shobogenzokandoのblog

This blog presents Kando Inoue roshi's activities, mainly his dharma talks of shobogenzo in English. Kando is the top advocate of shobogenzo by Zen Master Dogen.

カテゴリ: Dogen・Shobogenzo

Sakyamuni Buddha says, “All living beings are entirely buddha-nature. The tathagata exists in constancy, without any change.”
This is the Dharma Wheel of our great master Shakyamuni as a lion roar and it is also the head and eyes of the buddhas and patriarch. It has been 2190 years to practice and learn, (now it is the 2nd year of the Japanese era of Ninji,1241), and it has been only 50 generations of right successors (till the late Master Tendo Nyojyo.) It has been maintained through 28 generations in India from one generation to generation, and 23 generations in China from one age to next. The buddhas and patriarchs in ten directions have maintained it.
The world Honorable One’s saying, “All living being are entirely buddha-nature” is, what is the principle, it is turning the Wheel-Dharma of saying, “What is this that has come thus?” Or, it is said living beings, sentient beings, colonial beings, group kinds.
The saying of all beings is living beings, it is group beings. All beings are, namely, buddha-nature. One being of all beings is called living beings. At this precise moment, the inside and outside of living beings, namely, is all beings of buddha nature.  They are not only skin, flesh, bone, marrow transmitted directly, but because “You have gained my skin, flesh, bone, and marrow.”
You should know that the being done by Buddha-Nature is not the beings of existence or non-existence. “All beings” is the Buddha’s words, the Buddha’s tongue. It is the Buddhist patriarchs’ eyes and pupil, and nostrils of a robed monk. The saying of all beings, further, is not the beginning being, the original being, subtle being and so on. How much more could it be dependent being or delusive being? It is not related to mind, circumstances, quality, and phase. This being so, the life: subject, and its environments: object, of “living beings-all beings” is not entirely the karmic power of accumulation, however, it is not irrelevant dependent arising, it is not natural being with the Dharma, and it is not divine practice and realization. If all beings of living beings are itself the karmic power of accumulation, natural being with the Dharma and so on, various sagas’ realized sayings, many buddhas’ Bodhi, and the Buddhist patriarchs’ eyes and pupils, would also be the karmic power of accumulation, irrelevant dependent arising, and being natural with the Dharma and so on. That is not so. There is no dust in the whole world and there is no second person direct presence, because it is that the root has been cut directly, persons haven’t yet known it, when the boundless Karmic consciousness will cease. It is not the being of delusive dependent arising, because the whole world has never been hidden. To say that the whole world has never been hidden is not necessarily to say that the all-over world is just the being itself. To say that I owe the whole world is the evil view of outsiders: non-Buddhists. It is not the being of essential existence, for it is eternal of old and eternal of now. It is not the being of beginning, for it has never received a speck of dirt. It is not wisps of being, it has been combined together. It is not the being of beginningless being, for it is “what’s this that has come thus?” It is not the being of newly arising being, for it is “吾常心是道: One’s everyday mind is the Way.” You should really know, in the midst of whole being, it is impossible for living beings to meet expediently. (The thing is unable to meet the thing, because it is the thing itself.) If the whole being is perceived like thus, the whole being is the body transparent and fallen off.  
Hearing the Buddha’s saying, many scholars misunderstood it as that of the non-Buddhist Senika. This is because they don’t meet (enlightened)persons, don’t meet (original face of) themselves and don’t encounter a true teacher. They vacantly think 心意識2the working of the mind: generated by the wind and fire to be the awareness and realization of Buddha-nature. Who has ever said there are awareness and realization in Buddha-nature? Even if enlightened persons and realized persons are buddhas, Buddha -nature is not awareness and realization. Moreover, the knowing to say buddhas are enlightened one and realized one is not the wrong views said by those persons as awareness and recognition, and not even the movement of wind and fire is to be regarded as realization and knowing. Only the one state of a buddha and a patriarch is realization and knowing.
Now and then, old men and predecessors have gone to India and back, or guided sentient beings and celestial beings, from Han to Shung dynasty, they have been as numerous as rice, hemp, bamboo, and reeds, most of them have considered the what is generated by the movement of wind and fire as the realization and knowing. It is pitiful that they made this error because the way of studying has been slighted. The beginners and late learners of Buddhism should not be like that. Even if you learn awareness and realization, awareness and realization are not movement. Even if you learn movement, movement is not like that. If you are able to attain the real movement, you should attain the true awareness and completion of realization. Buddha - nature has arrived here, and have arrived there. Buddha-nature is necessarily all beings, because all beings are Buddha-nature. All beings are not hundreds of fragments, is not a rail of iron. Because it is twirling up a fist, it is not large and small. It has already been said Buddha- nature, which must not be compared with sagas, must not be compared with Buddha-nature.
One group think that Buddha-nature is like the seed of a plant and a tree. When being fully watered with the rain of Dharma, it sprouts and grows its stem, and twigs, leaves, flowers, and fruits grow. The fruits still more bear the seeds. The understanding like this is the discern of ordinary men. Even if you understand like this, you should learn seeds and flowers and fruits are respectively undisguised red heart. There are seeds in fruit’s inside, though seeds are unseen, bring forth roots and stems and so on. Without being gathered, they grow into a number of big branches around, which is not the theory of inside or outside, it is not empty in the old time and now. This being so, even if it is relied on the ordinary men’s view, roots, stems, twigs, and leaves are all the Buddha- nature, which are born at the same time, die at the same time, and coexisted in the entirety at the same time.
The Buddha said, “I f you want to know the principle of Buddha- nature, you should observe the time of causal circumstances. When the time has come, Buddha- nature manifest in front of you.”
Now saying, “If you want to know the meaning of Buddha-nature,” says not only knowing, but wanting to practice, wanting realize, wanting to preach, wanting to forget. Those preaching・ practicing・ realizing ・deceasing ・ being mistaken ・being unmistaken etc, , are however, the time of causal circumstances. In order to observe the just time of causal circumstances, we should observe with the just time of causal circumstances. We can also observe it holding a whisk, a staff, and so on. It can never be observed the intellect such as  Asava  wisdom・non -Asava wisdom, original awakening ・ beginning awakening, or not awakening ・ right awakening, and so on.  
 The saying “Just observation" is not related to subjective observation and objective observation, and it is not conformed to right observation and wrong observation, and the like, this is just observation. Because it is just observation. Because this is just reflection, it is not observation of one’s own and not the observation of others. It is the just time -causal circumstance itself, it is beyond causes and circumstances. It is Buddha-nature itself, it is buddha- nature casted off. It is each buddha itself, it is each nature itself.
The people in all ages have thought that the word “when the time has come” means to wait for the time will come in the future when the Buddha nature manifests in front of them. If they continue their practice like that, they will naturally encounter the time the Buddha-nature might manifest in front of them. If the time has not yet come, the Buddha- nature will not manifest even if they practice to ask a teacher for Dharma, even if they make effort on Zazen-practice. They take such a view, vainly return to the of crimson dust: secular world and stare at idly the Milky Way. Those people are probably the type of natural heretics. What is called “If you want to know the principle of Buddha- nature,” means, for example, “You rightly know the principle of Buddha-nature.” The words “you should observe the time of causal circumstances” is “you should know the time of causal circumstances.”  If you want to know the principle of Buddha- nature, you should know, the time of causal circumstances, which should be this.
The words, “When the time has come,” is “The time has already come, what could there be to doubt.” The time of doubt, let it happen, it is letting me return the Buddha- nature. You should know “The time has already come” is beyond space throughout twelve hours. “if it has come” is like to say “it has already come.” If the time has come, the Buddha-nature has not come. Therefore, if the time has already come, namely, this is the manifestation of the Buddha-nature. Or it is that the reason is evident itself. In general, there have never been any time when the time has not come, nor the Buddha-nature that has never has manifested.

SHOBO-GENZO THE SECOND
Maha-Prajna-Parmita
When Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara practices the profound Prajna- Paramita”, means it is perceiving all five Skandhas are totally empty with his all mighty. Five Skandhas are form, sensation, conception, mental formation, and consciousness, they are five sheets of Prajna. Perceiving is the Prajna itself. When this principle is commenced and realized, it is that form is just emptiness, emptiness is just form, form equals emptiness, emptiness equals form. They are hundreds of weeds, and myriad things int the universe. Twelve sheets of Prajna-Pramita, those are the twelve sensations: six sense organs and their objects. There are also eighteen sheets of Prajna, they are eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind, sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactual sense, and object of mind, and also six consciousnesses: the consciousness of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. Furthermore, there are also four sheets of Prajna: suffering, accumulation, cessation, and the Way. There are further six sheets of Prajna: almsgiving, pure precepts, patience, diligence, dhyana, and Prajna. Further, one sheet of Prajna is realized at this precise moment. It is Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi (supreme perfect enlightenment). There are also three sheets of Prajna- Pramita, they are past, present, and future. Further, there are six sheets of Prajna, they are earth, water, fire, wind, space, consciousness. And there are four sheets of Prajna that are constantly conducted in everyday life; they are walking, standing, sitting, and lying.
There is a bhikkhu in the assembly of Sakyamuni Tathagata who instantly secretly thinks, “I shall revere the profound Prajna- Paramita. Although in this there is no birth and death of all things, there have been already establishment and attainments of precept aggregates, dhyana-samadhi aggregates, wisdom aggregates, liberation aggregates, vimukti-jñāna-darśanas : realizing liberation aggregates, and there have been already establishment and attainments of stream-enterer, once-returner, non-returner, and arahant, and there have been already establishment and attainments of self-enlightened bodhi, and there have been already establishment and attainment of the suprem, and the most righteous enlightenment, there have been already establishment and attainments of the treasure of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and further there have been already establishment and attainments of turning the wonderful Dharma-Wheel and saving sentient beings.”
The Buddha, knowing the bhikkhu’s thoughts, tell him, “This is how it is. This is how it is. The profound Prajna-Pramita is fine and subtle, and inscrutable.”
The bhikkhu’s instantly secretly thinking at this moment is, when he ‘revere’ ‘all things’, ‘Prajna- Paramita’ of ‘although in this there is no birth and death’ itself is to ‘revere’. Just as the very moment of reverence, ‘Prajna- Paramita’ of ‘estabilshment and attainments’ is realized. So called ‘precept, dhyana-samadhi, wisdom, and saving sentient beings,so on, this is called nothingness. The establishment of nothingness is attainable as such. This is ‘the profound’ ‘ fine and subtle, and inscrutable’ Prajna-Pramita.
The God Indra asks the venerable monk Subhuti, “Virtuous Priest, if bodhisatta-mahāsattvas want to learn the profound Prajna-Paramita, how should they learn it?”
Subhuti replies, “Kausita, if bodhisatta-mahāsattvas want to learn the profound Prajna-Paramita, they should learn as empty space.”
If so, the “learning the Prajna-Paramita” is “empty space” itself. “Empty space” is the “learning the Prajna-Paramita”
The God Indra again addresses the Buddha, “World-Honored One, If good men and good women, etc., in this teaching of profound Prajna-Paramita, receive and retain, read and recite, and think in its reason, and expound for the sake of others, how I should keep it? I only hope, World-Honored One, that you will show me compassion and teach me.
Then, venerable monk Subhuti says to the God Indra, “Kausita, do you see any dharma which you must keep or not?”
The God Indra says, “No, Virtuous Priest, I do not see any dharma which I must keep.”
Subhuti replies, “Kausita, if good men and good women, etc. do as thus preached: that they don’t see any dharma to keep, they directly keep the profound Prajna-Paramita. If good men and good women, etc. do as thus preached, they never be apart from profound Prajna-Paramita. You should know, if all human and non-human beings were looking for an opportunity to harm them, they would end up not getting it.
Kausita, if you want to keep it, do as thus preached. There is no difference between bodhisatta-mahāsattvas and the profound Prajna-Paramita, it is no different, wanting to keep is just the space.”
You should know that, “receive and retain, read and recite,” and “think in its reason,” are keepting the Prajna. “Wanting to keep” is “receive and retain, read and recite, etc.”
My late teacher, the old Buddha says,
The whole body like a mouth, hanging in the empty space,
never ask the wind is north, south, east and west,
With all, equally, preaching Prajna,
Chin Ten Ton Ruan Chin Ten Ton
This is the preaching Prajna of rightful successor Buddhas. It is the Prajna with might and main, with all others might, with all one’s might, and with all might of north, south, east and west.
Sakyamuni Buddha says, “Sariputra ! In this Prajna-Paramita, these various sentient beings should serve offerings and revere as the Buddhas abides. When they think of the Prajna-Paramita, they should serve offerings and revere exactly same as they do to the Buddha-Bhagavat. Why so? Because the Prajna-Paramita is no different from the Buddha-Bhagavat, and the Buddha-Bhagavat is no different from the Buddha-Bhagavat. The Prajna-Paramita is just the Buddha-Bhagavat himself. The Buddha-Bhagavat is just this Prajna-Paramita. For what grounds? Sariputra ! Because all the well enlightened tachagatas: the Worshipful (ōgu), tathāgata (nyorai), the All Wise (shōhenchi), the Perfectly Enlightened in Conduct (myōgyō-soku), the Well Departed (zenzei), the Understander of the World (sekenge), the Controller (jōgo-jōbu), the Teacher of Gods and Men (tennin-shi), the Buddha, the World-honored One (butsu-seson), are all realized in the Prajna-Paramita. Sariputra ! All the bodhisatta-mahāsattvas・ self-enlightened bodhi・arahant・・non-returner・stream-returner are able to manifest in the Prajna-Paramita. Sariputra ! All The ways of Ten Virtuous Actions, the four dhyana, the four dhyana in immaterial world, and the five mystical powers in the world, are all realized in the Prajna-Paramita.
Therefore, the Buddha-Bhagavat is the Prajna-Paramita, the Prajna-Paramita is these myriad dharmas. These myriad dharmas are empty form, neither birth nor death, neither dirty nor pure, neither increasing nor decreasing. This manifestation of this Prajna-Paramita is the manifestation of the Buddha-Bhagavat. You should ask, you should practice. To offer and bow is to meet and serve the Buddha-Bhagavat. It is the Buddha-Bhagavat in meeting and serving.
Shobo-Genzo The Second Maha-Prajna-Parmita
Preached to the assembly at Kannondori in temple on a day of the summer retreat in the 1st year of Tempuku.
Copied in the attendant monk’s dormitory at Kippo temple in Etsu on the 21st day of the 3rd lunar month in spring of the 2nd year of Kangen.


When all things are the Buddha-Dharma, there is delusion and enlightenment, there is practice, there is birth, there is death, there are Buddhas, there are sentient beings.
When myriad dharmas are all not the self, there is no delusion, no enlightenment, no buddhas, no sentient beings, no birth, no death.
Because the Buddha Way is originally transcendent over abundance and scarcity, there is birth and death, there is delusion and enlightenment, there are sentient beings and Buddhas.
And yet, this is the way it is, flowers fall in our longing, and weeds grow in our loathing.
Driving oneself to practice and enlighten myriad dharmas is delusion. The myriad dharmas advance towards oneself to practice and enlighten is enlightenment. Those who greatly realize delusion are buddhas. Those who are greatly deluded about realization are sentient beings. Moreover, there are those who are enlightened upon enlightenment, and there are those who are deluded in the midst of delusion. When buddhas are indeed buddhas, there is no need for them to perceive that they are buddhas. Nevertheless, they are realized buddhas and they go on being buddhas realizing.
In seeing forms with the whole body-mind, hearing sounds with the whole body-mind, though one intimately realizes, it is not like reflecting images in a mirror, and not like the moon and water. When enlightening one side, the other side is dark.
To learn the Buddha Way is to learn oneself. To learn oneself is to forget oneself. To forget oneself is to be enlightened by myriad dharmas. To be enlightened by myriad dharmas is to let it fall away one’s own body and mind, and the body and mind of others. There is ceasing of enlightenment, which causes one to leave continuously the traces of enlightenment forever.
When people first seek the Dharma, they are far from the borders of Dharma. When the Dharma has already been rightly transmitted in oneself, just then one is the original oneself.
When a man rides in a boat and he moves his eyes to the shore, he misapprehend the shore is moving. When he closely keeps his eyes fixed on the boat, he knows that the boat is moving forward. Similarly, when one discerns the myriad things with the confused body and mind, one mistakenly thinks that one's own mind and nature are permanent. If one is intimately engaged in the activity of living and returns to the real state being now, the truth is clear that myriad dharmas are not what is called 'I' (as the product of concepts.)
Firewood becomes ash, and does not become firewood again. However, we should not see the ash after and the firewood as before. Know that firewood abides in the Dharma state of firewood and it has a before and after. Though it has a before and after, the realm of before and after is cut off. Ash is in the Dharma state of ash, and it has after and before. Just as that firewood, after becoming ash, does not become firewood again, so human beings, after death, do not live again. If it be so, not to say that life becomes death is an established custom in the Buddha- Dharma. Therefore, it is called unborn. That death does not become life, which is the Buddha’s preaching established in the turning of the Dharma-Wheel. Therefore, it is said imperishable. Life is a temporal state, death is a temporal state. It is like winter and spring. We don't think that winter becomes spring, we don't say spring becomes summer.
People's attaining enlightenment is like the moon reflected in water. The moon does not get wet, the water isn't broken. Though it is a vast expansive light, it is rests in an inch of water, the whole moon and the whole sky rest even in a dewdrop on the grass, rest even in a single droplet of water. That enlightenment does not shatter people is like the moon not piercing the water. People's not hindering enlightenment is like the drop of dew not hindering the sky and moon. The depth is proportionate to the height. As for the length and brevity of time, examining the great and small bodies of water, you should perceive the breadth and narrowness of the sky and moon.
When Dharma has not completely filled one's body and mind, one feels it is already sufficient. If the Dharma fills one's body and mind, in one respect, one feels insufficiency. For example, when one rides a boat out to the middle of ocean where no mountains are in sight and looks four directions, the ocean appears round and no other characteristics are visible. However, this ocean is neither round nor square; the remaining virtue of the ocean is inexhaustible. It is like a palace, it is like ornaments. Yet as for as our eyes can see, it only seems to be round. As it is for the ocean, it is for myriad dharma. In dust and out of the frame (in the secular world and the Buddhist world), there are numerous situations, but we see and comprehend only as for as our eyesight of learning in practice can reach. If we inquire into the family traditions of myriad dharmas, we should know that, besides seeming square and round, the remaining virtue of the oceans and mountains are endlessly numerous. It is not only one side is like this, we should know that immediately underneath our feet and a single drop of water are also thus.
When a fish moves through water, there is no bound to the water no matter how far it goes, When a bird flies through the sky, there is no bound to the sky no matter how far it flies. While this is so, the fish and birds have never left the water and the sky since the beginning. It is just that when the need is large the use is large, and when the need is small the use is small. In this way, though none ever fails to extent itself to the full, and nowhere does any fail to move and turn freely, the bird would instantly die if it left the sky, and the fish would instantly die if it left the water. Know that water is life, know that the sky is life. There is bird being life, there is fish being life. Life must be birds, life must be fish. Beside this we could proceed further. That there is practice and enlightenment and there are long and short lives of people is just like this.
However, if there were birds or fish that tried to go further in the water or sky after having found the limit of the water or sky, they wouldn't find a path or a place in the water or the sky. When one finds this Way, this activity of living now is the Realized Law of the Universe. This way, this place is not large or small, not self or other, not existing from the beginning, not appearing right now ―therefore it is just what it is.  
Similarly, when someone practices and realizes the Buddha Way, to get one dharma is to penetrate the one dharma, to meet one practice is to practice the one practice. In this state there is the place, where the way has been accomplished, hence being unable to know the boundary to be known is that this knowing is born together and practiced together with the thorough realization of Buddha Dharma. Do not learn that attainment necessarily becomes one's own knowledge, that it would be recognized by one's intellect. Although ultimate realization manifests immediately, the reality imperceptible is not necessarily actualized, why necessarily is there a manifestation? (Antonym; In the end, you'll know exactly what it' all about.)
Zen master Hotetsu of Mt. Mayoku was using a fan. A monk came and asked "The nature of wind is constancy and there is no place it does not reach. Why then do you use a fan? "
The master said "You only know the nature of wind is constancy but do not know the principle that there is no place it does not reach."
The monk said " What is the principle that there is no place it does not reach?"
The master just fanned.
The monk bowed.
The realization-evidence of the Buddha-Dharma, the living road of right transmission, is like this. To say that since the nature of wind is constancy one should not use a fan, and one should feel the wind even when one is not using a fan, is not knowing both constancy and nature of wind. Because the nature of wind is constancy, the wind of Buddhism causes the earth manifest being gold and ripen the long river into sweet creamy milk.
Shobogenzo Genjo-koan The First
This was written in mid-autumn in the 1st year ofTenpuku, and was presented to the lay disciple Yo Koshu of Chinzei.
Edited in the 4th year of Kencho

Now we have heard how high and great the virtue of this Zazen is. Foolish persons ask in doubt, “There are many gates to the Buddha Dharma, though, why do you solely recommend Zazen?”
I show and say, “Because this is the main gate to the Buddha Dharma.”
Someone asks, “Why do you make it be the only main gate?”
I show and say, “The Great Master Sakyamuni rightly transmitted the subtle method of attaining the enlightenment, and the tathagatas of the three temporal worlds also got enlightened altogether by doing Zazen. That is why that Zazen is the main gate has been transmitted. Furthermore, patriarchs of Western Heavens; India and Eastern Lands; China all got enlightened by Zazen. Being so, I now show the main gate; Zazen to the human beings and celestial beings.”
Someone asks, “Transmit rightly the subtle method of the Tathagata, or following the footprints of ancestors might be relied upon, which is truly beyond the thought of an ordinary one. Reading sutras and reciting the names of buddhas, however, could be the causes of enlightenment. To be sitting idly without doing anything, how can it become the conditions of attaining enlightenment?”
I show and say, “You now consider the samadhi of various buddhas and the highest Great Dharma sitting idly and doing nothing, you are a person who insult the Great Vehicle. You are such deeply deluded that it is like y being in the middle of ocean and say there is no water. Thankfully, we have already sat at ease in the self-receiving and using samadhi of various buddhas. Is this not the achievement of extensive and great virtue? It's a pity that your eyes are not yet open and your heart is in a drunken stupor.
Generally, the state of various buddhas is a mystery. It cannot be reached by the functioning of mind; cognition. Let alone, how can the unbelieving and the inferior wisdom, know? Only persons in great working and in right belief can attain to enter the state of buddhas. Those who disbelieve have difficulty to receive even if they are taught. In Vulture Peak, there were people of that kind, on whom the Buddha said, “It is also good to leave.” Probably, when the right belief comes out in your mind, you should practice and learn. Otherwise, you should give up for a while. Regret that you have not been soaked in the Dharma from the past.
 Furthermore, do you know the virtue which is gained from services such as reading sutras and chanting the name of buddhas? You only think that moving the tongue glibly and raising voice is the virtue of Buddhist conduct, which is really vain. When it is modeled after the Buddha Dharma, it is more and more remote and all the more far away. Moreover, to open the sutras means that we clarify and know what the Buddha taught as the tenets of practice for instantaneous realization or gradual realization, and if we practice just like the teaching written in the sutras, it surely makes us attain enlightenment. It is entirely not that we use our way of thinking and thoughts in vain and mimic to the virtue of attaining Bodhi; the Supreme Enlightenment. Trying to reach to the Way of Buddha by the action of the mouth unwisely reciting a thousand and ten thousand times is still trying to head toward Etsu in the south directing the shaft toward the north. Or, it is the same as trying to put a square pale in a round hole. Even though you are reading sentences, you are unclear how to practice. It is just like a person who reads medical text forgets how to compound medicine, what's the use? Keeping to chant without cease is like frogs in a rice paddy field in spring, croaking day and night. At last, it is fruitless. Moreover, fellows who are deceived by fame and fortune have difficulties to abandon these things. Because the heart of greed is very deep. It was in the past and it must have been in present world. It is most pitiful.
You should really know that the subtle Dharma of Seven Buddhas is, when a faithful practitioner with the pledge to right realization follows a master who has attained the Way and clarified the mind, then its immediate effect appears and it is rightly transmitted and maintained. This is beyond the knowing of a Buddhist monk leaning literally. Being so, stop doubt and illusion, and follow the teaching of a right master, practice Zazen, and attain the Buddhas’ samadhi of self-receiving and using.”
Someone asks, “The Tendai sect and Kegon sect, that are handed down to this country are the ultimate mastery of the Mahayana. Moreover, when it comes to Shingon sect, the Vairocana tathagata transmitted intimately to the Vajra-sattva and the master and disciple are not disorderly. The principle that they preach is, saying “Mind here and now is Buddha,” “This Mind becomes Buddha,” the extreme subtlety of the Buddha Dharma, which enable us to chant the realization of five buddhas in one sitting, without practicing though many kalpas. However, if there is any excellence in the practice of what you are saying now, why should you put them aside and solely recommend your method?” 
I show and say, “In Buddhism, we do not argue about superiority or inferiority, choose the shallowness or depth of the Dharma, but we should know if practice is genuine or false. There are some who entered the way of the Buddha attracted by grass, flowers, mountains, rivers, and there are some who received and maintained the Buddha-Seal by grasping some soil, stones, and pebbles. Moreover, the vast and great words are more abundant over the all things in the universe, and the turning the great Dharma -Wheel is settled in a speck of dirt. Being so, the word “Mind here and now is buddha” is also the moon in water, the principle “Sitting is just becoming buddha” is also the shadow in a mirror. You should not be affected by the mastery of words. Now, when we proceed the practice of directly realized Bodhi, we show the subtle way transmitted directly from the Buddhist patriarchs, and make you true persons on the way of practice.
In addition, to transmit the Buddha-Dharma, you must have a person who realized and certified as our teacher. It is not enough to have a scholar who counts letters as our guiding teacher. It is as if a blind man leading a group of blind men. Now, in the priesthood of right transmission of the ancestors of the Buddha, all honor the wise masters of attaining the Way and of being enlightened and certified, and all dwell on and hold the Buddha Dharma. Because of this, when Shinto of yin‐yang comes to be converted to Buddhism, and when arhats who attained the effects come to ask for Buddha Dharma, there is no such thing that the masters do not give them the means to clarify their own state of being. This is something that has not yet been heard of in other schools. Disciples of the Buddha should learn the Buddha Dharma. Moreover, we should know that we, from the beginning, never lacked Mujo-Bodai; perfect enlightenment. Although we have received and use it eternally, because we cannot receive it rightly and having the habit of arising knowledge recklessly, we chase after this knowledge as real thing, we uselessly pass by the great Way. By these thoughts, there appears various flowers in the sky. We consider the state of the twelve hold stages and that of the twenty-five of being, the views of the three vehicles and five vehicles, or of being Buddha Nature or non being Buddha nature never be made. You should not think that learning this knowledge is the right way to practice the Buddha-Dharma. But now, when you absolutely sit in Zazen by the Buddha -Seal, letting go of all things, you are able to transcend the bounds of delusion, enlightenment, emotion, and thinking, without going down the path of ordinary or saints, quickly stroll outside the frame of common world, and receive and use great Bodhi. How could a man who has studied letters compare with this?”
Someone asks, “Among the threefold training, there is dhyana training, and among the six paramitas, there is the dhyana paramita. They are both all bodhisattvas learn from the biggening and practice without regarding bright and dull. Zazen now you are talking should be one of them. Why is it said that the right Dharma of the Tathagata is gathered in this?”
I show and say, “This question has come about because this Shobogenzo; the right Dharma eye treasury, superb and great Dharma, the important matter of the Tathagata has been named Zen school. You should know that this title; Zen school has been known only in the east of China not in India. Firstly, while the great Master Boddhidharma was at Shaolin temple in the Mount Sung-shan and was dwelling “facing the wall” for nine years, monks and laity did not know the right Dharma of the Buddha. They named the Bodhidharma as Brahman, whose religious sect is Zazen. Later on, the patriarchs of all generations have always practiced Zazen. But the foolish worldly people who saw this were unaware of the truth and called it Zazen school. Nowadays, the word "Za" is dropped and it is just called Zen school. This outcome is clear from the records of the patriarchs. Zazen should not be mentioned alongside the dhyana of paramita or that of threefold training.  That the transmission of this Buddha-Dharma is the significance of direct descendant has been well-known for one generation. In the past, on the great Vulture Peak, when Tathagata transmitted the Shobogenzo; the right Dharma eye of treasury and subtle mind of nirvana, the supreme and great Dharma, to only the Venerable Mahakasyapa, the ritual was witnessed by the beings among the celestial beings who are currently in the heavenly world, so it must never be doubted. The Buddha's Dharma is to be upheld by all celestial beings all the time, and its merits have not yet been lost. You should know this is the whole way of the Buddha Dharma. There is nothing to be said in comparison.”
Someone asks, “Why do the Buddhists recommend us dhyana training, by only siting among the four forms of conduct, and talk about entering into realization?”
I show and say, “It is difficult to know thoroughly the ways that buddhas have in succession practiced and entered into realization from old times. if you ask a reason, you should know that it is only because it is what the Buddhists use. You should not seek for besides this. But ancient patriarchs have praised saying, “Zazen is the Dharma gate of ease and joy.” We can count that Zazen is because it is the easiest and the most joyful among the four forms of conduct. And furthermore, it is not the way practiced and maintained by only one buddha or two buddhas, all the buddhas and all the patriarchs have this way.”
Someone ask, “As for the practice of Zazen, those who have not yet realized should practice Zazen and attain realization, but what could those who have already clarified the right Dharma of the Buddha expect to get from Zazen?”  
I show and say, “It is said that you do not tell a dream in front of a fool and it is impossible to give a punt pole in the hands of a mountain worker, however, I will give you some teaching. To think that practice and realization are not one is, namely, the view of non-Buddhists. Again, in the Buddha-Dharma, practice and realization are definitely a single one. Because our conduct of now is practice on realization, beginners’ practice on the way is, namely, the whole of the original realization. Therefore, it has been taught, when giving practice guidance, not to think waiting for realization except practice. Because it should be the original realization of direct indication. As practice has already been realization, realization has no limitation. As realization is practice, practice has no beginning. In this way, the Tathagata Sakyamuni and Venerable Mahakasyapa were both received and used by the practice on realization. The Great Master Bodhidharma and the founding ancestor Daikan were similarly pulled and driven by the practice on realization. The traces of dwelling in and holding the Buddha-Dharma are all like this.
There has already been the practice that is never separate from realization, and we have fortunately received the immediate transmission of one portion of subtle practice, as beginner’s practice on the way, we will get one portion of true realization in the state of free from doing. We should know that in order not to defile the realization not separated from practice, Buddhist patriarchs have incessantly taught us not to slacken our practice. When we let the subtle practice go, our hands will be fulfilled with the true realization, when we come out from the true realization, the subtle practice is performed thoroughly the whole our body.
Again, as I saw with my eyes in the country of the Great Sung Dynasty, all the Zen monasteries in the provinces had set up zazen halls, with five hundred and six hundred, a thousand and twelve thousand monks in attendance, and they were encouraged to practice Zazen days and nights. When I asked the leader in charge of a sect, who were transmitted the Buddha’s Dharma-Seal, and true master about the true meaning of Buddha-Dharma, I heard that practice and realization are never two stages.
Therefore, not only the practitioners in one’s group, but also fine people who seek Dharma, those who want to clarify the truth in the Buddha-Dharma, without choosing beginners or long term leaners, regardless ordinary people or sagas, all are recommended practice Zazen, according to the teaching of the Buddhist patriarchs and following the way of the true master.
Have you not heard what the Patriarch said; “It is not there is not practice and enlightenment, but it cannot be being defiled.”
Moreover, it is said, "Those who see the Way, master the Way." We should know that we should practice within the Way of attainment.”
Someone asks, “When the teachers who spread teachings in our country in the previous generations had all entered Tang and transmitted the dharma, why did they left this subject aside and convey only the teachings?”
I show and say, “The reason why the teachers for the people in the past did not transmit this dharma was that the time had not come.”
Someone asks, “Did those teaches of previous ages attain this dharma?”
I show and say “If they had attained, they would have got through.”
Someone asks,” A person says that we should not lament birth and death, because there is a very swift way away from birth and death. It is to know the principle of everlasting nature of the mind. The point is that this body, if it is already born, will necessarily be carried to death, but this mind will never be destroyed. When we realize that we have a mind that is not moved by birth and death, we take this as our true nature, and so our body becomes a temporary form. One dies here and is born there, being unsettled. The mind is in constancy, it cannot be changed in the past, present, or in the future. To know in this way is to say that we have left life and death behind. For those who know the truth of this, life and death as in the past have finished for a long time, and when their bodies end up, they enter into the essential Ocean. When they are drifting in the Ocean, they have the same virtues as the Buddhas and Tathagatas. Even though they may know it now, they are not the same as the saints, because their bodies are the result of the delusions of their previous lives. Those who do not yet know the principle of this must be constantly transmigrate the cycle of life and death. Therefore, we should hasten to know the principle of the everlasting dwelling of the mind. What is the point in sitting idly and letting your life pass you by?” What is said in this way is truly in accordance with the way of the Buddhas and the Patriarchs and I wonder if this is so.”
I show and say,” The view of what is said now is absolutely not the Buddha’s Dharm, it is the view of non-Buddhist; Shrenikans. The saying is, the view of the non-Buddhist is as follows: There is one mystic wisdom in our body, and this wisdom, when meeting conditions, can discriminate between good and bad, discern between right and wrong, can know pains and itch, know joys and sorrows, all are the power of this mystic wisdom. When this body is destroyed, however, that divine nature shed off the body and is reborn in the other side, and it seems that it perishes here, though, the life is in the other side, that is why it is said to be immortal and in constancy. The view of the non-Buddhists is like this.
But, to learn this view and make it the Buddha's Dharma is more foolish than grasping a tile or a pebble and thinking it is a golden treasure. There is nothing that can compare to the shamefulness of ignorance and delusion. National Master Echu of the Great Sung Dynasty deeply admonished this. Now, you exercise the evil view that the mind is in constancy and the form is perishable, equalize it with the subtle Dharma of the Buddhas, give rise the original cause of birth and death, and think that you can be separated from birth and death, are you not foolish? You should be more than ashamed of yourself. Just know that this is the evil view of non-Buddhists, and do not allow it to touch your ears.
Unavoidably, as I feel pity for you, I will try to save you from this evil view. You should know that, in Buddha-Dharma, the body and mind is originally oneness, nature and forms are not two, which saying has been well known in Western Heavens and Eastern Land, so we should never alter it. Furthermore, when we talk about constancy, myriad dharmas are all in constancy, body and mind are not separated. When we talk about extinction, myriad dharmas are all extinct., nature and form are not divided. Despite of that, how can you say that the body perishes and the mind is permanent. Is it not against the true reason? On the top of that, you should realize and acknowledge that birth and death is just nirvana. Nirvana has never been discussed outside of birth and death. And yet, even if you mistakenly refer the understanding that the mind is permanent apart from the body, equally to the Buddha Wisdom free from birth and death, the mind of this understanding and sensing is still appearing and dis appearing, it is not in constancy at all. This is futile, isn’t it?
We should observe intimately, the purport of oneness of mind and body is what Buddha Dharma has always talked about. However, how can it be that while this body appear and disappear, the mind should be separated from the body and does not appear and disappear? If there is a time when the body and mind are oneness, and a time when they are not oneness, then the Buddha's teachings would become false naturally. Also, to think that life and death are Dharma that should be excluded becomes a wrong doing to despise the Buddha Dharma. Why do we not refrain from doing so?
We should know to say that the Dharma teachings as the nature of mind and great universal forms in Buddha-Dharma is that, including the great whole Dharma world, nature and form are not divided and birth and death are not spoken. There is nothing but the nature of mind, not even to the Bodhi and Nirvana. All myriad dharmas and all things in nature are altogether are of this one mind, and there is nothing not to be included and not to be possessed. All of these various dharma gates are equal and of one mind. It is said that there is no difference among them, this is how Buddhists know the state of the mind- nature. But is it possible to discriminate between body and mind on this one dharma, and separate life and death from nirvana? We have already been the children of the Buddha, so let us not touch with our ears to the sound from the tongues of lunatics who talk about the view of non-Buddhist.”
Someone asks, “ Do those who practice zazen devotedly must strictly observe the precepts?”
I show and say; Keeping precepts and ascetic practices are the standard of Zen schools and the family custom of buddhas and patriarchs. However, those who have not yet received the precepts, or who have broken the precepts, are not without their share of effort.”
Someone asks, “ For those who practice this zazen, should there be any hindrance in practicing Shingon mantra performing and Tendai concentration and observation as well?”
I show and say, “ When I was in Tang China, when I asked a true master the secret, and he said that he had never heard that any of the patriarchs who had been transmitted the Buddha's seal had not yet practiced such practices additionally, in the West or in the East, in the past or in the present. Indeed, if you do not practice one thing, you will never achieve the one wisdom.”
Someone asks, “ This practice should be done by both men and women of the secular world, or should it be practiced only by ordained practitioners?”
I show and say, “ It is said that Patriarchs say that one should not discriminate between male and female, high and low, in realizing of the Buddha-Dharma.”
Someone asks, “ Buddhist monks who have left home can quickly break away from various involvements and they have no hindrance on Zazen practice. How can those who are busy in their secular life practice earnestly and accord with the Buddha way of non-doing?”
I show and say, “In general, the Buddhist Patriarchs were so overwhelmed with compassion that he opened a vast and great gate of compassion. This is for the purpose of letting all sentient beings enter rightly. Is there anyone among human beings and heavenly beings who cannot enter? With this, when we trace back to the past and present, we will find a lot of evidence of this. For instance, Daiso and Junso, being on the imperial throne, were very busy with all state affairs, but they earnestly practice Zazen and enlightened the Great Way of Buddhist Patriarchs. Both Minister Lee and Minister Bo held the office of assistance and were the right-hand men to emperor, yet they diligently practice Zazen and enter and enlightened the Great Way of the Buddhist Patriarchs. It depends on whether you have the will or not, and not on whether you are lay person or a monk. Also, those who have a deep sense of the merits and demerits of things may naturally have faith. Those who think that the affairs of the world hinder Buddha's Dharma are only aware that there is no Buddha's Dharma in the world, and do not yet know that there are no worldly dharmas in the Buddhahood.
Recently, in the Great Sung Dynasty, there was a man named Minister Ma. He was a great official who excelled in the Way of the Patriarchs. Later, he wrote a poem and expressed himself,
In the spare time of official duties, I like to do Zazen.
I have rarely slept with my side touching the floor and gone to sleep.
And even though I have appeared as Prime Minister,
My name as Choro; Patriarch is handed down through the four seas.
This is that even though he was the man who had no free time from the official duties, his will toward the Way of Buddha was deep, he attained the Way. We should reflect on ourselves on seeing others, and we should reflect on now in his days.
In the Great Sung Dynasty, today's kings and ministers, nobles and commoners, they all keep their minds on the Way of the Founder. The warrior class, the literati, and all of them set their heart on the way of Zen practice and study. Those who aspire, many of them are sure to clarify their own state of original mind. This is shown naturally that worldly affairs will not hinder the Buddha Dharma.
If the true Buddha Dharma is spread throughout the nation, because all buddhas and all heavenly beings will constantly protect it, there will be beneficence of sovereign and peace. If it is the sanctification peace, Buddha Dharma is sure to gain its power.
Also, in the lifetime of Shakyamuni Buddha, the evil, and those with evil views, could attain the Way. In the assembly of the Patriarchs, the hunters and woodcutters got enlightened. Why not the other people? we should follow the path of the righteous Master.
Someone asks, “Even now, in the last days and in this evil world, is it possible we to attain the realization when we practice this practice?”
I show and say, “Sects based on scripture emphasize concepts and forms, in the real teaching of Mahayana, there is no distinction between the right dharma, the image dharma, and the latter dharma. It is said that if we practice, we will all attain the Way. Furthermore, in this direct transmission of the True Dharma, those who enter the Dharma and get out of body (get enlightened) also receive and use their own treasure. Those who practice can naturally know whether or not they have attained the realization, it is just as if a person who uses water is aware of the fact that it is cold or warm.”
Someone asks, “It is said that in the Buddha Dharma, if we have understood completely the principle that mind here and now is Buddha, even if we don’t recite the sutras and do not practice the Buddha Way, we don’t lack the Buddha Dharma at all. Just knowing that the Buddha Dharma is originally in oneself is the whole of attainment of the Way. It is not necessary to seek anything from others. How much less do we need to be bothered with Zazen practice?”
I show and say, “Those words are most the most untrustful. If it is as you say, then how could those who are in a state of sensible mind never be able to understand even if anyone had taught them?
You should know that the Buddha Dharma is to be learned by ceasing the view of the self and others. If we made that knowing the self is Buddha is the attainment of the Way, in the past, Shakyamuni Buddha would not have struggled with teaching the Way. I would like to prove this by using the subtle sayings of ancient patriarchs for a while.
Once upon a time, there was a monk named Soku-ko-Kanin in the assembly of Hogen Zenji, Hogen Zenji asked “Soku-ko, how long have you been in my assembly? “
Soku-ko says, "I have been in the assembly of my master for three years already.”
Hogen Zenji says, "You are the latter learner in my assembly, why don't you ever ask me for the Buddha Dharma?".
Soku-ko says, "I should not disrespect you, Master. When I was once in the monastery of Seiho Zeji I attained the state of ease and peace in the Buddha-Dharma.”
The Zenji says, " By what kind of words were you be able to attain it?”
Soku-ko says, "I once said to Seiho, 'what is the self of the learner?” Seiho says, "The child of fire (Hei-Tei Doji) comes and seek fire.”
Hogan Zenji says, "Good words. But perhaps you should not have got it “
Soku-ko says, "The Hei-Tei Doji (child)belongs to fire. I understand that one takes fire and seeks more fire is just like that one is being oneself and seeks one's self.”
The Zenji says, "I am truly convinced that you did not attain it. If the Buddha's Dharma is just like this, it will not be transmitted until the present day. Hereupon, Soku-ko, in agony, left the temple. In the middle of the road, he thought, Zen Master is the master in the world, and the great leading teacher of five hundred people. He admonished my fault so he must have his strong merit. He returned to the Zenji, he repented, and prostrated to thank him and says, " what is the self of the learner?”
The Zenji master says, "The child of fire (Hei-Tei Doji) comes and seek fire.”
Soku-kou, in the presence of these words, has greatly realized the Buddha Dharma.
It is obvious that the knowing that self is the Buddha is not the way to realize the Buddha Dharma. If the Buddha's Dharma is the knowing that the self is namely the Buddha's, the Zenji should not have guided him, nor should he have scolded him in such a way. You should, however, start out with good knowledge, ask questions about the ritual rules of practice, do Zazen alone, and never try to keep superficial knowledge in mind. The subtle method of the Buddha Dharma has never been unreliable.”
Someone asks, “In the ancient and modern times of the Tang Dynasty, there were those who heard the sound of bamboo and realized the Way, and those who saw the color of flowers and were enlightened. Shakyamuni Buddha proved the Way when he saw the morning star, and Ananda not only clarified the Dharma when the pole was down, but also, from the sixth generation onward, there have been many who have clarified their minds with a single word or phrase in the course of the five families. They may be not the only ones who have done zazen in the past.”
I show and say, “In the past and present, the very person who clarified his mind seeing the form, and the one who attained the way of hearing, were both in the state they had no discernment in their own practice and had no second person under them.”
Someone asks, “In India and China, the people are originally honest and straight. It is because they are in the center of culture, when being taught the Buddha Dharma, they rightly enter the way at once. In our country, from the past, people have little human intellect knowledge and it is difficult for us to accumulate the seed of truth. We are such because of barbarism, how could we not be regretful? And the ordained priests of this land are no better than the lay people of the great land. Our whole world is foolish and people are narrowminded. We are deeply attached to the effect of the perpetual changes of things and like the goodness of form. Can these fellows get enlightened Buddha Dharma at once, even if they practice Zazen?”
I show and say, “ It is just as you say. The people of our land are not yet benevolent and wise, and they are also crooked. Even if we show them the Dharma of honesty, the sweet nectar will turn to poison. They are easily seduced by fame and fortune, and it is difficult for them to melt away delusion and attachment. However, entering rightly into the Buddha-Dharma, you do not necessarily have to use the worldly wisdom of human being and celestial being as a navigation to get enlightened. Even in the lifetime of the Buddha, one who realized the Four effects by means of a boll, and one who wore a robe and clarified the Great Way, are both ignorant and are fellows of delusion and madness. However, by correctly believing, there is a way, to get rid of delusion. Also, when witnessed the old fool sitting silently, the religious woman preparing meal opened up her enlightenment, which is not based on wisdom, not based on writing, not based on words, and not based on speech. Only saved by the right belief.
It has been only two thousand or so years since the Buddha's teachings spread throughout the three thousand worlds. Countries are of many kinds, not all of them are the countries of benevolence and wisdom. Moreover, how could it be possible that all people are also sagacious and intelligent? However, the right Dharma of Tathagata, originally with its wondrous power of great virtue, will spread throughout the land when the time comes. If people practice righteousness and faith, they will be able to attain enlightenment without distinction of the clever and the stupid. Considering, our country is not a land of benevolence and wisdom and the people are too ignorant to understand, we should not think that we could not attain the Buddha Dharma. Everyone has abundantly the right seeds of Prajna, but only rarely do they rightly receive it, and they are not fully capable of receiving and using it.”
The previous questions and answers have come and gone, and it is quite untidy to be exchanging between the host and guests. To some extent, it would be like to set flowers in the empty flowerless sky. Even so, in this country, in the field of Zazen practice, the principle has not yet been conveyed, and those who want to know would be deeply disappointed. For this reason, I would like to bring together the few things what I learned in other countries, and record the true essence of the clarified Master's teachings so that those who want to learn can listen. In addition to this, there are the rules and formalities of the monasteries and the style of the temples, I have not time to show them and it should not be done in haste.
In general, even though our dynasty is located to the east of the Sea of Dragon, and are far separated by the clouds and mists, it is very fortunate for the people in our country that the Buddha Dharma in the west has been progressing eastward since around the reigns of the Kinmei and Yomei periods. But the terms and forms as well as the ritual and formalities have been mixed in confusion and the way of practicing has become troublesome. Bur now, we live with the mended robes and fixed bowls through our live time, tying thatched beside the blue cliffs and white stones and do Zazen and practice, the matter of the rise of the Buddha instantly manifests and we will complete the great matter of our life time practice. This is the ordinance of Ryuge; Mater Ryuge Kondon (835-923) and the legacy of Kukkutapada; Master Mahakayapa. The ritual and rules for doing Zazen are should be done following Fukan-Zazengi which I compiled in the Karoku era.
Although it is said that we should receive the royal decree to propagate the Buddha Dharma throughout the country, when I think about the legacy of the Vulture Peak again, all of the kings, nobles, ministers, and generals who have appeared in hundreds of thousands of millions lands have graciously received the Buddha's decree, and have come into being without forgetting their duty to uphold and guard Buddha Dharma of their past lives. As to the boundary of influencing, which place could not be a Buddha land? Therefore, in order to propagate the way of the Buddhist patriarchs, we should not necessarily choose a particular place and wait for conditions, but rather, we should think that today is the start.
Being so, then I should gather this together and leave it for excellent masters who seek the Buddha's Dharma, and true stream of practitioners who seek to learn the way of the Buddha wondering like floating clouds and drifting water weeds.”
In the middle of the autumn of the year of Kanki, the of Shin-u,
                                     By the Buddhist monk Dogen, who went to the Sung Dynasty and received the transmission of the Dharma.

When the buddha -tathagatas, together having the subtle Dharma of direct transmission, realize the Anoku-Bodai; Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi (supreme perfect enlightenment), there is a subtle method which is supreme and free from doing. This is just transmitted from buddha to buddha, without being unjust, namely, Jijyuyou- Zanmai; the self-receiving and using samadhi is the standard.
While being joyfully in this Zanmai; samadhi, tanza- sanzen; the practice of direct sitting; Zazen is the right gate. Although this Dharma is abundantly inherent in each person, but if we do not practice, it cannot manifest, and we do not get enlightened, it cannot be attained. When we let go, it has filled in our hands, how could it be defined one or many? When we speak, it fills in the mouth, it is unrestricted in all directions. Buddhas always dwell in this state, they do not leave any perceptions in every aspect, living beings are eternally working in this state, every aspect does not appear in each of their perceptions.
The effort of Bendo I am teaching now makes myriad dharmas exist on the realization, it enacts being oneness on the way of going thorough. When we are beyond the barrier and dropped off, how should we be trapped with this critical juncture?
After I had religious awakening and sought the Dharma, I visited fine leaders all around our country in all directions. Incidentally, I met Zenko in the Kenninji temple. Nine times of frosts and of flowers passed while I followed him. I learned a little about the style of Rinzai school. As the superior disciple of the Patriarch Sai, Zenko alone had been transmitted the unsurpassed Dharma. It was not possible for anyone else to compete with him.
I also visited the Greater Song Dynasty, to visit the leaders both banks of the Zhejiang River and studied the family tradition of the five schools. At last, I visited Nyojo Zenji of Dai-byaku-ho mountain, and I was able to complete the great task of a lifetime practice. Later, at the beginning of the Great Sung era of Shojo, I returned to home and was firmly resolved to spreading Buddhism and saving people. It is as if I am carrying a heavy burden.
Nevertheless, because of waiting for the time of upsurge when I release the mind to spread of Buddhist teaching, I would spend some time calling here and there like could in the sky and like weeds in the water, following the ancient sagas. But if there might be true and honest practitioners who do not naturally concern themselves with fame and profit, but rather with the will to the Way first, they would be led astray by the false teachers, blindly cover up the right understanding, and in vain they would be drunk with self- madness, and they linger in a straying land. By what means would they grow the righteous seeds of Prajna, and attain the opportunity of enlightenment? As I was devoting myself entirely to wondering here and there like clouds or water weeds, which mountains and rivers could they visit? Feeling pity for them, I would compile records of the customs and regulations that I have seen and heard in the Zen monasteries of the great Dynasty of Sung, and the profound truth of leaders teaching that I have received and kept, and I would leave them to the true practitioners who are right in the way, and let them know the righteous Dharma of the Buddhas lineage. This might be the secrets. It is said that the Great Master Sakyamuni at the assembly on Vulture Peak transmitted the Dharma to Mahakasyapa, which was rightly transmitted from patriarch to patriarch and it reached to Venerable Bodhidharma. The Venerable Priest himself went to China and transmitted Dharm to the Great Master Eka. This was the first time when the Buddha Dharma had been introduced to the Eastern Land.
Transmitted directly patriarch after patriarch in this manner, the Dharma reached Zen Master Daikan Eno; the Sixth Patriarch. At that time, the genuine Buddha Dharma spread through the eastern land of China, and the purport which is not related with critical junctures appeared. In that time, the Sixth Patriarch had the two excellent disciples, Nangaku Ejo and Seigen Gyoshi. Both of them, having received and kept the Buddha Seal, were alike the leaders for human and celestial beings. These two streams flowed and spread, and the five gates opened up. They are so called Hogen school, Igyo school, Soto school, Unmon school, and Rinzai school. In great Sung today, Rinzai school is alone widespread throughout the country. Although the five schools differ, they maintain the One Seal of Buddha Dharma.
In the great Kingdom of Sung, from the Later Han Dynasty, although books of religious doctrines had been spread and had left marks in the country, it was not settled that whether which were superior or which were inferior. After the Ancestral Master Bodhidharma came from the West, he directly cut of the root of conflict and the genuine pure Buddha-Dharma spread. We should earnestly hope the same thing will happen in our country.
It is said that the patriarchs and buddhas who dwelt in and maintained the Buddha -Dharma, all had the practice by Zazen; sitting upright in the samadhi of receiving and using of self, as the right way to enlighten themselves. People who attained enlightenment in the Western Heavens and the Eastern Lands followed this deportment. It is because that the masters and disciples transmitted the subtle method privately and rightly and they received and maintained the truth.
In the Sutras transmitted rightly in our sect, it is said that this genuine Buddha-Dharma of direct transmission is the supreme of the supreme. From the very beginning of the meeting with a leader for Zen practice, we have never need to burn incense, to make prostrations, to chant Buddhas’ name, to practice confession, or to read sutras. Just sit upright and attain the state of body and mind casted off.
If a person, even for a one moment, is manifesting the Buddha-Seal in the three kinds of behavior; body, speech, and mind, sitting up straight in the samadhi, the entire Dharma- world all becomes the Buddha- Seal and the whole universe one and all becomes the state of enlightenment. Therefore, the buddha-tathagatas increase the Joy of Dharma in the original Buddhahood and renew the majesty of the Way of enlightenment. Also, when the groups of the Dharma world in ten directions, and of three crossing state or six lower worlds, all are purified in body and mind at once, prove the state of the great liberation, and their original face appears, myriad Dharmas realize the right awakening, myriad things altogether utilize the Dharma -body, they immediately surpass the bounds of understanding and realizing, sit upright as the king of Bodhi tree, they instantly turn the great Dharma-wheel of being unequalled, and uphold ultimate, free from doing, and profound state of Prajna.
Also, because these equable right state of realization, going to and back on the way getting crossed intimately and mystically, this one who does Zazen definitely drops off body and mind, cuts away his previous miscellaneous impure knowledges and thoughts, realizes and gets the genuine and pure Buddha-Dharma, and gives rise the Buddha’s services throughout each slightest numerable dojho; halls of buddha- tathagatas, he also gives widely the opportunity of enhancement of Buddhahood, and spreads vividly the Dharma of ascending Buddhahood. At this time, things in the Dharma-World in ten direction, earth, grass, and trees, fences, walls, tiles, and pebbles, all conduct the Buddha-Service, so those fellows who receive the fruits brought by wind and water, demonstrate the intimate state of enlightenment being mystically helped by the subtle and wonderous influence of the Buddha. Because those who receive and use this water and fire mediate the genuine realized influence of the Buddha, the fellows who abide and talk with those people, are each provided with unlimited Buddha benefits altogether, they spread widely it from one to another, it is settles that the endless, uncut, wonderous the Buddha-Dharma is circulated inside and outside the whole Buddha-World. Although, that these various things do not mingle into our perception is because it is without being artificial and direct realization within the stillness. If practice and realization were expressed separately like the thoughts of an ordinary person, we would perceive each of them separately. If it is mixed into our perception, it is not the rule of realization, as doubts cannot reach the rule of realization.
And within stillness, mind and circumstance both there is going in the realized state and out from the enlightened state, though, as it is the state of self-receiving and using, it does not move a single dust and destroy a one aspect, it performs vast Buddha -service and give the profound subtle influence of Buddhahood. The grass, trees, soil, and land to which this influence reached, emit the light of grace emanating from the Buddha, and they endlessly preach the profound subtle Dharma. Grass, trees, fences and walls preach well for the ordinary, the saga, and the soul, and on the contrary, the ordinary, the saga, and the soul preach for grass, trees, fences and walls. The conditions of self-awareness and the conditions of others-awareness have been provided with the form of realization from the beginning, and the rule of realization has been conducted and there has been no time to be idle.
With this, even if it is only one person does Zazen for one moment, it mystically encounters myriad Dharmas one another, and gets through placidly to all times, so it does the constant and eternal work of the Buddha’s influencing, within the limitless universe, in the past, future, and present. One and all, it is the same practice and the same realization. It is not only the practice when sitting, it is like that striking a void and make a resounding sound and it is unceasing before and after the strike. How could it be limited on this occasion? Hundred heads are all provided with true practice, being endowed with the original face, it is impossible to measure and it ought not to be measured.
We should know that even if many buddhas in ten directions, as numerous as the sand of the Ganges, tried together with all their power and all Buddha- wisdom to measure the merits of Zazen of one person, they could not even get close to the edge.

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