Again, they

have thought that Linji [i.e., Linji Yixuan] and Deshan [i.e.,Deshan Xuanjian] were the equal of my former master. We haveto say that this group has also not seen my former master, has notmet Linji. Before I had paid obeisance to the old buddha, myformer master, I thought to investigate the dark import of the fiveschools. After paying obeisance to the old buddha, my formermaster, I knew the import of the corrupt term “five schools.”

Thus, when the buddha dharma flourished in the land of the greatSong, there was no term “five schools,” and there were noancients who raised the term “five schools” or heard of “housestyles.” Ever since the buddha dharma became weak, we havethis arbitrary term “five schools.” It is like this because peopleare stupid in their study and do not become intimate with pursuitof the way. To monks who would seek to investigate the real

thing, I offer this strict prohibition: do not note or retain thefalse term “five houses”; do not note or designate the teachingstyles of the five houses. How much less are there [such catchphrases of the house styles as] “the three darknesses” or “thethree essentials,” “the four considerations” or “the fourilluminations and functions,” “the nine girdles,” and so on. Howmuch less are there “the three phrases” or “the five ranks” or “the

ten identical true wisdoms.”

The way of old master Śākya is not a small measure like this anddoes not take something like this as a great measure. It does notexpress it in words, nor is it heard in Shaolin or Caoqi. It ispitiful, something said now by little shavepates of the last agewho have not heard the dharma and whose bodies and minds and

eyes are dark. Descendants of the buddhas and ancestors, do notutter such words! In what the buddhas and ancestors keep, one



54

has never heard these mad words. One has never heard thesemad words from those occupying [the positions of] buddhas andancestors. Recent little teachers, those who have never heard of

the entire way of the buddha dharma, who lack the entire relianceon the way of the ancestors, who are ignorant of their originallot, boasting of one or two little parts, set up such names ofschools. Ever since they set up the names of schools, the littlechildren, because they do not study the way that seeks out theroot, vainly follow the branches. Lacking the aspiration thatyearns for the ancient, they have the conduct that blends with the

secular. Even the secular warn that following [the ways of] thesecular world is base.

King Wen [of Zhou] asked the grand duke [Lü

Shang], “What about the lord who labors to elevate

the wise but does not garner the effect, so that the

disorder of the world increases to an extreme that

becomes dangerous?”

The grand duke said, “He elevates the wise but does

no use them. This is because he elevates the names

of the wise and does not get the reality of the wise.

King Wen said, “Where is the fault?”

The grand duke said, “The fault is in using what the

worldly praise and not getting the really wise.”

King Wen said, “What is using what the worldly

praise?”

The grand duke said, “To listen to the praise of the

worldly is to take the unwise as the wise, to take the

unintelligent as the intelligent, to take the disloyal as

the loyal, to take the unfaithful as the faithful. If the

lord takes as wise and intelligent those praised by



55

the worldly and takes as unworthy those reviled by

the worldly, then the majority party will advance and

the minority party will retreat. Thus, when the

wicked group together, they obscure the wise; theloyal ministers die without crime, and the wicked

ministers seek court ranks with flattery. Thus, the

disorder of the world increases to an extreme, and as

a result, the country cannot avoid peril.” [From the

early Chinese work of martial strategy, the Liu Tao.]

Even the secular lament when the way is imperiled for theircountry; when the dharma of the buddha and the way of thebuddha are imperiled, the children of the buddha should naturallylament. The basis of the peril is the indiscrimate accord with thesecular world. When one listens to what the worldly praise, onefails to get the truly wise. If one would get the truly wise, oneshould have the wisdom to illumine behind and see ahead. Whatthe worldly praise is not always wise, is not always holy; what

the worldly disparage is not always wise, is not always holy.While this is the case, where we thrice examine the wise invitingdisparagement and the inauthentic being praised, we should notconfuse them. Not to use the wise is a loss to the country; to usethe unworthy is a regret for the country.

To set up the name “five schools” is a confusion with the secular

world. Though there are many who follow the secular world,there are few people who understand the secular as secular. Theholy should convert the secular; to follow the secular isextremely stupid. Those that would follow the secular — howcould they know the correct dharma of the buddha? How couldthey become buddhas or become ancestors? What has been beenreceived from the legimate heirs of the Seven Buddhas — how

could it be like setting up the five divisions of the rules by the



56

bunch in the Western Heavens who “rely on the texts tounderstand the meaning”?14

Thus, we should realize that the ancestral masters who havetaken the correct life of the buddha dharma as the correct lifehave never said that there are houses of the five schools. Thosewho learn that there are five houses in the way of the buddha arenot legitimate heirs of the Seven Buddhas.

My former master addressed the assembly, saying,

In recent years, the way of the ancestral masters hasdeclined. The beasts and minions of M āra are many.

Again and again they bring up the teaching styles of

the five houses. Painful. Painful.

Thus, we know clearly that the twenty-eight generations of theWestern Heavens and the twenty-two ancestors of the EasternEarth [from Huike to Rujing] never proclaimed the houses of the

five schools. The ancestral masters that are ancestral masters areall like this. Those who set up the five schools and claim thateach has its own message are deluded worldly types, the sort withlittle knowledge and shallow understanding. If, within the waythe buddha, we set up our own separate ways, how would the wayof the buddha have reached us today? [The First Ancestor]Kāśyapa would have set up his own; [the Second Ancestor]

Ānanda would have set up his own. If the principle of setting upone’s own [way] were the correct way, the buddha dharma wouldhave quickly disappeared in the Western Heavens. Who would“yearn for the past” of the messages set up by each [faction]?Who could judge the truth or falsity of messages set up by each?If we cannot judge its truth or falsity, who could say this is thebuddha dharma or this is not the buddha dharma? If this

14 “The five divisions of the rules” refers to the tradition that five schools of monastic rules developed in Indiafrom the time of the Fifth Ancestor, Upagupta.



57

principle is not clear, it is difficult to call it the buddha dharma.The name “five schools” was not set up during the time of any ofthe ancestral masters. After the perfect quiescence of the

ancestral masters who are called the ancestral masters of the fiveschools, perhaps branches of their followers, those whose eyeswere not yet clear, whose feet had not yet walked, without askingtheir fathers, opposing their ancestors, set up this name. Thepoint is clear. Anyone should recognize it.

The Chan master Dayuan of Mt. Dawei [i.e., Weishan Lingyu]was a child of Baizhang Dazhi [i.e., Baizhang Huihai]. He livedon Mt. Wei at the same time as Baizhang. He never said that thebuddha dharma should be called the Weiyang school [i.e., theschool named after Weishan and his disciple Yangshan Huiji].Nor did Baizhang say, “[since] you lived on Mt. Wei, from yourtime on, [your line] should be called the Weiyang school.”Neither the master [Weishan] nor the ancestor [Baizhang] usedthe name. We should realize it is a false name. Even though it is

wilfully used as a school name, we should not necessarily tracethis to Yangshan. Were personal names supposed be used [forschools], they would have been used; since personal namesshould not be used, personal names were not used in the past, andwe do not have personal names [for schools] today. We do notsay “the Caoxi school” [of the Sixth Ancestor, Huineng]; we donot say “the Nanyue school” [of the Sixth Ancestor’s disciple

Nanyue Huairang]; we do not say “the Jiangxi school” [of themaster Mazu Daoyi]; we do not say “the Baizhang school [of themaster Baizhang Huihai].” When it comes to Weishan, it cannotbe that he is different from Caoxi; he should not be superior toCaoxi; he should not be equal to Caoxi. One word and half aphrase spoken by Dawei is not necessarily “one staff carried bytwo people” with Yangshan. If one were to set up the name of

the school, one should call it the Weishan school, or one shouldcall it the Dawei school; there is no reason to call it the Weiyang



58

school. Were it supposed to be called the Weiyang school, itshould be have been called that when both the venerable worthieswere alive. Because of what obstacle was it not called what it

should have been called when they were alive? Those who wouldgo against the way of their father and grandfather and call it whatit was not called when the two were alive are unfilial childrenand grandchildren. This is not the original desire of the Chanmaster Dawei; it is not the genuine intention of the old manYangshan. It has no correct transmission of a correct teacher; itis clearly the false name of a false faction. Do not spread this in

the entire realm of the ten directions.The great master Huizhao [i.e., Linji Yixuan], casting aside ahouse that explicates scripture, became a follower of Huangbo.Three times he tasted Huangbo’s stick, altogether sixty staffs.Visiting Dayu [i.e., Gaoan Dayu], he had an awakening. Hesubsequently resided at the Linji cloister in Zhenchou. While hemay not have fully investigated Huangbo’s mind, he has no

saying of one phrase, no saying of a half phrase, that the buddhadharma he inherited should be called the Linji school; he doesnot raise his fist [to it]; he does not take up his whisk [to it].Nevertheless, immediately mediocre factions among hisfollowers, without protecting the work of the father, withoutprotecting the buddha dharma, mistakenly set up the name “Linjischool.” Were it constructed during the life of the Great Master

Huizhao, since it goes against the words of the ancient ancestor,there should have been prior discussion about setting up thatname.

Moreover,

When Linji was indicating his extinction, he

entrusted the Chan master Sansheng Huiran, saying,

“After my transformation, do not let my treasury of

the eye of the true dharma be extinguished.”



59

Huiran said, “How could I let the venerable’s

treasury of the eye of the true dharma be

extinguished?

Linji said, “If someone suddenly asks you, what will

you answer?”

Huiran shouted.

Linji said, “Who could have known that my treasury

of the eye of the true dharma would have been

extinguished around this blind donkey?”

Such is what master and disciple had to say.

Linji does not say, “Do not let my Zen school be extinguished.”He does not say, “Do not let my Linji school be extinguished.”He does not say, “Do not let my school be extinguished.” He justsays, “Do not let my treasury of the eye of the true dharma be

extinguished.” Clearly, we should realize that the great waycorrectly transmitted by the buddhas and ancestors should not becalled “the Zen school,” should not be called “the Linji school.”We should have no dreams of calling it “the Zen school.” Eventhough “extinguished” is the principle and shape of the treasuryof the eye of the true dharma, this is how it is bequeathed. The“extinguished” “around this blind donkey” is truly the “who

would have known” of the bequeathal. Among the followers ofLinji, Sansheng is the only one. He should not be comparedwith, or ranked with, his elder and younger dharma brothers.Truly, he is to be “placed under a bright window” [as a superiorstudent]. The story of Linji and Sansheng is [an instance of] thebuddhas and ancestors. The bequeathal of Linji today is thebequeathal of Vulture Peak in the past. Therefore, the reason we

should not call it the Linji school is obvious.



60

The great master Kuangzhen of Mt. Yunmen [i.e., YunmenWenyan] in the past studied with the venerable worthy Chen [i.e.,Muzhou Daozong]; he would have been a descendant of

Huangbo. Later, he succeeded Xuefeng [i.e., Xuefeng Yicun].This master did not say that the treasury of the eye of the truedharma should be called the Yunmen school. His followers, notrealizing that the false names Weiyang and Linji were falsenames, newly established the name “Yunmen school.” If themessage of the great master Kuangzhen had aspired to a namethat established a school, it would be difficult to acknowledge

him as the body and mind of the buddha dharma. When [histeaching] is now called by the name of a school, it is like callingthe emperor a commoner.

The Chan master Great Fayan of Qingliang cloister [i.e., FayanWenyi] was a legitimate successor of Dizang Yuan [i.e., LohanGuichen]; he was a dharma grandchild of Xuansha Yuan [i.e.,Xuansha Shibei]. He had a message and lacked mistakes. “Great

Fayan” is the teacher’s title of his signature. In his thousandwords he had not a single word, in his ten thousand phrases hehad not a single phrase, in which he said that the name “Fayanschool” should be established as the name of the treasury of theeye of the true dharma. Nevertheless, his followers establishedthe name “Fayan school.” If Fayan were converting peopletoday, he would erase the term for the current falsely named

Fayan school. With the Chan master Fayan already departed,there is no one to save us from this calamity. Even a thousand orten thousand years later, people who would be filial to the Chanmaster Fayan must not take the name “Fayan school” as a name.This is basic filiality toward the Chan master Fayan. In general,Yunmen and Fayan are the distant descendants of the eminentancestor Qingyuan. They transmitted the bones of the way; they

transmitted the marrow of the dharma.



61

The eminent ancestor great master Wuben [i.e., DongshanLiangjie] succeeded to the dharma under Yunyan [i.e., YunyanTancheng]. Yunyan was the legitimate heir of the great master

Yueshan [i.e., Yueshan Weiyan]; Yueshan was the legitimate heirof the great master Shitou. The great master Shitou was the onechild of the eminent ancestor Qingyuan. There are not two orthree of comparable stature; he correctly transmitted the work ofthe way. It is on the strength of the great master Shitou’stransmission without loss that the correct life of the way of thebuddha still remains in the Eastern Earth.

At the same time as the old buddha Caoxi, the eminent ancestorQingyuan adopted Caoxi’s teaching methods at Qingyuan.Seeing that he was put forward in the world [as a teacher] andthat his advancement was in the same generation [as Caoxi], hemust have been the legitimate descendant among legitimatedescendants, he must have been the eminent ancestor amongeminent ancestors. It is not a case of a manly student and weak

advancement. Those of his stature at his time would beprominent today. This is something students should realize.15

On the occasion when the old buddha Caoxi was teaching humansand gods by manifesting his complete nirvana, from the last seatsShitou came forward and requested a master on whom to rely.On that occasion, the old buddha indicated that he go visit Si

[i.e., Qingyuan Xingsi]; he did not say that he go visit Rang [i.e.,[Nanyue Huairang]. Therefore, the treasury of the eye of the truedharma of the old buddha was correctly transmitted to theeminent ancestor Qingyuan alone. Though we may grant thatthey were equally “spiritual feet” [i.e., disciples] who attainedthe way, the eminent ancestor was still the “sole pace of the realspiritual foot.” The old buddha Caoxi had Qingyuan make a

child of [Caoxi’s] child; the father of the child would be the15 The expression “a manly student and weak advancement (as a teacher)” is variously interpreted; Dōgen’sstatement is generally taken to mean that Qingyuan was no less a master than Caoxi.



62

father of the father; that he attained the marrow is obvious; thathe was the legitimate heir of the ancestors is obvious.

The great master Dongshan, as the legitimate heir in the fourthgeneration of Qingyuan, correctly transmitted the treasury of theeye of the true dharma and opened the eye of the wondrous mindof nirvana. Beside this, there is no separate transmission, thereis no separate school. The great master never had a “fist” or a“blink of the eye” in which he instructs the assembly that theyshould be called the Caodong school. Among his followers aswell, because they were not corrupted by mediocre types, therewas no follower who called them the Dongshan school, much lesssaid it was the Caodong school.

The name Caodong school likely includes the name “Caoshan”[of Dongshan’s disciple Caoshan Benji]. If this is the case,Yunju [i.e., Dongshan’s disciple Yunju Daoying] and Tong’an[i.e., Yunju’s disciple Tong’an Daopi] ought also to be included.

Yunju was a guide among humans and the heavens above, morerevered than Caoshan. We know of this name “Caodong” that thestinking skin bags of a marginal faction, seeking to be of equalstature, called themselves by this name “Caodong.” Truly this isa case where, “though the white sun is bright, the floating cloudscover below.”

My former master said,

Nowadays, while there may be many who ascend the

lion seat, many who would be the teachers of humans

and gods; there are none who understand the

principle of the buddha dharma.

Therefore, those competing to establish the schools of the five

schools, those mistakenly stuck in the phrases of words andphrases, are truly the enemies of the buddhas and ancestors.



63

Again, the faction of the Chan master Nan of Huanglung [i.e.,Huanglung Huinan] has been called the “Huanglung school,” butit will not be long before this faction is known to be mistaken.

More generally, when the Buddha was present, he never called[his teachings] “the Buddha school,” or called them “the VulturePeak school,” or spoke of “the Jetavana school,” or spoke of the“My Mind school,” or spoke of the “Buddha Mind school.”Where in the words of the Buddha does he use the name “Buddhaschool”? Why do people today use the name “Buddha Mindschool”? Why would the World Honored One necessarily call

the mind a school? Why would a school necessarily be the mind?If there is a Buddha Mind school, there should be a Buddha Bodyschool, should be a Buddha Eye school, should be a Buddha Earschool, should be a Buddha Nose or Tongue school, should be aBuddha Marrow school, Buddha Bones school, Buddha Feetschool, Buddha Kingdom school, and so on. Now, there are noneof these. We should realize the fact that the name “Buddha Mind

school” is a false name.When the Buddha Śākyamuni takes up the real mark of thedharmas throughout the buddha lands of the ten directions andpreaches of the buddha lands of the ten directions, he does notpreach that he has constructed some school in the buddha landsof the ten directions. If the designation “school” is the dharma ofthe buddhas and ancestors, it should be in the kingdom of the

buddha; if it is in the kingdom of the buddha, the buddha shouldpreach it. The buddha does not preach it; we know it is not a toolof the kingdom of the buddha. The ancestors do not talk of it; weknow it is not a furnishing in the region of the ancestors. Notonly will you be laughed at by people [if you speak of yourschool]; you will be prohibited by the buddhas and laughed at byyourself. I beg of you, do not call [yourself] a school. There is

no such thing as the five houses in the buddha dharma.



64

Lately, there was a little child named Zhicong [i.e., ZhicongHuiyan], who collected one word or two words of the ancestralmasters, said they were the denominations of the five houses and

called it Rentian yanmu [“The Eye of Humans and Gods”].People not knowing how to assess it, beginners and late comersthink it true, and some even keep it hidden in their robes. It isnot “the eye of humans and gods”; it blinds the eye of human andgods. How could it have the virtue of blinding the treasury of theeye of the true dharma?

This Rentian yanmu was collected by trainee Zhicong, in thetwelfth month of Chunxi, [in the year] wushen [1188], at theWannian monastery on Mt. Tiantai. Though it is a lateproduction, if its words were right, we should attend to it. It iscraziness; it is foolishness. It lacks the eye of study; it lacks theeye of pilgrimage. How much less could it have the eye that seesthe buddhas and ancestors? We should not use it. He should notbe called “Zhicong” [“Wise and Bright”]; he should be called

“Yumeng” [“Stupid and Dull”]. He who does not know “thatperson,” who does not encounter the person, in collecting wordsand phrases, does not pick words and phrases of the person whowould be that person. We know that he does not know theperson.

That those who study the teachings in the land of C ī nasthāna

[i.e., China] called themselves schools was because there wereothers of equal stature. Now, the treasury of the eye of the truedharma of the buddhas and ancestors has been bequeathed fromheir to heir; there are none of equal stature, there are no othersthat could be confused with it.

Despite this, the illiterate elders nowadays always rashly callthemselves a school; scheming for themselves, they show no fearof the way of the buddha. The way of the buddha is not your



65

way of the buddha: it is the buddha’s and ancestors’ way of thebuddha; it is the way of the buddha’s way of the buddha.

The grand duke said to King Wen, “The realm is not one person’srealm: it is the realm’s realm.” [From the Liu Tao.]

Thus, even the secular gentleman has this wisdom, has thesewords. Children in the quarters of the buddhas and ancestorsmust not arbitrarily follow “Stupid and Dull” in calling the greatway of the buddhas and ancestors by the names of schools theyestablish. This is a major violation; not [worthy of] people of the

way of the buddha. If we should use the term “school,” theWorld Honored One would have himself used it. When theWorld Honored One did not himself use it, how as hisdescendants can we use it after his extinction? Who is moreskilled than the World Honored One? Were [he] not skilled, [we]would not benefit. Again, when you turn against the traditionalway of the buddhas and ancestors and independently establish

your own school, which of the descendants of the buddha wouldtake your school as a school? We should study by illuminatingthe past and observing the present. Do not be reckless. Tryingnot to differ one hair from [the dharma] when the World HonoredOne was in the world, to lament our failure to reach even onepart in a billion, to rejoice in reaching it, to aspire not to differ[from it] — only this is what the disciples left behind make their

repeated thought. So we should vow to meet and serve [him] formany lives; so we should aspire to see the buddha and hear thedharma for many lives. Those who, violating the teaching stylewhen the World Honored One was in the world, wouldintentionally set up the name of a school are not the desciples ofthe Thus Come One, are not the descendants of the ancestralmasters; [their misdeed] is heavier than the weighty violations

[of monastic rule]. Taking lightly the unsurpassed bodhi of theThus Come One, impulsively to devote oneself exclusively to



66

one’s own school is to neglect antecedents, to depart fromantecedents. We must say [such people] do not know theantecedents. They do not believe in the virtues of the days of the

World Honored One. In their dwelling, there can be no buddhadharma.

Thus, in correctly transmitting the work of the way of studyingBuddhism, we should not see or hear the term “school.” Whatbuddha after buddha and ancestor after ancestor bequeath andcorrectly transmit is the unsurpassed bodhi of the treasury of theeye of the true dharma. The dharma possessed by the buddhasand ancestors has all been bequeathed by the buddha; there is nofurther additional dharma. This principle is the bones of thedharma, the marrow of the way.

Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma Way of the Buddha

Number 44

Presented to the assemby, sixteenth day, ninth month, first year of Kangen

(mizunoto-u) [1243], at Kippō ji, Yosh ida Dist ric t, Etsu Province

http://scbs.stanford.edu/sztp3/translations/Sh ōbōgenzō /tr an sl at ion s/b ut su do/t ran sla tio n. ht ml



67



68



69

"ogen3s Za$en

as Other-ower ractice

by Taigen Dan Leighton

Article for February, 2005 IBS Shin Buddhist Conferenceon "Meditation and American Shin Buddhism," laterpublished in Pacific World.

It is certainly true that Japanese Sōtō Zen founder Eihei Dōgen(1200-1253) encouraged his students to apply themselvesdiligently to zazen, the sitting meditation that he espoused as aprimary practice throughout his career. Dōgen frequentlychallenged his students to active inquiry into the teachings, andto a vivid meditative awareness informed by penetrating

questioning. And Dōgen was not seeking for an "easy practice"as a response to concerns about mappō, in the spirit of his fellowKamakura period innovators. But none of this means that Dōgenwas advocating a self-power practice with which its practitionerscould accomplish great realization through their own efforts. Onthe contrary, many aspects of Dōgen's meditation teachingassume the practitioner's devoted acceptance of and support from

"other " sources.



70

This is not to claim that Dōgen was relying solely on some other-power with the same humble and insistent devotion as hiscontemporary Shinran. But in this paper I will focus on the

aspects of Dōgen's zazen practice that do imply receiving supportfrom other-power. "Other power " here does not refer to relianceon any single other source such as the vow of Amitabha, butDōgen did see the necessity for awakened realization of receivingsupport and strength from a variety of external "other " sources,and the importance of sincere devotional gratitude to thesebenefactors. The material in this paper does not relate directly to

Jōdo Shinshū devotional traditions. But we will see some of howDōgen's zazen is deeply grounded in a strong devotionalorientation. It is hoped that some aspects of this context mightperhaps be informative to the formulation of an appropriatemodern Shinshū meditative praxis.

For Dōgen, external support derives from three main sources:

1.

the lineage of historical (or quasi-historical) buddhas andancestors

2. the cosmic buddhas and bodhisattvas

3. and perhaps most importantly, the phenomenal world of theenvironment informed by buddha dharma.

This latter energy source, which we might trace back to the earlyteaching of the buddha field or buddha-kshetra, has strikingparallels with the role of the Pure Land in Amida Buddhism.Dōgen emphasized in his teaching of nonduality the ultimatenon-separation of self and other, but he did at times acknowledgethe aspect of these sources as "other ," conventionally at least.

Before exploring these three sites of his devotion, we may note

that Dōgen makes clear in many of his writings that the zazen headvocates is not a meditative skill for his students to learn, or a



71

technique for achieving some future heightened or exalted state.In his "Universally Recommended Practices for Zazen"

Fukanzazengi (the earliest version of which was written upon

Dōgen's return from China in 1227), he says,

"The zazen I speak of is not meditation practice

[in the traditional Buddhist sense]. It is simply

the Dharma gate of peace and bliss, the practice-

realization of totally culminated awakening." 16

Dōgen's zazen is a ritual expression and celebration of

awakening already present. He repeatedly emphasizes theoneness of practice-realization, in which practice does not leadthrough one's own efforts to some subsequent realization. Forexample, in 1241 he said, " Know that buddhas in the buddha

way do not wait for awakening."17

For Dōgen, zazen is not an activity aimed at results. In 1234 he

said,"A practitioner should not practice buddha-

dharma for his own sake, to gain fame and

profit, to attain good results, or to pursue

miraculous power. Practice only for the sake of

the buddha-dharma." 18

Practice is the effect of realization, rather than its cause. Inthis way, Dōgen's meditative praxis is a faith expression of the

16 Taigen Dan Leighton and Shohaku Okumura, trans. Dōgen's Extensive Record: A Translation of the EiheiKoroku (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004), p. 534. Eihei Koroku is one of Dōgen's two major (massive)works, along with the better known Shobogenzo "True Dharma Eye Treasury." Eihei Koroku includes a laterversion of Fukanzazengi from 1242 (the popular version most often cited), but the majority of the lengthy EiheiKoroku is composed of formal jodo or Dharma hall discourses from Eiheiji, which is the primary source forDōgen's mature teachings.17 "The Awesome Presence of Active Buddhas," Gyobutsu Igi trans. by Taigen Dan Leighton and KazuakiTanahashi, in Kazuaki Tanahashi, edit., Beyond Thinking: A Guide to Zen Meditation by Zen Master D ōgen

(Boston: Shambhala, 2004), p. 79.18 In "Guidelines for Studying the Way" Gakudo Yojinshū; from Shohaku Okumura and Taigen Daniel Leighton,trans. The Wholehearted Way: A Translation of Eihei Dōgen's "Bendowa" with Commentary by KoshoUchiyama Roshi (Boston: Charles Tuttle and Co., 1997), p. 112.



72

beneficial gift of grace from the buddhas and ancestors,analogous to how nenbutsu and shinjin are provided to theShinshū devotee thanks to the vow of Amida.

The first locus of an otherly power for Dōgen, and indeed in mostof the Zen tradition, is the lineage of ancestral teachers goingback to the historical Buddha Shakyamuni. The structure ofDharma transmission, which is central to the Zen Buddhist loreand tradition, itself expresses a type of other-power reliance.Without the guidance and power of the realization of previoushistorical teachers, the ancestral teachers going back generationafter generation to ancient buddhas including but not limited tothe historical Shakyamuni Buddha, realization in the currentgeneration would be impossible. Modern scholarship hasclarified how the lineage of names venerated in Zen, especiallyin the traditionally accepted Indian lineage, was concocted laterand is not historically accurate. However, the persons who keptalive the practice in each generation, sometimes not known with

historical accuracy, may remain for present practitioners not onlythe object of gratitude, but also an active source to call upon forsupport.

Dōgen regularly expresses deep gratitude to all the buddhas andancestors for transmitting the teaching, and invokes their supportfor current practice. In his Shōbōgenzō essay, "Only a Buddha

Together with Another Buddha," Yuibutsu Yobutsu, he expandson a line from chapter two of the Lotus Sutra, "Only a buddha

and a buddha can thoroughly master it," to describe howrealization depends on interaction with the realization of otherbuddhas. He begins by saying " Buddha-dharma cannot be known

by a person."19 Here Dōgen is not only acknowledgingindebtedness to the lineage of buddha ancestors and the personal

19 "Only Buddha and Buddha" trans. by Ed Brown and Kazuaki Tanahashi, in Kazuaki Tanahashi, edit., Moon ina Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dōgen, (N.Y.: North Point Press; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1985), p. 161.



73

teachers of each practitioner, but also starkly clarifying thelimitations of self-power. He says,

"What you think one way or another is not a help

for realization. .. . If realization came forth by the

power of your prior thoughts, it would not be

trustworthy. Realization does not depend on

thoughts, but comes forth far beyond them;

realization is helped only by the power of

realization itself ."20

In his 1243 essay from Shōbōgenzō, "The Ancient Buddha Mind "Kobusshin, Dōgen talks of the pervasion of the Buddha mindthroughout the world, for example that, " Its ten directions are

totally the world of Buddha, and there has never been any world

that is not the world of Buddha ."21 And yet he gives various casesin which noted historical Chan masters referred to the assistanceand inspiration of their predecessors with profuse gratitude and

called them "ancient buddhas." Commenting on an instance whenXuefeng referred to the great Zhaozhou as an ancient buddha,Dōgen says,

" In his action now, as he relies on the influence

of an ancient buddha and learns from an ancient

buddha, there is effort beyond conversing, which

is, in other words Old Man Xuefeng, himself ."22

The exertion and practice from the buddha ancestors themselvesthus provide a reliable external power that allows buddhapractice now.

In his jodo (Dharma hall discourses) in Eihei Koroku, Dōgenfrequently refers to zazen as a practice bestowed by the buddha

20 Ibid., pp. 161-162.21 Gudo Wafu Nishijima and Chodo Cross, trans. Master Dōgen's Shobogenzo, Book 3 (Woods Hole, Mass.:Windbell Publications, 1997), p. 27.22 See Ibid., p. 25.



74

ancestors and the buddhas and bodhisattvas. For example, heemphasizes this in discourse 516 in 1252, in which he citesNagarjuna (from the Dazhidulun attributed to him) criticizing

other forms of sitting meditation by those who "seek to controltheir own minds, and have the tendency of seeking after

nirvana."23 For Dōgen, zazen is already the expression andbenefit received from the buddhas and ancestors, and is not aboutseeking to gain some other state thereby.

In a slightly subsequent jodo 522, Dōgen cites his own teacherTiantong Rujing's saying, " Right at the very time of sitt ing,

patch-robed monks make of ferings to all the buddhas and

ancestors in the whole world in ten directions. All without

exception pay homage and make offerings ceaselessly." Dōgenthen avows that, "I have been sitting the same as Tiantong,"simply as a ritual of devotion and gratitude for this practice, anoffering to all buddhas and ancestors. He concludes by equatingthis zazen to "taking a drink of Zhaozhou's tea for oneself ,"24

referring to the great Tang dynasty Chinese master who iscelebrated in a notable koan for kindly offering tea to all studentswho arrived before him, regardless of their level of experience.

Dōgen's devotion to and reliance on Shakyamuni as primaryBuddha is fully exhibited in his strong emotional responses in hismany Memorial discourses in Eihei Koroku on the occasions of

commemorating Íakyamuni's birthdays and parinirvana days. Butclearly he expresses devotion to all buddhas as well.

One of the dozen final essays in Shōbōgenzō, edited after hisdeath by Dōgen's successor Koun Ejo, is a lengthy discussion of"Veneration of the Buddhas" Kuyo Shobutsu, which concludeswith ten methods for venerating a Buddha.25 These include

23 Leighton and Okumura, Dōgen's Extensive Record, pp. 459-460.24 Ibid., p. 465.25 Yūho Yokoi with Daizen Victoria, Zen Master Dōgen: An Introduction with Selected Writings (N.Y.:Weatherhill, 1976), pp. 113-127.



75

building a stūpa or various ways of making offerings to one, butalso include offering one's meditative practice as gratitude to thebuddhas. Throughout this long essay Dōgen praises practices of

making offerings, clearly indicating his strong devotionalattitude, as he says, for example, " Making venerative offerings in

this way is the essence and life of the Buddhas in the three

times."26

As a second primary locus of devotion, Dōgen certainly speaks ofrelying on the cosmic buddhas and bodhisattvas for assistance,and even in totally entrusting them. In the undated Shōbōgenzō essay Shoji, Dōgen says simply, " Just set aside your body and

mind, forget about them, and throw them into the house of

buddha; then all is done by buddha ."27 Dōgen frequently uses asimilar phrase, dropping off body and mind, shinjin datsuraku, toindicate both zazen and complete enlightenment itself. But theShoji passage clarifies that his critical notion of shinjin datsurakuis not something one does through one's own effort, but it "is

done by buddha."

Dōgen's trust in the buddhas and bodhisattvas is indicated, forexample, on an occasion in 1250 when he gave a Dharma halldiscourse appealing to the power of buddhas and bodhisattvas forclear skies. He ends by quoting his own teacher in appeal, " Make

prostrations to Shakyamuni; take refuge in Maitreya. Capable of

saving the world from its sufferings, wondrous wisdom power of Avalokiteshvara, I call on you."28

Dōgen especially invokes the power of Avalokiteshvara, thebodhisattva of compassion who is attendant to Amida Buddha.For example, after relating a dream or vision he had that includedAvalokiteshvara, Dōgen says poetically, "When Avalokiteshvara

26 Ibid., p. 120.27 "Birth and Death" trans. by Arnold Kotler and Kazuaki Tanahashi, in Tanahashi, Moon in a Dewdrop, p. 75.28 Leighton and Okumura, Dōgen's Extensive Record, p. 332.



76

Bodhisattva makes an appearance, mountains and rivers on the

great earth are not dead ashes. You should always remember that

in the third month the partridges sing and the flowers open."29

For Dōgen the vitality and renewal of awakening practice ariseswith the grace of Avalokiteshvara's presence.

One traditional Mahāyāna expression of devotion to the buddhasand bodhisattvas is the formal practice of taking refuge in thethree treasures of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. In an undatedShōbōgenzō essay " Mind of the Way" Dōshin, which may perhapshave been among his last writings, Dōgen emphasizes devotion tothese three jewels. He says to

" Aspire to respectfully make offerings and

revere the three treasures in li fe after life."30

He also encourages chanting the three refuges, and specificallythe practice as the end of life approaches of ceaselessly reciting

" Namu kie Butsu ." Among the various other devotional practiceshe then extols, including making offerings, making Buddhaimages, revering the Lotus sutra, and wearing Buddha's robe,okesa, Dōgen concludes by mentioning zazen, which he says isthe dharma of buddhas and ancestral teachers, rather than of thethree worldly realms.31 In this late writing, chanting homage toBuddha and zazen are grouped together as compatible and insome sense equivalent practices. It is said in Sōtō sources(though with uncertain historical accuracy) that as Dōgen's ownhealth was failing in Kyoto in 1253, he himself recited the threerefuges while walking around his room, before dying in zazen.

The third source of "other power" for Dōgen is the world itself,seen as a buddha field providing nourishment for practitioners ina mutual interconnected relationship. Dōgen's world-view or

29 Ibid., p. 148.30 Mizuno Yaoko, ed. Shōbōgenzō, vol. 4 (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1993), p. 471.31 Ibid., p. 474.



77

cosmology sees the phenomenal world as an agent for awakenedawareness, a dynamic, living force supporting the soteriologicalunfolding of the Buddha nature. This world-view is rooted in the

teachings of the bodhisattva path, the sutras and commentaries ofMahāyāna Buddhism.

Without providing a detailed discussion of philosophical history,far beyond the scope of this paper, I note that sources forDōgen's Mahāyāna world-view include the writings of Tiantaifigures such as Chanran (711-782), who articulated the teachingpotential of grasses and trees, seen in earlier Buddhism asinanimate and thus inactive objects.32 Another source for thisview of reality is the Chinese Huayan teachings, based on theAvatamsaka, or Flower Ornament Sutra, which describes theinterconnectedness of all particulars. Thereby the world is a siteof radical inter-subjectivity, in which each event is the product ofthe interdependent co-arising of all things. Huayan teachers suchas Fazang (643-712) developed and elaborated this vision. It can

be described with their philosophical four-fold dialectic ofmutual non-obstruction of the universal and the particular, andbeyond that, the mutual non-obstruction of particulars with"other" particulars.33

This Huayan dialectic was elaborated in Chinese Chan with thefive-degree or five-ranks philosophy of the interrelationship of

universal and particulars that was first enunciated by DongshanLiangjie (807-869), considered the founder of the ChineseCaodong (Japanese Sōtō) lineage, which Dōgen brought fromChina to Japan.34 Dōgen only occasionally refers directly to this

32 For Chanran, see Linda Penkower, "T'ien-t'ai During the T'ang Dynasty: Chan-jan and the Sinification ofBuddhism" Ph.D. Dissertation, Columbia University, 1993.33 See Thomas Cleary, Entry Into the Inconceivable: An Introduction to Hua-yen Buddhism (Honolulu:University of Hawaii Press, 1983), pp. 24-42, 147-169; and Garma C.C. Chang, The Buddhist Teaching ofTotality: The Philosophy of Hwa Yen Buddhism (University Park, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1971),

pp. 18-21, 136-170.34 See Taigen Dan Leighton with Yi Wu, Cultivating the Empty Field: The Silent Illumination of Zen MasterHongzhi (Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 2000), pp. 8-10, 62-63, 76-77; and William Powell, The Record of Tung-shan (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1986), pp. 61-66.



78

five-rank dialectic of interfusion of the ultimate within theparticular phenomena of the world. But it is clearly pervasive asa background in much of his philosophical teachings.

Other expressions of a similar world-view are apparent in PureLand teachings. Here in an introduction to Shinran's teaching is adescription of the background of Amida Buddha's Pure Land:

" In the Mahā yāna tradition, fulfilled- or enjoyment-body

Buddhas are said to occupy fields of influence in which

their wisdom acts to save beings. Bodhisattvas vow to

establish such spheres, and their attainment of Buddhahood is, at the same time, the purification of their

lands and the beings in them, resulting in a Buddha

realm or pure land. These lands are characterized above

all by the bliss of enlightenment, and in the sutra

literature, this bliss is depicted in such concrete terms as

jewel trees and palaces, pools strewn with golden sands,

soft breezes and mild climate. These features aremanifested to awaken and guide beings throughout the

universe to enlightenment ."35

As in the Huayan vision of lands, the Pure Land constellatedthrough the practice or vows of bodhisattvas upon full awakeningincludes landscape features that function as liberative guides tobeings. The lands themselves then become sources of benefits todevotees.

This cosmological perspective of the world as an active Buddhafield or in some ways a pure land is evident even in Dōgen'searliest writings. His "Talk on Wholehearted Engagement of the

Way" Bendowa, written in 1231, is his fundamental text on themeaning of zazen. In this writing Dōgen avows that when even

35 Yoshifuma Ueda and Dennis Hirota, Shinran: An Introduction to His Thought (Kyoto: HongwanjiInternational Center, 1989), p. 122.



80

Thus the role of meditation is not to create, achieve, or obtain

some enlightened state through the power of one's personal

effort. Rather, meditation is the necessary expression of this

interactive event of awakening. The practitioner is gifted withthe opportunity and responsibility to express this together withgrasses and trees, fences and walls, and space itself. As Dōgensays almost at the very beginning of Bendowa,

" Although this dharma is abundantly inherent in

each person, it is not manifested without

practice, it is not at tained without realization.

When you let go, the dharma fills your hand ."37

The upright sitting he describes is the manifestation of letting

go of one's self-clinging, and the simultaneous acceptance of

the abundant dharma of the surrounding buddha field.

In his practice instructions Dōgen emphasizes dignified, upright

posture or manner. He particularly discusses this in his 1241essay Gyobutsi Igi, "The Awesome (or Dignified) Presence of

Active (or Practicing) Buddhas." But in this essay Dōgen alsopoints to the support of the dharmadhatu, or buddha field,

"What allows one corner of a buddha's dignified

presence is the entire universe, the entire earth,

as well as the entirety of birth and death, coming

and going, of innumerable lands, and lotus

blossoms."38

Dignified presence is not accomplished through the strength ofself-power or personal efforts.

37 Ibid., p. 19.38 Tanahashi, Beyond Thinking, p. 83.



81

In a Memorial discourse for one of his leading monks in 1252,Dōgen asserts that zazen is sufficient in itself to offer entry intothe Buddha land. He says,

"For adorning his reward in the Buddha land,

nothing is needed besides the slight fragrance of

practice during one stick of incense."39

Zazen here is not a means to resultant entry into the Buddha landthrough the self-power of one's personal effort, but the slightfragrance of practice is here celebrated as itself an adornment of

this buddha land provided by the buddhas, ancestors,bodhisattvas, and the buddha land itself.

We see that Dōgen developed a full meditation praxis not basedon accomplishing some awakening or liberation through any self-power or effort. Rather, his meditation teachings are deeplyinvolved with devotional gratitude for support from buddhas,

ancestral teachers, bodhisattvas, and from the awakened buddhaland. Turning from the Zen meditation teaching of Dōgen, thereis no question that some branches of Zen do appear to rely on"self-power." This may be most present in the context of Zenlineages that emphasize acquisition of kenshō, with the idea thatsome dramatic experience of realization is desirable, a view thatDōgen strongly criticized.

But the implications of Dōgen's "other " reliance in his zazen, andespecially his view that zazen cannot be accomplished throughone's own self-power, can still be readily seen in significantportions of modern Sōtō Zen. Kōshō Uchiyama Rōshi, asuccessor of Kōdō Sawaki Rōshi who revitalized zazen practicein 20th century Japanese Sōtō, has proclaimed the saying,"Gaining is delusion, losing is enlightenment."40 Such a saying

39 Leighton and Okumura, Dōgen's Extensive Record, p. 452. 40 Kosho Uchiyama, Opening the Hand of Thought: Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice, revised edition(Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004), p. 153.



82

resonates in spirit for me with Shinran's, " If even a good person

can enter the Pure Land, how much easier for a bad one."

Modern American Sōtō Zen already includes a variety of strandsand approaches to practice. But something of the spirit of thedevotional side of Dōgen remains. This is evident in some of theteachings of Shunryū Suzuki Rōshi in the American Zen classic,Zen Mind Beginner's Mind. Suzuki clarifies the limitation ofself-power and expresses total reliance on Buddha's power whenhe says,

" Everything is Buddha's activity. So whatever you do, oreven if you keep from doing something, Buddha is in that

activity. Because people have no such understanding of

Buddha, they think what they do is the most important

thing, without knowing who it is that is actually doing it.

People think they are doing various things, but actually

Buddha is doing everything ."41

Suzuki expresses the appreciation of the pure land when headvises seeing Buddha nature in everything and in eachindividual.

" Just this [zazen] posture is the basic one or original

way for us, but actually what Buddha meant was that

mountains, trees, flowing water, flowers and plants -

everything as it is - is the way Buddha is."42

41 Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (N.Y.: Weatherhill, 1970), p. 126.42 Ibid., p. 131.



83

On a personal note, my very first seven-day Zen sesshin(meditation retreat) thirty years ago in New York was led by myfirst teacher, Rev. Kando Nakajima, a Sōtō Zen priest who I

believe may have been raised in a Shinshū family. The retreatwas held in the Bronxville home of Nakajima Sensei's friend,Rev. Hozen Seki, the founder and minister of the Jōdo Shinshū New York Buddhist Temple. I remember Rev. Seki's warmth andkindness as he spoke to welcome we young students of Buddhismduring sesshin; also how impressed I was with Rev. Seki's largeBuddhist library upstairs. In those days I also used to enjoy

walking by Rev. Seki's temple on nearby Riverside Drive just tosee the large statue of Shinran out front, even though I knewlittle about him then.

Dōgen's zazen, without gaining ideas or reliance on self-power,remains available. But the first generations of American Zenpractitioners probably still lack full appreciation of thedevotional depths of Buddhist practice. This is due in part to the

influence of some Western psychotherapeutic orientations thatpromote ideals of mere self-improvement. Consumeristconditioning has also led practitioners to seek to acquiredramatic meditative experiences as products. It may well be thatAmerican Buddhism will not become fulfilled until the value of"other-power" is recognized. In my humble opinion, it will be anindication of American Buddhism's maturity when American Zen

students appreciate the subtle teachings and perspective ofShinran.

Soto Zen Writings

Documents

Transcript of Soto Zen Writings