Master Dogen’s

Shobogenzo
Gudo Nishijima was born in Yokohama, Japan in November
1919, and graduated from the Law Department of Tokyo
University in September 1946.
In October 1940 he first met Master Kodo Sawaki, whose
teaching he received until Master Kodo's death in December
1965. During this time, he combined the daily practice of Zazen
and study of Shobogenzo with a career at the Japanese Ministry
of Finance and at a securities financing company. In December
1973 he became a priest under the late Master Renpo Niwa, and
in December 1977 he received the transmission of Dharma from
the same Master (who subsequently became the abbot of Eihei-ji
temple). Shortly thereafter he became a consultant to the Ida
Ryogokudo company, and in 1987 established the Ida
Ryogokudo Zazen Dojo in Ichikawa City near Tokyo. Now in his
eighties, he continues to give instruction in Zazen, and lectures
on Master Dogen's works, in Japanese and in English, in Tokyo
and at Tokei-in temple in Shizuoka prefecture.
Gudo Nishijima's other publications in English include “How to
Practice Zazen” (with Joe Langdon), “To Meet the Real Dragon”
(with Jeffrey Bailey), “Shinji Shobogenzo” (with Michael
Luetchford and Jeremy Pearson) and “A Heart-to-Heart Chat on
Buddhism with Old Master Gudo” (with James Cohen). He has
published a Japanese translation of Master N‡g‡rjuna's
MÂlamadhyamakak‡rik‡, and is presently at work on an
English translation.

Chodo Cross was born in Birmingham, England, in December

1959. He went to Japan in January 1982, following graduation
from Sheffield University, met Nishijima Roshi in June 1982, and
received the Buddhist precepts in May of the following year. In
December 1994 he returned to England in order to train to be a
teacher of the F. M. Alexander Technique. In September 1998,
having ceased work on the present translation and qualified as
an Alexander teacher, he received the transmission of Dharma
from Nishijima Roshi. He is currently leading a small group of
Alexander colleagues in Zazen practice and welcomes inquiries
from anyone interested in participating in Zazen retreats in
England.
 Master Dogen’s

Shobogenzo
Book 2

Translated
by
Gudo Wafu Nishijima
Chodo Cross
 Windbell Publications

© 1996 by Gudo Nishijima and Chodo Cross. All rights reserved.

Front cover: Portrait of Master Dogen Viewing the Moon, reproduced courtesy of
Hokyo-ji, Fukui Prefecture.
Contents

Preface ix

Notes on the Translation xi

22 BUSSHO 1
仏性

23 GYOBUTSU-YUIGI 37
行仏威儀

24 BUKKYO 61
仏教

25 JINZU 77
神通

26 DAIGO 91
大悟

27 ZAZENSHIN 101
坐禅箴

28 BUTSU-KOJO-NO-JI 119
仏向上事

29 INMO 133
恁麼

30 GYOJI 1 145
行持 (上)

30 GYOJI 2 173
行持 (下)

31 KAI-IN-ZANMAI 207
海印三昧
32 JUKI 219
授記

33 KANNON 235
観音

34 ARAKAN 245
阿羅漢

35 HAKUJUSHI 253
栢樹子

36 KOMYO 263
光明

37 SHINJIN-GAKUDO 273
身心学道

38 MUCHU-SETSUMU 285
夢中説夢

39 DOTOKU 297
道得

40 GABYO 305
画餅

41 ZENKI 315
全機

APPENDICES

Chinese Masters 321

Sanskrit Glossary 323

Bibliographies 329
Acknowledgments
This translation and its publication have been made possible by the
benevolence of the following sponsors:

The Japan Foundation

Mr. Hideo Ida, President of Ida Ryogokudo Co., Ltd.

Mr. Tadashi Nakamae, President of Nakamae International Economic

Research

We should like to thank Michael Luetchford and Jeremy Pearson for

editing and publishing this book. Our thanks also go to Yoko
Luetchford for her work on checking the kanji, and to Emma Gibson for
her invaluable help with proofreading.
Preface
Shobogenzo was written by Master Dogen in the thirteenth century. I
think that reading Shobogenzo is the best way to come to an exact under-
standing of Buddhist theory, because Master Dogen was outstanding in
his ability to understand and explain Buddhism rationally.
Of course, Master Dogen did not depart from traditional Buddhist
thought. But at the same time, his thought as expressed in Shobogenzo
follows his own unique method of presentation. If we understand what
this method is, Shobogenzo is not so difficult to read. But unless we
understand his method of thinking, it is completely impossible for us to
understand what Master Dogen is trying to say in Shobogenzo.
Buddhists revere Buddha, Dharma and Samgha. Buddha means
Gautama Buddha. Samgha means those people who pursue Gautama
Buddha's truth. Dharma means reality. Master Dogen's unique method of
thought is his way to explain what Dharma is.
Basically, he looks at a problem from two sides, and then tries to
synthesize the two viewpoints into a middle way. This method has
similarities with dialectic method in western philosophy, particularly as
used by Hegel and Marx.
Hegel's dialectic, however, is based on belief in spirit, and Marx's
dialectic is based on belief in matter. Master Dogen, through the Buddhist
dialectic, wants to lead us away from thoughts based on belief in spirit
and matter.
Master Dogen recognized the existence of something which is
different from thought; that is, reality in action. Action is completely
different from intellectual thought and completely different from the
perceptions of our senses. So Master Dogen's method of thinking is based
on action, and because of that, it has some unique characteristics.
First, Master Dogen recognized that things we usually separate in our
minds are, in action, one reality. To express this oneness of subject and
object Master Dogen says, for example, “If a human being, even for a single
moment, manifests the Buddha's posture in the three forms of conduct, while
[that person] sits up straight in sam‡dhi, the entire world of Dharma assumes the
Buddha's posture and the whole of space becomes the state of realization.” This
sentence, taken from the chapter Bendowa, is not illogical, but it reflects a

ix
x PREFACE

new kind of logic.

Secondly, Master Dogen recognized that in action, the only time that
really exists is the moment of the present, and the only place that really
exists is this place. So the present moment and this place—the here and
now—are very important concepts in Master Dogen's philosophy of
action.
The philosophy of action is not unique to Master Dogen; this idea was
also the center of Gautama Buddha's thought. All the Buddhist patriarchs
of ancient India and China relied upon this theory and realized Buddhism
itself. They also recognized the oneness of reality, the importance of the
present moment, and the importance of this place.
But explanations of reality are only explanations. In Shobogenzo, after
he had explained a problem on the basis of action, Master Dogen wanted
to point the reader into the realm of action itself. To do this, he sometimes
used poems, he sometimes used old Buddhist stories that suggest reality,
and he sometimes used symbolic expressions.
So the chapters of Shobogenzo usually follow a four-phased pattern.
First Master Dogen picks up and outlines a Buddhist idea. In the second
phase, he examines the idea very objectively or concretely, in order to
defeat idealistic or intellectual interpretations of it. In the third phase,
Master Dogen's expression becomes even more concrete, practical and
realistic, relying on the philosophy of action. And in the fourth phase,
Master Dogen tries to suggest reality with words. Ultimately, these trials
are only trials. But we can feel something that can be called reality in his
sincere trials, when we reach the end of each chapter.
I think this four-phased pattern is related with the Four Noble Truths
preached by Gautama Buddha in his first lecture. By realizing Master
Dogen's method of thinking, we can come to realize the true meaning of
Gautama Buddha's Four Noble Truths. This is why we persevere in
studying Shobogenzo.

Gudo Wafu
Nishijima
Ida Zazen Dojo
Tokyo
February 1994
Notes on the Translation
Aim
In this book, as in Book 1, the primary aim of the translation has been
to stay faithful to the original Japanese text and let Master Dogen speak
for himself, confining interpretation and explanation as far as possible to
the footnotes.
Source text
The source text for chapters 22 to 41 is contained in volumes 4 to 6 of
Nishijima Roshi's 12-volume Gendaigo-yaku-shobogenzo (Shobogenzo in
Modern Japanese). Gendaigo-yaku-shobogenzo contains Master Dogen's
original text, notes on the text, and the text rendered into modern
Japanese. Reference numbers enclosed in brackets in the left margin of this
translation refer to corresponding page numbers in Gendaigo-yaku-
shobogenzo, and much of the material reproduced in the footnotes comes
from Gendaigo-yaku-shobogenzo.
Gendaigo-yaku-shobogenzo is based upon the 95-chapter edition of
Shobogenzo, which was arranged in chronological order by Master
Hangyo Kozen, sometime between 1688 and 1703. The 95-chapter edition
is the most comprehensive single edition, including important chapters
such as Bendowa and Hokke-ten-hokke which do not appear in other
editions. Furthermore, it was the first edition to be printed with
woodblocks, in the Bunka era (1804–1818), and so the content was fixed at
that time. The original woodblocks are still preserved at Eihei-ji, the
temple in Fukui prefecture which Master Dogen founded.
Sanskrit terms
As a rule, Sanskrit words such as sam‡dhi (the balanced state), praj§‡
(real wisdom), and bhik˘u (monk), which Master Dogen reproduces
phonetically with Chinese characters, 三昧 (ZANMAI), 般若 (HANNYA), and
比丘 (BIKU), have been retained in Sanskrit form.
In addition, some Chinese characters representing the meaning of
Sanskrit terms which will already be familiar to readers (or which will be-
come familiar in the course of reading Shobogenzo) have been returned to
Sanskrit. Examples are 法 (HO; “reality,” “law,” “method,” “things and
phenomena”), usually translated as “Dharma” or “dharmas”; 如 来

xi
xii NOTES ON THE TRANSLATION

(NYORAI; “Thus-Come”), always translated as “Tath‡gata”; and 声 聞

(SHOMON; “voice-hearer”), always translated as “˜r‡vaka.”
The glossary provided in the appendix includes all Sanskrit terms
appearing in this book not included in the Sanskrit glossary in Book 1.
Chinese proper nouns
In general Chinese proper nouns have been romanized according to
their Japanese pronunciation—as Master Dogen would have pronounced
them for a Japanese audience. Thus, we have let the romanization of all
names of Chinese masters follow the Japanese pronunciation, while also
adding an appendix showing the Chinese romanization of Chinese
masters' names.
Chinese text
Master Dogen wrote Shobogenzo in Japanese, that is to say, using a
combination of Chinese characters (squared ideograms usually consisting
of many strokes) and the Japanese phonetic alphabet which is more
abbreviated. Chinese of course is written in Chinese characters only.
Therefore when Master Dogen quotes a passage, or borrows a phrase,
from a Chinese text—as he very often does—it is readily apparent to the
eye as a string of Chinese ideograms uninterrupted by Japanese squiggles.
We have attempted to mirror this effect, to some degree, by using italics
for such passages and phrases.
Meaning of 正 法 眼 蔵 (SHOBOGENZO), “The Right-Dharma-Eye
Treasury”
正 (SHO) means “right” or “true.”
法 (HO), “Law,” represents the Sanskrit “Dharma,” which means
reality.
眼 (GEN) “eye,” represents direct experience.
正法眼 (SHOBOGEN), “the right-Dharma-eye,” therefore describes the
right or true experience of reality.
蔵 (ZO), “storehouse” or “treasury,” suggests something that contains
and preserves the right experience of reality. Thus, Nishijima Roshi has
interpreted the words 正法眼蔵 (SHOBOGENZO), “the right-Dharma-eye
treasury,” as an expression of the practice of just sitting in Zazen.
 NOTES ON THE TRANSLATION xiii

Any virtue that this translation has stems entirely from the profoundly
philosophical mind, the imperturbable balance, and the irrepressible
optimism and energy of Nishijima Roshi.
Chodo Cross
5, Chiltern Close,
Aylesbury, England
February 1996
 Shobogenzo
Chapters 22 to 41
 開経偈

無上甚深微妙法

百千萬劫難遭遇

我今見聞得受持

願解如来真実義

KAIKYOGE

MUJO-JINSHIN-MIMYO-HO

HYAKU-SEN-MAN-GO-NAN-SOGU

GA-KON-KENMON-TOKU-JUJI

GAN-GE-NYORAI-SHINJITSU-GI

Verse for Opening the Sutras

The supreme, profound, subtle and fine Dharma,

In hundred thousand myriad kalpas is hard to meet.
Now that I see and hear it and am able to receive and retain it,
I desire to understand the real meaning of the Tath‡gata's teaching.
 [22]
仏性

BUSSHO
The Buddha-nature
Butsu means Buddha and sho means nature, so bussho means Buddha-
nature. The Chinese characters read in Japanese as bussho represent the
meaning of the Sanskrit word buddhat‡, or Buddha-nature; this was usually
understood as the potential we have to attain the truth, or as something
which we have inherently and which grows naturally day by day. But Master
Dogen was not satisfied by such interpretations. In his view, the Buddha-
nature is neither a potential nor a natural attribute, but a state or condition
of body and mind at a present moment. Therefore, he saw the Buddha-nature
neither as something that we might realize in the future, nor as something
that we have inherently in our body and mind. From this standpoint, Master
Dogen affirmed and at the same time denied the proposition “We all have the
Buddha-nature.” He also affirmed and at the same time denied the proposi-
tion “We all don’t have the Buddha-nature.” At first sight, these views
appear contradictory, but through his dialectic explanation of the Buddha-
nature in this chapter, Master Dogen succeeded in interpreting the concept of
the Buddha-nature from the standpoint of action or reality.

[4] ¯‡kyamuni Buddha says:

All living beings totally have1 the Buddha-nature:
The Tath‡gata abides [in them] constantly, without changing at all.2
This is the turning of the Dharma wheel, as a lion’s roar, of our great Mas-
ter ¯‡kyamuni. At the same time it is the brains and eyes of all the

1. “Totally have” is 悉有 (SHITSU-U). 悉 (SHITSU, kotogoto[ku]) means “totally.” 有

(U, a[ru]) as a verb, means “have” or “possess” and also “exist”; and as a noun it means
“being” or “existence.” In his commentary Master Dogen interprets 悉有 (SHITSU-U) in
his own way, as an adjective and noun suggesting reality itself: “Total Existence.”
2. Mah‡parinirv‡ıa-sÂtra, chap. 27.

1
2 BUSSHO

buddhas and all the patriarchs. It has been learned in practice for 2,190
years (it now being the 2nd year of the Japanese era of Ninji),3 through barely fifty
generations of rightful successors (until the late Master Tendo Nyojo).4 Twenty-
eight patriarchs in India5 have dwelt in it and maintained it from one gen-
eration to the next. Twenty-three patriarchs in China6 have dwelt in it and
maintained it from one age to the next. The Buddhist patriarchs in the ten
directions have each dwelt in it and maintained it. What is the point of the
World-honored One’s words that “All living beings totally exist1 as the Bud-
dha-nature”? It is the words “This is something ineffable coming like this”7
turning the Dharma wheel. Those called “living beings,” or called “the sen-
tient,” or called “all forms of life,” or called “all creatures,” are living beings
and are all forms of Existence. In short, Total Existence is the Buddha-nature,
and the perfect totality of Total Existence is called “living beings.” At just
this moment, the inside and outside of living beings are the Total Existence
of the Buddha-nature. The state is more than only the skin, flesh, bones, and
marrow that are transmitted one-to-one, because you have got my skin,
flesh, bones, and marrow. 8 Remember, the Existence [described] now,
which is totally possessed by the Buddha-nature, is beyond the “existence” of
existence and non-existence. Total Existence is the Buddha’s words, the
Buddha’s tongue, the Buddhist patriarchs’ eyes, and the nostrils of a
patch-robed monk. The words “Total Existence” are utterly beyond begin-
ning existence, beyond original existence, beyond fine existence, and so on.
How much less could they describe conditioned existence or illusory exis-
tence? They are not connected with “mind and circumstances” or with
“essence and form” and the like. This being so, object-and-subject as living
beings-and-Total Existence is completely beyond ability based on karmic
accumulation, beyond the random occurrence of circumstances, beyond
accordance with the Dharma, and beyond mystical powers and practice
and experience. If the Total Existence of living beings were [ability] based
on karmic accumulation, were the random occurrence of circumstances,

3. 1241. See also following note.

4. The two phrases in parenthesis are in small characters in the source text. 先師
(SENSHI), “late Master” is Master Dogen’s usual way of referring to Master Tendo Nyojo,
so it may be that the phrases were added by Master Dogen himself.
5. 西天 (SAITEN), “Western Heavens,” means India.
6. 東地 (TOCHI), “Eastern Lands,” means China.
7. Master Daikan Eno’s words to Master Nangaku Ejo. See, for example, chap. 62,
Hensan.
8. Master Dogen emphasized the inclusiveness of the state. See chap. 46, Katto.
 BUSSHO 3

were accordance with the Dharma, and so on, then the saints’ experience
of the truth, the buddhas’ state of bodhi, and the Buddhist patriarchs’ eyes,
would also be ability based on karmic accumulation, the occurrence of
circumstances, and accordance with the Dharma. That is not so. The whole
Universe is utterly without objective molecules: here and now there is no
second person at all. [At the same time] “No person has ever recognized the
direct cutting of the root”; for “When does the busy movement of karmic con-
sciousness ever cease?”9 [Total Existence] is beyond existence that arises
through random circumstances; for “The entire Universe has never been hid-
den.”10 “The entire Universe has never been hidden” does not necessarily
mean that the substantial world is Existence itself. [At the same time] “The
entire Universe is my possession” is the wrong view of non-Buddhists. [Total
Existence] is beyond originally-existing existence; for it pervades the eternal
past and pervades the eternal present. It is beyond newly-appearing existence;
for it does not accept a single molecule. It is beyond separate instances of exis-
tence; for it is inclusive perception. It is beyond the “existence” of
“beginningless existence”; for it is something ineffable coming like this. It is
beyond the “existence” of “newly arising existence”; for the everyday mind
is the truth.11 Remember, in the midst of Total Existence it is difficult for
living beings to meet easy convenience. When understanding of Total Ex-
istence is like this, Total Existence is the state of penetrating to the
substance and getting free.
[10] Hearing the word “Buddha-nature,” many students have misunder-
stood it to be like the “Self” described by the non-Buddhist Senika.12 This
is because they do not meet people, they do not meet themselves, and they
do not meet with a teacher. They vacantly consider mind, will, or con-
sciousness—which is the movement of wind and fire13—to be the Buddha-

9. Quoted from Master Yoka Genkaku’s poem Shodoka (Song of Experiencing the
Truth). In the original poem the object that no-one has ever recognized is the valuable
pearl (mani-ju) i.e. Zazen. 直截根源 (KONGEN o jiki[ni] ki[ru]), “direct cutting of the root”
comes from the following lines: “Direct cutting of the root is what the Buddha affirmed; It is
impossible for me to pick up leaves and look for branches.”
10. Master Sekiso Keisho’s words, quoted in Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 15.
11. Master Nansen Fugan’s words, quoted in Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 19, and Sho-
bogenzo, Book 4, Appendix 1, Butsu-kojo-no-ji.
12. A Brahmanist who questions the Buddha from an idealistic standpoint in the
Garland Sutra. He also appears in chap. 39 of the Mah‡parinirv‡ıa-sÂtra. See, for exam-
ple, Shobogenzo, chap. 1, Bendowa.
13. Here the movement of wind and fire symbolizes the material basis of mind,
4 BUSSHO

nature’s enlightened knowing and enlightened understanding. Who has

ever said that enlightened knowing and enlightened understanding are
present in the Buddha-nature? Those who realize enlightenment, those
who know, are buddhas, but the Buddha-nature is beyond enlightened
knowing and enlightened understanding. Moreover, in describing the
buddhas as those who realize and those who know, we are not describing the
wrong views randomly expressed by those others as realization and
knowing. And we are not describing the movement of wind and fire as
realization and knowing.14 One or two concrete manifestations of a bud-
dha or concrete manifestations of a patriarch are just realization and
knowing. For many ages venerable predecessors have been to India and
back and have instructed human beings and gods. From the Han to the
Sung dynasties they have been as [numerous as] rice plants, flax plants,
bamboo, and reeds, but many of them have considered the movement of
wind and fire to be the knowing and realization of the Buddha-nature. It is
pitiful that, because their pursuit of the truth became further and further
removed, they are guilty of this error. Later students and beginners in
Buddhism today should not be like that. We learn realization and know-
ing, but realization and knowing are beyond movement. We learn
movement, but movement is not the state like this.15 If we are able to under-
stand real movement, we will be able to understand real knowing and
understanding. Buddha and nature have arrived at that place and have ar-
rived at this place.16 The Buddha-nature is always Total Existence, for
Total Existence is the Buddha-nature. Total Existence is not smashed into
hundreds of bits and pieces, and Total Existence is not a single rail of iron.
Because it is the holding up of a fist, it is beyond large and small. What
already has been called “the Buddha-nature” should not be equated with
“saints” and should not be equated with “the Buddha-nature.” [But] there
is one group which thinks as follows: The Buddha-nature is like the seed of a
plant or a tree. As the rain of Dharma waters it again and again, its buds and
sprouts begin to grow. Then twigs, leaves, flowers, and fruit abound, and the fruit
once more bears seeds. Views like this are the sentimental thinking of the

which idealists fail to recognize.

14. Having dealt with the idealistic misinterpretation of the Buddha-nature, Master
Dogen now turns to deal with the materialistic misinterpretation.
15. 恁麼 (INMO), the ineffable state at the moment of the present. (In the moment of
the present it is not possible to speak of movement from one point to another point.) See
chap. 29, Inmo.
16. They are not abstractions.
 BUSSHO 5

common man. If we do hold such views, we should investigate that seeds,

and flowers and fruits, are all separate instances of the naked mind.17 In
fruits there are seeds. The seeds, though unseen, produce roots, stalks, and
so on. Though they do not gather anything to themselves, they grow into a
profusion of twigs, branches, and trunks. They are beyond discussion of
inside and outside; and in Time, past and present, they are not void.18
Thus, even if we rely on the view of the common man, roots, stalks,
branches, and leaves may all be the Buddha-nature which is born with
them, which dies with them, and which is just the same as their Total Exis-
tence.
[14] The Buddha says,
Wanting to know the meaning of the Buddha-nature,
We should just reflect19 real time, causes and circumstances.
When the time has come,
The Buddha-nature is manifest before us.20

This “wanting to know the meaning of the Buddha-nature” does not only
mean knowing. It means wanting to practice it, wanting to experience it,
wanting to preach it, and wanting to forget it. Such preaching, practicing,
experiencing, forgetting, misunderstanding, not misunderstanding, and so
on, are all the causes and circumstances of real time. To reflect the causes and
circumstances of real time is to reflect using the causes and circumstances of
real time; it is mutual reflection through a whisk, a staff, and so on. On the
basis of “imperfect wisdom,” “faultless wisdom,” or the wisdom of
“original awakening,” “fresh awakening,” “free awakening,” “right awak-
ening,” and so on, [the causes and circumstances of real time] can never be
reflected. Just reflecting19 is not connected with the subject that reflects or
the object of reflection and it should not be equated with right reflection,
wrong reflection, and the like: it is just reflection here and now. Because it
is just reflection here and now it is beyond subjective reflection and it is
beyond objective reflection. It is the oneness of real time and causes and cir-

17. 赤心 (SEKISHIN), lit. “red mind,” expresses the state of sincerity, i.e., the mind as
it is.
18.
The causes of the Buddha-nature exist as real facts in this world.
“Should just reflect” is 当観 (TOKAN). In the quotation, 当 (TO, masa[ni]) means
19.
“should” or “must.” The same character sometimes means “just,” i.e. “just at the moment
of the present” or “here and now.” Master Dogen picked up this second meaning in his
commentary. 観 (KAN), “reflect,” represents the Sanskrit vipa˜yan‡.
20. Mah‡parinirv‡ıa-sÂtra chap. 28.
 6 BUSSHO

cumstances itself; it is transcendence of causes and circumstances; it is the

Buddha-nature itself—the Buddha-nature rid of its own substance; it is
Buddha as Buddha himself; and it is the natural function as the natural
function itself. People in many ages from the ancient past to the present
have thought that the words “when the time has come…” are about waiting
for a time in the future when the Buddha-nature might be manifest before
us. [They think that,] continuing their practice with this attitude, they will
naturally meet the time when the Buddha-nature is manifest before them.
They say that, because the time has not come, even if they visit a teacher
and ask for Dharma, and even if they pursue the truth and make effort,
[the Buddha-nature] is not manifest before them. Taking such a view they
vainly return to the world of crimson dust21 and vacantly stare at the
Milky Way. People like this may be a variety of naturalistic non-Buddhists.
The words “Wanting to know the meaning of the Buddha-nature” mean, for
example, “Really knowing the meaning of the Buddha-nature just here and
now.”22 “Should just reflect real time, causes and circumstances” means “Know
causes and circumstances as real time, just here and now!” If you want to know
this Buddha-nature, remember, causes and circumstances as real time are just
it. “When the time has come” means “The time has come already! What could
there be to doubt?” Even if there is a time of doubt, I leave it as it is—it is
the Buddha-nature returning to me. Remember, “the time having come”
describes not spending any time in vain through the twelve hours: “when
it has come” is like saying “it has come already.” And because the time has
come, “Buddha-nature” does not arrive. Thus, now that the time has come,
this is just the manifestation before us of the Buddha-nature, whose truth,
in other words, is self-evident. In summary, there has never been any time
which was not time having come, nor any Buddha-nature which was not
the Buddha-nature manifesting itself before us.
[19] The twelfth patriarch, the Venerable A˜vagho˘a, in preaching the
Ocean of Buddha-nature to the thirteenth patriarch,23 says,

21. The area which is colorful but not valuable.

22. Master Dogen changed 欲知 (YOKU-CHI), “wanting to know,” into 当知 (TO-CHI),
“really knowing just here and now”—see note 19.
23. Master Kapimala. See chap. 15, Busso.
 BUSSHO 7

The mountains, rivers, and the Earth,

All relying on it, are constructed.
Sam‡dhi and the six powers
Depending upon it, manifest themselves.24

So these mountains, rivers, and Earth are all the Ocean of Buddha-
nature. As to the meaning of “All relying on it, are constructed,” just the
moment of construction itself is the mountains, rivers, and Earth. He has
actually said “All are constructed relying on it”; remember, the concrete
form of the Ocean of Buddha-nature is like this: it should never be related
with inside, outside, and middle. This being so, to look at mountains and
rivers is to look at the Buddha-nature. And to look at the Buddha-nature is
to look at a donkey’s jaw or a horse’s nose. We understand, and we tran-
scend the understanding, that all rely means total reliance, and reliance on
the total.25 “Sam‡dhi and the six powers manifest themselves depending upon
this.” Remember, the manifestation, the coming into the present, of the
various states of sam‡dhi, is in the same state of all relying on the Buddha-
nature. The dependence upon this, and the non-dependence upon this, of all
six powers, are both in the state of all relying on the Buddha-nature. The six
mystical powers are not merely the six mystical powers mentioned in the
‚gama-sÂtras.26 Six describes three and three before and three and three be-
hind27 as the six mystical-power-p‡ramit‡s.28 So do not investigate the six

24. With this quotation, Master Dogen’s explanation of the Buddha-nature moves
from his theoretical outline of what the Buddha-nature is to preaching of the Buddha-
nature as the concrete world.
25. “All relying” in the second line of the poem is 皆依 (KAI-E). Master Dogen ex-
plained the characters from the subjective side as 全依 (ZEN-E), “total reliance,” or
complete faith, and from the objective side as 依全 (E-ZEN), “reliance on the total,” or
belief in the Universe.
26. Pali sutras, which are very old, and consequently reflect the fondness of ancient
Indians for mystical expressions.
27. 前三三、後三三 (ZEN SANSAN, GO SANSAN), “three and three before, three and
three behind,” suggests random concrete facts as opposed to general abstractions. See,
for example, Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 2, no. 27: Monju asks Mujaku: “Where have you come
from?” Mujaku says: “The south.” Monju says: “How is the Buddha-Dharma of the south dwelt
in and maintained?” Mujaku says: “Few bhik˘us in the age of the latter Dharma observe the
precepts.” Monju says: “How big are the sa¸gha?” Mujaku says: “In some cases three hundred,
in some cases five hundred.” Mujaku asks Monju: “How is the Buddha-Dharma here dwelt in and
maintained?” Monju says: “The common and the sacred live together, and dragons and snakes
mix in confusion.” Mujaku says: “How big are the sa¸gha?” Monju says: “Three and three
before, three and three behind.”
 8 BUSSHO

mystical powers as “Clear, clear are the hundred things; clear, clear is the will
of the Buddhist patriarchs.”29 Even if the six mystical powers hold us back,
they are still governed by the Ocean of Buddha-nature.
[22] The fifth patriarch, Zen Master Daiman,30 is a man from Obai in the Kishu
district.31 Born without a father, he attains the truth as a child. Thereafter he be-
comes “the one who practices the truth by planting pine trees.” Originally he
plants pine trees on Seizan mountain in the Kishu district. The fourth patriarch
happens to visit there, and he tells the practitioner, “I would like to transmit the
Dharma to you. But you are already too old. If you return [to this world] I will
wait for you.” The Master [Daiman] agrees. At last he is conceived in the womb
of a daughter of the Shu family, who, the story goes, abandons [the baby] in the
dirty water of a harbor. A mystical being protects him, and no harm comes to him
for seven days. Then [the family] retrieves [the baby] and looks after him. When
the boy reaches seven years of age, on a street in Obai he meets the fourth patri-
arch, Zen Master Dai-i.32 The Patriarch sees that, though only a small child, the
Master has an exceptionally shaped skull, and he is no ordinary child. When the
Patriarch meets him, he asks, “What is your name?”
The Master answers, “I have a name, but it is not an ordinary name.”
The Patriarch says, “What name is it?”
The Master answers, “It is Buddha-nature.”
The Patriarch says, “You are without the Buddha-nature.”
The Master replies, “The Buddha-nature is emptiness, so we call it being with-
out.”
The [fourth] Patriarch recognizes that he is a vessel of the Dharma and makes him
into an attendant monk. Later [the fourth patriarch] transmits to him the right-
Dharma-eye treasury. [The fifth patriarch] lives on the East Mountain of Obai,
mightily promoting the profound customs.

28. The Sanskrit p‡ramit‡s means gone to the opposite shore, crossed over, traversed,
perfected. The six p‡ramit‡s, or “perfections,” are listed in chap. 2, Maka-hannya-
haramitsu. The six mystical powers are listed in chap. 25, Jinzu.
29. See Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 88. The expression is quoted here as an example of
a cliché, or a generality.
30. Master Daiman Konin (688–761).
31. In modern-day Hupeh province in east central China.
32. Master Dai-i Doshin (580–651). There is some doubt about the historical dates of
the two masters. It may be that the story of Master Daiman Konin’s rebirth was invented
to account for the historical discrepancy in the dates.
 BUSSHO 9

[25] Thus, when we thoroughly investigate the words of these ancestral

masters, there is meaning in the fourth patriarch’s saying “What is your
name.”33 In the past there were people [described as] “A person of What
country” and there were names [described as] “a What name”—[one per-
son] was stating to another, “Your name is What!”34 It was like saying, for
example, “I am like that, and you are also like that.”35
The fifth patriarch says, “I have a name, but it is not an ordinary name.” In
other words, “Existence is the name”36—not an ordinary name, for an or-
dinary name is not right for Existence here and now.37
In the fourth patriarch’s words, “What name is it?,”38 What means This, and
he has dealt with This as What, which is a name. The realization of What is
based on This, and the realization of This is the function of What. The name
is This, and is What. We make it into mugwort tea, make it into green tea,
and make it into everyday tea and meals.

33. The fourth patriarch’s question is 汝何姓 (nanji [wa] nan [no] SEI [zo]). 汝 (nanji)
means “you,” 何 (nani) means “what,” and 姓 (SEI) means “family name.” Master Dogen
interpreted the characters not only as the question “What is your name?” but also as the
statement “Your name is What!” that is, “You are someone who cannot be labeled with a
name.”
34. In Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 27, for example, someone asks Master Soga of Shishu,
“What [is your] name?” The Master replies, “My name is What.” [The questioner] asks the
Master further, “[You] are a person of what country?” The Master says, “I am a person of
What country.”
35. Master Daikan Eno’s words to Master Nangaku Ejo. See Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 2,
no. 1, and Shobogenzo, chap. 7, Senjo, chap. 62, Hensan, etc. The origin of the words can
also be traced back to Buddhism in India. In the Majjhima-nik‡ya (translated by the Pali
Text Society as “Middle Length Sayings”) the Buddha quotes the words of his former
teacher ‚l‡ra, “This doctrine which I have realized, you too have realized. As I am, so you are; as
you are, so am I...”
36. The fifth patriarch’s answer, “I have a name,” is 姓即有 (SEI [wa] sunawa[chi] a[ri]).
In the quotation 姓 (SEI) means “family name,” 即 (sunawa[chi]) is emphatic, and 有
(a[ri]) means “I have,” so the quotation is lit. “A family name indeed I have.” Here Mas-
ter Dogen has reversed the order of the characters to 有即姓 (U-SOKU-SEI), so that 有 (U)
means “Existence” and 即 (SOKU) means “is just”—”Existence is just the family name.”
37. 即有 (SOKU-U). Here 即 (SOKU), “here and now,” is used as an adjective, and 有
(U), “Existence,” is a noun.
38. The fourth patriarch’s question is 是何姓 (ko[re] nan [no] SEI [zo]). In the story 是
(ko[re]) means “it,” but in Master Dogen’s commentary, the same character 是 (ZE) means
“the concrete,” “this concrete situation here and now,” or “This [reality].” In the story, 何
(nani) means “what,” but in the commentary the same character 何 (GA) means “that
which cannot be described with words,” or “the ineffable state of What.”
10 BUSSHO

The fifth patriarch says, “It is Buddha-nature.” The point here is that This is
the Buddha-nature. Because it is What, it is in the state of Buddha. How
could the investigation of This have been limited to naming it What? Even
when This is not right,39 it is already the Buddha-nature. Thus, This is What,
and it is Buddha; and at the same time, when it has become free and has
been bared, it is always a name. Just such a name is Shu. But it is not re-
ceived from a father, it is not received from a grandfather, and it is not the
duplication of a mother’s family name. How could it be equated with a
bystander?40
The fourth patriarch says, “You are without the Buddha-nature.” These
words proclaim that “You are not just anyone, and I leave [your name] up to
you, but, being without, you are the Buddha-nature!”41 Remember the follow-
ing, and learn it: At what moment of the present can we be, without, the
Buddha-nature? Is it that at the start of Buddhist life42 we are, without, the
Buddha-nature? Is it that in the ascendant state of Buddha we are, without,
the Buddha-nature? Do not shut out clarification of the seven directions,
and do not grope for attainment of the eight directions! Being without the
Buddha-nature, can be learned, for example, as a moment of sam‡dhi. We
should ask, and should assert, whether when the Buddha-nature becomes
buddha it is without the Buddha-nature, and when the Buddha-nature first
establishes the mind it is without the Buddha-nature. We should make out-
door pillars ask, we should ask outdoor pillars, and we should make the
Buddha-nature ask, this question. Thus, the words “being without the Bud-
dha-nature” can be heard coming from the distant room of the fourth
patriarch. They are seen and heard in Obai, they are spread throughout
Joshu district, and they are exalted on Dai-i [mountain].43 We must unfail-

39. “This” is 是 (ZE) and “not right” is 不是 (FU-ZE). The effect of the play on words
is to emphasize that this concrete reality here and now, in any circumstance, is always
just the Buddha-nature.
40. Though reality is different from intellectual concepts, Master Dogen also af-
firmed the real function of concepts, or names. See, for example, chap. 40, Gabyo.
41. The fourth patriarch’s words “You are without the Buddha-nature” are 汝無仏性
(NANJI-MU-BUSSHO). 無 (MU) means “do not have” or “be without.” The fourth patri-
arch seemed simply to deny that the fifth patriarch had the Buddha-nature. But the
fourth patriarch’s real intention was to use 無 (MU) and 仏性 (BUSSHO) like two nouns in
apposition: “You are the real state which is without anything superfluous or lacking, and
you are the Buddha-nature.”
42. 仏頭 (BUTTO), lit. “the tip of buddha.”
43. Obai, Joshu, and Dai-i indicate the orders of Master Daiman Konin, Master Joshu
Jushin, and Master Isan Reiyu, respectively.
 BUSSHO 11

ingly apply ourselves to the words “being without the Buddha-nature.” Do

not be hesitant. Though we should trace an outline of being without the
Buddha-nature, it has the standard which is What, the real time which is
You, the devotion to the moment which is This, and the name, common to
all, which is Shu: it is direct pursuit itself.
The fifth patriarch says, “The Buddha-nature is emptiness,44 so we call it being
without.”45 This clearly expresses that emptiness is not non-existence.46 To
express that the Buddha-nature is emptiness, we do not say it is half a
pound and we do not say it is eight ounces, but we use the words “being
without.” We do not call it “emptiness” because it is void, and we do not
call it “being without” because it does not exist; because the Buddha-nature
is emptiness, we call it “being without.”47 So real instances of being without
are the standard for expressing “emptiness,” and emptiness has the power
to express “being without.” This emptiness is beyond the emptiness of
“matter is just emptiness.”48 [At the same time,] “matter is just emptiness”
describes neither matter being forcibly made into emptiness nor emptiness
being divided up to produce matter. It may describe emptiness in which
emptiness is just emptiness. “Emptiness in which emptiness is just emptiness”
describes one stone in space.49 This being so, the fourth patriarch and the

44. “Emptiness” is 空 (KU), which means the sky, space, air, or emptiness. At the
same time, it represents the Sanskrit ˜Ânyat‡. The first definition of ˜Ânyat‡ given in the
Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary is “emptiness.” Other, seemingly more
philosophical, definitions reflect idealistic thought: “nothingness, non-existence, non-
reality, illusory nature (of all worldly phenomena).” But the real philosophical meaning
of ˜Ânyat‡ is emptiness; the bare, bald, naked, raw, or transparent state, that is, the state
in which reality is seen as it is. See chap. 2, Maka-hannya-haramitsu, and chap. 43, Kuge.
45. “Being without” is 無 (MU). The original Chinese pictograph depicts a piece of
paper above some flames: 無 (MU) suggests the denial that something is possessed or the
denial that something exists.
46. In this sentence Master Dogen denies the interpretation that 空 (KU), or ˜Ânyat‡,
is “nothingness, non-existence, or non-reality.” He says 空は無にあらず (KU wa MU ni ara
zu), “空 is not 無,” “˜Ânyat‡ is not non-existence.” In Master Dogen’s teaching ˜Ânyat‡ is
not the denial of real existence—it expresses the absence of anything other than real exis-
tence.
47. In this sentence “emptiness” and “void” are both translations of 空 (KU), and
“being without” and “does not exist” are both translations of 無 (MU).
48. 色即是空 (SHIKI SOKU ZE KU), quoted from the Heart Sutra. In this sentence of
the Heart Sutra, the meaning of “emptiness” is more philosophical: it suggests “the im-
material” face of reality as opposed to matter. The sutra says that the immaterial and the
material are two faces of the same reality. See chap. 2, Maka-hannya-haramitsu.
49. A monk asks Master Sekiso Keisho, “What was the ancestral Master’s intention in
 12 BUSSHO

fifth patriarch pose questions and make assertions about the Buddha-
nature being without, about the Buddha-nature as emptiness, and about
the Buddha-nature as Existence.
[31] When the sixth patriarch in China, Zen Master Daikan of Sokei-zan
mountain,50 first visited Obai-zan mountain, the fifth patriarch,51 the story
goes, asks him, “Where are you from?”
The sixth patriarch says, “I am a man from south of the Peaks.”52
The fifth patriarch says, “What do you want to get by coming here?”
The sixth patriarch says, “I want to become buddha.”
The fifth patriarch says, “A man from south of the Peaks is without the Bud-
dha-nature. How can you expect to become buddha?”53
[32] These words “A man from south of the Peaks is without the Buddha-
nature” do not mean that a man from south of the Peaks does not have the
Buddha-nature, and do not mean that a man from south of the Peaks has
the Buddha-nature. They mean that the man from south of the Peaks, be-
ing without, is the Buddha-nature. “How can you expect to become buddha?”
means “What kind of becoming buddha are you expecting?” Generally, the
past masters who have clarified the truth of the Buddha-nature are few. It
is beyond the various teachings of the ‚gama-sÂtras and it cannot be
known by teachers of sutras and commentaries: it is transmitted one-to-
one by none other than the descendants of the Buddhist Patriarch. The
truth of the Buddha-nature is that we are not equipped with the Buddha-
nature before we realize the state of buddha; we are equipped with it fol-
lowing realization of the state of buddha. The Buddha-nature and
realization of buddha inevitably experience the same state together. We
should thoroughly investigate and consider this truth. We should consider

coming from the west?” The Master says, “One stone in space...” See Keitoku-dento-roku, chap.
15. “Space” is also a translation of 空 (KU).
50. Master Daikan Eno.
51. Master Daiman Konin.
52. The Five Peaks. In Japanese pronunciation they are Taiyu, Shian, Ringa, Keiyo,
and another Keiyo.
53. At that time, in the Tang dynasty, the center of government and civilization was
in the north of China, and people from the south were sometimes looked down upon as
primitive. At the same time, in his youth Master Daikan Eno lived in poverty, supporting
his aged mother as a woodcutter. So the fifth patriarch’s words invite the understanding
that Master Daikan Eno was too primitive to have the Buddha-nature, although that was
not his true intention.
 BUSSHO 13

it and learn it in practice for thirty years or twenty years. It is not under-
stood by [bodhisattvas] in the ten sacred stages or the three clever stages.
To say “living beings have the Buddha-nature,” or “living beings are without
the Buddha-nature,” is this truth. To learn in practice that [the Buddha-
nature] is something which is present following realization of buddha, is
accurate and true. [Teaching] which is not learned like this is not the Bud-
dha-Dharma. Without being learned like this, the Buddha-Dharma could
not have reached us today. Without clarifying this truth we neither clarify,
nor see and hear, the realization of buddha. This is why the fifth patriarch,
in teaching the other, tells him, “People54 from south of the Peaks, being with-
out, are the Buddha-nature.”55 When we first meet Buddha and hear the
Dharma, [the teaching] that is difficult to get and difficult to hear is “Liv-
ing beings, being without, are the Buddha-nature.” In sometimes following
[good] counselors and sometimes following the sutras, what we should be glad
to hear is “Living beings, being without, are the Buddha-nature.” Those who
are not satisfied in seeing, hearing, realizing, and knowing that “All living
beings, being without, are the Buddha-nature,” have never seen, heard, real-
ized, or known the Buddha-nature. When the sixth patriarch earnestly
seeks to become buddha, the fifth patriarch is able to make the sixth patri-
arch become buddha—without any other expression and without any
other skillful means—just by saying “A man from south of the Peaks, being
without, is the Buddha-nature.” Remember, saying and hearing the words
“being without the Buddha-nature” is the direct path to becoming buddha. In
sum, just at the moment of being without the Buddha-nature, we become
buddha at once. Those who have neither seen and heard nor expressed
being without the Buddha-nature have not become buddha.
[35] The sixth patriarch says,56 “People have south and north, but the Buddha-
nature is without south and north.” We should take this expression and
make effort to get inside the words. We should reflect on the words “south
and north” with naked mind. The words of the sixth patriarch’s expression

54. The original word in the story 人 (NIN, hito), “person,” “people,” can be either
singular or plural, male or female. So the fifth patriarch’s words include both the general
principle and words directed at Master Daikan Eno himself.
55. Suggests that the act of becoming buddha, for example practicing Zazen, means
getting free of what does not originally belong to us.
56. This quotation is a continuation of the previous story. Rokuso-dankyo (The Sixth
Patriarch’s Platform Sutra), chap. 1, has a different version of the story. It is not clear from
where Master Dogen quoted the story, but from the account in Rokuso-dankyo we can
assume that the conversation took place on the same occasion.
14 BUSSHO

of the truth have meaning in them: they include a point of view that “Peo-
ple become buddha, but the Buddha-nature cannot become buddha”—does the
sixth patriarch recognize this or not? Receiving a fraction of the superla-
tive power of restriction57 present in the expression of the truth “being
without the Buddha-nature,” as expressed by the fourth patriarch and the
fifth patriarch, K‡˜yapa Buddha and ¯‡kyamuni Buddha and other
buddhas possess the ability, in becoming buddha and in preaching
Dharma, to express “totally having the Buddha-nature.” How could the hav-
ing of totally having not receive the Dharma from the being without in which
there is no “being without”? So the words being without the Buddha-nature
can be heard coming from the distant rooms of the fourth patriarch and
the fifth patriarch. At this time, if the sixth patriarch were a person of the
fact, he would strive to consider these words “being without the Buddha-
nature.” Setting aside for a while the “being without” of “having and be-
ing without,” he should ask, “Just what is the Buddha-nature?” He should
inquire, “What concrete thing is the Buddha-nature?” People today also,
when they have heard of the Buddha-nature, do not ask further, “What is
the Buddha-nature?” They seem only to discuss the meaning of the Bud-
dha-nature’s existence, non-existence, and so on. This is too hasty. In sum,
the “being without” which belongs to various denials of existence should
be studied under the being without of being without the Buddha-nature. We
should sift through two times and three times, for long ages, the sixth pa-
triarch’s words, “People have south and north, but the Buddha-nature is
without south and north.” Power may be present just in the sieve.58 We
should quietly take up and let go of the sixth patriarch’s words “People
have south and north, but the Buddha-nature is without south and north.” Stu-
pid people think, “The human world has south and north because it is hindered
by physical substance, whereas the Buddha-nature, being void and dissolute, is
beyond discussion of south and north.” Those who guess that the sixth patri-
arch said this may be powerless dimwits. Casting aside this wrong
understanding, we should directly proceed with diligent practice.

57. S 礙の力量 (KEIGE no RIKIRYO), “power of restriction,” means the ability to real-
ize things as they are. Master Dogen uses the formula “reality restricted by reality” to
suggest reality as it is.
58. Master Dogen affirmed the means, not only the end.
 BUSSHO 15

[38] The sixth patriarch preaches to disciple Gyosho, 59 “That without

constancy is the Buddha-nature. That which has constancy is the mind that di-
vides all dharmas into good and bad.”60
“That without constancy”61 expressed by the sixth patriarch is beyond
the supposition of non-Buddhists, the two vehicles, and the like. Founding
patriarchs and latest offshoots among non-Buddhists and the two vehicles
are without constancy, though they cannot perfectly realize it. Thus, when
that without constancy itself preaches, practices, and experiences that with-
out constancy, all may be that without constancy. If people can now be saved
by the manifestation of our own body, we manifest at once our own body
and preach for them the Dharma.62 This is the Buddha-nature. Further, it
may be sometimes the manifestation of a long Dharma body and some-
times the manifestation of a short Dharma body. Everyday63 saints are that
without constancy and everyday commoners are that without constancy. The
idea that everyday commoners and saints cannot be the Buddha-nature
may be a stupid view of small thinking and a narrow view of the intellect.
Buddha is a bit of body, and nature is a bit of action.64 On this basis, the
sixth patriarch says “That without constancy is the Buddha-nature.” “The con-
stant” is the unchanging. The meaning of “the unchanging” is as follows:
even though we turn it into the separating subject and transform it into
the separated object, because it is not necessarily connected with the traces
of leaving and coming, it is the constant.65 In sum, that without constancy of
grass, trees, and forests is just the Buddha-nature. And that without con-

59. A disciple of Master Daikan Eno. This monk’s name was Koze Shitetsu. Gyosho
was his personal name in secular life.
60. Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 5.
61. 無常 (MUJO), which represents the Sanskrit anitya. 無常 (MUJO) is usually under-
stood as an attribute such as impermanence, transience, inconstancy, et cetera, but the
sixth patriarch’s intention is to describe reality itself at the moment of the present.
62. Alludes to the Lotus Sutra, Kanzeon-bosatsu-fu-mon-bon (The Universal Gate of the
Bodhisattva Regarder of the Sounds of the World). See LS 3.252, and Shobogenzo, chap. 17,
Hokke-ten-hokke, and chap. 33, Kannon.
63. “Everyday” is 常 (JO), lit. “constant,” “everyday,” or “usual.”
64. Throughout Shobogenzo, in general, 性 (SHO) does not mean “nature” or “es-
sence” in an abstract sense, but rather “the natural state” or “the natural function.” See
also chap. 48, Sesshin-sessho, chap. 54, Hossho, et cetera.
65. Master Dogen interpreted both 無常 (MUJO), “absence of constancy,” and 常 (JO),
“the constant,” as descriptions of the state just in the moment of the present. Because
reality at the present moment is cut off from the past and the future, it cannot be said to
remain constant and cannot be said to change.
 16 BUSSHO

stancy of the body-and-mind of a human being is the Buddha-nature itself.

National lands and mountains and rivers are that without constancy be-
cause they are the Buddha-nature. The truth of anuttara-samyak-
sa¸bodhi, because it is the Buddha-nature, is that without constancy. The
great state of parinirv‡ıa, because it is that without constancy, is the Bud-
dha-nature. The various people of small views of the two vehicles,
together with scholars of the tripiÒaka who teach sutras and commentaries,
and the like, might be astonished, doubting, and afraid at these words of
the sixth patriarch. If they are astonished or doubting, they are demons
and non-Buddhists.
[42] The fourteenth patriarch, the Venerable Ryuju, called N‡g‡rjuna 66 in
Sanskrit, and called either Ryuju, Ryusho, or Ryumo in Chinese,67 is a man from
western India, and he goes to southern India. Most people of that nation believe in
karma for happiness. The Venerable One preaches for them the subtle Dharma.
Those who hear him say to each other, “The most important thing in the human
world is that people possess karma for happiness. Yet he talks idly of the Buddha-
nature. Who can see such a thing?”
The Venerable One says, “If you want to realize the Buddha-nature, you must
first get rid of selfish pride.”
The people say, “Is the Buddha-nature big or is it small?”
The Venerable One says, “The Buddha-nature is not big and not small, it is not
wide and not narrow, it is without happiness and without rewards, it does not die
and it is not born.”
When they hear these excellent principles, they all turn from their original mind.
Then the Venerable One, from his seat, manifests his free body, which seems like
the perfect circle of a full moon. All those gathered only hear the sound of
Dharma; they do not see the Master’s form. In that assembly is a rich man’s son,
K‡ıadeva.68 He says to the assembly, “Do you know what this form is or not?”
Those in the assembly say, “The present [form] is something our eyes have never
before seen, our ears have never before heard, our minds have never before known,
and our bodies have never before experienced.”

66. Master N‡g‡rjuna lived between approx. 150 and 250 A.D. See chap. 15, Busso.
67. The three Chinese names for Master N‡g‡rjuna are 竜樹 (RYUJU), “Dragon-
Tree,” 竜勝 (RYUSHO), “Dragon-Excellence,” and 竜猛 (RYUMO) “Dragon-Might.” The
Sanskrit n‡ga means “dragon.”
68. Master K‡ıadeva, the fifteenth patriarch. See chap. 15, Busso.
 BUSSHO 17

K‡ıadeva says, “Here the Venerable One is manifesting the form of the Buddha-
nature to show it to us. How do we know this? It may be presumed that the form-
less state of sam‡dhi69 in shape resembles the full moon. The meaning of the
Buddha-nature is evident and it is transparently clear.”
After these words, the circle disappears at once, and [the Master] is sitting on his
seat. Then he preaches the following verse:
[My] body manifests the roundness of the moon,
By this means demonstrating the physique of the buddhas.
The preaching of Dharma has no set form.
The Real Function is beyond sounds and sights.

[45] Remember, the true Real Function is beyond the momentary manifes-
tation of sounds and sights, and the real preaching of Dharma has no set
form. The Venerable One has preached the Buddha-nature for others far
and wide, innumerable times, and now we have quoted just one such ex-
ample. “If you want to realize70 the Buddha-nature, you must first get rid of
selfish pride.” We should intuit and affirm the point of this preaching with-
out fail. It is not that there is no realization; realization is just getting rid of
selfish pride. Selfishness is not of only one kind. Pride too has many varieties.
Methods of getting rid also may be of myriad diversity, but they are all
realization of the Buddha-nature, which we should learn as realization70
through the eyeballs and seeing71 with the eyes. Do not associate the
words “Buddha-nature is not big and not small...” with those of the common
man or the two vehicles. To have thought, one-sidedly and stubbornly,
that the Buddha-nature must be wide and great, is to have been harboring
a wrong idea. We should consider, as we hear it now, the truth which is
restricted just in the moment of the present by the expression “Beyond big
and beyond small.” For we are able to utilize [this] hearing as consideration.
Now let us listen to the poem preached by the Venerable One, in which he

69. 無相三昧 (MUSO ZANMAI). 無 (MU) means “without,” 相 (SO) means form, and
三昧 (ZANMAI) represents phonetically the Sanskrit sam‡dhi, which means “concentra-
tion,” or “the balanced state.” 無相三昧 (MUSO ZANMAI) does not mean that the state
has no form, i.e., that the Master was invisible. It means that the Master’s state was not
restricted to any specific fixed form.
70. 見 (KEN), lit. to see, or to meet.
71. This “seeing” represents another character, 覩 (TO), which can be used inter-
changeably with 見 (KEN). But the question “Who can see it?” in the story includes this
character, whereas Master N‡g‡rjuna's words include the character 見 (KEN). So a dis-
tinction may be drawn between 見 (KEN) which includes the whole attitude of the viewer,
and 覩 (TO) which just means seeing.
18 BUSSHO

says, “My body manifests the roundness of the moon, By this means demonstrat-
ing the physique of the buddhas.” Because his manifestation of a body has
already by concrete means demonstrated the physique of the buddhas, it is the
roundness of the moon. So we should learn all length, shortness, squareness,
and roundness as this manifestation of a body.72 Those who have become
more and more unfamiliar with body and with its manifestation are not only
ignorant of the roundness of the moon, but are also other than the physique of
the buddhas. Stupid people think that what the Venerable One calls “the
roundness of the moon” is the manifestation of a fantastically transformed
body. This is the wrong idea of types who have not received the transmis-
sion of the Buddha’s truth. At what place and at what moment might
there be another manifestation of a different body? Remember, at this time
the Venerable One is simply seated upon his high seat. The manner in
which his body manifests itself is just the same as in the case of any person
seated here now. This body is just the roundness of the moon manifesting
itself. The body manifesting itself is beyond square and round, beyond exis-
tence and non-existence, beyond invisibility and visibility, and beyond the
eighty-four thousand skandhas: it is just the body manifesting itself. “The
roundness of the moon” describes the moon of “This place is the place where
something ineffable exists; explain it as fine or explain it as coarse!”73 Because
this body manifesting itself first must have got rid of selfish pride, it is not
that of N‡g‡rjuna: it is the physique of the buddhas. And because it demon-
strates by concrete means74 it lays bare the physique of the buddhas. That being
so, the periphery of “buddhas” is irrelevant. Though the Buddha-nature
has transparent clarity which in shape resembles the full moon, there is no ar-

72. In the poem the Master simply used the character 身 (SHIN), “body or person,” to
refer to himself. So 身 (SHIN) suggests the Master’s whole body-and-mind. This sentence
suggests that reality has concrete attributes and at the same time it is a whole entity.
“The physique of the buddhas” is 諸仏体 (SHOBUTTAI). The character 体 (TAI) also
means “body” but it is sometimes more concrete, substantial, or real: for example, it is
used in the compounds 体力 (TAIRYOKU), “physical strength,” 体格 (TAIKAKU), “phy-
sique,” or “physical constitution,” and 体験 (TAIKEN), “real experience.”
73. In response to a question from Master Rinzai, Fuke overturns a dinner table.
Master Rinzai says, “Very coarse person!” Fuke says, “This place is the place where something
ineffable exists. Explain it as coarse or explain it as fine.” (Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 96).
74. “It demonstrates by concrete means” is 以表 (I-HYO), translated in the poem as
“by this means to demonstrate.” 以 (I) means “with,” “by means of,” or “by relying on
something.” Master Dogen emphasized that real demonstration relies on some concrete
means.
 BUSSHO 19

ranging of a round moon form.75 Furthermore, the Real Function is beyond

sounds and sights. The body manifesting itself also is beyond the visual
body and beyond the world of aggregation. Its appearance is the same as
that of the world of aggregates, but it is demonstration by concrete means; it
is the physique of the buddhas. Such is the aggregation of Dharma-preaching,
which has no set form. When that which has no set form further becomes the
formless state of sam‡dhi, it is a body manifesting itself. The reason that al-
though the whole assembly is now watching the distant form of the round
moon, the eyes have never before seen it, is that it is the totality of Dharma-
preaching transforming the moment, and it is the manifestation of a free body
being beyond sounds and sights. Momentary disappearance76 and momentary
appearance are the stepping forward and stepping back of a circle.77 Then,
from his seat, he manifests his free body, just at which moment, all those gath-
ered only hear the sound of Dharma; they do not see the Master’s form. The
Venerable One’s rightful successor, the Venerable K‡ıadeva, clearly knows
this as the form of the full moon, he knows this as the roundness of the
moon, he knows this as the body manifesting itself, he knows this as the na-
ture of the buddhas, and he knows this as the physique of the buddhas.
Though there are many who have entered [the Master’s] room and had
their pots filled, there may be none to equal K‡ıadeva. K‡ıadeva is a ven-
erable one [worthy] of a half-seat,78 and is a guiding master to the order, a
complete authority in an auxiliary seat.79 His having received the authen-
tic transmission of the right-Dharma-eye treasury, the supreme and great
Dharma, is similar to the case of the Venerable Mah‡k‡˜yapa who was the
chief seat on Vulture Peak. N‡g‡rjuna had many disciples before his con-
version, when he belonged to the teachings of non-Buddhism, but he has
bid them all farewell. Having become a Buddhist patriarch, N‡g‡rjuna
authentically transmits the great Dharma-eye treasury to K‡ıadeva as the
one rightful successor to be given the Dharma: this is the one-to-one
transmission of the Buddha’s supreme truth. Nevertheless, wrong groups

75. 円月相 (EN-GETSU-SO), translated in the poem as “roundness of the moon,” is lit.
“round moon form,” but this sentence indicates that the words of the poem describe a
state, not a geometric form.
76. 即隠 (SOKU-IN), translated in the story as “disappears at once.”
77. They are the usual state of a circle, not something strange.
78. 半座 (HANZA), lit. “half-seat,” refers to the Buddha sharing his seat with Master
Mah‡k‡˜yapa.
79. 全座の分座 (ZEN-ZA no BUN-ZA), lit. “complete-seat part-seat,” that is, a master
in an auxiliary position but with ability to lead the whole order.
 20 BUSSHO

of usurpers often boast, “We also are the heirs to the Dharma of the great
N‡g‡rjuna.” They make commentaries and put together interpretations,
often having feigned the hand of N‡g‡rjuna himself. [These works] are
not the works of N‡g‡rjuna. Groups discarded long ago [by Master
N‡g‡rjuna] disturb and confuse human beings and gods. Disciples of the
Buddha should solely recognize that [teachings] not transmitted by
K‡ıadeva are not the truth of N‡g‡rjuna. This is right belief and the right
conclusion. But many accept what they know to be fake. The stupidity of
living beings who insult the great praj§‡ is pitiful and sad.
[52] The Venerable K‡ıadeva, the story goes, indicating the Venerable
N‡g‡rjuna's body manifesting itself, tells the assembly, “Here the Venerable
One is manifesting the form of the Buddha-nature to show it to us. How do we
know this? It may be presumed that the formless state of sam‡dhi in shape resem-
bles the full moon. The meaning of the Buddha-nature is evident and it is
transparently clear.” Among the skin-bags of the past and present who
have seen and heard the Buddha-Dharma that has now spread through
the heavens above, through the human world, and through the great
thousand dharma-worlds, who has said that a body manifesting its form
is the Buddha-nature? Through the great thousand dharma-worlds, only
the Venerable K‡ıadeva has said so. The others only say that the Buddha-
nature is not seen by the eyes, not heard by the ears, not known by the
mind, and so on. They do not know that the body manifesting itself is the
Buddha-nature, therefore they do not say so. The ancestral Master does
not begrudge them [the teaching], but their eyes and ears are shut and so
they cannot see or hear it. Never having established body-knowing, they
cannot make out [the teaching]. As they watch from afar the formless state
of sam‡dhi whose shape resembles the full moon, and as they do prostrations
to it, it is something their eyes have never before seen. “The meaning of the Bud-
dha-nature is evident and it is transparently clear.” So the state in which the
body manifesting itself preaches the Buddha-nature is transparently clear,
and is evident. And the state in which the preaching of the Buddha-nature
is a body manifesting itself is demonstration, by concrete means, of the phy-
sique of the buddhas. Where could there be one buddha or two buddhas
who failed to realize as the buddha-physique this demonstration by concrete
means?80 The buddha-physique is a body manifesting itself. The Buddha-nature

80. この以表を仏体せざらん (kono I-HYO o BUTTAI se zara n), lit. “not to buddha-
physique this demonstration by [concrete] means.” 仏体す (BUTTAI su) is used as a verb,
“to buddha-body,” with 以表 (I-HYO), “demonstration by means,” as its direct object—
 BUSSHO 21

exists as a body manifesting itself. Even the thinking of a buddha or the

thinking of a patriarch, which expresses and understands [the Buddha-
nature] as the four elements and the five aggregates, is also moments of a
body manifesting itself. [Master N‡g‡rjuna] has spoken of “the physique of the
buddhas”: the world of aggregation is a state like this, and all virtues are
this virtue. The Buddha-virtue is to master this state of a body manifesting
itself, and to bag it conclusively.81 The going and coming of all the count-
less and boundless virtues are individual moments of this body manifesting
itself. But since the time of N‡g‡rjuna and K‡ıadeva, Master and disciple,
the many people who have done Buddhist practice through all directions
of the three countries82 in former ages and in later ages have never said
anything to equal N‡g‡rjuna and K‡ıadeva. How many sutra-teachers,
commentary-teachers, and the like have blundered past the truth of the
Buddhist patriarchs? Since long ago in the great Kingdom of Sung, when-
ever [people] have tried to depict this story, it has been impossible for
them to depict it with body, to depict it with mind, to depict it in space, or
to depict it on a wall. Vainly painting it with brushes, they have drawn
above the Dharma-seat a circle like a round mirror, and have seen this as
the present body of N‡g‡rjuna manifesting the roundness of the moon. While
the frosts and flowers of several hundred years have appeared and fallen,
[their pictures] have been trying to form splinters of metal in people’s eyes,
but no-one has called them mistaken. It is pitiful. Myriad matters have
been bungled like this. If anyone understands that the body manifesting the
roundness of the moon is a circle, that is a genuine case of a painted rice
cake.83 If we made fun of such a person, we might die of laughter. It is
regrettable that among lay people and monks throughout the great King-
dom of Sung, not even one has heard and understood the words of
N‡g‡rjuna or penetrated and realized the words of K‡ıadeva. How much
less could they be directly familiar with the state of the body manifesting
itself. They are blind to the round moon, and they have lacked the state of
the full moon. This is due to negligence in emulating the ancients, and
deficiency in venerating the ancients. Past buddhas and recent buddhas
must just experience the real state of the body manifesting itself, and never

the usage is also unconventional in Japanese.

81. 嚢括 (NOKATSU). 嚢 (NO) means a sack, and 括 (KATSU) means to fasten.
82. India, China, and Japan.
83. In general, 画餅 (GABYO), or “a picture of a rice cake,” symbolizes something
which cannot stop real hunger. In chap. 40, Gabyo, Master Dogen considers the problem
in more detail.
 22 BUSSHO

savor a pictured rice cake. Remember, in the depiction of the image of the
body manifesting the roundness of the moon, there must be the body manifest-
ing its form upon the Dharma-seat. [Depiction of] raising of the eyebrows
and winking of an eye should be straight and direct. The skin, flesh, bones,
and marrow which are the right-Dharma-eye treasury must inevitably be
sitting in the mountain-still state. The face breaking into a smile should be
conveyed, because it makes buddhas and makes patriarchs.84 If these pic-
tures are different from the form of the moon, then they lack the shape of
reality,85 they do not preach Dharma, they are without sounds and sights, and
they have no Real Function. If we seek the state of a body manifesting itself
we should picture the roundness of the moon, and when we picture the
roundness of the moon we should indeed picture the roundness of the moon
because a body manifesting itself is the roundness of the moon. When we pic-
ture the roundness of the moon we should picture the form of the full moon,
and we should manifest the form of the full moon.86 However, [people] do
not depict a body manifesting itself, do not depict the round moon, do not
depict the form of the full moon, do not picture the physique of the buddhas,
do not physically realize demonstration by concrete means, and do not pic-
ture the preaching of Dharma. They vainly picture a painted rice cake.
What function does [such a picture] have? Putting on the eyes at once and
looking at it, who could directly arrive at the present and be satisfied and
without hunger? The moon is a round shape, and round is the state of the
body manifesting itself. In learning roundness, do not learn it as [the round-
ness of] a coin, and do not liken it to [the roundness] of a rice cake. The
body manifesting itself is the roundness of the moon, and the shape of reality is
the full moon’s shape. We should study a coin and a rice cake as round.87
[58] Traveling as a cloud in former days, I went to the great Kingdom of
Sung. It is around the autumn of the 16th year of Kajo88 when I arrive at
Kori Zen Temple on A-iku-o-zan mountain.89 On the wall of the west cor-

84. Alludes to the transmission between the Buddha and Master Mah‡k‡˜yapa. See,
for example, chap. 68, Udonge.
85. “The shape of reality” is 形如 (GYO-NYO), translated in the story as “in shape re-
sembling…” 形 (GYO) means “shape” or “form.” 如 (NYO) means “like,” “as,” “as it is,”
and sometimes “reality as it is.”
86. In Zazen.
87. We should study them as real (not only as circular).
88. 1223.
89. Mt. Ikuo in the modern-day province of Chekiang was one of the five mountains
designated by the Sung government as centers of Buddhism. In 282 a man called (in
 BUSSHO 23

ridor I see paintings of the transformed figures of the thirty-three patri-

archs of India and China. At this time I have no clear view [about them].
Later, during the summer retreat in the first year of Hogyo,90 I go there
again, and while walking down the corridor with Guest-Supervisor91 Jokei
from west Shoku,92 I ask the guest-supervisor, “Just what kind of transfor-
mation is this?” The guest-supervisor says, “It is N‡g‡rjuna's body
manifesting the form of the round moon.” In saying this he has no nostrils in
his complexion and no words in his voice. I say, “This really seems to be a
picture of a rice cake!” At this the guest-supervisor laughs loudly, but there
is no sword in his laughter to break the painted cake. Thereafter the guest-
supervisor and I discuss [the picture] several times, while visiting the
¯ar„ra Hall93 and the six beautiful places in the temple, but he is not even
capable of doubt. Most other monks who happen to comment on it also
completely miss the point. I say, “I shall try to ask the abbot.” At the time the
abbot is Master Daiko.94 The guest-supervisor says, “He has no nostrils. He
will not be able to answer. How could he know?” So I refrain from asking the
veteran Ko. Although brother Kei speaks like this, he too is unable to un-
derstand. Other skin-bags who hear our talk also have nothing to say.
Former and recent heads of the dining table are not perplexed to see [the
picture] and they do not correct it. They probably could not even paint it
themselves. The Dharma, in general, cannot be depicted. If we are going to
depict it, we should depict it directly. Yet no-one has ever painted the
roundness of the moon as a body manifesting itself. In sum, because [people]
do not wake up from views and opinions that the Buddha-nature is re-
lated with the thinking, sensing, mindfulness, and realization [described]
now, they seem—in regard to the words “having the Buddha-nature” and in
regard to the words “being without the Buddha-nature”—to have lost the
boundary of clear understanding. Few even learn that they should speak
the words. Remember, this state of neglect comes from their having
stopped making effort. Among heads of the table in many districts there
are some who die without once in their life voicing the expression of the

Japanese) Ryu Sakka had found a tower on this mountain, and believed the tower to be
one of those established by King A˜oka. The mountain was named A-iku-o-zan, meaning
King A˜oka's mountain.
90. 1225.
91. 知客 (SHIKA), one of the assistant officers in a big temple.
92. A district in modern-day Szechwan province in southwestern China.
93. A hall for Buddhist relics.
94. Dates and personal history not known.
 24 BUSSHO

truth “the Buddha-nature.” Some say that those who listen to teachings dis-
cuss the Buddha-nature, but patch-robed monks who practice Zen should
not speak of it. People like this really are animals. Who are the band of
demons that seeks to infiltrate and to defile the truth of our Buddha-
Tath‡gata? Is there any such thing as “listening to teachings” in the Bud-
dha’s truth? Is there any such thing as “practicing Zen” in the Buddha’s
truth? Remember that in the Buddha’s truth there has never been any such
thing as “listening to teachings” or “practicing Zen.”
[62] National Master Sai-an 95 from the Enkan district of Koshu 96 is a
venerable patriarch in Baso’s lineage. One day he preaches to the assem-
bly, “All living beings have the Buddha-nature!”97
These words “all living beings” should be investigated at once. The ac-
tions, ways, circumstances, and personalities of all living beings are not
only one, and their views are miscellaneous. “Common men,” “non-
Buddhists,” “the three vehicles,” “the five vehicles,” and so on, may be
concrete individuals. The meaning of “all living beings,” as described now
in Buddhism, is that all those that have mind are living beings, for minds
are just living beings. Those without mind may also be living beings, for
living beings are just mind.98 So minds all are living beings, and living beings
all have the Buddha-nature.99 Grass, trees, and national lands are mind itself;
because they are mind, they are living beings, and because they are living
beings they have the Buddha-nature. The sun, the moon, and the stars are
mind itself; because they are mind, they are living beings, and because they
are living beings they have the Buddha-nature. The having Buddha-nature of
which the National Master speaks is like this. If it is not like this, it is not
the having Buddha-nature of which we speak in Buddhism. The point ex-
pressed now by the National Master is only that all living beings have the
Buddha-nature. Those who are utterly different from living beings100 might
be beyond having the Buddha-nature. So now let us ask the National Master:
“Do all buddhas have the Buddha-nature, or not?” We should question him

95. Master Enkan Sai-an (?–842), a successor of Master Baso Do-itsu. He is said to
have died at an old age while practicing Zazen.
96. In modern-day Chekiang province in eastern China.
97. Rento-eyo, chap. 7, and Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 2, no. 15.
98. For example, a bamboo chair can be thought of as a living being, because all be-
ings, animate and inanimate, and mind are one. See chap. 47, Sangai-yuishin.
99. 有仏性 (U-BUSSHO), “have the Buddha-nature,” or “are the Buddha-nature as Ex-
istence.”
100. That is, buddhas.
 BUSSHO 25

and test him like this. We should research that he does not say “All living
beings are the Buddha-nature itself,” but says “All living beings have the Bud-
dha-nature.” He needs to get rid of the have in have the Buddha-nature.
Getting rid is the single track of iron, and the single track of iron is the
way of the birds.101 Then the nature of all buddhas possesses living beings.
This principle not only elucidates living beings, but also elucidates the Bud-
dha-nature. The National Master is not struck by realization of [this]
understanding while he is expressing the truth, but that is not to deny that
he will be struck by the realization in time. Neither is his expression of the
truth today without meaning. Moreover, we do not always understand
ourselves the truths with which we are equipped, but the four elements
and the five aggregates are present nonetheless, and skin, flesh, bones,
and marrow are present nonetheless. This being so, there are cases in
which expressions are expressed by a whole life, and there are individual
moments of life which are dependent upon their expression.
[66] Zen Master Dai-en102 of Dai-i-san mountain one day preaches to the
assembly, “All living beings are without the Buddha-nature.”103
Among the human beings and gods who hear this, there are those of
great makings who rejoice, and there is no absence of people who are as-
tonished and doubtful. The words preached by ¯‡kyamuni are, “All living
beings totally have the Buddha-nature.” The words preached by Dai-i are,
“All living beings are without the Buddha-nature.” There may be a great dif-
ference between the meaning of “have” and “are without” as words, and
some might doubt which expression of the truth is accurate and which not.
But only “All living beings are without the Buddha-nature” is the senior in
Buddhism. Although Enkan’s words about having the Buddha-nature seem
to stretch out a hand together with the eternal Buddha, the situation may
be a staff being carried on the shoulders of two people. Now Dai-i is not
like that: the situation may be the staff swallowing the two people. More-
over, the National Master is Baso’s disciple, and Dai-i is Baso’s grandson-

101. In other words, getting rid is what makes the world one, and to make the world
one is the transcendent way. “Getting rid” is 脱落 (DATSURAKU); these characters appear
in Master Tendo Nyojo’s often-quoted words that Zazen is getting rid of body and mind.
102. Master Isan Reiyu (771–853), successor of Master Hyakujo Ekai. Master Hyakujo,
like Master Enkan, was a successor of Master Baso Do-itsu. Master Isan became a monk
at the age of fifteen, and studied under Master Hyakujo from the age of twenty-three.
His disciples included Masters Kyozan Ejaku, Kyogen Chikan, and Rei-un Shigon. Dai-
en was the posthumous title given to him by the Tang dynasty emperor Sen-so.
103. Rento-eyo, chap. 7, and Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 2, no. 15.
26 BUSSHO

disciple. Yet the Dharma-grandson is a veteran of the truth of his grandfa-

ther-master, and the Dharma-son is a youngster in the truth of his father-
master. The conclusion which Dai-i expresses now is that he has seen “All
living beings are without the Buddha-nature” as the conclusion. He is never
describing a nebulous state which is wide of the mark: he possesses the
state in which he is receiving and retaining like this a concrete sutra
within his own house. We should grope on further: How could all living
beings be the Buddha-nature? How could they have the Buddha-nature? If
any have the Buddha-nature they might be a band of demons. Bringing a
demon’s sheet, they would like to lay it over all living beings. Because the
Buddha-nature is just the Buddha-nature, living beings are just living be-
ings. Living beings are not originally endowed with the Buddha-nature.
Even if they want to be endowed, the point is that the Buddha-nature can-
not start coming to them. Do not say that Mr. Chang drinks sake and Mr.
Lee gets drunk.104 If [a being] were to have “the Buddha-nature” it would
never be a living being.105 And [a state] in which “living beings” are pre-
sent is ultimately other than the Buddha-nature. 106 For this reason,
Hyakujo107 says, “To preach that living beings have the Buddha-nature is to
insult Buddha, Dharma, and Sa¸gha. And to preach that living beings are with-
out the Buddha-nature is also to insult Buddha, Dharma, and Sa¸gha.” So to
say “have the Buddha-nature” and to say “are without the Buddha-nature”
both become an insult. Even if they become an insult, we should not re-
frain from saying them. Now I would like to ask you, Dai-i and Hyakujo,
“I do not deny that it is an insult, but have you been able to explain the Buddha-
nature or not?” If they are able to explain, [the explanation] will restrict the
explanation itself. If there is an act of explaining, it will experience the
same state as the act of hearing. Further, I would like to say to Dai-i, “Al-
though you have expressed the truth that ‘All living beings are without the
Buddha-nature,’ you have not said that ‘All the Buddha-nature is without living
beings,’ and you have not said that ‘All the Buddha-nature is without the Bud-
dha-nature.’ Still more, you have never seen even in a dream that all buddhas are
without the Buddha-nature. Let us see you try [again].”

104. The dimension of thinking and the dimension of reality are absolutely different;
we should not confuse the two.
105. Because it would belong to the area of thinking.
106. Because it is not a real state.
107. Master Hyakujo Ekai (749–814), successor of Master Baso. His disciples include
Master Isan Reiyu and Master Obaku Ki-un. Zen Master Daichi is his posthumous title.
 BUSSHO 27

[71] Zen Master Daichi107 of Hyakujo-zan mountain preaches to the

assembly, “Buddha is the supreme vehicle. It is the highest wisdom. The truth of
this [state of] buddha establishes the person. This buddha has the Buddha-nature.
It is a guiding teacher. It has command of the style of behavior which is free of
hindrances. It is unhindered wisdom. Hence it is able to utilize cause-and-effect,
and it is free in happiness and wisdom. It becomes the carriage that carries cause-
and-effect. In life it is not subject to detention by life. In death it is not subject to
detention by death.108 In the five aggregates it is like a gate opening: unhindered
by the five aggregates, it departs and stays freely, and leaves and enters without
difficulty. If the state can be like this—regardless of relative rank, superiority or
inferiority, for even the body of an ant can be like this—then this is totally the
pure and fine land, and is the unthinkable.”109
These then are the words of Hyakujo. The five aggregates are the im-
mortal body of the present. The moment of the present is a gate opening. It
is beyond being hindered by the five aggregates. When we utilize life, we are
not detained by life. When we utilize death, we are not hindered by death.
Do not be unduly in love with life, and do not be unreasonably afraid of
death. They are just the place where the Buddha-nature exists, and those
who are disturbed or offended [at this] are non-Buddhists. To affirm [the
Buddha-nature] as the miscellaneous circumstances manifest before us is
to command the style of behavior which is free of hindrances. Such is this buddha,
which is the supreme vehicle. The place where this this buddha exists is the
pure and fine land itself.
[73] Obaku110 is sitting in Nansen’s111 tea room. Nansen asks Obaku, “If we
equally practice balance and wisdom, we clearly realize the Buddha-nature: How
about this theory?”
Obaku says, “Through the twelve hours,112 without relying on a single thing, we
have got it already.”
Nansen says, “That is not the patriarch’s113 own viewpoint, is it?”

108. It is not worried by life and death.

109. Kosonshuku-goroku (Record of the Words of the Venerable Patriarchs of the Past), chap.
1.
110.Master Obaku Ki-un (died c. 855), successor of Master Hyakujo.
111.Master Nansen Fugan (748–834), successor of Master Baso. His disciples include
Master Joshu Jushin and Master Chosa Keishin.
112. The whole day; 24 hours.
113. “The patriarch” means “you.” Master Nansen thought Master Obaku’s words
were so excellent that he wondered if they were Master Obaku’s own idea.
28 BUSSHO

Obaku says, “I would not be so bold [as to say so].”

Nansen says, “For the present, I will waive the cost of your soy and water, but
what person can I get to return to me the cost of your straw sandals?”114
Obaku then desists.115
The point of this equal practice of balance and wisdom is not that as long
as the practice of balance does not hinder the practice of wisdom there is
clear realization of the Buddha-nature in their equal practice.116 [The point
is that] in the state of clearly realizing the Buddha-nature there is practice,
which is the equal practice of balance and wisdom.117 [Nansen] says “How
about this theory?” This may be the same as saying, for example, “Clearly
realizing the Buddha-nature is the action of Who?”118 To say “The Buddha-
nature’s practice of equality119 clearly realizes the Buddha-nature: How about this
theory?” would also be an expression of the truth. Obaku says, “The twelve
hours do not rely on a single thing.” The point here is that although the reality
of the twelve hours120 is located in the reality of the twelve hours, it is beyond
reliance. Because the state of not relying on a single thing is the reality of the
twelve hours, the Buddha-nature is clearly realized. As the arrival of what
moment, and as the existence of what national land, should we see this
reality of the twelve hours? Must the twelve hours mentioned now be the
twelve hours of the human world? Do the twelve hours exist in far distant
places? Have the twelve hours of a world of white silver just come to us
temporarily? Whether they are of this land or whether they are of other
worlds, they are beyond reliance. They are the reality of the twelve hours al-

114. Master Nansen’s words are ironic praise.

115. Tensho-koto-roku, chap. 8, and Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 8.
116. The two practices should not be seen as separate.
117. Suggests the practice of Zazen.
118. “Who” means a person who does not have individual self-consciousness. Mas-
ter Nansen asked about the ineffable state.
119. “Equal” is 等 (TO, hito[shii]) which generally expresses the equality or similarity
of two factors. At the same time 等 (TO) sometimes expresses the balanced state—as in
the phrase 無上正等覚 (MUJOSHOTOKAKU), “the supreme and right balanced state of
truth”—so 仏性等学 (BUSSHO TOGAKU), “the Buddha-nature’s equal practice,” suggests
the practice of Zazen in the balanced state.
120. Master Obaku’s words are 十二時中 (JU-NI-JI CHU), which can be interpreted as
“throughout the twelve hours,” or “the reality of the twelve hours,” or “the twelve hours
themselves.” 中 (CHU), as a preposition, means “during” or “throughout,” but Master
Dogen often uses it as an emphatic suffix to emphasize the reality of the noun which
precedes it.
 BUSSHO 29

ready, and [so] they may be beyond reliance. Saying “That is not the patri-
arch’s own viewpoint, is it?” is like saying “You do not say that this is [your]
viewpoint, do you?”121 Though [Nansen] says “Is it the patriarch’s own view-
point?” [Obaku] cannot turn his head [to Nansen] and say “It is mine,”
because, while it is exactly befitting to himself, it is not Obaku’s, Obaku is
not always only himself, and the patriarch’s viewpoint is the state of being
disclosed in complete clarity.122 Obaku says, “I would not be so bold.” In the
land of Sung when you are asked about an ability which you possess, you
say these words “I would not be so bold” to suggest that the ability is [your
own] ability. So the expression “I would not be so bold” is not a lack of con-
fidence. We should not suppose that this expression means what it says.
Though the patriarch’s viewpoint is the patriarch himself, though the pa-
triarch’s viewpoint is Obaku himself, in expressing himself he should not
be so bold. The state may be a water buffalo coming up and mooing. To
speak in this state is speech. We should also try to express, in other speech
that is speech, the principle that [Obaku] expresses. Nansen says, “For the
present, I will waive the cost of your soy and water, but what person can I get to
return to me the cost of your straw sandals?” In other words, “Let us set aside
for a while the cost of your broth, but who can I get to return to me the cost of
your straw sandals?”123 We should exhaust life after life investigating the
intention of these words. We should apply the mind and diligently re-
search why he is not concerned for the present about the cost of soy and
water.124 Why is he concerned about the cost of straw sandals, [as if to
say,] “In your years and months of wayfaring, how many straw sandals have you
trod through?” Now [Obaku] might say, “I have never put on my sandals
without repaying the cost!” Or he might say, “Two or three pairs.” These
could be his expressions of the truth, and these could be his intentions.
[But] Obaku then desists. This is desisting. It is neither to stop because of
not being affirmed [oneself] nor to stop because of not affirming [the
other]: a monk of true colors is not like that. Remember, there are words in
desisting, as there are swords in laughter. [Obaku’s state] is the Buddha-

121. Master Dogen simply explained the meaning of the Chinese characters in Japa-
nese.
122. 露迥迥 (ROKEIKEI) are the words of Master Enchi Dai-an, quoted in chap. 64,
Kajo. Here Master Dogen emphasizes that “viewpoint” does not describe only a subjec-
tive view.
123. Again, Master Dogen clarified the meaning of the Chinese characters of the
story with a Japanese sentence.
124. For example, we should consider if meals are indispensable or not.
 30 BUSSHO

nature clearly realizing satisfaction with morning gruel and satisfaction

with midday rice.
[79] Quoting this story, Isan125 asks Kyozan,126 “Obaku is not able to hold his
own against Nansen, is he?”
Kyozan says, “That is not so. We should know that Obaku has the resourceful-
ness to trap a tiger.”
Isan says, “The disciple’s viewpoint has become as excellent as this!”
Dai-i’s words mean, “Was Obaku, in former days, unable to stand up to
Nansen?” Kyozan says that Obaku has the resourcefulness to trap a tiger.
Being already able to trap a tiger, he might stroke the tiger’s head.127 To
trap a tiger and to stroke a tiger are to go among alien beings.128 Is to
clearly realize the Buddha-nature to open an eye? Or is the Buddha-
nature’s clear realization the loss of an eye? Speak at once! Speak at once!
The Buddha-nature’s viewpoint has become as excellent as this! For this reason,
half things and complete things are beyond reliance, a hundred thousand
things are beyond reliance, and a hundred thousand hours are beyond reli-
ance. And for this reason, I say:
Traps are a unity,129
Real time is the [concrete] twelve.130
Reliance and the state beyond reliance,
Are like vines clinging onto a tree.131
The reality of the Universe and the whole Universe itself,
At last are prior to the occurrence of words.

125. Master Isan Reiyu (771–853). He is referred to in the commentary as “Dai-i.”

126. Master Kyozan Ejaku (807–883), successor of Master Isan.
127. Master Dogen esteemed not only the ability to defeat an opponent but also the
ability to tame an opponent.
128. 異類中行 (I-RUI-CHU-GYO), “going among alien beings,” describes independent
action.
129. In other words, the whole Universe is a hindrance. “Traps” is 羅篭 (RARO), silk
nets and bamboo cages used to trap birds and fish. The words (elsewhere translated as
“restrictions and hindrances”) appear frequently in Shobogenzo.
130. Master Obaku said 十二時中 (JU-NI-JI-CHU), using 時 (JI) to mean “hours” and
中 (CHU) to mean “throughout the period.” Master Dogen said 時中十二 (JI-CHU JU-NI)
using 時中 (JI-CHU) to mean “time itself,” or “real time.” See also note 120.
131. Vines clinging to a tree suggests something too complicated to be understood
intellectually. See chap. 46, Katto.
 BUSSHO 31

[82] A monk asks Great Master Shinsai132 of Joshu, “Does even a dog have the
Buddha-nature or not?”133
We should clarify the meaning of this question. “A dog” is a dog.134
The question does not ask whether the Buddha-nature can or cannot exist
in the dog; it asks whether even an iron man learns the truth.135 To happen
upon such a poison hand136 may be a matter for deep regret, and at the
same time the scene recalls the meeting, after thirty years, with half a sacred
person.137
Joshu says, “It is without.”138 When we hear this expression, there are con-
crete paths by which to learn it: the “being without” with which the
Buddha-nature describes itself may be expressed like this; the “not having”
which describes the dog itself may be expressed like this; and “there is
nothing,” as exclaimed by an onlooker, may be expressed like this.139 There
may come a day when this “being without” becomes merely the grinding
away of a stone.140
The monk says, “All living beings totally have the Buddha-nature. Why is the
dog without?” The intention here is as follows: “If all living beings did not
exist, then the Buddha-nature would not exist and the dog would not exist. How
about this point? Why should the dog’s Buddha-nature depend on ‘non-
existence.’?”

132. Master Joshu Jushin (778–897), a successor of Master Nansen Fugan. Great Mas-
ter Shinsai is his posthumous title.
133. The conversation is recorded in the second half of Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 2, no. 14.
It is also recorded in Wanshi-zenji-go-roku, chap. 1, and Rento-eyo, chap. 6.
134. Master Dogen explained the Chinese characters 狗子 (KU-SU) with the Japanese
word いぬ (inu).
135. An iron man symbolizes someone who is very single-minded in pursuing the
truth. The monk was not looking for a simple yes or no, but wanted to ask about the area
beyond ordinary thinking.
136. In other words, such a severe question.
137. Master Shakkyo Ezo (a student of Master Baso Do-itsu) says, “For thirty years my
bow has been stretched and my arrow set. I have just been able to shoot half a sacred person.”
138. 無 (MU).
139. Master Dogen considered various meanings of the character 無 (MU)—real state,
lack of possession, and absence.
140. The problem of the meaning of 無 (MU) can be solved by following a concrete
process.
 32 BUSSHO

Joshu says, “Because it has karmic consciousness.”141 The intention of this

expression is that even though the reason it exists is karmic consciousness and
to have karmic consciousness is the reason it exists,142 the dog is without any-
thing, and the Buddha-nature is without anything. Karmic consciousness
never understands intellectually what the dog is, so how could the dog
meet the Buddha-nature? Whether we cast away duality or take up both
sides, the state is just the constant working of karmic consciousness.
[85] A monk asks Joshu, “Does the Buddha-nature exist even in a dog or
not?”143
This question may be the fact that this monk is able to stand up to
Joshu. Thus, assertions and questions about the Buddha-nature are the
everyday tea and meals of Buddhist patriarchs. Joshu says, “It exists.”144
The situation of this “It exists” is beyond the “existence” of scholastic
commentary teachers and the like, and beyond the dogmatic “existence”
of the Existence School.145 We should move ahead and learn the Buddha’s
Existence. The Buddha’s Existence is Joshu’s “It exists.” Joshu’s “it exists”
is “the dog exists,” and “the dog exists” is “the Buddha-nature exists.”
The monk says, “It exists already—then why does it forcibly enter this concrete
bag of skin?” This monk’s expression of the truth poses the question of
whether it is present existence, whether it is past existence, or whether it is

141. “Karmic consciousness” is 業識 (GOSHIKI). 業 (GO) represents the Sanskrit karma,

which means action. 識 (SHIKI) means consciousness. 業識 (GOSHIKI) means conscious-
ness which exists in the present as the concrete result of actions in the past. Thus Master
Josshu used 業識 (GOSHIKI) to suggest the concrete, real state at the moment of the pre-
sent.
142. 為佗有 (I-TA-U). In the story these words mean “Because it has…”
143. In this conversation (recorded in the first half of Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 2, no. 14)
the monk’s question is exactly the same as the question in the previous conversation.
Understood simply, the conversation is as follows: “Does even a dog have the Buddha-nature
or not?” “It has.” “[The dog] has the Buddha-nature already. Why has it forced its way into this
bag of skin?” “Because it commits a deliberate violation.”
144. 有 (U). Master Joshu’s answer looks like a simple affirmative answer (Does a
dog have the Buddha-nature? “It has.”). But Master Dogen’s interpretation is that the
word 有 (U) is just the direct preaching of real existence (“Existence!”).
145. 有部 (UBU), the Existence School, means the ¯‡rv‡stiv‡da, a school founded by
K‡ty‡yan„putra around 300 years after the Buddha’s death. Generally, Master Dogen
esteemed the teachings of the ¯‡rv‡stiv‡da relatively highly; see chap. 87, Kuyo-shobutsu.
Their teachings are represented in Chinese by the words 我空法有 (GA-KU-HO-U), “the
self is empty, the Dharma exists,” 三世実有 (SAN-ZE JITSU-U) “the three times are real
existence,” and 法体恒有 (HOTTAI-GO-U), “the Universe is eternal existence.”
 BUSSHO 33

Existence already;146 and although Existence already resembles the other “ex-
istences,” Existence already clearly stands alone. Does Existence already need
to force its way in? Or does Existence already not need to force its way
in?147 The action of forcibly entering this concrete bag of skin does not ac-
commodate idle heedless consideration.
Joshu says, “Because it knowingly commits a deliberate violation!” As a secular
saying these words have long since spread through the streets, but now
they are Joshu’s expression of the truth. What they discuss is deliberate
violation. Those who do not doubt this expression of the truth may be few.
The present word “enter” is difficult to understand; at the same time, the
word “enter” is itself unnecessary.148 Moreover, If we want to know the im-
mortal person in the hut, How could we depart from this concrete skin-bag here
and now?149 Even if the immortal person is anyone, at what moment is it
[necessary to say] “Do not depart from your skin-bag!”? A deliberate violation
is not always entry into a skin bag, and to have forcibly entered a concrete skin
bag is not always to knowingly commit a deliberate violation. Because of know-
ing, there can be deliberate violation. Remember, this deliberate violation may
contain the action of getting free of the body—this is expressed as “forcibly
entering.” The action of getting free of the body, at just the moment of con-
tainment, contains self and contains other people. At the same time, never
complain that it is impossible to avoid being a person before a donkey and
behind a horse.150 Still more, the founding Patriarch Ungo151 says, “Even to
have learned matters on the periphery of the Buddha-Dharma is to have adopted a
mistaken approach already.”152 That being so, although we have been mak-
ing the mistake for a long time—which has deepened into days and
deepened into months—of half-learning matters on the periphery of the
Buddha-Dharma, this may be the state of the dog that has forcibly entered

146. 既有 (KI-U), lit. “already existence,” means what is there already, real existence.
147. When living in reality, is it necessary to make intentional effort or not?
148. In several chapters of Shobogenzo, Master Dogen denies (having sometimes
also affirmed) that we “enter” reality. See, for example, chap. 17, Hokke-ten-hokke.
149. From a poem in Master Sekito Kisen’s book Sekito-so-an-no-uta (Songs from Se-
kito’s Thatched Hut). The immortal person in the hut means a person who realizes the
eternal state in a simple life.
150. A person who is not special.
151. Master Ungo Doyo (?–902), successor of Master Tozan Ryokai. See chap. 15,
Busso.
152. Rento-eyo, chap. 23.
 34 BUSSHO

a concrete skin bag. Though it knowingly commits a deliberate violation,

it has the Buddha-nature.
[89] In the order of Master Chosa Keishin,153 government official Jiku154
asks, “An earthworm has been cut into two, and the two parts are both moving. I
wonder in which part is the Buddha-nature.”
The Master says, “Do not be deluded.”
The official says, “What should we make of their moving?”
The Master says, “It is only that wind and fire have not dissipated.”155
Now when the official says “An earthworm has been cut into two” has he
concluded that before it was cut it was one? In the everyday life of Bud-
dhist patriarchs the state is not like that. An earthworm is not originally
one, and when an earthworm has been cut it is not two. We must strive to
learn in practice the meaning of the words one and two. He says, “The two
parts together156 are moving.” Has he understood that two parts are a unity
before being cut, or has he understood that the ascendant state of Buddha
is a unity? Regardless of whether or not the official understands the words
“two parts,” we should not discard the words. Is it that two parts which
have been separated are made into a unity and thereafter a unity exists? In
describing the movement, he says “both moving.” [Though] “Balance moves
it and wisdom removes it,”157 it may be that both are movement. “I wonder in
which part is the Buddha-nature.” This might be expressed, “The Buddha-
nature has been cut into two. I wonder in which part is the earthworm.” We
should clarify this expression of the truth in detail. Does saying “The two
parts are both moving. In which part is there the Buddha-nature?” mean that if
both are moving they are unfit as a location for the Buddha-nature? Does
it mean that if both are moving, although movement takes place in both,
the location of the Buddha-nature must be one or the other of them? The

153. Master Chosa Keishin (?–868), a successor of Master Nansen Fugan.

154. A lay student in Master Chosa’s order. His title 尚書 (SHOSHO) indicates that he
was a mandarin charged with promulgating official documents.
155. See Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 20. The story is also recorded in Keitoku-dento-
roku, chap. 10, and Rento-eyo, chap. 6.
156. 倶 (GU, tomo[ni]) means either “both,” or “together.” In his commentary, Master
Dogen wonders if the official was able to understand the character in the second mean-
ing.
157. The Nirv‡ıa-sutra says, “Just as in removing a firm stake, first we move it with the
hands, then it comes out easily, so it is with balance and wisdom of bodhisattvas: first [bodhisatt-
vas] move [an emotional interference] with the balanced state, then they remove it with wisdom.”
 BUSSHO 35

Master says, “Do not be deluded.” What might be his point here? He says,
“Do not be deluded.” That being so, does he mean that when the two parts
are both moving they are without delusion, or beyond delusion? Or does
he simply mean that the Buddha-nature is without delusion? We should
also investigate whether he is just saying “There are no delusions!” without
touching upon discussion of the Buddha-nature and without touching
upon discussion of the two parts. Do the words “What should we make of
their moving?” say that, because they are moving, an extra layer of Bud-
dha-nature should be laid upon them? Or do the words assert that
because they are moving they are beyond the Buddha-nature? Saying
“Wind and fire have not dissipated” may cause the Buddha-nature to mani-
fest itself. Should we see it as the Buddha-nature? Should we see it as
wind and fire? We should not say that the Buddha-nature and wind-and-
fire both appear together, and we should not say that when one appears
the other does not appear. We should not say that wind and fire are just
the Buddha-nature. Therefore Chosa does not say “An earthworm has the
Buddha-nature” and he does not say “An earthworm is without the Buddha-
nature.” He only says, “Do not be deluded” and says, “Wind and fire have not
dissipated.” To fathom the vigorous state of the Buddha-nature, we should
use Chosa’s words as the standard. We should quietly consider the words
“Wind and fire have not dissipated.” What kind of truth is present in the
words “not dissipated”? Does he say “not dissipated” to express that wind
and fire have accumulated but there has not yet come a time for them to
disperse? That could not be so.158 “Wind and fire have not dissipated” is a
Buddha preaching Dharma, and undissipated wind and fire are the Dharma
preaching Buddha. For example, one sound preaching Dharma is the
moment having arrived, and Dharma-preaching as one sound is the ar-
rived moment—for Dharma is one sound, and one sound is Dharma.
Furthermore, to think that the Buddha-nature exists only in the time of life,
and that it will vanish at the time of death, is extremely naive and shallow.
The time of living is the Buddha-nature as Existence and is the Buddha-
nature as being without. The time of dying is the Buddha-nature as Exis-
tence and is the Buddha-nature as being without. If we are able to discuss
the dissipation and non-dissipation of wind and fire, that may be [discus-
sion of] the dissipation and non-dissipation of the Buddha-nature. The
time of dissipation may be Existence as the Buddha-nature and may be

158. “Not dissipated” is 未散 (MISAN). 未 (MI, ima[da]) lit. means “not yet,” but 未散
(MISAN) describes the state which is real at the moment of the present (not related to the
past).
36 BUSSHO

being without as the Buddha-nature. The time of non-dissipation may be

Existence as the Buddha-nature, and may be being without as the Buddha-
nature. Those who have wrongly attached to the contrary view, that the
Buddha-nature may or may not exist depending upon movement and
non-movement, may or may not be divine depending upon consciousness
and non-consciousness, and may or may not be the natural function de-
pending on knowing and not knowing, are non-Buddhists. Since the kalpa
without a beginning, many stupid people have seen consciousness of the
divine as the Buddha-nature, and as the original human state. A person
could die laughing! To express the Buddha-nature further, although it
need not be getting covered in mud and staying in the water, it is fences, walls,
tiles, and pebbles. When we express it in the further ascendant state, just
what is the Buddha-nature? Have you fully understood? Three heads and
eight arms!

Shobogenzo Bussho

Preached to the assembly at Kan-

non-dori-kosho-horin-ji temple in
Kyoto prefecture on the 14th day
of the 10th lunar month in the
2nd year of Ninji.159

159. 1241.
 [23]
行仏威儀

GYOBUTSU-YUIGI
The Dignified Behavior of
Acting Buddha
Gyo means to practice or to act, butsu means buddha, yui means dignity or
dignified, and gi means ceremony, formal attitude, or behavior. Therefore
Gyobutsu-yuigi means the dignified behavior of acting buddha. Buddhism
can be called a religion of action. Buddhism esteems action very highly, be-
cause action is our existence itself, and without acting we have no existence.
Gautama Buddha’s historical mission was to find the truth of action, by
which he could synthesize idealistic Brahmanism and the materialistic theo-
ries of the six non-Buddhist teachers. In this chapter Master Dogen explained
the dignity that usually accompanies buddhas in action.

[97] The buddhas always practice to the full dignified behavior:

this is acting buddha. Acting buddha is neither resultant buddha nor trans-
formed buddha and is neither buddha as the body of subjective nature nor
buddha as the body of objective nature; it is beyond initiated enlightenment and
original enlightenment and is beyond inherent enlightenment and nonexistent
enlightenment. ‘Buddhas’ like these can never stand shoulder-to-shoulder
with acting buddha. Remember, buddhas, being in the Buddha’s state of
truth, do not expect enlightenment. Mastery of action in the Buddha’s as-
cendant state of truth belongs to acting buddha alone. It is never realized
by buddha as subjective nature, and the like, even in a dream.
[99] Because this acting buddha realizes dignity at each moment, the
dignity is realized before the body. Before verbal expression, the leaking
out of the gist of the teaching covers Time, covers [all] directions, covers
buddha, and covers action. If we are not acting buddha, being not yet re-
leased from the fetter of Buddha and the fetter of Dharma, we are grouped

37
 38 GYOBUTSU YUIGI

among ‘Buddha’-demons and ‘Dharma’-demons.1 The meaning of “the fet-

ter of Buddha” is as follows: when we view and understand bodhi as
‘bodhi,’ we have directly been fettered by that view itself and by that un-
derstanding itself. Passing instantaneously through the moment of
consciousness, never expecting that it might be the period of liberation, we
misunderstand [bodhi] in vain. To view and understand bodhi as just bo-
dhi may be the very view which accords with bodhi; who could call this
the false view? I remember it as just binding myself without rope! It is
fetters at every moment, continuing endlessly; it is not a tree falling and
wisteria withering.2 It is no more than fruitless struggling in caves on the
Buddhist periphery. It neither recognizes the sickness of the Dharma-body
nor recognizes the privation of the reward-body.3 Even theorists, teachers
of sutras, teachers of commentaries, and the like, who have heard the
Buddha’s truth from afar, say; “Then to establish towards the Dharma-nature
a view on the Dharma-nature is just ignorance.”4 This theorist failed to say
that when, in the Dharma-nature, a view of the Dharma-nature arises, ‘the
Dharma-nature’ is a fetter. Further, he added the fetter of ‘ignorance.’ It is a
shame that he did not know that ‘the Dharma-nature’ contains a fetter, but
if he recognized that he added the fetter of ‘ignorance,’ that may have be-
come a seed for the establishment of the bodhi-mind.
[101] The present acting buddha has never been fettered by such fetters. For
this reason [the Buddha says], “The lifetime which I have realized by my origi-
nal practice of the bodhisattva-way is not exhausted even now, but will still be
twice the previous number [of kalpas].”5 Remember, it is not that his lifetime
as a bodhisattva is ranged continuously to the present, nor that his lifetime
as Buddha has permeated the past.6 The “previous number” described now

1. 仏魔法魔 (BUTSUMA, HOMA), means idealists who are disturbed by the concept of
“Buddha” and “Dharma.”
2. 樹倒藤枯 (JUTO-TOKO), “a tree falling and wisteria withering,” represents the
natural falling away of that which binds.
3. 法身 (HOSSHIN), “Dharma-body,” represents the Sanskrit Dharma-k‡ya. 報身
(HOJIN), “reward-body,” represents the Sanskrit sa¸bhoga-k‡ya. Sa¸bhoga, which means
enjoyment or sensuality, suggests the physical aspect of the body. See Book 1, Glossary.
This sentence suggests that being bound by concepts hinders both spiritual fulfillment
and physical well-being.
4. Quoted from Maka-shikan, a text of the Tendai Sect based on the lectures of Master
Tendai Chigi.
5. The Buddha’s words in Lotus Sutra Nyorai-juryo (The Tath‡gata's Lifetime). See LS
3.18–20.
6. The Buddha’s words are about life here and now.
 GYOBUTSU YUIGI 39

is the totality that he has realized. The “even now” which he has just ex-
pressed is his total lifetime. My original practice, even if one track of iron for
ten thousand miles, is also to abandon [all things] for a hundred years,
letting them be vertical or horizontal. 7 This being so, practice-and-
experience is beyond nonexistence, practice-and-experience is beyond
existence, and practice-and-experience is beyond being tainted.8 Though
there are a hundred thousand myriad places where there are no buddhas
and no human beings, [those places] do not taint acting buddha, and so
acting buddha is not tainted by practice and experience. This does not
mean that practice and experience are [always] untainted.9 [At the same
time] this untaintedness is not nonexistent.10 Sokei says, “Just this untainted-
ness is that which the buddhas guard and desire. You are also like this. I am also
like this. And all the patriarchs of India were also like this.” Thus, because [the
buddhas as] you are also like this, they are the buddhas, and because [the
buddhas as] I are also like this, they are the buddhas. In this untainted state
which is truly beyond “I” and beyond “you,” real I, this concrete I,11 that
which the buddhas guard and desire, is the dignified behavior of acting bud-
dha. Real you, this concrete you, that which the buddhas guard and desire, is the
dignified behavior of acting buddha. Because he is “I also,”12 the Master is
excellent. Because he is “you also,” the disciple is strong. The Master’s ex-
cellence and the disciple’s strength are the perfection in knowledge and

7. 縦横 (JU-O), “vertical or horizontal,” means free in all directions.

8. Master Daikan Eno asked Master Nangaku Ejo, “Do you rely on practice and experi-
ence or not?” Master Nangaku said, “It is not that there is no practice and experience, but the
state can never be tainted.” Master Daikan Eno said, “Just this untaintedness is that which the
buddhas guard and desire. You are also like this. I am also like this. And the ancestral masters of
India were also like this.” The story is recorded in Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 2, no. 1 and also
quoted in Shobogenzo, chap. 7, Senjo, and chap. 62, Hensan.
9. In other words, motivation in the state of acting buddha is always pure, but moti-
vation in Zazen and other Buddhist practices is not always pure. 染汚 (ZENNA),
“taintedness,” describes, for example, sitting in Zazen with expectation of reward other
than the experience of Zazen itself.
10. この不染汚 (kono FU-ZENNA), “this untaintedness,” and 不無 (FU-MU), “not non-
existent,” both allude to the famous conversation between Master Daikan Eno and
Master Nangaku Ejo about practice and experience.
11. 如吾是吾 (NYO-GO-ZE-GO). In Master Daikan Eno’s words 吾亦如是 (GO-YAKU-
NYOZE), “I am also like this,” the compound 如是 (NYOZE) means “like this.” Here Mas-
ter Dogen separates the compound into the two adjectives 如 (NYO), “real,” and 是 (ZE),
“this, concrete.”
12. 吾亦 (GO-MATA). In this usage, 亦 (MATA), “also,” or “again,” is emphatic—the
Master is just himself.
40 GYOBUTSU YUIGI

action13 of acting buddha. Remember, that which the buddhas guard and de-
sire is mine also and yours also. Although the expression of the truth by the
eternal Buddha of Sokei is beyond “I,” how could it not be about you.
That which acting buddha guards and desires, and that which acting bud-
dha masters, is like this. Therefore we have seen that practice-and-
experience is beyond [concepts] such as essence and form or substance and
detail. Acting buddha’s departing and arriving instantaneously cause
buddha to act, at which time buddha is just causing action. Here there is
giving up the body for the Dharma, and there is giving up the Dharma for the
body—not begrudging body and life,14 and solely begrudging body and life.
It is not only that we give up ‘Dharma’ for the Dharma; there is dignified
behavior in which we give up Dharma for the sake of the mind.15 We
should not forget that giving up is unfathomable. We should not utilize
consideration in the state of buddha to fathom or to suppose the great
truth: consideration by buddha is [only] one corner; for example, like open-
ing flowers.16 We should not utilize consideration by the mind to grope for
or to analogize dignified behavior: consideration by the mind is [only] one
face; for example, like the world.17 Consideration by a stalk of grass evi-
dently is consideration by the mind of the Buddhist patriarchs. It is a
fragment in which acting buddha has already recognized its own footprint.
Even when we see to the end that consideration by the undivided mind
already includes boundless buddha-consideration, if we aim to consider
the demeanor and stillness, the movement and quietness, of acting bud-
dha, they have features which are originally beyond consideration.
Because they are action which is beyond consideration, they are indefin-
able, unusable, and unfathomable.

13. 明行足 (MYOGOSOKU), from the Sanskrit vidy‡-caraıa-sampanna, is one of the ten
epithets of the Buddha. The expression praises the Buddha as not only perfect in knowl-
edge but also perfect in conduct, and as not only perfect in conduct but also perfect in
knowledge.
14 . 不惜身命 (FU-SHAKU-SHINMYO), alludes to Lotus Sutra, Nyorai-juryo (The
Tath‡gata's Lifetime). See LS 3.30.
15. Master Dogen imagined a concrete situation in which, for example, a Buddhist
monk breaks the precept of not eating after lunch, in order to maintain the balanced and
satisfied state of mind.
16. 華開 (KEKAI) means the appearance of phenomena.
17. 世界 (SEKAI) represents concrete existence. The twenty-seventh patriarch, Master
Praj§‡tara, said 華開世界起 (KEKAI-SEKAI-KI), “flowers opening are the occurrence of the
world”; in other words, phenomena and concrete existence are one. See chap. 43, Kuge.
 GYOBUTSU YUIGI 41

[107] Now, in regard to the dignified behavior of acting buddha, there are
individual researches. The dignified behavior which is I also and you also,
when it has come like this18 as buddha here and now and as the self here
and now, is connected with the ability of an I alone, but at the same time it
is just the liberation which is the state like that of buddhas in the ten direc-
tions,19 and it is never simply an identification. For this reason, an eternal
buddha says, “After grasping in physical experience matters in distant places,
we come back to this concrete place and act.”20 When we are already maintain-
ing and relying upon the state like this, all dharmas, all bodies, all acts,
and all buddhas, are familiar and direct. These buddhas whose bodies
practice the Dharma each solely have the state of restriction in direct ex-
perience.21 Because they have restriction in direct experience, they solely
have liberation in direct experience. Do not be disturbed that [when] the
clear, clear hundreds of things are restricted by eyes, not a single dharma is
seen and not a single object is seen.22 At this dharma23 [reality] has already
arrived.24 At that dharma [reality] has already arrived. When we act, in
fetching and taking away and in leaving and entering through a common
gate, because the whole world has never been hidden,25 the World-honored

18. 恁麼来 (INMO-RAI) alludes to the former of the two famous conversations be-
tween Master Daikan Eno and Master Nangaku Ejo. Master Daikan said to Master
Nangaku, “What is it that comes like this?” In this context, “it has come like this” means “it
is actually present.” See, for example, chap. 29, Inmo.
19. 能 (NO), “able,” 唯我 (YUI-GA), “I alone,” and 十方仏然 (JUPPO-BUTSU-NEN),
“buddhas in the ten directions are like that,” allude to the Buddha’s words in Lotus Sutra,
Hoben. See LS 1.70 and LS 1.74.
20. 那辺事 (NAHEN [no] JI), “matters in distant places” means matters which are
thought about, abstract concerns. These words are quoted from Wanshi-koroku (Broad
Record of Master Wanshi Shokaku), vol. 5.
21. 承当 (JOTO), lit. “receiving a hit.” Master Dogen’s independent work Gakudo-
yojin-shu explains the term as follows: “With this body-and-mind, we directly experience the
state of buddha: this is to receive a hit.”
22. 明明百甑艸頭 (MEI-MEI [taru] HYAKU-SO-TO), or “clear, clear are the hundreds of
weeds,” are traditional words in Chinese Buddhism, attributed to the Happy Buddha,
Hotei (see chap. 22, Bussho). That they are restricted by eyes means that they are seen as
they are. That no separate dharma or object is seen means that the view is whole.
23. 這法 (SHAHO), “this dharma,” suggests the Dharma as a concrete fact here and
now. 那法 (NAHO), “that dharma,” suggests the Dharma as theory. See also note 20.
24. 若至 (NYAKU-SHI), lit. “if it arrives.” See chap. 22, Bussho, para. [14].
25. A 界不曽蔵 (HENKAI-FUSOZO). The words of Master Sekiso Keisho, quoted in
Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 58.
42 GYOBUTSU YUIGI

One’s secret talk,26 secret experience, secret action, secret transmission,

and so on are present.
If I leave through the gate, just grass.
If I enter through the gate, just grass.
For ten thousand miles, not an inch of grass!27
The word “enter”
And the word “leave”
Are useless at this place
And useless at that place.28

The present grasping does not depend upon action, which is a letting go;
rather, it is a dream, an illusion, a flower in space. Who can put this mis-
take in its place, as a dream, an illusion, a flower in space? A forward step
is a mistake, a backward step is a mistake, one step is a mistake, and two
steps are a mistake; therefore [action] is mistakes at every moment. Be-
cause the separation is as great as that between heaven and earth,29 to arrive at
the truth is without difficulty.30 We should utterly realize dignified behavior,
and behavioral dignity, as the body, in the great truth, being relaxed.31 Re-
member, when born into life we are born at one with the truth, and when
entering death we enter at one with the truth. In the head-to-tail rightness of
that state, as a jewel turning or a pearl spinning, dignified behavior is
manifest before us. That which imparts and possesses single fragments of
the dignified behavior of buddha is the whole of the cosmos32 and the

26. 密語 (MITSUGO). See chap. 51, Mitsugo.

27. 万里無寸艸 (BANRI-MU-SUNSO), “For ten thousand miles, not an inch of grass,”
appears in Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 82. In general, grass (or weeds) symbolizes con-
crete objective things (see note 22). At the same time, as that which is attractive to oxen,
grass sometimes symbolizes that which distracts Buddhist practitioners from practice.
28. Reality in the present is neither entered nor left.
29. 天地懸隔 (TENCHI-KENKAKU), from the third sentence of Master Kanchi Sosan’s
verse Shinjin-mei: “If there is a hundredth or thousandth of a gap, the separation is as great as
that between heaven and earth.” Master Dogen quotes the same words in Fukan-zazengi to
describe the gulf between intellectual thinking and action. See Book 1.
30. 至道無難 (SHIDO-MUNAN), from the opening sentence of Shinjin-mei: “To arrive
at the truth is without difficulty; just hate picking and choosing.”
31. 大道体寛 (DAIDO-TAIKAN), from a sentence in the middle of Shinjin-mei: “In the
great truth the body is relaxed, and there is neither difficulty nor ease.”
32. “Cosmos” is 乾坤 (KENKON). The four directions (north, south, east, and west)
are represented by four of the twelve Chinese horary signs. The eight intermediate 45
degree segments of the compass (north to northeast, northeast to east, et cetera) are rep-
resented by the remaining twelve horary signs. 乾 (KEN, or inu-i), “the dog and the
 GYOBUTSU YUIGI 43

Earth, and the whole of living-and-dying and going-and-coming. It is

lands of dust33 and it is the Lotus Flower.34 This land of dust and this Lo-
tus Flower, each is one corner. In the thoughts of many students, it is
supposed that “the whole cosmos” might mean this southern continent of
Jambudv„pa, or that it might mean this unity of four continents.35 Again,
[some] appear simply to conceive of the single nation of China or think of
the single nation of Japan. [Some] appear to think that “the whole Earth,”
also, means only a three-thousand-great-thousandfold world. [Some] ap-
pear merely to imagine one province or one district. If you want to learn
through experience the words “the whole Earth and the whole cosmos,” mull
them over three times and five times. Do not conclude that they are just
discussing width. This attaining of truth is the state of transcending the
buddhas and transcending the patriarchs which is the extremely large equal-
ing the small, and the extremely small equaling the large.36 That the large does
not exist and the small does not exist seems doubtful, but it is the acting
buddha of dignified behavior.37 In both cases expressed by the buddhas
and the patriarchs, dignified behavior as the whole cosmos and dignified
behavior as the whole Earth, we should learn in practice, as the whole world,
the state of never having been hidden. What has never been hidden is not only
the whole world, [but also] that which perfectly hits the target of acting
buddha: dignified behavior.
[113] In expounding the Buddha’s truth, [people usually say that] beings
born from the womb and born from metamorphosis are the action of the
Buddha’s truth, but they never mention beings born from moisture and

boar” means the direction between the dog’s segment (west to northwest) and the boar’s
segment (northwest to north); that is, the northwest. 坤 (KON, or hitsuji-saru), “the sheep
and the monkey,” means the southwest. 乾坤 (KENKON), “northwest and southwest,”
represents all points of the compass, that is, the Universe or the cosmos.
33. 塵刹 (JINSETSU) suggests the dry material world.
34. 蓮華 (RENGE), as in the full title of the Lotus Sutra, suggests the world as an aes-
thetic whole. See chap. 17, Hokke-ten-hokke.
35. 四洲 (SHISHU), “the four continents,” from the Sanskrit catv‡ro-dv„p‡h, are Jam-
budv„pa (south), PÂrva-videha (east), Apara-god‡na (west), and Uttara-kuru (north). See
Book 1, Glossary.
36. 極大同小 (GOKUDAI-DO-SHO, or GOKUDAI [wa] SHO [ni] ona[jiku]) and 極小同大
(GOKUSHO-DO-DAI or GOKUSHO [wa] DAI [ni] ona[jiku]) allude to two sentences at the
end of Shinjin-mei: “The extremely large is the same as the small, and no outer surface is seen,”
and “The extremely small is the same as the large; boundaries are completely forgotten.”
37. 威儀行仏 (YUIGI-GYOBUTSU), means the state of acting buddha which is realized
in dignified behavior.
44 GYOBUTSU YUIGI

born from eggs. Still less have they ever realized, even in a dream, that
even beyond this birth from the womb, eggs, moisture, and metamorphosis
there is birth. How much less could they see, hear, or sense that beyond
birth from the womb, eggs, moisture, and metamorphosis there is birth from the
womb, eggs, moisture, and metamorphosis? In the present great truth of
the buddhas and patriarchs, the fact that, beyond birth from the womb, eggs,
moisture, and metamorphosis, there is birth from the womb, eggs, moisture,
and metamorphosis, has been authentically transmitted in the state of
never having been hidden and has been authentically transmitted in the state
of immediacy. As what kind of group should we see those who will not
hear, will not learn, will not recognize, and will not clarify this expression
of the truth? We have heard already about the four kinds of birth. For
death, how many kinds are there? Might there be, for the four kinds of
birth, four kinds of death? Or might there be three kinds of death or two
kinds of death? Again, might there be five deaths, six deaths, thousands of
deaths, or myriad deaths? Even merely to doubt this principle is a kind of
learning in practice. Let us consider for a while, among the miscellaneous
beings [born from] these four kinds of birth, could there be any which
have birth but no death? And are there any which receive a single-line
transmission of only death, without receiving a single-line transmission of
birth? We must unfailingly study in practice the existence or nonexistence
of kinds which solely are born or which solely die. There are those who
merely hear the phrase “non-birth,”38 without clarifying it, seeming to set
aside effort with body and mind. It is the utmost stupidity. They must be
called a kind of animal which cannot arrive at even discussion of devo-
tional and Dharma [practice] or of instantaneous and gradual [realization]. The
reason is that even if they hear [the words] “being without birth,” they need
[to ask] “What is the intention of this expression of the truth?” They utterly
fail to consider whether it might mean buddha as being without, the truth as
being without, the mind as being without, or cessation as being without, or
whether it might mean non-birth as being without, or whether it might mean
the world of Dharma as being without or the Dharma-nature as being without, or
whether it might mean death as being without. This is because they are as
idly absent-minded as water weeds. Remember, living-and-dying39 is the
action of the Buddha’s truth and living-and-dying is a tool in the Bud-
dha’s house. In using it, we should use it carefully. In clarifying it we are able to

38. 無生 (MUSHO), “non-birth” or “being without birth,” is sometimes used as a

synonym for nirv‡ıa.
39. 生死 (SHOJI) is the title of chap. 92. 生 (SHO) means both birth and life.
 GYOBUTSU YUIGI 45

be clear. Therefore buddhas are utterly clear in this penetration and non-
penetration and are utterly able in this careful use. If you are unclear in re-
gard to this living-and-dying, who can say that you are yourself? Who can
call you a character who has comprehended life and mastered death? You
cannot hear that you are immersed in living-and-dying, you cannot know
that you exist in living-and-dying, you cannot believe and accept that liv-
ing-and-dying is living-and-dying, and you can neither be beyond
understanding nor beyond knowing. Some express the notion that
buddhas appear in the world only in the human state, never manifesting
themselves in other directions or in other states. If it is as they say, must
every place where buddhas are present be a human state? That is a human
buddha’s expression of the truth that “I alone am the Honored One.”40 There
may also be god-buddhas, and there may be buddha-buddhas. Those who
say that buddhas manifest themselves only in the human domain do not
enter deep beyond the threshold of the Buddhist patriarchs.
[117] An ancestral Patriarch41 says, “¯‡kyamuni Buddha, having received the
transmission of the right Dharma from K‡˜yapa Buddha, went to Tu˘ita Heaven
to teach the gods of Tu˘ita, and he is still there now.”
Truly we should remember, although at that time the ¯‡kyamuni of
the human world spread the teaching which was the manifestation of his
extinction,42 the ¯‡kyamuni of the heavens above is still there now, teaching
the gods. Students should know that the existence of the speech, the action,
and the preaching of the ¯‡kyamuni of the human world, [though] of
thousandfold changes and myriad transformations, are [only] one cor-
ner—in the human domain—of his radiance of brightness and his
manifestation of good omens. We should not stupidly fail to recognize
that the teaching of the ¯‡kyamuni of the heavens above might also be of
thousandfold kinds and myriad aspects. The fundamental point, which
transcends severance of the great truth authentically transmitted from
buddha to buddha, and which has gotten free of being without beginning

40. 唯我独尊 (YUI-GA-DOKU-SON). In the Long ‚gama Sutra, the legendary Buddha
says these words. Here the expression suggests human arrogance.
41. The quote is attributed to Master Tendo Nyojo, but the specific source has not
been traced. Related preaching by Master Tendo appears at the end of chap. 16, Shisho.
42. Alludes to the teaching of Lotus Sutra, Nyorai-juryo (The Tath‡gata's Lifetime). See
LS 3.30: “In order to save living beings,/As an expedient method I manifest nirv‡ıa,/Yet really I
have not passed away...”
46 GYOBUTSU YUIGI

and without end,43 has been authentically transmitted only in Buddhism: it

is a virtue that other sorts neither know nor hear. At places where acting
buddha establishes the teaching there exist living beings beyond ‘the four
kinds of birth,’ and there may exist places beyond ‘the heavens above,’ ‘the
human domain,’ ‘the world of Dharma,’ and the like. When you want to
glimpse the dignified behavior of acting buddha, do not use eyes of the
heavens above or the human world and do not employ the sentimental
thinking of the heavens above or the human world. Do not aim to fathom
[dignified behavior] by such means. Even [bodhisattvas in] the ten sacred
and three clever stages neither know it nor clarify it: how much less could
the calculating intellect of the human world and the heavens above reach
it? As human consideration is short and small, so too is knowledge-based
wisdom short and small. As a lifetime is short and pressed, so too is the
intellect short and pressed—how could it fathom the dignified behavior of
acting buddha? Thus, with regard to the lineage that simply takes the hu-
man world to be the Buddha-Dharma and [the lineage] that narrowly
takes human methods to be the Buddha-Dharma, never permit that either
the former or the latter are the Buddha’s disciples. They are only ordinary
beings as the results of karma. They have never experienced the hearing of
Dharma through body-and-mind, and they have never possessed a body-
and-mind that has practiced the truth. They do not live in conformity with
Dharma. They do not die in conformity with Dharma. They do not see in
conformity with Dharma. They do not hear in conformity with Dharma.
They do not walk, stand, sit, and lie in conformity with Dharma. Groups
like this have never experienced the moistening benefit of Dharma. The
assertion that acting buddha is neither in love with original enlightenment
nor in love with initiated enlightenment, and is beyond not having enlighten-
ment and beyond having enlightenment, describes just this principle. Such
[concepts] as mindfulness and being without mindfulness,44 or having enlight-
enment and being without enlightenment, or initiated enlightenment and
original enlightenment, which are excitedly considered by the common men
of today, are solely the excited consideration of the common man; they are

43. 断絶 (DANZETSU), “severance,” and 無始無終 (MUSHI-MUSHU), “without begin-

ning, without end,” represent two views of time: as separate moments of existence and
as eternity. The truth of action transcends both views.
44. 有念 (UNEN) means “mindfulness” or “having thought” or “having intention.”
無念 (MUNEN) means “being without mindfulness” or “being without thought” or “be-
ing without intention.” The two concepts appear in Master Daikan Eno’s poem quoted in
chap. 17, Hokke-ten-hokke and chap. 21, Kankin.
 GYOBUTSU YUIGI 47

not what has been transmitted and received from buddha to buddha. The
‘mindfulness’ of the common man and the mindfulness of the buddhas are
far apart: never liken them. The common man’s excited consideration of
original enlightenment and the buddhas’ real experience of original
enlightenment are as far apart as heaven and earth: they are beyond com-
parison. Not even the vigorous consideration of [bodhisattvas in] the ten
sacred and three clever stages can arrive at the buddhas’ state of truth:
how could the common men who vainly count grains of sand fathom it?
Yet there are many who, while merely giving excited consideration to the
essentialist and trivialist45 false views of common men and non-Buddhists,
conceive [these views] to be the state of the buddhas. The buddhas have
said, “The roots of wrongdoing of these fellows are deep and heavy,”46 and “They
are beings to be pitied.” Their deep and heavy roots of wrongdoing are lim-
itless; at the same time, the deep and heavy burden is borne by these
fellows themselves. For a while they should let go of this deep and heavy
burden, and put on eyes and look! They may take hold [of their burden
again] and restrict themselves with it, but that is not the beginning of any-
thing.
[122] The present unrestricted state of the dignified behavior of acting
buddha is restricted by the state of buddha, in which state, because the
vigorous path of dragging through mud and staying in water47 has been mas-
tered, there is no restriction. In the heavens above, [the state of acting
buddha] teaches gods; in the human world, it teaches human beings. It
has the virtue of flowers opening,48 and it has the virtue of the occurrence of
the world,49 without any gap between them at all. For this reason, it is far
transcendent50 over self and others and it has independent excellence51 in go-

45. 本来 (HONMATSU) means beginning and end, substance and detail, origin and
future, essence and trivialities, and therefore—in conclusion—idealism and materialism.
In chap. 87, Kuyo-shobutsu, the viewpoint of idealism is represented as 本劫本見
(HONGO-HONKEN) or “the essentialist view of past kalpas,” as opposed to materialism
represented by 末劫末見 (MATSUKO-MAKKEN) or “the trivialist view of future kalpas.”
46. Lotus Sutra, Hoben (Expedient Means). See LS 1.86.
47. T 泥滞水 (DADEI-TAISUI), symbolizing daily struggles.
48. 華開 (KEKAI) means the appearance of phenomena.
49. 世界起 (SEKAIKI) means the existence of facts. See notes 16 and 17.
50. 迥脱 (KEIDATSU).
51. 独抜 (DOKUBATSU) or “unique outstandingness.” Master Ungo Doyo said “When
a single word is far transcendent, and unique and outstanding, then many words are not neces-
sary. And many are not useful.” See also chap. 9, Keisei-sanshiki.
48 GYOBUTSU YUIGI

ing and coming. Just here and now, it goes to Tu˘ita Heaven. Just here and
now, it comes from Tu˘ita Heaven. Just here and now, it is just Tu˘ita
Heaven52 here and now. Just here and now, it goes to Peace and Happi-
ness.53 Just here and now, it comes from Peace and Happiness. Just here
and now, it is just Peace and Happiness here and now. Just here and now,
it is far transcendent over Tu˘ita. Just here and now, it is far transcendent
over Peace and Happiness. Just here and now, it smashes Peace and Hap-
piness and Tu˘ita into hundreds of bits and pieces.54 Just here and now, it
holds onto and lets go of Peace and Happiness and Tu˘ita. It swallows
them whole in one gulp. Remember, “Peace and Happiness” and “Tu˘ita”
are akin to the Pure Land and to Paradise, in that each turns in the circuit
of mundane existence.55 When [Peace and Happiness and Tu˘ita] are ac-
tion, the Pure Land and Paradise, similarly, are action. When [the former]
are great realization, [the latter] similarly are great realization. When [the
former] are great delusion, [the latter] similarly are great delusion. This
state is, for the present, toes wiggling inside the sandals of acting buddha.
Sometimes it is the sound of a fart and the whiff of a shit. Those who have
nostrils are able to smell it. With organs of hearing, organs of body, and
organs of action, they hear it. There are also times when it gets my skin,
flesh, bones, and marrow.56 Being attained through action, it is never got
from others. When the great truth of understanding life and mastering
death has already been mastered openly, there is an old expression for it:
[namely, that] great saints leave life-and-death at the mercy of the mind,
leave life-and-death at the mercy of the body, leave life-and-death at the
mercy of the truth, and leave life-and-death at the mercy of life-and-
death.57 Although the revelation of this principle is beyond the past and
present, the dignified behavior of acting buddha is instantaneously prac-

52. Tu˘ita Heaven is the place where the Bodhisattva Maitreya is practicing the truth.
It is said to be the fourth of the six heavens in the world of desire, but here Master Dogen
describes it in the time and place of action.
53. 安楽 (ANRAKU) represents the Sanskrit Sukh‡vat„, which is the name of a heaven
supposedly established by Amit‡bha Buddha. At the same time, Master Dogen described
Zazen as 安楽法門 (ANRAKU [no] HOMON), “The Dharma-gate of peace and happiness.”
54. 百雑砕 (HYAKU-ZASSAI). The words of Master Gensa Shibi (see chap. 20, Kokyo).
The real state of acting buddha shatters the idealism of Tu˘ita Heaven and the Realm of
Peace and Happiness.
55. 輪廻 (RINE) represents the Sanskrit sa¸s‡ra. See Book 1, Glossary.
56. 得悟皮肉骨髄 (TOKU-GO-HI-NIKU-KOTSU-ZUI) alludes to the transmission be-
tween Master Bodhidharma and four disciples. See chap. 46, Katto.
57. Great saints do not worry about life-and-death.
 GYOBUTSU YUIGI 49

ticed to the full.58 The truth being a cycle, [the state of acting buddha can]
momentarily intuit and affirm the import of life-and-death and body-and-
mind. Practicing to the full and clarifying to the full are not enforced ac-
tions: they greatly resemble a head being deluded and making out shadows,
and they are totally akin to the turning of light and reflection.59 This bright-
ness, which is brightness over brightness, permeates the meridians of
acting buddha, and is utterly entrusted to the acting. [To research] this
truth of moment-by-moment utter entrustment, we must research the
mind. In the mountain-still state of such research, we discern and under-
stand that ten thousand efforts60 are [each] the mind being evident, and
the triple world is just that which is greatly removed from the mind. This
discernment and understanding, while also of the myriad real dharmas,
activate the homeland of the self. They make immediate and concrete the
vigorous state of the human being in question. Then, in shaking the sieve
two times and three times, grasping criteria within phrases and seeking
expedients outside words, there is taking hold in excess of “taking hold”
and there is letting go in excess of “letting go.” Consideration therein is as
follows: What is life and what is death? What are body and mind? What
are giving and taking away? What are leaving be and going against? Is
[this consideration] a leaving and entering through a common gate with-
out any meeting taking place? Is it a stone having been placed already,61 in
which state [even if] the body is concealed the horns are showing
through? Is it immense consideration followed by understanding? Is it
maturation of thought followed by knowing? Is it the one bright pearl? Is
it the whole treasury of the teachings? Is it a staff? Is it a face and eyes?
Does it follow after thirty years? Is it ten thousand years in one moment of
consciousness? Investigating in concrete detail, we should make investiga-
tion [itself] concrete and detailed. When investigation is done in concrete
detail, a whole eye hears sounds, and a whole ear sees forms. Further, when a

58. The philosophy of acting buddha is eternal, but its whole realization is just now.
59. 廻光遍照 (EKO-HENSHO) describes the state in Zazen: “clarification” means not
intellectual recognition but illumination by the state of brightness in Zazen. The words
廻光遍照 (EKO-HENSHO) originate in a verse by Master Sekito Kisen recorded in Sekito-
soan-no-uta (Songs from Sekito’s Thatched Hut). See also Shobogenzo, Book 1, Fukan-zazengi.
60. 万回 (BANKAI), lit. “ten thousand circuits” or “ten thousand times,” may be in-
terpreted as ten thousand Zazen sittings, or ten thousand efforts in Zazen.
61. 一箸落在 (ICHIJAKU-RAKUZAI), lit. “one move lying in place,” describes the
placement of a stone in a game of go, which is often used in Shobogenzo as a symbol of a
concrete action.
50 GYOBUTSU YUIGI

˜ramaıa's one eye62 is open and clear, this state is not [only] the real dharmas
before the eyes, and this state is not [only] the facts before the eyes. There is a
face of gentle countenance breaking [into a smile], and there is the wink-
ing of an eye: they are the fleetingness of the dignified behavior of acting
buddha. [Acting buddha] is not to be pulled by objects; it is to be beyond the
pull of objects. It is beyond being without birth and without becoming in [the
process of] dependent origination. It is beyond the original nature and the
Dharma-nature. It is beyond abiding in one’s place in the Dharma. It is beyond
the state of original existence. And it is not only the concrete affirmation of
reality as it is. It is nothing other than the acting buddha of dignified be-
havior.63 This being so, the real state of working for Dharma and working for
the body can be left at the mercy of the mind; and the dignified behavior
which gets rid of ‘life’ and gets rid of ‘death’ is utterly entrusted, for the
present, to buddha. Therefore we have the expressions “The myriad
dharmas are only the mind” and “The triple-world is only the mind.”64 When
we express the truth in a further ascendant state, there is an expression of
the truth by only the mind [itself]: namely, “fences, walls, tiles, and pebbles.”65
It is because [mind] is not only the mind that [fences, wall, tiles, and peb-
bles] are not fences, wall, tiles, and pebbles. Such are the truths of
entrustment to the mind and entrustment to the Dharma and of working for the
Dharma and working for the body, which are the dignified behavior of acting
buddha. It is beyond the orbit of initiated enlightenment, original enlighten-
ment, and so on: how much less could it be in the orbit of non-Buddhists,
the two vehicles, and [bodhisattvas in] the three clever and ten sacred
stages? This dignified behavior is simply the not understanding of every
individual and is not understanding in every instance.66 Even the state of
vigorous activity67 is also a situation as it is moment by moment. Is it the

62. 沙門一隻眼 (SHAMON-ISSEKI-GEN), words of Master Chosa Keishin. See chap. 60,
Juppo.
63. 威儀行仏 (YUIGI-GYOBUTSU). See note 37.
64. 三界唯心 (SANGAI-YUISHIN) is the title of chap. 47.
65. 牆壁瓦礫 (SHO-HEKI-GA-RYAKU), an expression of the truth by Master Nanyo
Echu. See chap. 44, Kobusshin.
66. 不会 (FUE) means “not understanding” or “transcendence of [intellectual] under-
standing.” Master Daikan Eno said, “I do not understand the Buddha Dharma.” (我不会
仏法). See Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 59. See also Shobogenzo, chap. 17, Hokke-ten-hokke.
67. 活 UU 地 (KATSU-HATSU-HATSU-CHI). This expression appears in several chap-
ters of Shobogenzo. See, for example, the opening paragraph of chap. 72, Zanmai-o-
zanmai.
 GYOBUTSU YUIGI 51

single track of iron,68 or is it two parts moving?69 The single track of iron is
beyond long and short, and the two parts moving are beyond self and
others. When we realize the effort which is the energy of this [real state of]
making things progress and throwing ourselves into the moment,70 then dignity
covers the myriad dharmas, and the Eye is as high as the whole of civilization.
There is brightness that does not interfere with reining in and letting go:71
it is the Monks’ Hall, the Buddha Hall, the Kitchen, and the Three Gates.72 There
is brightness that is utterly beyond letting go and reining in: it is the
Monks’ Hall, the Buddha Hall, the Kitchen, and the Three Gates. Further,
there are eyes that permeate the ten directions, and there are eyes that to-
tally take in the Earth; there is the moment before the mind and there is
the moment after the mind. Because such brightness and virtue, in eyes,
ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind, is burning, there are the buddhas of the
three times, who have maintained and relied upon the state of being not
known; and there are cats and white oxen, which have thrown themselves
into the moment of being known to exist.73 [When] this ring in the nose is
present and this eye is present, the Dharma preaches acting buddha, and
the Dharma sanctions acting buddha.

[131] Great Master Shinkaku of Seppo-zan mountain 74 preaches to the

assembly: “The buddhas of the three times are inside the flame of the fire,75 turn-
ing the great wheel of Dharma.”

68. 一条鉄 (ICHI-JOTETSU) stands for 万里一条鉄 (BANRI-ICHIJO-TETSU), “a ten-

thousand-mile iron track,” a symbol of unification. The expression appears earlier in this
chapter, in para. [101], and, for example, in chap. 29, Inmo, para. [99].
69. 両頭動 (RYO-TO-DO) alludes to the story quoted at the end of chap. 22, Bussho.
70. Master Tozan Shusho said; “In words there is no development of things,/In talk we do
not throw ourselves into the moment./Those who listen to words miss out,/Those who stick in
phrases get lost.”
71. 収放 (SHUHO) means reining in and letting go, or contracting and relaxing, or
tightening and releasing. “Reining in and letting go” suggests self-control, passive and
active.
72. Master Unmon’s words, quoted in Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 81. See also Sho-
bogenzo, chap. 36, Komyo, para. [134].
73. Master Nansen Fugan preached, “As to the existence of the buddhas of the three times,
I do not know their existence. As to cats and white oxen, I know they exist.” See Hekigan-roku no.
61, and Shoyoroku no. 69.
74. Master Seppo Gison (822–907), successor of Master Tokuzan Senkan.
75. Master Seppo was likely referring to a charcoal burner present at that time.
52 GYOBUTSU YUIGI

Great Master Shu-itsu of Gensa-in temple76 says: “The flame is preaching

Dharma for the buddhas of the three times, and the buddhas of the three times are
standing on the ground to listen.”
Zen Master Engo77 says:
[Seppo] deserves to be called the White Baron,78
[But] also present is the Black Baroness.79
Reciprocally they throw themselves into the moment:
Gods appear and demons vanish.80
Blazing flame covers the cosmos:81 buddha preaches Dharma.
The cosmos is in blazing flame: Dharma preaches buddha.
Ahead of the wind, nests of arrowroot and wisteria82 have been cut away.
With one word, Vimalak„rti83 has been tested and defeated.84

The present “buddhas of the three times” means all the buddhas. Acting
buddha is just the buddhas of the three times85 themselves. Among the

76. Master Gensa Shibi (835–907), successor of Master Seppo.

77. Master Engo Kokugon (1063–1135). Master Engo was in the lineage of Master
Rinzai. He compiled Hekigan-roku (The Blue Cliff Record), based on an earlier collection of
poems and commentaries by Master Seccho Juken.
78. 候白 (KOHAKU), an excellent thief in Chinese legends.
79. 候黒 (KOKOKU), an even more accomplished thief in Chinese legends. The story
goes that she stole the shirt off Kohaku’s back. Master Engo is praising both Master
Seppo and Master Gensa.
80. 神出鬼没 (SHINSHUTSU-KIBOTSU), “gods appear, demons vanish,” describes un-
expectedness and elusiveness. The Kenkyusha dictionary gives the sample phrase 神出鬼
没の怪盗 (SHINSHUTSU-KIBOTSU no KAITO), “a phantom thief who appears in an unex-
pected place at an unexpected moment and leaves no trace behind.”
81. 烈焔亙天 (RETSU-EN GOTEN). In the next line, Master Engo simply reverses the
two compounds thus: 亙天烈焔 (GOTEN RETSU-EN). 亙天 (GOTEN, or TEN [o] wata[ru]) in
the former line means “to extend throughout the sky/heavens/cosmos,” and in the latter
line means “that which extends throughout the sky/heavens/cosmos,” i.e., the cosmos
itself.
82. 葛藤 (KATTO), “arrowroot and wisteria,” or “the complicated,” is the title of chap.
46, Katto.
83. Vimalak„rti was a layman of the Buddha’s time who was very skilled in discus-
sion of Buddhist philosophy.
84. Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 3, no. 88.
85. 三世諸仏 (SANZE-SHOBUTSU). 三世 (SANZE), the three times (past, present, and
future), means eternity. 諸 (SHO) expresses plurality, and so 諸仏 (SHOBUTSU) means
buddhas as individuals at concrete times and places, as opposed to simply 仏 (BUTSU,
hotoke) which means buddha as the state of wisdom, action, or truth.
 GYOBUTSU YUIGI 53

buddhas of the ten directions, there is none who is not of the three times.
When the Buddha’s truth preaches the three times, it preaches them wholly,
like this. Now, when we research acting buddha, it is just the buddhas of the
three times themselves. Whether its existence is known or whether its exis-
tence is not known,86 it is always acting buddha as the buddhas of the three
times. Even so, the three olden buddhas,87 while expressing the truth of the
buddhas of the three times88 in like fashion, have the [individual] expressions
described above. For instance, Seppo says, “The buddhas of the three times
are inside the flame, turning the great wheel of Dharma,” and we should learn
this truth. Every place of practicing truth89 in which the buddhas of the
three times turn the wheel of Dharma might be the inside of flame.90 And
every inside of flame might be a buddha’s place of practicing truth. Teach-
ers of sutras and teachers of commentaries cannot hear [this], and non-
Buddhists and the two vehicles cannot know it. Remember, the flame of
buddhas can never be the flame of other sorts. Indeed, we should reflect
upon whether or not other sorts have flame at all. We should learn the
teaching conventions [employed by] the buddhas of the three times while
they are inside flame. When they are located inside flame, are flame and the
buddhas cemented together? Are they drifting apart? Are object and sub-
ject oneness? Do object and subject exist? Are object and subject the same
situation? Are object and subject equally far removed? Turning the great
wheel of Dharma may include turning the self and turning the moment.91 It is
making things progress and throwing oneself into the moment.92 It may include

86. Alludes to Master Nansen Fugan’s words. See note 73.

87. Master Seppo, Master Gensa, and Master Engo. The rest of the present paragraph
is a commentary on Master Seppo’s words. The following two paragraphs are commen-
taries on the words of Master Gensa and Master Engo respectively.
88. 三世諸仏 (SANZE-SHOBUTSU) may be seen as an expression of the truth in it-
self—as an expression of the oneness of concrete individual buddhas and inclusive
eternity.
89. 道場 (DOJO), lit. “truth-place” or “way-place,” represents the Sanskrit bodhi-
maıÛa, or “seat of bodhi.” See Book 1, Glossary.
90. 火焔裏 (KA-EN-RI). 火焔 (KA-EN), “flame,” represents the vigorous state. 裏 (RI),
“inside,” describes a concrete place. “The inside of flame” means a concrete place in the
vivid state of reality.
91. 転 (TEN) means to turn or to change. At the same time, it means to unroll a sutra
and, by extension, to participate in the unfolding of the Universe. See chap. 17, Hokke-ten-
hokke. The phrase 転機 (TENKI), “changing of the moment,” appears in Book 1, Fukan-
zazengi.
92. Alludes to the words of Master Tozan Shusho. See note 70.
 54 GYOBUTSU YUIGI

turning the Dharma and the Dharma turning.93 The “turning the wheel of
Dharma” which [Seppo] has already expressed—even if the whole Earth is
totally in flame—may include turning the wheel of Dharma which is the
wheel of fire,94 may include turning the wheel of Dharma which is the buddhas,
may include turning the wheel of Dharma which is the wheel of Dharma, and
may include turning the wheel of Dharma which is the three times. In sum,
flame is the great place of practice in which the buddhas turn the great wheel
of Dharma. To fathom this state by spatial thinking, temporal thinking,
human thinking, the thinking of the common and the sacred, and so on,
does not hit the target. Because [this state] is not fathomed by such think-
ing, it is just the buddhas of the three times being inside flame and turning the
great wheel of Dharma. “The buddhas of the three times” which [Seppo] has
already expressed, have gone beyond thinking. Because the buddhas of the
three times are places of practice for the turning of the Dharma wheel, flame
exists. Because flame exists, the buddhas’ places of practice exist.
[135] Gensa says, “The flame is preaching Dharma for the buddhas of the three
times, and the buddhas of the three times are standing on the ground to listen to
the Dharma.” Hearing these words, [some might] say that Gensa’s words
are a fitter expression of the truth than Seppo’s words; it is not necessarily
so. Remember, the words of Seppo and the words of Gensa are separate:
that is to say, Seppo is speaking of the concrete place where the buddhas
of the three times are turning the great wheel of Dharma, and Gensa is speak-
ing of the buddhas of the three times listening to the Dharma. Whereas
Seppo’s words express the very turning of the Dharma95 itself, the existence
at a concrete place of turning of the Dharma does not necessarily call into
discussion listening to the Dharma or not listening to the Dharma. Thus, we

93. 転法, 法転 (TENBO, HOTEN) alludes to the terms 転法華 (TEN-HOKKE), “we turn
the Flower of Dharma,” and 法華転 (HOKKE-TEN), “the Flower of Dharma turns,” in
Master Daikan Eno’s famous verse. See chap. 17, Hokke-ten-hokke, and chap. 21, Kankin.
94. 火輪 (KARIN), “the wheel of fire,” in ancient Indian cosmology, is one of the five
wheels or rings (in Sanskrit panca-maıÛalaka) of earth, water, fire, wind, and space, which
make up the material world. The four parts of this sentence follow four phases: the wheel
of fire is material, the buddhas are Buddhist, the wheel of Dharma is real, and the three
times are Existence-Time itself.
95. 転法 (TENBO), “turning the Dharma,” suggests 転法華 (TEN-HOKKE), “turning
the Flower of Dharma” and 転法輪 (TENBORIN), “turning the wheel of Dharma.” These
terms mean, respectively, to read the Lotus Sutra and to preach Buddhist preaching; at
the same time both terms represent the action of the Universe itself. See chap. 17, Hokke-
ten-hokke, and chap. 74, Tenborin.
 GYOBUTSU YUIGI 55

cannot hear [Seppo say] that in turning of the Dharma there must always be
listening to the Dharma. Further, there may be import in [Seppo] not saying
that the buddhas of the three times are preaching Dharma for the flame,
not saying that the buddhas of the three times are turning the great wheel
of Dharma for the buddhas of the three times, and not saying that the
flame is turning the great wheel of Dharma for the flame.96 Is there any
difference between saying “turning the Dharma-wheel” 97 and saying
“turning the great wheel of Dharma”? Turning the wheel of Dharma is beyond
preaching Dharma. Must preaching Dharma necessarily be done for others?98
Thus, Seppo’s words are not words that fail to express fully the words that
he meant to express. We must learn in practice, and always in complete
detail, Seppo’s [words] existing inside the flame, turning the great wheel of
Dharma. Do not confuse them with Gensa’s words. To penetrate Seppo’s
words is to dignify and to behave with the dignified behavior of buddha.
The flame’s accommodation of the buddhas of the three times is beyond only
the permeation of one limitless Dharma-world or two limitless Dharma-
worlds, and it is beyond only the penetration of one atom or two atoms.
For a measure of the turning of the great wheel of Dharma, do not look to
measures of the large, small, wide, and narrow. The turning of the great
wheel of Dharma is not for self or for others, and is not for preaching or for
listening. Gensa’s expression is: “The flame is preaching Dharma for the
buddhas of the three times, and the buddhas of the three times are standing on the
ground to listen.” This, although [it says that the flame] is preaching Dharma
for the buddhas of the three times, never says that [the flame] is turning the
wheel of Dharma. Neither does it say that the buddhas of the three times are
turning the wheel of Dharma. The buddhas of the three times are standing
on the ground to listen, but how could [Gensa’s] flame turn the buddhas
of the three times’ wheel of Dharma?99 Does the flame which is preaching
Dharma for the buddhas of the three times, also turn the great wheel of Dharma,
or does it not? Gensa never says, “Turning of the wheel of Dharma is this
moment!” Neither does he deny the existence of turning of the wheel of

96. Master Gensa’s expression includes the word 為 (I, [no] tame [ni]), which means
“for” or “for the sake of.” Master Seppo’s expression is more direct, without recognition
of a purpose.
97. 転法輪 (TENBORIN), “turning the Dharma-wheel,” is the conventional term. See
chap. 74, Tenborin.
98. For example, preaching Dharma is sometimes done for fame and gain.
99. Master Gensa said that the flame was preaching Dharma, i.e., representing real-
ity. Master Dogen’s objection is that to turn the wheel of Dharma is to realize reality itself.
56 GYOBUTSU YUIGI

Dharma, but I wonder whether Gensa has stupidly understood turning the
wheel of Dharma to mean preaching about the wheel of Dharma. If so, he is
blind to Seppo’s words. He has recognized that when the flame is preach-
ing Dharma for the buddhas of the three times, the buddhas of the three times
are standing on the ground and listening to the Dharma, but he does not
know that where the flame is turning the wheel of Dharma, there the flame is
standing on the ground and listening to the Dharma. He fails to say that
where the flame is turning the wheel of Dharma, the flame simultaneously is
turning the wheel of Dharma. The buddhas of the three times’ listening to
the Dharma is the Dharma-state of the buddhas: it is not influenced by oth-
ers. Do not see the flame as ‘Dharma,’ do not see the flame as ‘Buddha,’ and
do not see the flame as ‘flame.’ Truly, we should not disregard the words of
master or disciple. How could it be [sufficient] only to have expressed that a
red-beard is a foreigner? It is also the fact that a foreigner’s beard is red.100 Al-
though Gensa’s words are like this,101 present in them is something which
we should esteem as the power of learning in practice. That is to say, we
should learn in practice the essence and forms that have been authenti-
cally transmitted by the buddhas and the patriarchs, and which are not
connected with essence and forms in the limited Mah‡y‡na and H„nay‡na
thinking of sutra-teachers and commentary-teachers. What [Gensa] de-
scribes is the buddhas of the three times’ listening to the Dharma, which is
beyond the essence and forms of Mah‡y‡na and H„nay‡na [Buddhists].
They know only that buddhas have—when it is accommodated by oppor-
tunities and circumstances—the preaching of Dharma; they do not know
that the buddhas are listening to the Dharma. They do not assert that the
buddhas are training, and they do not assert that the buddhas are realiz-
ing the state of buddha. Now in Gensa’s expression, he has already
asserted that the buddhas of the three times are standing on the ground and lis-
tening to the Dharma, and this contains the essence and the form of the
buddhas’ listening to the Dharma. Do not see being able to preach as neces-
sarily superior, and do not say that those who are able to listen to this

100. In the story of Master Hyakujo and the wild fox (see chap. 76, Dai-shugyo, chap.
89, Shinjin-inga, and Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 2, no. 2), Obaku steps up and gives Master
Hyakujo a slap. The Master laughs and says, “You have just expressed that a foreigner’s
beard is red, but it is also a fact that a red-beard is a foreigner.” Here Master Dogen reverses
the order to suggest that we need not only the interpretative or deductive viewpoint (of
Master Gensa) but also the direct observation (of Master Seppo).
101. “Like this” means limited to the deductive viewpoint (a red-beard is a foreigner).
 GYOBUTSU YUIGI 57

Dharma102 are inferior. If those who preach are venerable, those who listen
also are venerable. ¯‡kyamuni Buddha said:
If they preach this Sutra,
At once they will see me103
[But] to preach it to [even] a single person:
That indeed will be hard.104

So to be able to preach the Dharma is to meet ¯‡kyamuni Buddha—for the

me who at once they will meet is ¯‡kyamuni Buddha. He also said:
After my extinction,
To listen to and to accept this Sutra,
And to inquire into its meaning:
That indeed will be hard.105

Remember, listening and acceptance also, equally, are hard: there is no

superiority or inferiority. Even though [those who are] standing on the
ground to listen are the buddhas, the supremely venerable, they should be
standing on the ground to listen to the Dharma. [Those who are] standing on
the ground to listen to the Dharma are the buddhas of the three times, and so
those buddhas are in the realized state; we do not talk of listening to the
Dharma as a causal process. They are already the buddhas of the three
times, and so we should remember that the buddhas of the three times,
standing on the ground to listen to the flame preach Dharma, are buddhas.
[Although] we cannot trace the whole truth of the teaching and the con-
ventions, when we endeavor to trace them, the state is arrow tips having
collided.106 Flame invariably preaches the Dharma for the buddhas of the
three times and, in the state of red mind moment by moment, flowers

102. Untraced quotation from a sutra.

103. Lotus Sutra, Ken-ho-to (Seeing the Precious Stupa). See LS 2.194.
104. Ibid. LS 2.198.
105. Ibid. LS 2.198.
106. 箭鋒相 C (SENPO-SOSHU), or “arrow-tips couple.” This figure of speech is used
in Master Sekito Kisen’s verse, Sandokai. It alludes to an old Chinese story about two
archers, Kishu and his teacher Hitei. In the whole of China there was no-one to rival
Kishu except for his own teacher. Eventually the two entered into a duel, but their ar-
rows met and fell to the ground. Hence, 箭鋒相 C (SENPO-SOSHU) suggests complete
mastery of some practical skill, so that the disciple’s experience perfectly matches that of
the master. Master Dogen affirmed that, although the intellect cannot grasp the truth, the
whole truth can be transmitted in practice or experience.
 58 GYOBUTSU YUIGI

bloom on iron trees and the world is fragrant. In brief, while flame re-
mains standing on the ground to listen to the preaching of Dharma,
ultimately what is realized? The answer may be wisdom surpassing the
master or wisdom equaling the master. Further, by researching deep be-
yond the threshold of master and disciple, 107 [flame] 108 becomes the
buddhas of the three times.
[142] Engo says that [Seppo’s] deserving to be called the White Baron does
not prevent the Black Baroness from also [being present], and that their
reciprocal throwing themselves into the moment is gods appearing and demons
vanishing. Now, although [Seppo can] manifest himself in the same situa-
tion as Gensa, there may be in Gensa a way in which he does not enter the
same situation [as Seppo]. At the same time, is flame the buddhas? Are
buddhas flame?109 The mind of reciprocation between black and white ap-
pears and vanishes in the gods and demons of Gensa, but the sounds and
forms of Seppo never remain in the area of black and white.110 And, while
this is so, we should recognize that in Gensa there is fitness of verbal ex-
pression and there is unfitness of verbal expression, whereas in Seppo
there is taking up with verbal expression and there is leaving be with ver-
bal expression. Now Engo, in addition, has an expression which is not the
same as Gensa and not the same as Seppo: namely, that blazing flame cover-
ing the cosmos is buddha preaching Dharma, and that the cosmos in blazing
flame is Dharma preaching buddha. This expression really is brightness to
students of later ages. Even if we are blind to blazing flame, because we are
covered by the cosmos, I have that condition and the other has this condi-
tion. Places covered by the cosmos are already blazing flame. What is the use

107. Although Master Seppo transmitted the Dharma to Master Gensa as master to
disciple, they established a temple together (see chap. 30, Gyoji), and the many conversa-
tions between them recorded in Shobogenzo show transcendence of usual formalities
between master and disciple.
108. Grammatically, the subject is still flame. In context, flame means those, such as
Master Seppo and Master Gensa, who are in the sincere and vigorous state.
109. Master Gensa’s expression separates the state of flame (which preaches) and
buddhas (who listen). In that sense, it is open to criticism. At the same time, Master
Dogen recommended us to consider the nature of the relation between the state of flame
and buddhas.
110. White and black refer to Kohaku (the White Baron) and Kokoku (the Black Bar-
oness). At the same time, in the context of the previous question, black may be
interpreted as representing flame and white as representing buddhas. In Master Gensa’s
mind there was reciprocation between the two factors, but in Master Seppo’s mind there
was no discrimination between the two.
 GYOBUTSU YUIGI 59

of hating this and relying on that?111 We should be glad that this skin-
bag—although its place of birth is distantly removed from the sacred quarter
and the present in which it is living is distantly removed from the sacred
time112—has still been able to hear the guiding teaching of the cosmos. That
“buddha preaches Dharma” we had heard, but with regard to the fact that
Dharma preaches buddha, how deeply enmeshed were we in ignorance?
In summary, the buddhas of the three times are preached in the three
times by the Dharma, and the Dharma of the three times is preached in the
three times by buddha. There solely exists the cosmos, which, ahead of the
wind, cuts away nests of arrowroot and wisteria. A single word has con-
spicuously tested and defeated Vimalak„rti and others besides Vimalak„rti
too. In sum, Dharma preaches buddha, Dharma practices buddha, and
Dharma experiences buddha; buddha preaches Dharma, buddha practices
buddha, and buddha becomes buddha. States like this are all the dignified
behavior of acting buddha. Over the cosmos and over the Earth, over the
past and over the present, those who have attained it do not trivialize it, and
those who have clarified it do not debase it.

Shobogenzo Gyobutsu-yuigi

Written at Kannon-dori-kosho-
horin-ji temple in the last ten
days of the 10th lunar month in
the 2nd year of Ninji.113

¯ramaıa Dogen

111. 那頭 (NATO), “that,” or “distant objects,” means abstract matters as opposed to

what concretely exists here and now. See also notes 20, 23, and 28.
112. “The sacred quarter” and “the sacred time” mean the land and the lifetime of
Gautama Buddha.
113. 1241.
 [24]
仏教

BUKKYO
The Buddha’s Teaching
Butsu means Buddha or Buddhist, and kyo means teaching or teachings.
Bukkyo is usually translated as Buddhism, but in this chapter Master
Dogen emphasized the importance of the theoretical side of Buddhism. For
this reason it is better here to translate bukkyo as “Buddha’s teaching” in
order to distinguish between the peculiar usage of the word in this chapter
and the usual usage. Some Buddhist sects, wanting to emphasize the value of
practice in Buddhism, insist on the importance of a transmission which is be-
yond and separate from theoretical teachings. They say we need not rely on
any verbal explanation of Buddhism. But Master Dogen saw that this theory
itself was mistaken. Of course, practice is very important in Buddhism, but
Master Dogen considered that both practice and theory are important. If we
deny the importance of the theoretical side of Buddhism, we lose the method
to transmit Buddhism to others. In this chapter Master Dogen explained the
role of Buddhist theory and insisted that we should not forget the importance
of theoretical Buddhist teachings.

[147] The realization of the truth of the buddhas is the Buddha’s

teaching. Because Buddhist patriarchs perform it for the benefit of Bud-
dhist patriarchs, the teaching authentically transmits it for the benefit of
the teaching. This is turning of the wheel of Dharma. Inside the Eye of this
wheel of Dharma, [the teaching] causes Buddhist patriarchs to be realized
and causes Buddhist patriarchs to enter pari-nirv‡ıa. Those Buddhist pa-
triarchs, without fail, possess manifestation in a single atom and possess
nirv‡ıa in a single atom; they possess manifestation through the whole
Universe and possess nirv‡ıa through the whole Universe; they possess
manifestation in a single instant and possess manifestation through the
ocean of abundant kalpas. Yet their manifestation in one atom at one in-
stant is utterly without incomplete virtue; and their manifestation through

61
 62 BUKKYO

the whole Universe through the ocean of abundant kalpas is never an ef-
fort to make up a deficiency. For this reason, we never say that buddhas
who realize the truth in the morning, and then pass into nirv‡ıa1 in the
evening, are lacking in virtue. If we say that one day is of meager virtue,
then the human span of eighty years is not long; and when we compare
the human span of eighty years with ten kalpas or twenty kalpas, it may
be like the relation between one day and eighty years. The virtue of this
buddha and of that buddha2 may be indistinguishable: when we take the
virtue which belongs to a lifetime of long kalpas and the virtue in eighty
years, and try to compare them, we might be unable to arrive at even
doubt. For this reason, the Buddha’s teaching is just teaching a buddha.3 It is
the perfectly realized virtue of a Buddhist patriarch. It is not true that the
buddhas are high and wide while the Dharma-teaching is narrow and
small. Remember, when buddha is big the teaching is big, and when buddha
is small the teaching is small. So remember, buddha and the teaching are be-
yond measures of big and small; they are beyond such properties as good,
bad, and indifferent; and they are not for self-teaching or for the teaching of
others.
[150] Some fellow has said, “Old Man ¯‡kyamuni, besides expounding the
teaching and the sutras throughout his life, also authentically transmitted to
Mah‡k‡˜yapa the Dharma of the one mind which is the supreme vehicle, and this
transmission has passed from rightful successor to rightful successor. So the
teaching is opportunistic idle discussion, but the mind is the essential true reality.
This authentically transmitted one mind is called ‘the separate transmission out-
side the teachings.’4 It is not to be likened to discussion of the three vehicles and
the twelve divisions of the teaching. Because the one mind is the supreme vehicle,
we speak of ‘direct pointing into the human heart’ and ‘seeing the nature and
becoming buddha.’” This expression is never about the everyday conduct of
the Buddha-Dharma: it lacks the vigorous road of getting the body free,

1. “To pass into nirv‡ıa,” in this case, means to die.

2. 此仏彼仏 (SHIBUTSU-HIBUTSU), “this buddha and that buddha,” may be inter-
preted as concrete buddha in the present and eternal buddha.
3 . 仏 教 (BUKKYO), “Buddha-teaching,” is just 教 仏 (KYOBUTSU), “teaching-
Buddha.” The eternal teaching of the Buddha, and the concrete fact of a Buddhist being
taught in the present, are one.
4. 教外別伝 (KYOGE-BETSUDEN) is the first line of a four-line poem attributed to
Master Bodhidharma. The other three lines are: 不立文字 (FURYU-MONJI), non-
dependence on writings; 直指人心 (JIKISHI NINSHIN), direct pointing to the human
heart; and 見性成仏 (KENSHO-JOBUTSU), seeing one’s nature and becoming buddha.
 BUKKYO 63

and it has no dignified behavior throughout the body. Fellows like this,
even hundreds or thousands of years ago, were proclaiming themselves to
be leading authorities; but we should know that, if they had such talk as
this, they neither clarified nor penetrated the Buddha’s Dharma and the
Buddha’s truth. Why not? Because of not knowing buddha, not knowing
the teaching, not knowing the mind, not knowing inside, and not knowing
outside. This not knowing is due to never having heard the Buddha-
Dharma. Now they talk of “the buddhas” without knowing what their
substance and details are and without ever studying even the borders of
[the buddhas’] going and coming; that being so, they do not deserve to be
called the Buddha’s disciples. The reason they say that [buddhas] authen-
tically transmit only the one mind, without authentically transmitting the
Buddha’s teaching, is that they do not know the Buddha-Dharma. Not
knowing the one mind as the Buddha’s teaching and not hearing the Bud-
dha’s teaching as the one mind, they say that there is the Buddha’s
teaching outside of the one mind. Their “one mind” never having become
the one mind, they say that there is a “one mind” outside of the Buddha’s
teachings. It may be that their “Buddha’s teachings” have never become
the Buddha’s teaching. Although they have transmitted and received the
fallacy of “a separate transmission outside the teachings,” because they have
never known inside and outside, the logic of their words is not consistent.
How could the Buddhist patriarchs who receive the one-to-one transmis-
sion of the Buddha’s right-Dharma-eye treasury fail to receive the one-to-
one transmission of the Buddha’s teaching? Still more, why would Old
Man ¯‡kyamuni have instituted teachings and methods that could have
no place in the everyday conduct of Buddhists? Old Man ¯‡kyamuni in-
tended, already, to create teachings and methods to be transmitted one-to-
one: what Buddhist patriarch would wish to destroy them? Therefore, the
meaning of “the one mind which is the supreme vehicle,” is just the three vehi-
cles and the twelve divisions of the teaching, and is just the Mah‡y‡na
treasury and the H„nay‡na treasury.5 Remember, because “the Buddha’s
mind” means the Buddha’s Eye, a broken wooden dipper, all dharmas,
and the triple world, therefore it is the mountains, the oceans, and na-
tional lands, the sun, the moon, and the stars. “The Buddha’s teaching”
means myriad phenomena and accumulated things. The meaning of “out-

5. 大蔵小蔵 (DAIZO-SHOZO), lit. “great treasury and small treasury,” means the
treasuries of sutras, vinaya, and abhidharma retained in the great vehicle (Mah‡y‡na
Buddhism) and the small vehicle (H„nay‡na Buddhism).
 64 BUKKYO

side” is this concrete place, this concrete place having arrived.6 The authen-
tic transmission is authentically transmitted from a self to a self, and so
within the authentic transmission there is self. [The authentic transmis-
sion] is authentically transmitted from the one mind to the one mind, and
so in the authentic transmission there must be the one mind. The one
mind which is the supreme vehicle is soil, stones, sand, and pebbles. Be-
cause soil, stones, sand, and pebbles are the one mind, soil, stones, sand,
and pebbles are soil, stones, sand, and pebbles. If we speak of the authen-
tic transmission of the one mind which is the supreme vehicle, it should be
like this. But the fellows who speak of “a separate transmission outside the
teachings” have never known this meaning. Therefore, do not, through
belief in the fallacy of “a separate transmission outside the teachings,” misun-
derstand the Buddha’s teaching. If it were as those [fellows] say, might it
be possible to speak of the teaching as “a separate transmission outside the
mind”? If we spoke of “a separate transmission outside the mind,” not a single
phrase nor half a verse could be transmitted. If we do not speak of “a sepa-
rate transmission outside the mind,” we should never speak of “a separate
transmission outside the teachings.”
[155] Mah‡k‡˜yapa, as already the rightful successor of ¯‡kyamuni, is
owner of the teaching of the Dharma-treasury; and, having received the
authentic transmission of the right-Dharma-eye treasury, he is the keeper
of the Buddha’s state of truth. To say, on the contrary, that he need not
have received the authentic transmission of the Buddha’s teaching, may
be one-sided and limited learning of the truth. Remember, when one
phrase is authentically transmitted, the authentic transmission of the
whole Dharma takes place. When one phrase is authentically transmitted,
there is the transmission of mountains and the transmission of waters, and
it is impossible to depart from the transmission at this concrete place. 7
¯‡kyamuni‘s right-Dharma-eye treasury and supreme state of bodhi were
authentically transmitted only to Mah‡k‡˜yapa; they were not authenti-
cally transmitted to other disciples. The authentic transmission is,
inevitably, Mah‡k‡˜yapa. For this reason, in the past and present, every
individual who learns the true reality of the Buddha-Dharma, when de-
ciding upon teaching and learning which have come from the past,

6. 外 (GE), “outside,” as a description of concrete reality, describes what is already

present outside of the intellectual sphere.
7. These words are in the form of a quotation from a Chinese text, but the source has
not been traced.
 BUKKYO 65

inevitably investigates them under the Buddhist patriarchs; we do not

seek the decision under anyone else. Unless we have obtained the right
decision of the Buddhist patriarchs, [our decision] is not yet the right deci-
sion. If we hope to determine whether the teachings that we rely upon are
right or not, we should determine it under the Buddhist patriarchs. The
reason is that the original owners of the whole wheel of Dharma are the
Buddhist patriarchs. Only the Buddhist patriarchs, having clarified and
authentically transmitted the expression existence, the expression nonexis-
tence, the expression emptiness, and the expression matter, are past buddha
and present buddha.8
[157] Haryo,9 on one occasion, is asked by a monk, “The Patriarch’s intention
and the intention of the teachings: are they the same or are they different?” The
Master says, “Hens when cold perch in trees. Ducks when cold enter the wa-
ter.”10
Learning these words in practice, we should meet with the ancestral
patriarchs of Buddhism and we should see and hear the teachings and
methods of Buddhism. The present asking about the Patriarch’s intention
and the intention of the teachings, is asking whether the Patriarch’s inten-
tion and the Patriarch’s intention are the same or different. The present
assertion that “Hens when cold perch in trees; ducks when cold enter the water,”
expresses sameness and difference, but not the sameness and difference
which is at the mercy of the perceptions of people who hold views on
sameness and difference. Thus, because [Haryo] is beyond discussion of
sameness and difference, he might be saying “It is the same difference.”
Therefore, he seems to be saying, “Do not ask about sameness and differ-
ence.”
[158] Gensa,11 on one occasion, is asked by a monk, “The three vehicles and
the twelve divisions of the teaching being unnecessary, just what is the ancestral
Master’s intention in coming from the west?” The Master says, “The three ve-
hicles and the twelve divisions of the teaching completely being unnecessary.”
The monk’s question here, “The three vehicles and the twelve divisions of
the teaching being unnecessary, just what is the ancestral Master’s intention in

8. 古仏今仏 (KOBUTSU-KONBUTSU), “past buddha and present buddha,” means

buddhas throughout time; eternal buddhas.
9. Master Haryo Kokan, a successor of Master Unmon Bun-en.
10. Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 22.
11. Master Gensa Shibi (835–907), successor of Master Seppo Gison.
66 BUKKYO

coming from the west?” as commonly understood, says that the three vehicles
and the twelve divisions of the teaching are individual branches of a forked
road, and asks whether the ancestral Master’s intention in coming from the
west might exist elsewhere. [The common understanding] does not recog-
nize that the three vehicles and the twelve divisions of the teaching are the
ancestral Master’s intention in coming from the west itself.12 How much less
could it know that the aggregate of eighty-four thousand Dharma-gates is
just the ancestral Master’s intention in coming from the west? Let us now in-
vestigate why the three vehicles and the twelve divisions of the teaching are
unnecessary. When, if ever, they are necessary, what kind of criteria do they
contain? Where the three vehicles and the twelve divisions of the teaching are
unnecessary, is learning in practice of the ancestral Master’s intention in com-
ing from the west realized? The appearance of this [monk’s] question might
not be for nothing. Gensa says, “The three vehicles and the twelve divisions of
the teaching completely being unnecessary.” This expression is the wheel of
Dharma. We should investigate the fact that where this wheel of Dharma
turns, the Buddha’s teaching exists as the Buddha’s teaching. The point is
that the three vehicles and the twelve divisions of the teaching are the wheel of
Dharma of the Buddhist patriarchs.13 It turns at times and places in which
there are Buddhist patriarchs,14 and it turns at times and places in which
there are no Buddhist patriarchs.15 It turns the same before a patriarch and
after a patriarch. Further, it has the virtue of turning a Buddhist patriarch.
Just at the moment of the ancestral Master’s intention in coming from the
west,16 this wheel of Dharma is completely beyond necessity.17 That it is com-
pletely unnecessary means neither that we do not use it nor that it is worn
out: it is simply that this wheel of Dharma at this time is turning the wheel
of complete non-necessity. We do not deny the existence of the three vehicles
and the twelve divisions of the teaching; we should glimpse the moment of
their complete non-necessity. Because they are complete non-necessity, they

12. 祖師西来意 (SOSHI-SAIRAI [no] I) is the title of chap. 67. In that chapter, Master
Dogen asserts that the ancestral Master’s intention in coming from the west is just reality
itself.
13. The three vehicles and twelve divisions of the teaching are the Buddhist teaching
itself, which is reality itself.
14. For example, at a lecture in a Buddhist temple.
15. For example, at a solitary place in the mountains.
16. Just at the moment of reality.
17. 総不要 (SO-FUYO) means “completely unnecessary” or “to be completely beyond
necessity” or “complete non-necessity.” Master Dogen interpreted Master Gensa’s words
as an expression of reality itself, in which there is nothing to worry about.
 BUKKYO 67

are the three vehicles and twelve divisions of the teaching. Because they are the
three vehicles and twelve divisions of the teaching, they are not ‘three vehicles
and the twelve divisions of the teaching.’ For this reason, we express them
as “the three vehicles and twelve divisions of the teaching.” To quote one from
among innumerable examples of those three vehicles and twelve divisions of
the teaching, it is as follows.

[161] The three vehicles:

First, the vehicle of the ˜r‡vaka,18 who attains the way [of bodhi] through
the Four Truths.19 The Four Truths are the truth of suffering, the truth of
accumulation, the truth of cessation, and the truth of the Way. Hearing
these and practicing these, [˜r‡vakas] traverse and attain release from
birth, aging, sickness, and death; and they realize the ultimate pari-
nirv‡ıa.20 The assertion that “In the practice of these Four Truths, suffering
and accumulation are secular while cessation and the Way are paramount,”21 is
the view and opinion of teachers of commentaries. Providing that [the
Four Truths] are practiced in accordance with the Buddha-Dharma, the
Four Truths are each of buddhas alone, together with buddhas, the Four
Truths are each the Dharma abiding in the place of the Dharma, the Four
Truths are each real form, and the Four Truths are each the Buddha-nature.
For this reason, they are utterly beyond discussion of “being without the
nature,” “non-becoming,” and so forth—because the Four Truths are each
completely beyond necessity.
[163] Second, the vehicle of the pratyekabuddha, 22 who attains pari-nirv‡ıa
through twelvefold dependent origination.23 “Twelvefold dependent origina-

18. 声聞 (SHOMON), lit. “voice-hearer.” See Book 1, Glossary.

19. 四諦 (SHITAI), or “the four philosophies,” are 苦集滅道 (KU, SHU, METSU, DO).
These words derive from the Sanskrit du˛kha-satya (truth of suffering), samudaya-satya
(truth of accumulation), nirodha-satya (truth of dissolution), and m‡rga-satya (truth of the
right way).
20. Pari-nirv‡ıa, lit. “complete extinction of the flame,” here suggests attainment of a
completely peaceful state.
21. 第一義 (DAI-ICHI-GI), lit. “of number one significance,” stands for 第一義諦
(DAI-ICHI-GI-TAI), lit. “truth of number one significance,” or “the paramount truth.” This
refers to the doctrine of 真俗二諦 (SHINZOKU-NITAI), “two truths, genuine and secular.”
In the Sanron Sect (said to be the first Buddhist sect to reach Japan from China) philoso-
phy of affirmation is called the secular truth while philosophy of negation is called the
paramount truth.
22. 縁覚 (ENGAKU), lit. “perceiver of circumstances.”
68 BUKKYO

tion” means: 1) ignorance, 2) action, 3) consciousness, 4) name and form, 5)

the six senses, 6) contact, 7) feeling, 8) love, 9) taking, 10) coming into exis-
tence, 11) birth, 12) aging and death. While practicing these twelve causes,
causing dependent origination to occur in the past, present, and future, we
take causes one by one and—though not discussing a subject who reflects
or an object that is reflected—we investigate them in practice, at which
time they are the turning of the wheel of complete non-necessity,24 and they
are causes as complete non-necessity. Remember, if ignorance is the one
mind, then action, consciousness, and so on, are also the one mind. If ig-
norance is cessation, then action, consciousness, and so on, are also
cessation. If ignorance is nirv‡ıa, then action, consciousness, and so on,
are also nirv‡ıa. Because appearance is also disappearance, we make such
assertions as these.25 Even “ignorance” is a word that speaks. “Conscious-
ness,” “name and form,” and so on, are also like this. Remember, ignorance,
action, and so on are “I have an axe and would like to live with you on [this]
mountain.”26 Ignorance, action, consciousness, and so on are “When I set
out, I received the Master’s permission and now I would like to receive the axe.”27

23. 十二因縁 (JUNI-INNEN), or “the twelve causes,” from the Sanskrit dv‡da˜‡Ôga-
prat„tya-samutp‡da. See, for example, LS 2.56. In Japanese they are 1) 無明 (MUMYO), 2)
行 (GYO), 3) 識 (SHIKI), 4) 名色 (MYOSHIKI), 5) 六入 (ROKUJU), 6) 触 (SHOKU), 7) 受
(JU), 8) 愛 (AI), 9) 取 (SHU), 10) 有 (U), 11) 生 (SHO), 12) 老死 (ROSHI). In Sanskrit they
are 1) avidy‡, 2) sa¸sk‡ra, 3) vij§‡na, 4) n‡ma-rÂpa, 5) ˜aÛ-‡yatana, 6) spar˜a, 7) veda§a, 8)
tÁ˘ı‡, 9) up‡d‡na, 10) bhava, 11) j‡ti, 12) jar‡maraıa.
24. 総不要輪 (SOFUYO-RIN), “the wheel of complete non-necessity,” used in place of
the usual compound 法輪 (HORIN), “the wheel of Dharma,” suggests that the words
“complete non-necessity” and “Dharma” are interchangeable—both represent reality
itself.
25. The links in the chain of causation not only extend over time, but also all arise
and vanish at each moment. See, for example, the explanation of the doctrine of “the
instantaneous appearance and disappearance of all things” in chap. 70, Hotsu-bodaishin.
26. Master Seigen Gyoshi spoke these words to Master Sekito Kisen when Sekito de-
cided to leave Master Seigen’s order at Jogo temple and practice instead in the order of
Master Nangaku Ejo. In this context, Master Seigen’s words may be interpreted as repre-
senting the sincere state of reality—Master Seigen wished to give to his disciple the
concrete means to eradicate hindrances. The episode is recorded in Keitoku-dento-roku,
chap. 5: The Master [Seigen] ordered [Ki]Sen to take a letter to Master Nangaku, and he said,
“After you have delivered the letter, come back soon. I have a pick-axe [and hope] to live with you
on [this] mountain.” Sen, on arriving there, before he had presented the letter, asked at once,
“What is it like when we do not idolize the saints and do not attach importance to our own
spirit?” [E]Jo said, “The disciple asks of life on a tremendously high level. Why do you not aim
your question lower?” Sen said, “How could I accept forever being sunk? I shall pursue liberation
 BUKKYO 69

[165] Third, the vehicle of the bodhisattva, who accomplishes anuttara-samyak-

sa¸bodhi through the teaching, practice, and experience of the six
p‡ramit‡s. The meaning of this accomplishing is beyond ‘becoming,’ be-
yond ‘non-becoming,’ beyond ‘initiation,’ beyond ‘new creation,’ beyond
‘age-old creation,’ beyond ‘original practice,’ and beyond ‘non-doing:’ it is
just to accomplish anuttara-samyak-sa¸bodhi. “The six p‡ramit‡s” means
d‡na-p‡ramit‡, ˜„la-p‡ramit‡, k˘‡nti-p‡ramit‡, v„rya-p‡ramit‡, dhy‡na-
p‡ramit‡, and praj§‡-p‡ramit‡.28 Each of these is the supreme state of bo-
dhi, and is beyond discussion of ‘non-birth’ and ‘non-becoming.’ We do
not always see d‡na as the first and praj§‡ as the last. A sutra says, “A
keen-witted bodhisattva [can] see praj§‡ as the first and d‡na as the last. A dull-
witted bodhisattva [only] sees d‡na as the first and praj§‡ as the last.” At the
same time, k˘‡nti might also be first, and dhy‡na might also be first. There
might be thirty-six realizations of the p‡ramit‡s—from [each] trap, a trap
being realized.29 The meaning of “p‡ramit‡” is the far shore having arrived.
The far shore is beyond the semblance or trace of going or coming, but its
arrival is realized.30 Arrival is the Universe: do not think that practice
leads to the far shore. Practice exists on the far shore; therefore, if we are
practicing, the far shore has arrived—because this practice invariably is
equipped with the power of realization of the entire Universe.
[168] The twelve divisions of the teaching (the sÂtras; also called the scriptures):31

without following sacred ones.” Jo then desisted. Sen went back to Jogo. The Master [Seigen] said,
“It is not long since the disciple left. Have you delivered the letter or not?” Sen said, “No infor-
mation was communicated nor any letter delivered.” The Master said, “What happened?” Sen
quoted the above story, and then said, “When I set out, I received the Master’s permission and
now I would like to receive that pick-axe.” The Master let a leg hang down. Sen did prostrations
to it. Then he departed for Nangaku.
27. Sekito’s words to Master Seigen also suggest the sincere state of living in reality.
Sekito could not accept the manifestation of the balanced state by the two masters; to him
they seemed to be too relaxed. Nevertheless, he continued pursuing the truth, going back
and forth, until he was able at last to succeed to the Dharma of Master Seigen.
28. In English the six p‡ramit‡s, or accomplishments, are giving, discipline, patience,
fortitude, concentration, and wisdom. See Book 1, Glossary.
29. 羅籠 (RARO), “a trap,” originally a net or a cage for catching and keeping small
birds, in this case suggest a p‡ramit‡ as a device for catching and keeping the truth.
30. 到 (TO), “to arrive,” “to have arrived,” “to be already present,” describes the
state just now. See chap. 11, Uji, para. [44].
31. 線経 (SENKYO), lit. “line-sutras.” “Lines” represents the original meaning of the
Sanskrit sÂtra: “a thread, line, cord; that which like a thread runs through or holds together
everything.” See Book 1, Glossary.
70 BUKKYO

1 SÂtra—here32 called “original scriptures”;33

2 Geya—here called “praising over again”34 (praising of a sÂtra in verse);
3 Vy‡karaıa—here called “affirmation”;35
4 G‡th‡—here called “chants”36 (here [also] called “[verses] other than geya:”37 they are
like the poems and poems of praise of this region);38

5 Ud‡na—here called “spontaneous preaching without being asked”39 (“Sutras

which are spontaneous preaching without being asked”: Sacred human beings generally wait
to be requested to preach the Dharma, but [in this case] they become unsolicited teachers of
living beings, and so [the preaching] is spontaneous preaching without being asked. Again,
the Buddha-Dharma is so difficult to know that it is called “unaskable.” If it is not preached
spontaneously, the many will not know it. In preaching for others, still again, [sacred ones]
may not know what Dharma to preach for others. Therefore, they preach spontaneously with-
out being asked, in order thereby to manifest preaching so profound that is only realized in
experience. Thus, by means of spontaneous preaching without being asked, [sacred ones]
manifest what is to be disclosed);

6 Nid‡na—here called “[accounts of] causes and circumstances”40 (“Sutras of

causes and circumstances” aim to clarify the method of the precepts and to show, on the basis
of violations, what a transgression is. When the form of a transgression is evident, it is possi-
ble properly to establish discipline. This [division] also, through causes and circumstances,
clarifies what is to be disclosed);

32. China—this is a quotation from Daichido-ron, the Chinese translation of the Mah‡-
praj§‡-p‡ramitopade˜a.
33. 契経 (KAIKYO). 契 (KAI) means “to accord with.” 契経 (KAIKYO) means the
Buddha’s discourses as they were delivered by the Buddha.
34. 重頌 (JUJU). 重 (JU) means to add another layer or to go over again, and 頌 (JU)
means praise or eulogy. Geya come at the end of a sÂtra, and summarize in verse the
teachings contained in the sÂtra.
35. 授記 (JUKI), affirmations by the Buddha of a Buddhist practitioner. See chap. 32,
Juki.
36. 諷誦 (FUJU), independent verses such as the verse in praise of the ka˘aya. See
chap. 12, Kesa-kudoku.
37. 不重頌 (FUJUJU), lit. “not praising over again.”
38. China, or China and Japan. The comments in parenthesis may have been added
to the main text in China or in Japan. Like the main text, they are written in Chinese
characters only.
39. 無問自説 (MUMON-JISETSU).
40. 因縁 (INNEN), “causes and circumstances,” means the concrete causes and cir-
cumstances pertinent to a violation of the precepts.
 BUKKYO 71

7 Avad‡na—here called “parables”41 (avad‡na);42

8 ItivÁttaka—here called “past episodes”43 (here called “accounts as they occurred”44 or
called “past episodes”);

9 J‡taka—here called past lives45 (The events in “past lives” describe tales of deeds per-
formed in former lives as a bodhisattva. The events in “past episodes” describe various
concurrences in former ages);

10 Vaipulya—here called “the exact and the wide”;46

11 Adbhuta-dharma—here called “the unprecedented”;47
12 Upade˜a—here called “discussion of doctrine.”48
The Tath‡gata just directly preached for others Dharma [both] fictional and
factual, such as entry into the world of aggregates. This [division] is called
“sÂtra.”// Sometimes, with verses of four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine words, he
praised over again facts such as entry into the world of aggregates. This [division]
is called “geya.”// Sometimes he directly affirmed things that would come to liv-
ing beings in the future, even affirming, for instance, that pigeons and sparrows
would become buddha. This [division] is called “vy‡karaıa.”// Sometimes with
independent verses he affirmed facts such as entry into the world of aggregates.
This [division] is called “g‡th‡.”// Sometimes, without anyone asking, he sponta-
neously preached the facts of the world. This [division] is called “ud‡na.”//
Sometimes he summarized non-virtuous facts of the world, in order to consolidate
the precepts. This [division] is called “nid‡na.”// Sometimes he used parables to
preach the facts of the world. This [division] is called “avad‡na.”// Sometimes he
related the facts of the world in the past. This [division] is called “itivÁttaka.”//
Sometimes he related the facts of lives received in the past. This [division] is called

41. 譬喩 (HIYU). See, for example, chapters 3, 5, and 7 of the Lotus Sutra.
42. The main text renders the Sanskrit avad‡na as 波陀那 (HA-DA-NA). The translit-
eration in the comment is 阿波陀那 (A-BA-DA-NA), a closer approximation to the
Sanskrit.
43. 本事 (HONJI), stories of previous lives of bodhisattvas.
44. 如是語 (NYOZEGO), lit. “like this words.” Most sutras begin with the words 如是
我聞 (NYOZE-GA-MON), “Thus have I heard” (see, for example, LS 1.8).
45. 本生 (HONSHO), the Buddha’s past lives as a bodhisattva.
46. 方広 (HOKO), extensions or applications of Buddhist philosophy. “Exact and
wide,” represents the original meaning of the Sanskrit vaipulya. See Book 1, Glossary.
47. 未曽有 (MIZO-U), marvels. See, for example, the story of the God ¯akra and the
wild fox from Mizo-u-kyo, quoted in chap. 88, Kie-sanbo.
48. 論議 (RONGI), commentaries, for example, Mah‡-praj§‡-p‡ramitopade˜a.
 72 BUKKYO

“j‡taka.”// Sometimes he preached on broad and great facts of the world. This
[division] is called “vaipulya.”// Sometimes he preached on unprecedented facts of
the world. This [division] is called “adbhuta-dharma.”// Sometimes he inquired
critically into the facts of the world. This [division] is called “upade˜a.”// These
[divisions] are the realization49 of the world. For the delight of living beings, [the
Tath‡gata] established the twelve divisions of the teaching.
[173] The names of the twelve parts of the sutras are heard rarely. When the
Buddha-Dharma has spread through a society, they are heard. When the
Buddha-Dharma has died out already, they are not heard. When the Bud-
dha-Dharma has yet to spread, again, they are not heard. Those who,
having planted good roots50 for long ages, are able to meet the Buddha,
hear these [names]. Those who have heard them already, will be able, be-
fore long, to attain the state of anuttara-samyak-sa¸bodhi. These twelve
are each called sutras. They are called “the twelve divisions of the teaching”
and called “the twelve parts of the sutras.” Because the twelve divisions of
the teaching are each equipped with the twelve divisions of the teaching,
they are one hundred and forty-four divisions of the teaching. Because the
twelve divisions of the teaching are each combined into the twelve divi-
sions of the teaching, they are simply one division of the teaching. At the
same time, they are beyond calculation in numbers of below a hundred
million or above a hundred million. They are all the Eye of the Buddhist
patriarchs, the bones and marrow of the Buddhist patriarchs, the everyday
conduct of the Buddhist patriarchs, the brightness of the Buddhist patri-
archs, the adornments of the Buddhist patriarchs, and the national land of
the Buddhist patriarchs. To meet the twelve divisions of the teaching is to
meet the Buddhist patriarchs. To speak of the Buddhist patriarchs is to
speak of the twelve divisions of the teaching. Thus, Seigen dangling a leg51
is just the three vehicles and the twelve divisions of the teaching. Nan-
gaku’s “To describe a thing does not hit the target”52 is just the three vehicles

49. 悉檀 (SHITSUDAN) transliterates the Sanskrit siddha¸, which means accom-

plishment, fulfillment, or realization. See Glossary. Daichido-ron explains four kinds of
siddha¸, the first of which is realization of the world.
50. 善根 (ZENKON), represents the meaning of the Sanskrit ku˜ala-mÂla. See Glossary.
51. 垂一足 (SUI-ISSOKU) comes from the story in Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 5 (see also
note 26). By letting a leg hang down from the Master’s Zazen chair, Seigen manifested
the relaxed situation of sam‡dhi.
52. 説示一物即不中 (SETSUJI-ICHIMOTSU-SOKUFUCHU). This is a direct quotation of
Master Nangaku Ejo’s words to Master Daikan Eno, also contained in Keitoku-dento-roku,
chap. 5. See also, for example, Shobogenzo, chap. 62, Hensan.
 BUKKYO 73

and the twelve divisions of the teaching. The meaning of the complete non-
necessity which Gensa now expresses is like this. When we pick up this
point, [the state] is nothing but the Buddhist patriarchs—there being no
other half person or single object at all—and is not a single fact ever having
arisen. Just at this moment, how is it? We might say, it is completely beyond
necessity.
[175] Sometimes mention is made of “the nine parts,”53 which might be
called “the nine divisions of the teaching.”
The nine parts:
1 SÂtra, 2 G‡th‡, 3 Past episodes, 4 Past lives, 5 The unprecedented,
6 [Accounts of] causes and circumstances, 7 Parables, 8 Geya, 9 Upade˜a54
Because these nine parts are each equipped with the nine parts, they
are eighty-one parts. And because the nine are each equipped with the
whole, they are the nine. Without the virtue of belonging to the whole,
they could not be the nine. Because they have the virtue of belonging to
the whole, the whole belongs to [each] one.55 For this reason, they are
eighty-one parts. They are a part of this,56 they are a part of me,57 they are a
part of a whisk, they are a part of a staff, and they are a part of the right-
Dharma-eye treasury.
[177] ¯‡kyamuni Buddha says:
This my Dharma of nine parts,
Which, obediently following living beings, I preach,

53. 部 (BU) means a concrete part. Master Dogen’s commentary emphasizes a part as
something with a distinct concrete form, as opposed to a vague abstraction.
54. The reciprocation between transliterations of the sound, and translations of the
meaning, of the original Sanskrit, exactly mirrors that in the Lotus Sutra. See LS 1.102.
55. 一部帰一部 (ICHIBU ICHIBU [ni] ki[suru]), lit. “one part belongs to one part.” The
first 一部 (ICHIBU) means “the whole,” and the second 一部 (ICHIBU) means “each one.”
56. 此部 (SHIBU). 此 (SHI), “this,” means what concretely exists here and now. The
character is drawn from the quotation of the Buddha’s words in the next paragraph. 部
(BU), “part,” suggests the particular and the concrete as opposed to the general and the
abstract.
57. 我部 (GABU). 我 (GA), “I,” “me,” or “my,” means the Buddha or the state of
buddha which is each person’s own natural state. The character is again drawn from the
quotation of the Buddha’s words in the next paragraph.
74 BUKKYO

Is the basis for [their] entering the great vehicle.

For which purpose I preach this Sutra.58

Remember, the I which is this59 is the Tath‡gata, his face and eyes and
body and mind having been revealed. This I as this is, already, the Dharma
of nine parts, and the Dharma of nine parts might be just I as this.60 One
phrase or one verse in the present is the Dharma of nine parts. Because I is
this, it preaches obediently following living beings.61 Thus, all living beings
living their life relying on this concrete place is just the preaching of this
Sutra,62 and their dying their death relying on this concrete place is just the
preaching of this Sutra. Even instantaneous movements and demeanors are
just the preaching of this Sutra. “Teaching all living beings, Causing all to enter
the Buddha’s truth,”63 is just preaching this Sutra. These living beings are obe-
dient followers64 of this my Dharma of nine parts.65 This obedient following is to
follow others completely,66 to follow oneself completely,67 to follow the many

58. Lotus Sutra, Hoben. See LS 1.104.

59. 我此 (GASHI), “I-this,” in the Lotus Sutra is “This my…” Here 我此 (GASHI), “I
which is this,” means the state of the Buddha, or the self in action, which concretely ex-
ists.
60. 我此 (GASHI), “I as this,” suggests the reality which is the combination of self
and concrete existence.
61. Because the Buddha’s state is concrete, he tailors his preaching to the needs of his
audience.
62. 説是経 (SETSU-ZEKYO). 説 (SETSU), “preaching,” means not only verbal preach-
ing but real manifestation; and 是経 (ZEKYO), “this Sutra,” means the Universe itself as
the Buddha’s teaching.
63. Lotus Sutra, Hoben: “Know, ¯‡riputra!/ I in the past made a vow,/ Wishing to cause all
creatures/ To be equal with me and without differences./ In accordance with the vow I made in the
past,/ Now already I am satisfied./ Teaching all living beings,/ I cause them all to enter the Bud-
dha’s truth.” LS 1.108.
64. 随順 (ZUIJUN), in the Lotus Sutra works as an adverb: “I preach as befits living
beings.” In his commentary, Master Dogen uses the two characters as a noun phrase
(“obedient followers” and “obedient following”).
65. Living beings, even those which have free will, are totally governed by the
Dharma.
66. 随他去 (ZUITAKO), “to follow others completely,” is a traditional expression of
the state which is completely harmonized with circumstances. The phrase may originate
with Master Daizui Hoshin—see chap. 37, Shinjin-gakudo.
67. 随自去 (ZUIJIKO), “to follow self completely,” is Master Dogen’s variation, as are
the following elements of this sentence.
 BUKKYO 75

beings68 completely, to follow living68 completely, to follow I completely,

and to follow this completely. Because those living beings, in every case,
are an I which is this, they are individual branches of the Dharma of nine
parts. “To enter the great vehicle as the basis” means to experience the great
vehicle, means to practice the great vehicle, means to hear the great vehi-
cle, and means to preach the great vehicle. This being so, we do not say
that living beings inherently have attained the truth; they are one bit of it.
To enter is the basis, and the basis is right from head to tail. Buddha
preaches Dharma, and Dharma preaches Buddha. Dharma is [naturally]
preached by Buddha, and Buddha is [naturally] preached by Dharma.
Flame preaches Buddha and preaches Dharma. Buddha preaches flame,
and Dharma preaches flame.69 In this Sutra, already there is good cause70
for the preaching of purpose,71 and there is good cause for purposeful preach-
ing. 72 Even if [the Buddha] intends not to preach this Sutra, that is
impossible. Therefore he says, “Purposefulness preaches this Sutra.”73 Pur-
poseful preaching covers the cosmos, and the cosmos 74 is purposeful

68. 衆 (SHU), “the many,” an expression of plurality, is the first half of the com-
pound 衆生 (SHUJO), “living beings.” 生 (SHO or JO), “living,” or “living being” is the
second half of the compound 衆生 (SHUJO).
69. 火焔 (KAEN), “flame,” means the vivid state. The preceding four lines allude to
the conversation between Master Seppo Gison and Master Gensa Shibi, and the comment
of Master Engo Kokugon, quoted in chap. 23, Gyobutsu-yuigi.
70. 以 (mot[te]), in the last line of the quotation is an adverb: “for which purpose…”
Here, however, 以 (I) is used as a noun, and it means the cause or the concrete reason for
doing something.
71. 説故 (SETSUKO) means to preach the Buddhist purpose (which, as the Buddha
has already stated earlier in Lotus Sutra, Hoben, is to cause living beings to disclose, dis-
play, realize, and enter the state of the Buddha’s wisdom—see LS 1.88–90). 説故
(SETSUKO) emphasizes the theoretical, motivational, or mental side (the purpose).
72. 故説 (KOSETSU), “purposeful preaching,” means preaching that is done purpose-
fully, that is, with determined effort. At the same time, 故説 (KOSETSU) or “preaching
which is the purpose” suggests preaching that is done as an end in itself. 故説
(KOSETSU) emphasizes the practical or physical side (the action of preaching).
73 . 以 上 故 説 是 経 (I-KO-SETSU-ZEKYO), or “by purposefulness this Sutra is
preached.” These five characters form the last line of the Lotus Sutra quotation. In this
context, they suggest that the Buddha’s natural state is purposefulness, and, regardless
of the Buddha’s intention, his purposefulness preaches reality.
74. 亙天 (GOTEN), “covers the cosmos” or “the cosmos,” again alludes to the words
of Master Engo Kokugon quoted in chap. 23, Gyobutsu-yuigi.
76 BUKKYO

preaching. Both this buddha and that buddha,75 with one voice, proclaim
“this Sutra.” Both our world and other worlds purposefully preach “this
Sutra.” Therefore, [the Buddha] preaches this Sutra, and this Sutra itself is
the Buddha’s teaching. Remember, the Buddha’s teaching as sands of the
Ganges76 is a bamboo stick and a fly-whisk. The sands of the Ganges as
the Buddha’s teaching are a staff and a fist. Remember, in sum, that the
three vehicles, the twelve divisions of the teaching, and so on, are the eye
of the Buddhist patriarchs. How could those who do not open their eyes to
these [teachings] be descendants of the Buddhist patriarchs? How could
those who do not take up these [teachings] receive the one-to-one trans-
mission of the right eye of the Buddhist patriarchs? Those who do not
physically realize the right-Dharma-eye treasury are not the Dharma-
successors of the Seven Buddhas.

Shobogenzo Bukkyo

Preached to the assembly at Ko-

sho temple in Yoshu77 on the 14th
day of the 11th lunar month in
the 2nd year of Ninji.78

75. 此仏彼仏 (SHIBUTSU-HIBUTSU), “this buddha and that buddha,” means buddha
in the concrete present and buddha in eternity.
76. 恒沙 (GOSHA), “sands of the Ganges,” represents that which is beyond calcula-
tion; all things and phenomena.
77. Corresponds to present-day Kyoto prefecture.
78. 1241.
 [25]
神通

JINZU
Mystical Power
Jin means mystical and zu, which is a corruption of tsu, means ability or
power, so jinzu means mystical power. It is said in Buddhism that a person
who has attained the truth may have certain kinds of mystical power, but
many Buddhists invented fantastic exaggerations of these powers. Master
Dogen did not affirm such exaggerations. He affirmed the existence of Bud-
dhist mystical powers, which we can get when we become buddhas, but he
thought that in the case of Buddhist mystical powers, mystical means not su-
pernatural but real. Master Dogen thought that Buddhist mystical powers
are the abilities we use in our usual life. When asked what Buddhist mystical
powers are, an old Chinese Buddhist replied, “Fetching water and carrying
firewood.”

[183] Mystical power,1 as it is, is the tea and meals of Buddhists; and the
buddhas, to the present, have not tired of it. In it, there are six mystical
powers2 and there is the one mystical power; there is the state of being
without mystical power 3 and there is supremely ascendant mystical
power.4 Its embodiment is three thousand acts in the morning and eight
hundred acts in the evening. It arises together with buddha but is not rec-
ognized by buddha; it vanishes together with buddha but does not break
buddha. In ascending to the heavens, [buddha and mystical power] are

1. 神通 (JINZU), represents the Sanskrit abhij§a. See Book 1, Glossary.

2. 六神通 (ROKUJINZU) are traditionally interpreted as 1) the power of mystical
transmutation; 2) the power to know others’ minds—see chap. 80, Tashintsu; 3) the power
of supernatural vision; 4) the power of supernatural hearing; 5) the power to know past
lives;
6) the power to end excess. (But see also para. [206] onward.)
3. 無神通 (MU-JINZU), see para. [210].
4. 無上神通 (MUJO-JINZU). See note 13.

77
 78 JINZU

the same state; in descending from the heavens, they are the same state; in
doing training and getting experience, they are always the same state.
They are one with the snow mountains.5 They are as trees and rocks. The
buddhas of the past are the disciples of ¯‡kyamuni Buddha, to whom they
come holding aloft the ka˘aya and come holding aloft stÂpas. At such
times, ¯‡kyamuni Buddha says, “The mystical powers of the buddhas are un-
thinkable.”6 Thus, clearly, [the buddhas] of the present and future too are
also like this.
[186] Zen Master Dai-i7 is the thirty-seventh patriarch in the line of direct
descent from ¯‡kyamuni Tath‡gata and is the Dharma-successor of Hya-
kujo Daichi.8 The many Buddhist patriarchs of today who have flourished
in the ten directions, [even those] who are not the distant descendants of
Dai-i, are just the distant descendants of Dai-i. Once while Dai-i is lying
down, Kyozan comes to see him. Dai-i just then turns so that he is lying
facing the wall. Kyozan says, “Ejaku is the Master’s disciple. Do not show him
your backside!” Dai-i gets set to rise. Kyozan by then is leaving, but Dai-i
calls him, “Disciple Jaku!” Kyozan comes back. Dai-i says, “Let this old monk
tell you his dream.” Kyozan lowers his head, ready to listen. Dai-i says, “See
if you can divine the dream for me.” Kyozan fetches a bowl of water and a
towel. Dai-i, by and by, washes his face. After washing his face, he sits for
a short while, and then Kyogen comes along. Dai-i says, “I and disciple Jaku
have just practiced a mystical power which is one step ascendant.9 It is not the
same as the small ones of the small [vehicle].” Kyogen says, “Chikan was in the
wings. I was able to witness everything clearly.” Dai-i says, “[Then,] disciple,
you must try to say something!” Kyogen immediately goes to make and
bring a cup of tea. Dai-i praises them, saying, “The mystical powers and the

5. 雪山 (SETSUZAN), “snow mountains,” usually means the Himalayas. See also

chap. 69, Hotsu-mujoshin.
6. Lotus Sutra, Nyorai-jinriki (The Mystical Power of the Tath‡gata). See LS 3.158.
7. Master Isan Reiyu (771–853), successor of Master Hyakujo Ekai. 大 V (DAI-I),
short for 大 V 山 (DAI-I-SAN), “Great Isan mountain,” is the name of the mountain
where the Master lived. His two disciples mentioned in the story are Master Kyozan
Ejaku (807–883) and Master Kyogen Chikan (?–898).
8. Master Hyakujo Ekai (749–814), successor to Master Baso Do-itsu. Zen Master
Daichi is his posthumous title, and Hyakujo is the name of the mountain where he lived.
9. 一上神通 (ICHIJO-JINZU), lit. “one above mystical power.” The meaning of 上 (JO),
“above” or “ascendant,” can be understood as in the phrase 仏向上事 (BUTSU-KOJO-JI).
See chap. 28, Butsu-kojo-ji, and notes 13 and 15.
 JINZU 79

wisdom of you two disciples are far superior to those of ¯‡riputra and
Maudgaly‡yana”10, 11
[187] If we want to know the mystical power of Buddhists, we should learn
in practice the words of Dai-i. Because “it is not the same as the small of the
small,” to perform this learning is called Buddhist learning, and learning other
than this is not called Buddhist learning.12 It is the mystical power and the
wisdom transmitted from rightful successor to rightful successor. Never
learn the mystical powers of non-Buddhists and the two vehicles in India,
or those studied by commentary-teachers and the like. Now, when we
study the mystical power of Dai-i, it is supreme; at the same time, there is
a way of observing it which is one step ascendant:13 that is to say, from the
time of lying down,14 there is a turning to lie facing the wall, there is a rising
posture, there is a calling out of “Disciple Jaku!”, there is telling of a dream,
and there is, after washing the face, a short while of sitting. In the case of Kyo-
zan, similarly, there is lowering of the head to listen and there is fetching a
bowl of water and fetching a towel. And yet Dai-i says, “I and disciple Jaku
have just practiced a mystical power which is one step ascendant.” We should
learn this mystical power. Ancestral masters of the authentic transmission
of the Buddha-Dharma speak like this. Do not fail to discuss the telling of
the dream and the washing of the face: decide that they are the mystical
power which is one step ascendant. He has said already “It is not the same
as the small of the small”: it cannot be the same as the small thoughts and
small views of the small vehicle, and it must not be equated with the likes
of [bodhisattvas in] the ten sacred and three clever stages. These all learn
the small mystical powers, and attain only the capacities of the small
body; they do not arrive at the great mystical power of the Buddhist patri-

10. ¯‡riputra and Maudgaly‡yana were two of the Buddha’s ten great disciples.
They are described in ancient Indian texts as having supernatural powers.
11. Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 61. See also Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 9.
12. Untraced quotation from a Chinese text.
13. 無上 (MUJO), lit. “with nothing above,” or “supreme” (ideal), is opposed to 一上
(ICHIJO), lit. “one-above” or “one-step ascendant” (i.e., real). 上 (JO), “to ascend,” repre-
sents progression from the area of consideration (in which there is supremacy or
perfection) into the area of reality (in which there are concrete actions).
14. 臥次 (GAJI), lit. “lying down and then…” or “while he is lying down.” In the pre-
vious paragraph Master Dogen related the story mainly in Japanese, but these two
characters are drawn directly from the Chinese story in Shinji-shobogenzo. By using here
direct quotations of Chinese characters, Master Dogen increases the objectivity of the
description.
80 JINZU

archs. This is the mystical power of buddha, and mystical power in the
ascendant state of buddha.15 Students of this mystical power should not be
moved by demons and non-Buddhists. Sutra-teachers and commentary-
teachers have never heard of [this mystical power], and even if they heard,
it would be hard for them to believe. The two vehicles, non-Buddhists,
sutra-teachers, commentary-teachers, and the like learn the small mystical
powers; they do not learn the great mystical power. Buddhas abide in and
retain the great mystical power, and they transmit and receive the great
mystical power. This is the mystical power of buddha. Without the mysti-
cal power of buddha, [Kyozan] could not fetch a bowl of water and fetch a
towel, there could be no turning to lie facing the wall, and there could be,
after washing the face, no short while of sitting. Through the influence of this
great mystical power, small mystical powers also exist. The great mystical
power entertains small mystical powers, [but] small mystical powers do
not know the great mystical power. “Small mystical powers” are a hair
swallowing the vast ocean, and a poppy seed containing Sumeru.16 Again, they
are the upper body emitting water, the lower body emitting fire17 and suchlike.
The five powers18 and the six powers also are all small mystical powers.
Their devotees have never seen the mystical power of buddha even in a
dream. The reason the five powers and the six powers are called small
mystical powers is that the five powers and the six powers are tainted by
practice and experience,19 and they are confined to and cut off by time and
place. They exist in life [but] are not realized after the body. They belong
to the self [but] are beyond other people. They are realized in this land but
are not realized in other lands. They are realized in unreality but they are
unable to be realized in real time. This great mystical power is not so: the
teachings, practice, and experience of the buddhas are realized as one in

15. 仏向上神通 (BUTSU-KOJO-JINZU). 仏向上 (BUTSU-KOJO), or “the ascendant [real-

ity] of buddha,” is explained in chap. 28, Butsu-kojo-no-ji.
16. A hair swallowing the vast ocean and a poppy seed containing Mt. Sumeru are
examples, taken from the Vimalak„rti-sutra, of happenings that appear to be impossible.
Later Master Dogen uses the same examples to represent the oneness of reality.
17. Lotus Sutra, Myo-shogon-o-honji (The Story of the King Resplendent): “Thereupon the
two sons, out of consideration for their father, sprang up into space, to a height of seven t‡la trees,
and manifested many kinds of mystical transformation, walking, standing, sitting, and lying in
space; the upper body emitting water, the lower body emitting fire…” See LS 3.292–294.
18. 五通 (GOTSU), short for 五神通 (GO-JINZU), the five mystical powers. These are
the six mystical powers minus the sixth, the power to end excess.
19. Tainted practice and experience means practice-and-experience separated into
means (practice) and end (experience).
 JINZU 81

[this] mystical power. They are realized not only in the vicinity of
“buddhas”; they are realized also in the ascendant state of buddha. The
teaching and forms of mystically powerful buddha are truly unthinkable.
They are realized prior to the existent body; the realization is not con-
nected with the three times. Without the mystical power of buddha, the
establishment of the mind, training, bodhi, and nirv‡ıa of all the buddhas,
could never be. That the present limitless ocean of Dharma-worlds is con-
stant and unchanging, is entirely the mystical power of buddha. It is not
only that a hair swallows the vast ocean: a hair is maintaining and retaining
the vast ocean, a hair is manifesting the vast ocean, a hair is vomiting the
vast ocean, and a hair is using the vast ocean. When in a single hair there
is swallowing and vomiting of the whole world of Dharma, do not study
that—if the whole of the world of Dharma is like that—then it is impossi-
ble for the whole world of Dharma to exist. A poppy seed containing Sumeru
and suchlike, are also like this. A poppy seed is vomiting Sumeru; and a
poppy seed is manifesting the world of Dharma, the ocean of limitless
storage. When a hair vomits the vast ocean and a poppy seed vomits the
vast ocean, they spew up in a single moment of mind and they spew up
for ten thousand kalpas. Given that ten thousand kalpas and a single mo-
ment of mind similarly are spewed from hair and poppy seed, then from
what are hair and poppy seed begotten? They are begotten just from the
mystical power. And this begetting is itself the mystical power, so it is just
that the mystical power gives birth to the mystical power: we should
study that the three times have no occurrence or disappearance at all.
Buddhas play20 in this mystical power alone.
[194] The layman Ho-on21 is a great person in the orders of patriarchs. He
has not only learned in practice in the orders of both Kozei22 and Sekito;23
he has met with and encountered many genuine masters who possess the
truth. On one occasion he says:

20 . 遊戯する (YUGE suru) means to play or to enjoy. The characters appear in the
phrase 遊戯三昧 (YUGE-ZANMAI), “playing in sam‡dhi,” or “sam‡dhi as enjoyment.”
See opening paragraph of chap. 1, Bendowa.
21. Layman Ho-on is mentioned several times in Shobogenzo; for example, in chap.
73, Sanjushichi-bon-bodai-bunbo. More than three hundred of his poems survive.
22. Master Baso Do-itsu (709–788), successor of Master Nangaku Ejo. Kozei is the
name of the district where he lived.
23. Master Sekito Kisen (700–790). He was a successor of Master Seigen Gyoshi, but
like Master Baso he had also studied under Master Nangaku Ejo.
 82 JINZU

“The mystical power and wondrous function,

Carrying water and lugging firewood.”24

[195] We must investigate this truth thoroughly. “Carrying water” means

loading water and fetching it. There being our own work and self-
motivation, and there being the work of others and the motivation of oth-
ers, water is caused to be carried. This is just the state of mystically
powerful buddha. We can say that knowing is Existence-Time, but the
mystical power is just the mystical power.25 Even in a person’s not know-
ing, that state of Dharma26 does not fade and that state of Dharma does
not die. Although the person does not know it, [that] state of Dharma is
the Dharma itself. Although [the person] does not know that carrying wa-
ter is the mystical power, the state of carrying water as mystical power
does not regress. “Lugging firewood” means carrying wood for fuel—as for
example the Sixth Patriarch did in former days.27 Although we neither
recognize that three thousand acts in the morning are the mystical power,
or sense that eight hundred acts in the evening are the mystical power, in
them the mystical power is realized. Truly, those who see and hear the
mystical power and the wondrous function of the buddha-tath‡gatas are
able without fail to attain the truth. Therefore, the attainment of the truth
of all the buddhas has been accomplished, in every case, through the force
of this mystical power. So we should study that whereas the present emit-
ting water of the small vehicle is a small mystical power, carrying water is
the great mystical power. Carrying water and lugging firewood have never
yet been abandoned, and people have not neglected them. Therefore they
have arrived from the ancient past at the present; and what has been
transmitted from here to others, without even an instant of regression or
deviation, is the mystical power and the wondrous function. This is the
great mystical power. It can never be the same as the small ones of the
small.

24. Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 8.

25. In this part Master Dogen de-emphasized the importance of subjective con-
sciousness and emphasized the importance of just acting.
26. その法 (sono HO), “that Dharma,” means that real state of action in which mysti-
cal power is mystical power.
27. Master Daikan Eno was a woodcutter before joining the order of Master Daiman
Konin. See, for example, chap. 30, Gyoji.
 JINZU 83

[197] Great Master Tozan Gohon,28 in former days served as an attendant of

Ungan,29 at which time Ungan asks, “What is the mystical power and the
wondrous function of disciple Kai?”30 Then Tozan folds his hands,31 steps
forward and stands there. Again Ungan asks, “How might we describe the
mystical power and the wondrous function?” Tozan then conveys best
wishes32 and leaves.
[198] In this episode, truly the mystical power is present as understanding
the fundamental principle on hearing words and the mystical power is present
as things existing in the state where box and lid fit.33 Remember, the mystical
power and the wondrous function will surely have children and grand-
children; they are not subject to regression. And they must properly have
their founding patriarchs; they are not subject to evolution. Do not idly
suppose that they may be the same as those of non-Buddhists and the two
vehicles. In the Buddha’s truth there are mystical transformations and
mystical powers of the upper body and the lower body: the whole Uni-
verse in the ten directions now is a real body of a ˜ramaıa.34 All things,
from the nine mountains and eight seas, to the ocean of [Buddha-]nature
and the waters of the ocean of sarvaj§‡,35 are emitting water36 from the up-
per body, the lower body, and the middle body, and are emitting water

28. Master Tozan Ryokai (807–869), a successor of Master Ungan Donjo. Great Mas-
ter Gohon is his posthumous title.
29. Master Ungan Donjo (782–841), a successor of Master Yakusan Igen.
30. “Kai” means [Ryo]kai, the monk’s name of Master Tozan.
31. 叉手 (SHASHU). Hands held against the chest, forearms horizontal, left hand
curled around the thumb into a fist, right hand palm down over left hand.
32. 珍重 (CHINCHO), or “Please take good care of yourself,” was an expression used
between monks when taking leave of each other, or at the end of a talk. In this case, Mas-
ter Tozan may have said, “Chincho,” or he may have conveyed the meaning of “Chincho”
by bowing.
33. Both quotations come from Master Sekito Kisen’s poem Sandokai.
34. 沙門一隻の真実体 (SHAMON-ISSEKI no SHINJITTAI) alludes to Master Chosa Kei-
shin’s words 沙 門 一 隻 眼 (SHAMON-ISSEKI-GEN). Master Chosa said, “The whole
Universe in the ten directions is a ˜ramaıa’s eye” (see chap. 60, Juppo). Master Dogen’s
variation suggests that the eye, or state of experience, of a ˜ramaıa (a striver) is his or her
real body.
35. The Sanskrit sarvaj§‡ means all-knowing or omniscient. The nine mountains and
eight seas (which are said to surround Mt. Sumeru) represent the physical world. The
oceans of Buddha-nature and omniscience represent the mental world.
36. 出水 (SHUSSUI), “emitting water,” alludes to the previous quotation from the Lo-
tus Sutra (LS 3.292–294). Master Dogen uses the words to suggest the real manifestation
of concrete phenomena, which is mystical and miraculous in itself.
 84 JINZU

from upper non-body, lower non-body, and middle non-body.37 This also
extends to emitting fire. It is not only a matter of water, fire, wind, and so
on: the upper body emits buddha, the lower body emits buddha, the up-
per body emits patriarchs, the lower body emits patriarchs, the upper
body emits countless asa¸khyas of kalpas, the lower body emits countless
asa¸khyas of kalpas, the upper body gets out of the ocean of Dharma-
worlds, and the upper body enters into the ocean of Dharma-worlds.38
Moreover, the vomiting of seven or eight,39 and the swallowing of two or three,
of the lands of the world is also like this. The present four elements, five
elements, six elements,40 all elements, countless elements, are all the mys-
tical power which is to appear and which is to vanish, and they are the
mystical power which is to swallow and which is to vomit. They are the
act of spewing and the act of gulping as momentary aspects of the present
Earth and space. To be spun by a poppy seed is real ability, and to be sus-
pended by a hair is real ability. [This real ability] is born from and with
that which is beyond consciousness, it abides in and retains that which is
beyond consciousness, and it relies on as its real refuge that which is be-
yond consciousness. Truly, the changing forms of the mystical power of
buddha are unconnected with short and long; how could it be [sufficient]
to approach them only with one-sided intellectual thinking?
[201] In ancient times, a wizard of the five powers served under the
Buddha, at which time the wizard asks, “The Buddha has six powers and I
have five powers. What is that other one power?” The Buddha then calls to the

37. 非身 (HISHIN), “non-body,” means mind or spirit—reality is manifested not only

by physical phenomena but also by mental phenomena. “Upper and lower non-body”
can be interpreted as high and low spirits, and “middle non-body” can be interpreted as
balanced mind.
38. The upper body getting out of and entering into the ocean of Dharma-worlds
suggests, from two sides, the upper body losing its separate identity—as in Zazen, or in
entering and leaving a bath.
39. 吐却七八箇 (TOKYAKU-SHICHI-HACHI-KO) alludes to Master Tosu Daido’s de-
scription of the moon quoted in chap. 42, Tsuki. In that chapter, vomiting represents the
function of concrete manifestation as opposed to swallowing which represents inclusion
within abstract generalization. At the same time, Master Dogen interprets both vomiting
and swallowing as actions.
40. The four elements (from the Sanskrit catv‡ri mah‡bhÂt‡ni) are earth, water, fire,
and wind. The five elements (from the Sanskrit pa§ca mah‡bhÂt‡ni) are earth, water, fire,
wind, and space. The six elements (from the Sanskrit saÛ dh‡tava˛) are earth, water, fire,
wind, space, and consciousness.
 JINZU 85

wizard, “Wizard of the Five Powers!” The wizard responds. The Buddha
says, “That is the one power you should ask me about.”41
[202] We must investigate this episode thoroughly. How could the wizard
know that “the Buddha has six powers”? The Buddha has incalculable mystical
powers and wisdom: he is beyond only six powers. Even though [the wiz-
ard] sees only six powers, he cannot realize even six powers. How much
less could he see other mystical powers, even in a dream. Now let us ask:
Even though the wizard is looking at Old Man ¯‡kya, is he meeting Bud-
dha or not? Even if he is “meeting Buddha,” is he looking at Old Man
¯‡kya or not? Even if he is able to look at Old Man ¯‡kya, even if he is
meeting Buddha, he should ask whether or not he has met the Wizard of
the Five Powers. In this question, he should learn the use of entangle-
ment42 and should learn entanglement being cut away. How then could
“the Buddha has six powers” reach [even] the level of counting one’s
neighbor’s treasures? What is the meaning of the words now spoken by
Old Man ¯‡kya; “That is the one power you should ask me about”? He neither
says that the wizard has that one power, nor says that the wizard lacks it.43
Although the [wizard] discusses penetration 44 and non-penetration of
“that one power,” how could the wizard penetrate that one power?45 For,
even if the wizard has five powers, they are not five powers from among
six powers the Buddha has. The wizard’s powers are seen through by the
Buddha’s power of penetration, but how could the wizard’s powers pene-
trate the Buddha’s power? If the wizard were able to penetrate even one
of the Buddha’s powers, relying on this power he would be able to pene-
trate buddha. When we look at wizards, they have something which
resembles the powers of buddha, and when we look at a buddha’s forms
of behavior, they have something which resembles the powers of a wiz-
ard; but we should know that even if [what a wizard shows] is the forms
of behavior of a buddha, that is not the mystical power of buddha.46 With-
out penetration, the five powers are all different from buddha. [The
Buddha’s words mean:] “What is the use of you abruptly asking about

41. Goto-egen, chap. 1.

42. 葛藤 (KATTO), lit. “arrowroot and wisteria.” See chap. 46, Katto.
43. A reflection of Master Dogen’s view of the Buddha-nature. See chap. 22, Bussho.
44. 通 (TSU), as a verb, means to pass through, to penetrate, or to master. As a noun
it suggests the power or ability to do something thoroughly.
45. 那一通 (NA-ITSU-TSU), “that one power,” in the wizard’s usage means an extra-
special mystical power, but in the Buddha’s usage means the practical everyday state.
46. A phony can imitate a buddha’s forms but cannot imitate the state of buddha.
 86 JINZU

‘that other one power’?” The idea of Old Man ¯‡kya is: “You should ask
about any one of the powers”; “You should ask about that one power, and
[then] ask about that one power”; and “There is no way for a wizard to
attain even one of the powers.” Thus, comparing the mystical power of
the Buddha and the powers of others, the words “mystical power” are the
same, but the words “mystical power” are very different.
[206] Hence…
Great Master Esho of Rinzai-in temple47 says: “A man of old said;
The Tath‡gata’s manifestations of his whole body
Were for the purpose [of teaching] accordance with the situations of the
world.
[But] fearing that people might beget the nihilistic view,48
He provisionally established void concepts
And expediently spoke of the thirty-two [signs].49
The eighty [signs] also are empty sounds.
The existent body is not the body of the Truth.
The state without form is just the True Configuration.

You say that the Buddha has six powers, which are unthinkable. [But] all the gods,
wizards, asuras,50 and mighty demons also have mystical powers—can they be
buddhas or not? Followers of the Way, make no mistake! When Asura50 fought
with God-King Indra and, on losing the battle, led eighty-four thousand followers
into hiding inside the holes of lotus roots, this was not sacred, was it? In the ex-
ample I 51 have just quoted, all was due to karmic powers 52 and dependent

47. Master Rinzai Gigen (815?–867), a successor of Master Obaku Ki-un.

48. 断見 (DANKEN), lit. “the cutting-off view,” or nihilism, or materialism, repre-
sents the Sanskrit uccheda-dÁ˘Òi, one of the two extreme views (antagr‡ha-dÁ˘Òi). The other
extreme view is 常見 (JOKEN), “the eternity view,” or idealism, from the Sanskrit ˜‡˜vata-
dÁ˘Òi. See Glossary.
49. Thirty-two auspicious features that were said to distinguish the Buddha. The
eighty are a refinement of the thirty-two.
50. Asuras are evil spirits or demons who oppose the gods. In this paragraph the
word is used first collectively and then as a proper name, Asura. The story about Asura
being defeated by the god Indra and hiding in lotus roots is recorded in Kan-butsu-
zanmai-kyo (Sutra of Reflection on the Buddha’s Sam‡dhi).
51. 山僧 (SANSO), “mountain monk,” a humble term used by Master Rinzai to refer
to himself.
52. 業通 (GOTSU) means powers acquired as a result of past practice (for example,
those of an excellent martial artist), as distinct from intuitive power which emerges in-
stantaneously from the balanced state.
 JINZU 87

powers.53 Now, the six powers of buddha are not like that. When [buddha] enters
the world of sights, it is not beguiled by sights. When it enters the world of
sounds, it is not beguiled by sounds. When it enters the world of smells, it is not
beguiled by smells. When it enters the world of tastes, it is not beguiled by tastes.
When it enters the world of sensations, it is not beguiled by sensations. When it
enters the world of dharmas, it is not beguiled by dharmas. Thus, when [a person]
realizes that the six categories—sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations, and
dharmas54—all are bare manifestations, then nothing can bind this non-reliant
person of the truth. Though this state is substance discharged from the five aggre-
gates, it is just mystical power walking over the ground. Followers of the Way!
True buddha has no set shape and true Dharma has no fixed form. You are only
fashioning images and inventing situations on the basis of fantastic transforma-
tion. Though you may find what you seek, those things are all the ghosts of wild
foxes—never the true state of buddha, but only the views and opinions of non-
Buddhists.”55
[209] So the six mystical powers of the buddhas can neither be attained nor
be supposed by all gods and demons or by the two vehicles and the like.
The six powers of the Buddha’s state of truth are transmitted one-to-one
solely to disciples of the Buddha who are in the Buddha’s state of truth;
they are not transmitted to anyone else. The six powers of buddha are
transmitted one-to-one in the Buddha’s state of truth. Those who have not
received the one-to-one transmission cannot know the six powers of bud-
dha. And we should learn in experience that those who have not received
the one-to-one transmission of the six powers of buddha cannot be people
of the Buddha’s truth.
[210] Zen Master Hyakujo Daichi56 says, “Eyes, ears, nose, tongue: each is not
tainted by greed for all existent and nonexistent dharmas.57 This state is called ‘to
be receiving and retaining a four-line verse,’ and also called ‘the fourth effect.’58
The six senses being without any trace also is called ‘the six mystical powers.’

53. 依通 (ETSU) means powers obtained through medicines, tantric formulae, and so
on, as opposed to power which emerges naturally.
54. 色、声、香、味、触、法 (SHIKI, SHO, KO, MI, SHOKU, HO) are the objects of the
six sense organs. See chap. 2, Maka-hannya-haramitsu.
55. Quoted from Rinzai-roku.
56. Master Hyakujo Ekai (749–814), a successor of Master Baso Do-itsu. Daichi is his
posthumous title.
57. 一切有無諸法 (ISSAI-UMU-SHOHO), means all material and immaterial things—
for example, material possessions and Buddhist teaching.
58. 四果 (SHIKA) means the state of an arhat. See chap. 34, Arakan.
 88 JINZU

When, for instance, just in the present, the state is not hindered by all existent
and nonexistent dharmas, and it is beyond non-reliance on knowing and under-
standing, this is called ‘mystical power.’ Not to hold onto this mystical power is
called ‘being without mystical power.’ Bodhisattvas without mystical power, as
thus described, are of untraceable tracks, are human beings in the ascendant state
of buddha, are human beings who are utterly unthinkable, and are just gods of
themselves.”59
[211] The mystical power transmitted to the present from buddha to
buddha and from patriarch to patriarch is like this. The mystical power of
buddhas is a human being in the ascendant state of buddha, is a human being
who is utterly unthinkable, is a god of just the self, is a bodhisattva being without
mystical power, is knowledge and understanding of non-reliance, is mystical
power not holding onto this, and is all dharmas not being hindered. The six
mystical powers are present now in the Buddha’s state of truth, and the
buddhas have received their transmission and retained them for long ages.
Not a single buddha has failed to receive and retain them; those who do
not receive and retain them are not buddhas. Those six mystical powers
make the six senses clear, in the state of being without any trace. As regards
the meaning of “being without traces,” a man of old said:
The six kinds of mystical function are emptiness and are beyond empti-
ness.
A ball of brightness transcends inside and outside.60

To transcend inside and outside may be to be without traces. When we do

training, learn in practice, and realize and enter, in the state without traces,
we do not disturb the six senses. As regards the meaning of “not to dis-
turb,” one who disturbs deserves thirty [strikes] of the staff.61 So we
should master the six mystical powers in the state described above. Other
than rightful successors in the Buddha’s house, who can hear even that
this principle exists? [Others] have merely mistaken a vain outward chase
for the conduct of coming home.62 Again, the fourth effect is a tool of the

59. Tensho-koto-roku, chap. 9.

60. Quoted from Shodoka by Master Yoka Genkaku.
61. Alludes to the line of a verse in fascicle 6 of Hekigan-roku (Blue Cliff Record).
62. 帰家 (KIKE), “returning home,” means returning to our self in Zazen. In Fukan-
zazengi, Master Dogen describes Zazen as 退歩 (TAIHO), “a backward step [to our origi-
nal state].”
 JINZU 89

Buddha’s truth, but no scholar of the tripiÒaka63 has received its authentic
transmission. How could those who count grains of sand,64 or those who
wander astray,65 attain this real effect? The sort who on attaining the small
are satisfied,66 have never arrived at mastery of the state; only buddhas
have received it from each other. “The fourth effect” is, namely, the state of
receiving and retaining a four-line verse. “Receiving and retaining a four-line
verse” means the state in which, facing all existent and nonexistent dharmas,
the eyes, ears, nose, and tongue are each untainted by greed. Not to be tainted by
greed is untaintedness.67 “Untaintedness” is the everyday mind,68 and is [the
state of] “I am always sharp at this concrete place.”69 The authentic transmis-
sion in Buddhism of the six powers and the fourth effect has been like this.
If there is any [teaching] that goes against this, we should know that it is
not the Buddha-Dharma. In sum, the Buddha’s truth is mastered, in every
case, through mystical power. In such mastery, a bead of water swallows
and spews the vast ocean, and a particle of dust holds up and lets go of
the highest mountain—who could doubt it? This is just the mystical
power itself.

63. 三蔵 (SANZO), lit. “three-storehouses,” representing the Sanskrit tripiÒaka (three

baskets), was used in China as a title for a scholar accomplished in studying the tripiÒaka.
64. 算沙 (SANSA), “counting sand, “ alludes to another line in Shodoka: “They know no
respite from analyzing concepts and forms; having entered the ocean, they vainly exhaust them-
selves by counting grains of sand.”
65. WX (REIHEI), to wander astray or to stumble, is thought to allude to the story in
the Lotus Sutra about the rich man’s son who wanders in poverty in foreign lands. The
characters 伶 L (REIHEI) with the same meaning and the same pronunciation appear in
Lotus Sutra, Shinge (Belief and Understanding). See LS 1.236.
66. “The small” suggests the small vehicle, H„nay‡na Buddhism as opposed to
Mah‡y‡na Buddhism. The source of the quotation from Chinese has not been traced.
67. 不染汚 (FUZENNA). Master Daikan Eno asks Master Nangaku Ejo, “Do you rely
on practice and experience or not?” Nangaku says, “Practice-and-experience is not nonexistent,
but for it to be tainted is impossible.” The Sixth Patriarch says, “Just this untaintedness is that
which buddhas guard and desire. You are also like this. I am also like this. And the ancestral mas-
ters of India were also like this.” (Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 2, no. 1.) See also Shobogenzo, chap.
7, Senjo, chap. 62, Hensan, et cetera.
68. 平常心 (BYOJOSHIN). Master Joshu asks Master Nansen, “What is the truth?”
Nansen says, “The everyday mind is the truth.” See Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 19.
69. The words of Master Tozan Ryokai. See Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 55.
90 JINZU

Shobogenzo Jinzu

Preached to the assembly at Kan-

non-dori-kosho-horin-ji temple
on the 16th day of the 11th lunar
month in the 2nd year of Ninji.70

70. 1241.
 [26]
大悟

DAIGO
Great Realization
Dai means great and go means realization, so daigo means great realization.
Many Buddhist scholars, for example Dr. Daisetsu Suzuki, have translated
go as “enlightenment.” But the meaning of the word “enlightenment” is am-
biguous and the word has for many years been a stumbling block to the
understanding of Buddhism. So it may be better to translate go as realization.
The meaning of realization in Master Dogen’s theory is also difficult to un-
derstand. Anyway, it is clear that realization is not only intellectual
understanding, but a more concrete realization of facts in reality. So we can
say that realization in Master Dogen’s theory is realization in real life. We
can study his thoughts on realization in this chapter.

[217] The great truth of buddhas, having been transmitted, is a continuous

line of immediacy; and the meritorious conduct of patriarchs, having been
revealed, is a level expanse. Therefore, to actualize great realization; to
arrive at the truth without realizing it; to reflect on realization and to play
with realization; and to forget realization and let go and act: these are just
the everyday state of Buddhist patriarchs. [Buddhist patriarchs] experi-
ence utilization of the twelve hours, in which they take things up, and
they experience being used by the twelve hours, in which they throw
things away. Springing out further from this pivot-point, they also experi-
ence playing with mud-balls1 and playing with the soul.2 From their great
realization onwards, Buddhist patriarchs inevitably master learning in
practice that is actualized like this; at the same time, great realization
which is totally realization is not seen as a “Buddhist patriarch,” and a

1. 弄泥団 (RO-TEIDEN) suggests the performance of mundane daily tasks in the bal-
anced state.
2. 弄精魂 (RO-ZEIKON). In chap. 68, Udonge, Master Dogen describes Zazen as play-
ing with the soul.

91
92 DAIGO

Buddhist patriarch who is totally a Buddhist patriarch is not “total great

realization.” A Buddhist patriarch springs out beyond the boundaries of
“great realization,” and great realization is a face and eyes springing out
in the state which is ascendant over “Buddhist patriarchs.” Still, human
makings are of many kinds. Namely, there are the innately intelligent,3 who,
by living, penetrate and get free from life—this, in other words, [whether]
at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of life, is a physical realiza-
tion. There are [people of] learned intelligence,4 who, through learning
master the state of themselves—in other words, they physically realize the
skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of learning. There are people of the buddha-
intelligence, who are beyond innate intelligence and beyond learned intel-
ligence; transcending the boundaries of self and others, they are limitless
at this place and are free from the fetters of subjective or objective intelli-
gence. There are people of the intelligence which has no teacher; they neither
rely on good counselors nor rely on sutras, they neither rely on the nature
nor rely on forms, and they neither deny or change themselves nor con-
vert others; but still they disclose a commanding presence. Of these
several kinds, we do not see one kind as keen and see a second kind as
dull. The many kinds actualize many corresponding kinds of meritorious
conduct. Then what kind of being, sentient or non-sentient, could be inca-
pable of innate intelligence?—we must study this in practice. When there
is innate intelligence, there is innate realization, there is innate verification,
and there is innate training. Thus, the Buddhist Patriarch, though already
the Controller of Men,5 has been praised as “[the man of] innate realiza-
tion”; he is the life that brought realization into being, and so he is
described like this. To become satisfied with the state of great realization
may be [called] “innate realization”; it is to have learned to bring forth

3. 生知 (SHOCHI), which generally means “innate intelligence,” or “natural sage”

(see Book 1, Fukan-zazengi), can also be interpreted as “knowing through life.” In his
explanation, Master Dogen utilizes the ambiguity of 生 (SHO), which as an adjective
means “innate” or “inborn,” as a noun means “birth” or “life,” and as a verb means “to
live” or “to be born.” In Master Dogen’s commentary, “innate” does not mean innate in a
naturalistic sense; it means naturally present but at the same time realized by effort in life.
See also chap. 90, Shizen-biku para. [54]: “In the Buddha’s teaching, there are no people of
innate intelligence.”
4. 学而知 (GAKUJICHI), like 生知 (SHOCHI), is originally a Confucian concept. See
chap. 90, Shizen-biku para. [56].
5. 調御丈夫 (CHOGO-JOBU), representing the Sanskrit puru˘a-damya-s‡rathi, is one of
ten epithets of the Buddha. See Glossary. The ten are listed in chap. 87, Kuyo-shobutsu.
 DAIGO 93

realization, and so it is described like this.6 This being so, we realize great
realization by bringing forth the triple world, realize great realization by
bringing forth the four elements, realize great realization by bringing forth
the hundreds of weeds, realize great realization by bringing forth the
Buddhist patriarchs, and realize great realization by bringing forth the
Universe.7 All these are instances of bringing forth great realization and
thereby realizing afresh the state of great realization. The time which is
just the moment of this [realization] is now.
[221] Great Master Esho8 of Rinzai-in temple says, “If we search throughout
the great kingdom of Tang for someone who does not realize, it is hard to find one
person.”9
[222] What Great Master Esho expresses now is the authentically propa-
gated skin, flesh, bones, and marrow, in which there can be no wrongness.
“Throughout the Great Kingdom of Tang” means inside10 our own eye: it is
not connected with “the whole Universe” and is not stuck in “lands of
dust.” If we search inside this concrete place for a person who does not
realize, it is hard to find one. The self of yesterday which is the subjective
self is not one who does not realize, and the self of today which is the ob-
jective self is not one who does not realize. If we search among mountain
people and water people, past and present, looking for non-realization, we
will never find it. Students who study Rinzai’s words like this will not be
passing time in vain. Even so, we should study further, in experience,
what behavior the ancestral founder has in mind. In short, I would like to
question Rinzai, for the present: If you know only that someone who does
not realize is hard to find, and do not know that someone who does realize
is hard to find, that is never enough to be affirmed, and it is hard to say
that you have fully understood that someone who does not realize is hard
to find. If we look for someone who does not realize, it is hard to find one

6. Realization, even though it is innate or natural, has to be realized through effort in

life, and so it is described as 生悟 (SHOGO), which means both “innate realization” and
“realization through living.” See note 3.
7. 公案 (KOAN). See chap. 3, Genjo-koan.
8. Master Rinzai Gigen (815?–867), a successor of Master Obaku Ki-un. Great Master
Esho is his posthumous title.
9. A slightly different version of Master Rinzai’s words is quoted in Kosonshuku-
goroku, chap. 5: “Even if we break the kingdom of Tang searching for someone who does not
understand, we cannot find one person.”
10 . 裏 (RI), lit. “backside” or “inside,” appears in Master Rinzai’s words as
“throughout.”
 94 DAIGO

person, but have you ever, or have you never, met with half a person11 who
is beyond realization and whose face and eyes and easy bearing are im-
posing and majestic? If we search the Great Kingdom of Tang for someone
who does not realize, it is hard to find one person, but do not think that
having difficulty in finding is the ultimate state. We should try searching
for two or three Great Kingdoms of Tang in one person or half a person. Is
it difficult? Is it not difficult? When we are equipped with these eyes, we
can be affirmed as Buddhist patriarchs who are experiencing satisfaction.
[224] Great Master Hochi12 of Kegon-ji temple in Keicho (succeeded Tozan; his
monk’s name was Kyujo) on one occasion is asked by a monk: “What is it like
at the time when a person in the state of great realization returns to delusion?”
The Master says, “A broken mirror does not again reflect. Fallen blossoms can-
not climb back onto the trees.”13
[225] The present question, while it is a question, is like preaching to the
assembly—[preaching] not proclaimed except in the order of Kegon, and
not possible for anyone except a rightful successor of Tozan to deliver.
Truly this may be the squarely regulated order of a Buddhist patriarch
who experiences satisfaction. “A person in the state of great realization” is not
intrinsically in great realization and is not hoarding a great realization
realized externally. It is not that, in old age, [the person] meets with a
great realization [already] present in the public world. [People of great
realization] do not forcibly drag it out of themselves, but they unfailingly
realize great realization. We do not see “not being deluded” as great reali-
zation. Neither should we aim, in order to plant the seed of great
realization, to become at the outset a deluded being. People of great reali-
zation still realize great realization, and people of great delusion still
realize great realization. If there is a person in great realization, accord-
ingly there is buddha in great realization, there are earth, water, fire, wind,
and air in great realization, and there are outdoor pillars and stone lan-
terns in great realization. Now we have inquired into a person in the state

11. 半人 (HANNIN), “half a person,” is opposed to 一人 (ICHININ), “one person,” in

Master Rinzai’s words. Master Dogen often uses 半 (HAN), “half,” to represent concrete
reality.
12. Master Kegon Kyujo, successor of Master Tozan Ryokai. Great Master Hochi is
his posthumous title.
13. Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 17. “Fallen blossoms do not return to their branches; a
broken mirror does not again reflect” (rakuge eda ni kaerazu, hakyo futatabi terasazu) is a
proverb still heard in Japan today.
 DAIGO 95

of great realization. The question “What is it like at the time when a person in
the state of great realization returns to delusion?” truly asks a question that
deserves to be asked. And Kegon does not hate [the question]; he vener-
ates the ancient ways of the forest orders—[his conduct] may be the
meritorious conduct of a Buddhist patriarch. Let us consider for a while, is
the return to delusion of a person in the state of great realization com-
pletely the same as a person being in the unenlightened state? At the
moment when a person in the state of great realization returns to delusion,
is [that person] taking great realization and making it into delusion?14
Does [the person] return to delusion by bringing delusion from a distant
place and covering great realization?15 Or does the person in the state of
great realization, while remaining a whole person and not breaking great
realization, nevertheless partake in a return to delusion?16 Again, does
“the return to delusion of a person in the state of great realization” de-
scribe as “returning to delusion” the bringing forth of a further instance of
great realization?17 We must master [these questions] one by one. Alterna-
tively, is it that great realization is one hand, and returning to delusion is
one hand?18 In any case, we should know that the ultimate conclusion of
our study up to now is to hear that a person in the state of great realiza-
tion experiences returning to delusion. We should know that there is great
realization which makes returning to delusion a familiar experience. Thus,
recognizing a bandit as a child does not define returning to delusion, and
recognizing a child as a bandit does not define returning to delusion.19
Great realization may be to recognize a bandit as a bandit, and returning
to delusion is to recognize a child as “a child.” We see great realization as
a bit being added in the state of abundance. When a bit is taken away in the state
of scarcity, that is returning to delusion. In sum, when we grope for and
completely get a grip on someone who returns to delusion, we may en-

14. For example, making a problem out of natural desire (idealistic phase).
15. For example, throwing away Buddhist effort and drinking beer (materialistic
phase).
16. For example, reading fiction (behavior in day-to-day life).
17. Suggests that it is ultimately difficult to discriminate between delusion and reali-
zation.
18. 一隻手 (ICHI-SEKI-SHU), “one hand,” represents a concrete thing. Master Dogen
brought his discussion back into the area of concrete things.
19. 賊 (ZOKU), “bandit,” may be interpreted as an enemy of the Buddha’s teaching,
and 子 (SHI), “child,” may be interpreted as a disciple of the Buddha. The point of the
sentence is that delusion is an inclusive state, and therefore not only a matter of mistaken
recognition.
 96 DAIGO

counter a person in the state of great realization. Is the self now returning
to delusion? Is it beyond delusion? We must examine it in detail, bringing
it here. This is to meet in experience the Buddhist patriarchs.
[229] The Master says, “A broken mirror does not again reflect. Fallen blossoms
cannot climb back onto the trees.” This preaching for the multitude expresses
the very moment of a mirror being broken. That being so, to concern the
mind with the time before the mirror is broken and thereupon to study the
words “broken mirror,” is not right. [Some] might understand that the
point of the words now spoken by Kegon, “A broken mirror does not again
reflect, fallen blossoms cannot climb back onto the trees,” is to say that a person
in the state of great realization does not again reflect, and to say that a per-
son in the state of great realization cannot climb back onto the trees—to assert
that a person in the state of great realization will never again return to
delusion. But [Kegon’s point] is beyond such study. If it were as people
think, [the monk’s question] would be asking, for example, “How is the
everyday life of a person in the state of great realization?” And the reply
to this would be something like “There are times of returning to delu-
sion.” The present episode is not like that. [The monk is asking] what it is
like at the time when a person in the state of great realization returns to
delusion; therefore he is calling into question20 the very moment itself of
returning to delusion. The actualization of an expression of the moment
like this is: “A broken mirror does not again reflect. Fallen blossoms cannot
climb back onto the trees.” When fallen blossoms are just fallen blossoms,
even if they are rising to the top of a hundred-foot pole, they are still fallen
blossoms.21 Because a broken mirror is a broken mirror just here and now,
however many vivid situations it realizes, each similarly is a reflection
that does not again reflect.22 Picking up the point that is expressed as a mir-
ror being broken23 and is expressed as blossoms being fallen, we should grasp

20. 未審 (MISHIN, or ibukashi) means not yet clarified in detail. In stories in Shinji-
shobogenzo, the words 未審 (ibukashi), or “I do not understand,” are often spoken by
monks to ask a master for further clarification. Here Master Dogen uses the compound
unconventionally as a verb 未審する (MISHIN suru).
21. 落華 (RAKUGE), “fallen flowers,” describes the momentary real state of flowers,
which is irrelevant to their relative position.
22. 不重照 (FU-JU-SHO), “does not again reflect,” describes the state in a moment of
the present; it is not concerned with the future.
23 . 破鏡 (HAKYO), “a broken mirror” or “a mirror being broken,” and 落華
(RAKUGE), “fallen flowers” or “flowers being fallen,” here represent the momentary state
of action of concrete things.
 DAIGO 97

in experience the moment which is the time when a person in the state of great
realization returns to delusion. In this [moment], great realization is akin to
having become buddha, and returning to delusion is akin to [the state of]
ordinary beings. We should not study [Kegon’s words] as if they dis-
cussed such things as turning back into an ordinary being, or traces depending
on an origin.24 Others talk about breaking the great state of enlightenment
and becoming an ordinary being. Here, we do not say that great realiza-
tion is broken, do not say that great realization is lost, and do not say that
delusion comes.25 We should never let ourselves be like those others.
Truly, great realization is limitless, and returning to delusion is limitless.
There is no delusion that hinders great realization, [but] having brought
forth three instances of great realization, we create half an instance of
small delusion.26 In this situation, there are [snow mountains] realizing
great realization for the sake of snow mountains; trees and stones are real-
izing great realization relying on trees and stones; the great realization of
buddhas is realizing great realization for the sake of living beings; and the
great realization of living beings is greatly realizing the great realization of
buddhas: it cannot be related to before and behind.27 Great realization
now is beyond self and beyond others. It does not come; at the same time,
it fills in ditches and fills up valleys. It does not go; at the same time, we
keenly hate pursuit that follows an external object.28 Why is it so? [Because] we
follow objects perfectly.29
[232] Master Keicho Beiko30 has a monk ask Kyozan,31 “Does even a person of the
present moment rely upon realization, or not?” Kyozan says, “Realization is not

24. “Turning back into an ordinary being” describes a process and “traces depend-
ing on origin” describes a separation in time or space, but Master Kegon’s words
describe a momentary state.
25. Again, “delusion comes” describes a process, but Master Dogen saw delusion as
a momentary state.
26. For example, after making something to eat, having an alcoholic drink with it.
27. Great realization is not related to the past and future—because it is a momentary
state.
28. Because pursuing the truth is returning to ourselves.
29. 随佗去 (ZUITAKO), “follow objects perfectly” or “follow others out,” is a common
expression in Shobogenzo of the state which is completely harmonized with circum-
stances.
30. Master Keicho Beiko, a successor of Master Isan Reiyu.
31. Master Kyozan Ejaku (807–883), also a successor of Master Isan Reiyu.
 98 DAIGO

nonexistent, but how can it help falling into the second consciousness?”32 The
monk reports this back to Beiko. Beiko profoundly affirms it.33
[233] “The present moment” of which he speaks is the now of every person.
Although [instances of] causing ourselves to think of the past, the present, and
the future occur in thousands and tens of thousands, even they are present
moments, are now. The state of each person is inevitably the present mo-
ment. Sometimes eyes have been described as the present moment, and
sometimes nostrils have been described as the present moment. “Do we
rely upon realization, or not?” We must investigate these words quietly; we
should replace our heart with them and replace our brain with them. Re-
cent shavelings in the great kingdom of Sung say, “To realize the truth is the
original aim,” and, so saying, they vainly wait for realization. But they
seem not to be illuminated by the brightness of the Buddhist patriarchs.
Indolently, they disregard the need solely to comprehend in experience
under a true good counselor. Even during the ancient buddhas’ appear-
ance in the world, they might not have attained salvation. The present
words “Do we rely upon realization, or not?” neither say that realization
does not exist, nor say that it exists, nor say that it comes: they say “Do we
rely on it, or not?” They are akin to asserting that the realization of a person
of the present moment, somehow, has already been realized. If we speak,
for example, of attaining realization, it sounds as if [realization] did not
used to exist. If we speak of realization having come, it sounds as if that
realization used to exist elsewhere. If we speak of having become realiza-
tion, it sounds as if realization has a beginning. We do not discuss it like
this and it is not like this; even so, when we discuss what realization is like,
we ask if we need to rely on realization. Thereupon, with regard to “reali-
zation,” [Kyozan] has said, “What can it do about falling into the second
consciousness?” He is thus saying that the second consciousness also is
realization. By “the second consciousness,” he seems to mean “I have be-
come realization,” or “I have attained realization,” or “realization has
come.” He is saying that even “I have become” and even “it has come” are
realization. So, while regretting the fact of falling into the second con-
sciousness, he seems to be denying that second consciousness exists!
Second consciousness produced from realization, at the same time, may be
taken to be true second consciousness. In that case, even if it is second
consciousness, and even if it is consciousness [divided into] hundreds of

32. 第二頭 (DAI-NI-TO), lit. “head number two,” means divided consciousness.
33. Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 7; Rento-eyo, chap. 8; and Wanshi-juko, no. 62.
 DAIGO 99

thousands, it may be the state of realization. It is not true that for the sec-
ond consciousness to exist, it must be left over from previously existing
primary consciousness. For example, while I see the I of yesterday as my-
self, yesterday I called [the I of] today a second person.34 We do not say
that present realization was not there yesterday; neither has it begun now.
We should grasp it in experience like this. In sum, heads of great realiza-
tion are black, and heads of great realization are white.35

Shobogenzo Daigo

Preached to the assembly at Kan-

non-dori-in-kosho-horin-ji temple
on the 28th day of the 1st lunar
month in the 3rd year of Ninji.36

Written, and preached to a great

gathering of human beings and
gods, during a stay at the old
Kippo temple in Etsu-u,37 on the
27th day of the 1st lunar month in
the 2nd year of Kangen.38

I copied this on the 20th day of

the 3rd lunar month, in the
spring of the same 2nd year [of
Kangen], while serving as [the
Master’s] attendant in the inner
sanctums of Kippo temple in
Etsu-u—Ejo

34. Because there is only the reality of the present moment, even divided conscious-
ness is also realization. But consideration based on the assumption of past, present, and
future gives rise to the distinction between realization and second consciousness, or self
and second person.
35. Black heads and white heads suggest the heads of young people and of old peo-
ple. The sentence suggests that all people are in the state of great realization, whether we
realize it or not.
36. 1242.
37. Corresponds to present-day Fukui prefecture.
38. 1244.
 [27]
坐禅箴

ZAZENSHIN
A Needle for Zazen
Shin means a bamboo needle that was used for acupuncture in ancient China.
So shin means a method of healing body and mind, and the word came to be
used for a maxim that has the power to cure a human being of physical and
mental discomfort. Subsequently, the word shin was used to describe short
verses useful in teaching the important points of a method of training. In this
chapter Master Dogen first explained the true meaning of Zazen, quoting
and commenting on a famous exchange between Master Nangaku and Mas-
ter Baso. Then he praised a Zazenshin by Master Wanshi Shokaku, and
finally, he wrote his own Zazenshin.

[3] While Great Master Yakusan Kodo1 is sitting, a monk asks him,
“What are you thinking in the still-still state?”2 The Master says, “Thinking the
concrete state of not thinking.” The monk says, “How can the state of not think-
ing be thought?” The Master says, “It is non-thinking.”3
[4] Experiencing the state in which the words of the Great Master are like
this, we should learn in practice mountain-still sitting,4 and we should re-
ceive the authentic transmission of mountain-still sitting: this is the
investigation of mountain-still sitting which has been transmitted in Bud-
dhism. Thinking in the still-still state is not of only one kind, but Yakusan’s
words are one example of it. Those words are “Thinking the concrete state of
not thinking.” They include thinking as skin, flesh, bones, and marrow, and

1. Master Yakusan Igen (745–828), successor of Master Sekito Kisen.

2. 兀兀地 (GOTSU-GOTSU-CHI). 兀 (GOTSU), repeated for emphasis, lit. means “high
and level,” “lofty” or “motionless.” The word originally suggests a table mountain, and
hence something imposing and balanced.
3. Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 14, and Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 2, no. 24.
4. 兀坐 (GOTSU-ZA). See note 2.

101
102 ZAZENSHIN

not thinking as skin, flesh, bones, and marrow. The monk says, “How can
the state of not thinking be thought?” Truly, although the state of not thinking
is ancient, still it is “How can it be thought about!”5 In the still-still state how
could it be impossible for thinking to exist? And why do [people] not un-
derstand the ascendancy6 of the still-still state? If they were not the stupid
people of vulgar recent times, they might possess the power, and might
possess the thinking, to ask about the still-still state. The Great Master says,
“It is non-thinking.” This use of non-thinking is brilliant; at the same time,
whenever we think the state of not thinking, we are inevitably using non-
thinking. In non-thinking there is someone, and [that] someone is main-
taining and relying upon me. The still-still state, although it is I, is not only
thinking: it is holding up the head of the still-still state. Even though the
still-still state is the still-still state, how can the still-still state think the still-
still state? So the still-still state is beyond the intellectual capacity of Buddha,
beyond the intellectual capacity of the Dharma, beyond the intellectual
capacity of the state of realization, and beyond the intellectual capacity of
understanding itself. The one-to-one transmission to Yakusan in the state
like this is the thirty-sixth, already, in a line of direct descent from ¯‡kya-
muni Buddha; and when we trace upward from Yakusan, there is, after
thirty-six generations, the Buddha ¯‡kyamuni. Having been authentically
transmitted like this, thinking the concrete state of not thinking is present al-
ready. In recent years, however, stupid unreliable people7 have said, “In
the effort of Zazen, to attain peace of mind8 is everything. Just this is the state of
tranquillity.” This opinion is beneath even scholars of the small vehicle. It
is inferior even to the vehicles of men and gods. How can we call such
people students of the Buddha-Dharma? In the Great Kingdom of Sung
today, people of such effort are many. It is lamentable that the Patriarch’s
truth has gone to ruin. There is another group of people [who say]: “Sit-
ting in Zazen to pursue the truth is an essential mechanism9 for beginners

5. The state is unthinkable at each moment.

6. 向上 (KOJO) means “ascending” or “being beyond.” (See chap. 28, Butsu-kojo-no-
ji.) Sitting in stillness is ascendant to, or beyond, both thinking and not thinking.
7. 杜撰 (ZUSAN) lit. “composed by Zu, or To,” means slipshod, careless, unreliable.
杜 (ZU, TO) stands for 杜黙 (TOMOKU), a Chinese poet who ignored literary conventions.
8. 胸襟無事 (KYOKIN [no] BUJI). 胸襟 (KYOKIN) means bosom, heart, or mind. 無事
(BUJI) means peacefulness, or absence of incident. The words imply a sweeping negation
of thinking, based on the idealistic view.
9. 要機 (YOKI), or “pivotal essence.” The same characters appear later in this chapter
in the Zazenshin of Master Wanshi and Master Dogen. (See also note 38).
 ZAZENSHIN 103

and late-learners, but it is not necessarily the action of Buddhist patriarchs.

For them, walking also is Zen, and sitting also is Zen. In talking and silence,
movement and rest, the body is at ease.10 Do not associate [Buddhist patri-
archs] exclusively with this effort [of Zazen].” Many who call themselves
followers of Rinzai are of this opinion. They speak like this because they
have been remiss in receiving the transmission of the true life of the Bud-
dha-Dharma. What is “a beginner”? Which [sort] is not a beginner? At
what place do they locate a beginner?11 Remember, as the established
[method of] investigation in learning the truth, we pursue the state of
truth in Zazen. The point, in manifest form, is that there is acting buddha
which does not expect to become buddha. Because acting buddha is ut-
terly beyond becoming buddha, the Universe is realized. The body-
buddha is utterly beyond becoming buddha, [but] when nets and cages
are broken, sitting buddha does not hinder becoming buddha at all. Just at
this moment, the power is originally present, through a thousand ages
and ten thousand ages, to enter [the state of] buddha or to enter [the state
of] demons. And forward steps and backward steps possess the capacity
intimately to fill ditches and to fill valleys.
[9] Zen Master Daijaku of Kozei, 12 after receiving the immediate
transmission of the mind-seal13 while learning in practice under Zen Mas-
ter Dai-e of Nangaku,14 constantly sits in Zazen. Nangaku on one occasion
goes to Daijaku’s place and asks him, “Virtuous monk! What are you aiming
at, sitting in Zazen?”15 We should quietly consider and investigate this
question. That is, we should consider in detail whether [Nangaku] is ask-
ing: Is there an aim which might be superior to sitting in Zazen? Beyond
the framework of sitting in Zazen, has there never yet been a state of truth

10. The words in italics are quoted from Shodoka, by Master Yoka Genkaku.
11. “Beginner” is 初心 (SHOSHIN), lit. “beginning mind,” or “beginner’s mind,” and
is the usual term for a beginner himself or herself.
12. Master Baso Do-itsu (704–88), successor of Master Nangaku Ejo. Kosei (Jiangxi) is
the name of a province in southeast China where Master Baso lived. Zen Master Daijaku
is his posthumous title.
13. 心印 (SHIN-IN). In chap. 72, Zanmai-o-zanmai, Master Dogen identifies the Bud-
dha-mind-seal with the full lotus posture.
14. Master Nangaku Ejo (677–744), successor of Master Daikan Eno. Nangaku is the
name of the mountain on which he had his order. Zen Master Dai-e is his posthumous
title.
15. The original story is quoted in Keitoku-dento-roku chap. 5, and in Shinji-shobogenzo,
pt. 1, no. 8. Master Dogen quoted the first half of the story at the end of chap. 20, Kokyo.
 104 ZAZENSHIN

to aim at? Should we not aim at anything at all? Just in the moment of sit-
ting in Zazen, what kind of aim is being realized? More than we love a
carved dragon, we should love the real dragon.16 We should learn that the
carved dragon and the real dragon both possess the potency of clouds and
rain. Do not hold the remote17 in high regard, and do not hold the remote
in low regard: be accustomed to it as the remote. Do not hold the close18 in
high regard, and do not hold the close in low regard: be accustomed to it
as the close. Do not think light of the eyes, and do not attach importance to
the eyes. Do not attach importance to the ears, and do not think light of
the ears. Make the ears and eyes sharp and clear.19
[11] Kozei says, “Aiming to become buddha.”20 We should clarify and master
these words. When he says “becoming buddha” just what does he mean?
Does “becoming buddha” describe becoming buddha being done by a bud-
dha? Does “becoming buddha” describe becoming buddha being done to a
buddha? Does “becoming buddha” describe the manifestation of one in-
stance and the manifestation of two instances of buddha? Is aiming to be-
come buddha, being the dropping off [of body and mind], aiming to become
buddha as dropping off? Does “aiming to become buddha” describe that, even
though becoming buddha is of myriad kinds, it continues to be entangled21
with this aiming? Remember, the words of Daijaku are that to sit in Zazen
is, in every case, aiming to become buddha. To sit in Zazen is, in every case,
becoming buddha as aiming. The aiming may be before the becoming buddha,
may be after the becoming buddha, and may be just the very moment of
becoming buddha. Let us ask for a while: How many instances of becoming

16. 彫龍 (CHORYU), “carved dragon,” symbolizes representation or explanation of

Zazen. 真龍 (SHINRYU), “real dragon,” symbolizes Zazen itself. Master Dogen empha-
sizes the need for both kinds of dragon.
17. 遠 (ON), “the remote” or “the distant,” suggests, for example, sutras recorded in
India many centuries ago.
18. 近 (KIN), “the close,” means, for example, our own experience in Zazen.
19. In general, eyes suggests seeing concrete things, or the perceptive function, and
ears suggest hearing words, or the intellectual function.
20. 図作仏 (SABUTSU [o] haka[ru], or TOSABUTSU). 図 (TO, haka[ru]), means 1) to aim
or to plan to do something, and 2) to make effort in line with an aim or plan. 作 (SA,
tsuku[ru], na[su]) means to make, to make something into something, to become, or to do.
21. 葛藤する (KATTO suru). 葛藤 (KATTO) which lit. means “[the entanglement of]
arrowroot and wisteria” and hence “complications” or “the complicated,” is the title of
chap. 46, Katto. Simply thinking, we become buddha when we are free of intention. In
this paragraph, however, Master Dogen suggests that the real relation between intention
(aiming) and liberated action (becoming buddha) is complicated.
 ZAZENSHIN 105

buddha does one such instance of aiming entangle? This entanglement is

further entwining with entanglement. At this time, all cases of entangle-
ment—as totally becoming buddha in separate instances, and as totally
becoming buddha always being exactly itself—are individual instances of
aiming. We cannot flee from a single instance of aiming. At a time when we
flee from a single instance of aiming, we lose body and life. [But even] the
time when we lose body and life is an instance of entanglement as aiming.
[13] Nangaku then picks up a tile and starts to polish it on a stone. Daijaku
eventually asks, “What is the Master doing?” Truly, who could fail to see
that he is polishing a tile? But who can see it as polishing a tile? Rather,
the polishing of a tile has [always] been questioned like this: “What are you
doing!” The doing of what is always the polishing of a tile. In this land and
other worlds, different though they are, polishing a tile may possess an
import that has never ceased. It is not simply a matter of not fixing to our
own views as our own views: we perfectly ascertain that in the myriad
kinds of work there is import to be learned in practice. Remember, we
witness buddha without knowing or understanding buddha just as we see
waters without knowing them and see mountains without knowing them.
[Nevertheless,] if we hastily conclude that there can be no path of penetra-
tion to the Dharma before our eyes, that is not Buddhist study.
[14] Nangaku says, “Polishing to make22 a mirror.” We should clarify the
meaning of these words. In polishing to make a mirror Buddhist truths are
always present and the realized Universe is present: it is never an empty
pretense. Though tiles are tiles and mirrors are mirrors, we should know
that when we are striving to master the truth of polishing, [polishing] pos-
sesses a limitless abundance of distinguishing features. It may be that
even the eternal mirror and the clear mirror23 are made into mirrors by
polishing a tile. If we do not know that mirrors derive from polishing a tile,
we are without a Buddhist patriarch’s expression of the truth, we have not
experienced a Buddhist patriarch’s mouth opening, and we are not seeing
and hearing a Buddhist patriarch’s exhalations.
[15] Daijaku says, “How can polishing a tile realize a mirror?” Truly,
polishing a tile, as [the work of] an iron man, does not rely upon the re-
sources of others. Even so, polishing a tile is not to realize a mirror. The

22. 作 (SA, na[su]), as in 作仏 (SABUTSU), “becoming buddha,” and 作什麼 (SA-

SOMO), “doing what.”
23. 古鏡 (KOKYO), “the eternal mirror,” and 明鏡 (MEIKYO), “the clear mirror,” al-
lude to a story quoted at length in chap. 20, Kokyo.
 106 ZAZENSHIN

realization of a mirror—though it is nothing other than itself—may be

[described as] instantaneous.
[16] Nangaku says, “How can sitting in Zazen make you into a buddha?”
Clearly, there is a truth that Zazen does not expect to become buddha. The
principle is evident that to become buddha is irrelevant to Zazen.
[16] Daijaku says, “Just what is right, here and now?” These words look like
a question only about this concrete place, but they are also asking about
rightness here and now at any other place. Remember, for example, the
moment when a close friend meets a close friend: [his] being my close
friend is [my] being his close friend. “Just what is right, here and now,” is
direct manifestation [of both sides] at once.
[17] Nangaku says, “If, when a person is riding in a cart, the cart does not move,
is it right to prod the cart, or is it right to prod the ox?” Now, as to the mean-
ing of “If the cart does not move,” what is a cart moving and what is a cart
not moving? For example, is water flowing a cart moving? Is water not
flowing a cart moving?24 We might say that flowing is water not moving.25
It may also be that water moving is beyond “flowing.” Thus, when we in-
vestigate the words, “if the cart does not move,” we may find that there is
not moving, and we may find that there is no not moving—because [the
cart] must be in Time.26 The words “if it does not move” have not one-
sidedly expressed only not moving. [Nangaku] says, “Is it right to prod the
cart, or is it right to prod the ox?” Can there be both prodding the cart and
prodding the ox? Must prodding the cart and prodding the ox be equiva-
lent, or might they be not equivalent? In the secular world there is no
method of prodding the cart.27 Though the common man has no method
of prodding the cart, we have seen that in Buddhism there is a method of
prodding the cart—it is the very eyes of learning in practice. And though
we learn that there is a method of prodding the cart, [prodding the cart]
cannot be completely the same as prodding the ox. We should consider
this in detail. Though methods of prodding the ox are present in the ordi-

24. If a river is running alongside a cart, or a cart is moving alongside a lake, because
water and the cart are in mutual relation, it is not possible to say that one element is
moving and one element is not moving.
25. Action (flowing) transcends relative movement.
26. Time is a series of instants (see chap. 11, Uji). In each instant there is no move-
ment, but the progression from instant to instant is continuous movement.
27. A method of prodding the cart means a method of regulating the physical state,
for example, Zazen.
 ZAZENSHIN 107

nary world,28 we should investigate further and learn in practice the

prodding of the ox in Buddhism. Is it the prodding of a castrated water
buffalo?29 Is it the prodding of an iron ox?30 Is it the prodding of a mud
ox?31 Should a whip32 do the prodding? Should the whole Universe do the
prodding? Should the whole mind do the prodding? Should the marrow
be beaten flat? Should a fist33 do the beating? There should be fist beating
fist, and there should be ox beating ox.34
[20] Daijaku makes no reply, a state which we should not idly overlook. It
is throwing away a tile and pulling in a jewel;35 it is turning the head and chang-
ing the features.36 Nothing at all can filch this state of no reply.
[21] Nangaku teaches further, “Your learning sitting dhy‡na37 is learning
sitting buddha.” Investigating these words, we should grasp them as just
the pivotal essence38 of the ancestral patriarchs. We were not aware of an
exact definition of “learning Zazen,” but [now] we have seen that it is
“learning sitting buddha.” How could anyone but the child and grandchild

28. A method of prodding the ox means a method for motivating the mind, for ex-
ample, the offering of rewards.
29. Master Enchi Dai-an said, “I have lived on Isan mountain for thirty years, eating Isan
meals, shitting Isan shit, but not studying Isan Zen. I just watched over a castrated water buf-
falo....” Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 10. See Shobogenzo, chap. 64, Kajo.
30. Master Fuketsu Ensho said, “The mind-seal of the ancestral masters is like the stuff of
a molded iron ox.” Hekigan-roku (Blue Cliff Record), no. 38.
31. Master Ryuzan said, “I saw two mud oxen. They fought and entered the sea. There has
been no news of them since.” Quoted in Ryuzan-roku (Ryuzan’s Record).
32. For discussion of the meaning of a whip, see chap. 85, Shime.
33. 挙頭 (KENTO), a symbol of action.
34. 牛打牛 (GYU-TA-GYU), “ox prods ox” or “ox beats ox,” means ox exists as it is. ë•
(TA) lit. means to strike, beat, prod, et cetera, but the character often represents action
itself, for example in Master Baso’s words 祇管打坐 (SHIKAN-TAZA), “just sitting.”
35. Master Joshu Jushin says, “Tonight I have given the answer. Anyone who understands
the question should come forward.” A monk steps forward and prostrates himself. The Mas-
ter says, “Just before I threw away a tile to pull in a jewel, but instead I have drawn out a lump of
clay.” (Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 10.) Master Dogen suggests that Master Baso’s not saying
anything is valuable effort, like that of Master Joshu.
36. 回頭換面 (koube [o] megura[shite] omote [o] ka[uru]) symbolizes normal behavior.
37. 坐禅 (ZAZEN), lit. “sitting dhy‡na,” is rendered in Master Dogen’s commentary
(and in the chapter title) as “Zazen.”
38. 要機 (YOKI). 要 (YO, kaname), as a noun, means pivot or main point, and as an ad-
jective, means pivotal or essential. 機 (KI), means a mechanism (of a machine) or (human)
potentiality, stuff, makings. It also means an opportunity or an occasion, and thus has
connotations of a state at the moment of the present.
 108 ZAZENSHIN

of rightful successors assert that learning Zazen is learning sitting buddha?

Truly, we should know that a beginner’s Zazen is the first Zazen; and the
first Zazen is the first sitting buddha.
[21] Describing Zazen, he says, “When we are learning sitting dhy‡na, that
dhy‡na is beyond sitting and lying down.” What he is saying now is that
Zazen is Zazen, not sitting or lying down. After we have received the one-
to-one transmission of [the teaching] that [Zazen] is beyond sitting and
lying down, unlimited instances of sitting and lying down are ourself.
Why should we seek life-blood in the familiar or unfamiliar? Why should
we discuss delusion and realization? Who wishes to pursue an intellectual
conclusion?
[22] Nangaku says, “When you are learning sitting buddha, buddha is beyond
any set form.” When we want to say what these words say, [the expression]
is like this. The reason sitting buddha appears as one buddha and a sec-
ond buddha, is that it is adorned with transcendence of any set form.
[Nangaku’s] saying now that buddha is beyond any set form, expresses the
form of buddha; and because it is buddha beyond any set form, it is ut-
terly impossible for it to escape [the form of] sitting buddha. In sum,
because buddha is adorned with transcendence of any set form, when it is
learning sitting dhy‡na it is just sitting buddha.
[23] Who, in the non-abiding Dharma,39 could have preference or aversion
for not being buddha or preference or aversion for being buddha? Because
it has dropped off [preference and aversion even] before the moment of
preference and aversion, [sitting buddha] is sitting buddha.
[24] Nangaku says, “When you are [practicing] sitting buddha, that is just
killing buddha.” This says further that when we are investigating sitting
buddha, the virtue of killing buddha is present. The very moment of sit-
ting buddha is the killing of “buddha.” If we want to explore the good
features and the brightness of killing buddha, they are always present in
sitting buddha. The word “to kill” is as [used by] the common man, but we
should not blindly equate [its usage here] with that of the common man.
Further, we should investigate the state in which sitting buddha is killing
buddha, [asking:] “What forms and grades does it have?” Taking up [the fact]
that, among the virtues of buddha, killing buddha is already present, we
should learn in practice whether we ourselves are killing a person or not

39. 無住法 (MUJU [no] HO), or “abodeless Dharma,” means reality which only exists
at the moment of the present.
 ZAZENSHIN 109

yet killing a person.

[25] “To attach to the sitting form is not to have attained the principle of that
[sitting].” This “to attach to the sitting form” means to reject the sitting form
and to defile the sitting form. The fundamental principle here is that when
we are already practicing sitting buddha, it is impossible not to be at-
tached to the sitting form. Because it is impossible not to be attached to the
sitting form, although attachment to the sitting form is something brilliant,
it may be not to have attained the principle of that [sitting]. Effort like this is
called the dropping off of body and mind. Those who have never sat do not
possess this state of truth. It exists in the moment of sitting, it exists in the
person who is sitting, it exists in the buddha which is sitting, and it exists
in the buddha which is learning sitting. The sitting which is performed
only as the sitting and reclining of human beings is not this state of sitting
buddha. Even if human sitting naturally appears to be sitting buddha, or a
buddha sitting, it may be a case of a human being becoming buddha,40 or
a case of a human being of becoming buddha.41 There are human beings
of becoming buddha, but all human beings are not of becoming buddha.
Buddha is not a state of all human beings. All buddhas are not simply all
humanity. Therefore, a human being is not always a buddha, and buddha
is not always a human being. Sitting buddha also is like this, and Nan-
gaku and Kozei, excellent master and stout disciple, are like this. Sitting
buddha realizes the experience of becoming buddha: this is Kozei’s case.
For the benefit of becoming buddha, sitting buddha is demonstrated: this
is Nangaku’s case. In Nangaku’s order there is effort like this. In Yaku-
san’s order there are the assertions [quoted] previously. Remember, what
has been described as the pivotal essence of every buddha and every patriarch,
is just sitting buddha. Those who are already the buddhas and the patri-
archs used this pivotal essence. Those who have never [used it] have
simply never seen it, even in a dream.
[28] In general, in the Western Heavens and the Eastern Lands, that the
Buddha-Dharma has been transmitted has always meant that sitting bud-
dha has been transmitted. That is because [sitting buddha] is the pivotal
essence. When the Buddha-Dharma has not been transmitted, sitting

40. 人作仏 (NIN-SABUTSU), or “a human being making [himself or herself] into bud-
dha.” Negating the naturalistic view, Master Dogen suggests that whether we are in the
state of buddha or not depends on our own effort.
41. 作仏人 (SABUTSU-NIN), or “a becoming-buddha human being,” that is, a man or
woman of Zazen.
110 ZAZENSHIN

dhy‡na [Zazen] has not been transmitted. What has been transmitted and
received from rightful successor to rightful successor, is only this principle
of Zazen. Those who have not received the one-to-one transmission of this
principle are not Buddhist patriarchs. Without illuminating this one
dharma, we do not illuminate the myriad dharmas, and do not illuminate
the myriad deeds. Those who have not illuminated each dharma, dharma
by dharma, cannot be called clear-eyed, and they are not the attainment of
the truth; how could they be Buddhist patriarchs of the eternal past and
present? Therefore, we should be absolutely certain that the Buddhist pa-
triarchs have, in every case, received the one-to-one transmission of Zazen.
To be illuminated by the presence of the Buddhist patriarchs’ brightness is
to exert oneself in the investigation of this sitting in Zazen. Stupid people
mistakenly think that the Buddha’s state of brightness might be like the
brightness of the sun and the moon, or like the luminance of a pearl or a
flame. The brilliance of the sun and moon is only karmic manifestation of
the turning of the wheel through the six worlds; it cannot compare to the
Buddha’s state of brightness at all. “The Buddha’s brightness” means accept-
ing, retaining, and hearing a single phrase, maintaining, relying on, and
upholding a single dharma, and receiving the one-to-one transmission of
Zazen. If [people] are not able to be illuminated by the brightness, they
lack this state of maintenance and reliance and they lack this belief and
acceptance. This being so, even since ancient times, few people have know
that Zazen is Zazen. On the mountains of the Great Kingdom of Sung to-
day, leaders of top-ranking temples who do not know Zazen and who do
not learn of it, are many; there are some who know [Zazen] clearly, but
they are few. In many temples, of course, times for Zazen are laid down,
and everyone from the abbot to the monks regards sitting in Zazen as the
main task. When recruiting students, too, they urge them to sit in Zazen.
Even so, those abbots who know [Zazen] are rare. For this reason, while
there have been, from ancient times to recent generations, one or two old
veterans who have written Zazenmei42 (mottoes of Zazen), and one or two
old veterans who have edited Zazengi43 (standard methods of Zazen), and
one or two old veterans who have written Zazenshin44 (maxims of Zazen),

42. 坐禅銘 (ZAZENMEI).

43. 坐禅儀 (ZAZENGI). Master Dogen recorded his own Zazengi in chap. 58, Zazengi.
See also the independent work Fukan-zazengi (Book 1, Appendices).
44. 坐禅箴 (ZAZENSHIN), as in the title of the present chapter. 箴 (SHIN) means 1) a
needle, and by extension, 2) a saying, maxim, or verse which provides a spur, a warning,
or an exhortation. 箴 (SHIN) has been translated either as “needle” or as “maxim.” Also,
 ZAZENSHIN 111

the mottoes of Zazen are all devoid of any redeeming feature, and the
standard methods of Zazen remain unclear as to its actual performance.
They were written by people who do not know Zazen, and who have not
received the one-to-one transmission of Zazen. [I refer to] the maxims of
Zazen in Keitoku-dento-roku,45 the mottoes of Zazen in Katai-futo-roku,46 and
so on. It is pitiful that [such people] spend a lifetime passing in succession
through the monasteries of the ten directions, and yet they have not ex-
perienced the effort of one sitting. Sitting is not in them; their effort does
not meet with themselves at all. This is not because Zazen hates their own
body and mind, but because they do not aspire to the genuine effort [of
Zazen], and they are quickly deluded. Their collections seem only to be
about getting back to the source or returning to the origin, about vainly
endeavoring to cease thought and become absorbed in serenity. That is
not equal to the stages of reflection on, training in, assuming the fragrance
of, and cultivation of [dhy‡na];47 it is not equal to views on the ten states
and the balanced state of truth:48 how could [those people] have received
the one-to-one transmission of the Zazen of the buddhas and the patri-
archs? Chroniclers of the Sung dynasty were wrong to have recorded
[their writings], and students in later ages should discard them and
should not read them. As a maxim for Zazen, the one written by Zen Mas-
ter Wanshi Shokaku49 of Tendo-keitoku-ji temple on Daibyakumyo-zan

in some cases the original term Zazenshin has been preferred.

45. 景徳伝燈録 (KEITOKU-DENTO-ROKU), “Keitoku Era Record of the Transmission
of the Torch,” the first of the Five Records of the Torch compiled during the Sung era
(960–1279). Contains records of 1,071 Buddhist practitioners from the seven ancient
buddhas to Master Hogen Bun-en. The editing was completed by the monk Sodo Gen, in
the first year of the Keitoku Era (1004). The Keitoku era was from 1004 to 1008.
46. 嘉泰普燈録 (KATAI-FUTO-ROKU), “Katai Era Record of the Universal Torch,” the
last of the Five Records of the Torch, in thirty chapters, including stories of Buddhist
laymen as well as monks. It was completed by Master Rai-an Kochu in the first year of
the Katai Era (1201). The Katai era was from 1201 to 1205.
47. 観練薫修 (KAN-REN-KUN-JU) refers to four stages of Zazen taught in the Tendai
Sect: 1) 観禅 (KANZEN), reflecting on dhy‡na; 2) 練禅 (RENZEN), training in dhy‡na; 3)
薫禅 (KUNZEN), assuming the fragrance of dhy‡na; and 4) 修禅 (SHUZEN), cultivating
dhy‡na.
48. Refers to stages of a bodhisattva on the way to buddhahood.
49. Master Wanshi Shokaku (1091–1157), successor of Master Tanka Shijun. His fam-
ily name was Lee. He became a monk aged 11, and became a disciple of Master Tanka
Shijun at the recommendation of Master Koboku Hojo. Became a head monk aged 31,
and when he was 39 he became the Master of Keitoku-ji temple on Mt. Tendo, where he
remained until his death aged 66. Zen Master Wanshi is his posthumous title. Wanshi-
 112 ZAZENSHIN

mountain50 in Keigen-fu51 city in the Great Kingdom of Sung, and this

alone, is the patriarchs, is a [true] needle for Zazen, and is a fit expression
of the truth. Only his is the brightness [that illuminates both] outside and
inside of the Dharma-world. He is a Buddhist patriarch among the Bud-
dhist patriarchs of the eternal past and present. Former buddhas and later
buddhas continue to be spurred by this needle. Through this needle, pa-
triarchs of the present and patriarchs of old are realized. The Zazenshin in
question is as follows:
[34] Zazenshin
Written by Shokaku, who was posthumously titled, by imperial decree,
Zen Master Wanshi
Pivotal essence of every buddha,
Essential pivot of every patriarch.
Not touching things, yet sensing,
Not opposing circumstances, yet being illuminated.
Not touching things, yet sensing:
The sensing is naturally subtle.
Not opposing circumstances, yet being illuminated:
The illumination is naturally fine.
The sensing is naturally subtle:
There has been no discriminating thought.
The illumination is naturally fine:
There has been not the slightest dawning.
There has been no discriminating thought:
The sensing, without any duality, is singular.
There has been not the slightest dawning:
The illumination, without any grasping, is complete.

zenji-goroku, a record of Master Wanshi’s words in nine volumes, includes one hundred
eulogies to ancient masters. These one hundred articles were published as Shoyo-roku.
50. 大白名山 (DAIBYAKUMYO-ZAN), lit. “Great White Famous Mountain,” is another
name for Tendo-zan mountain. Keitoku-ji temple on Tendo-zan mountain is the temple
where Master Dogen eventually met Master Tendo Nyojo.
51. Present-day Ningpo in northern Chekiang.
 ZAZENSHIN 113

The water is clean right to the bottom,

Fishes are swimming, slowly, slowly.
The sky is wide beyond limit,
And birds are flying, far, far away.

[35] The point52 of this needle for Zazen is that the Great Function is already
manifest before us, is the dignified behavior which is ascendant to sound and
form,53 is a glimpse of the time before our parents were born,54 is that not to
insult the Buddhist patriarchs is good, is never to have avoided losing body and
life, and is the head being three feet long and the neck being two inches.55
[37] “Pivotal essence of every buddha.” Every buddha without exception sees
buddha at every moment56 as the pivotal essence. That pivotal essence has been
realized: it is Zazen.
[37] “Essential pivot of every patriarch.” The late Master did without such
words57—this principle itself is every patriarch. The transmission of Dharma
and the transmission of the robe exist. In general, every instance58 of turn-
ing the head and changing the features is the pivotal essence of every buddha.
And every individual case59 of changing the features and turning the head
is the essential pivot of every patriarch.
[38] “Not touching things, yet sensing.” Sensing is not sense-perception;
sense-perception is small-scale. Neither is it intellectual recognition; intel-
lectual recognition is intentional doing. Therefore, sensing is beyond touch-
ing things, and that which is beyond touching things is sensing. We should
not consider speculatively that it is universal awareness, and we should

52. 箴 (SHIN). See note 44.

53. A variation of the words of Master Kyogen Chikan. See chap. 9, Keisei-sanshiki.
54. 父母未生前 (FUBO-MISHO-ZEN), a commonly occurring expression for the eternal
past.
55. The Buddha’s body is said by legend to have been sixteen feet long. These meas-
urements derive from that legend: two inches is the distance between the Buddha’s chin
and collar bone.
56. 仏仏 (BUTSU-BUTSU), translated in the Zazenshin as “every buddha.”
57. Tesshi Kaku, a disciple of Master Joshu, said to Master Hogen Bun-en, “The late
Master [Master Joshu] did without such [abstract] words.” The principle is that the teaching
of patriarchs is not only abstract words.
58. 面面 (MEN-MEN). 面 (MEN, omote) means face or features. At the same time it is
used as a counter for flat thin objects (such as mirrors) and for Buddhist patriarchs.
59. 頭頭 (TO-TO). 頭 (TO, kaube) means head. At the same time it is used as a counter
for concrete individual objects and creatures.
 114 ZAZENSHIN

not think narrowly that it is self-awareness. This “not touching things”

means When a clear head comes, a clear head does. When a dull head comes, a
dull head does;60 it means to break by sitting the skin that our mothers bore.
[39] “Not opposing circumstances, yet being illuminated.” This being illumi-
nated is not the illumination of enlightened understanding and is not
spiritual illumination. Not to oppose circumstances is described as “being
illuminated.” Illumination does not merge into circumstances—because
circumstances are just illumination. The meaning of “non-opposition” is the
whole Universe never having been hidden, is a broken world not showing its head,
is the subtle, is the fine, and is [the state beyond] complicated and uncomplicated.
[40] “The sensing is naturally subtle: There has been no discriminating thought.”
The state in which thought is sensing is not always reliant on external assis-
tance. The sensing is concrete form, and concrete form is mountains and
rivers. These mountains and rivers are subtlety. This subtlety61 is the fine.62
When we use [this state] it is totally vigorous. When we become a dragon,
whether we are inside or outside the Dragon Gate63 is irrelevant. To use
even one mere instant of the present sensing is to garner the mountains
and rivers of the whole Universe and, exerting total effort, to sense them.
Unless our own sensing is in the state of direct familiarity with mountains
and rivers, there cannot be a single instance of sensing or half an instance
of understanding. We should not grieve about discriminating thought being
late in arriving. Every buddha, in the state of already having discrimination,

60. 明頭来明打、暗頭来暗頭打 (MEITORAI-MEITODA, ANTORAI-ANTODA). Master

Chinshu Fuke (the Happy Buddha) said these words as he wandered from place to place
with his sack on his back. See Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 22. “Does” is 打 (TA, DA)—see
note 34. 明頭打 (MEITODA) means leaving clear-headedness as it is, and just acting. At
the same time 打 (DA) is contrasted with 不触 (FUSHOKU), “not touching.”
61. 微 (BI) means slight, fine, infinitesimal, delicate, faint, subtle.
62. 妙 (MYO) also means subtle, and at the same time mysterious, wondrous, fine,
wonderful (as in the full title of the Lotus Sutra). These two characters, 微 (BI) and 妙
(MYO) often form the compound 微妙 (BIMYO), which means subtle, fine, exquisite. In
the context of the poem, 微 (BI) can be interpreted as a description of the mental side of
Zazen, and 妙 (MYO) as the physical side, which is not separate from the mental side.
The same pattern is repeated in Master Dogen’s Zazenshin with the separation of the
compound 現成 (GENJO), “realization,” into 現 (GEN), “realizing,” and 成 (JO), “being
realized,” or “realization.”
63. 禹門 (UMON), U Gate, also known as 龍門 (RYUMON), Dragon Gate, is the
name of a set of rapids on the Yellow River in China. Legend says that a fish that swims
up through the rapids becomes a dragon.
 ZAZENSHIN 115

has already been realized. The nonexistence of what has occurred64 is already
having occurred, and already having occurred65 is realization. In sum, there
having been no discrimination is [the state of] not meeting a single person.66
[41] “The illumination is naturally fine: There has been not the slightest
dawning.” The slightest67 means the whole Universe. Still, [the illumination]
is naturally the fine itself and is naturally illumination itself, and for this
reason it seems never to have fetched anything to itself. Do not doubt the
eyes, but do not necessarily trust the ears.68 The state of “You must directly
clarify the fundamental outside of principles; do not grasp for standards in
words”69 is illumination. For this reason there is no duality and for this rea-
son there is no grasping. While having dwelt in and retained this state as
“singularity” and having maintained and relied upon it as “completeness,”
[those descriptions] I still doubt.
[42] “The water is clean right to the bottom. Fishes are swimming, slowly,
slowly.” As to the meaning of the water is clean,70 water suspended in
space,71 is not thoroughly72 clean water. Still less is water that becomes
deep and clear in the vessel-world,73 the water of the water is clean. [Water]
that is not bounded by any bank or shore: this is water that is clean right to
the bottom. When fish move through this water, swimming is not nonexist-

64. 曽無 (SO-MU). The poem says 曽無 (ka[tsute] na[shi]), “there has not been,” or
“there has never been.” Individually, however, the character 曽 (SO, ka[tsute]) means
what has occurred before and 無 (MU) expresses nonexistence; therefore, 曽無 (SO-MU)
suggests the nonexistence of what has gone before, that is, the nonexistence of the past.
65. 已曽 (ISO). 已 (I) means already. 曽 (SO, ka[tsute]) means past, formerly, having
occurred; grammatically, it represents the present perfect. 已曽 (ISO) therefore suggests
what is already present, that is, the reality of the moment.
66. In other words, the state of an independent person living in reality.
67. 毫忽 (GOKOTSU), lit. “one thousandth or one hundred-thousandth,” means an in-
finitesimal bit.
68. In general, eyes suggest seeing concrete things, or the perceptive function, and
ears suggest hearing words, or the intellectual function.
69. Source of quotation not traced.
70. 水清 (SUI-SEI). 清 (SEI, kiyo[i]) means 1) spiritually pure, 2) physically clear, and
3) clean in the sense of being empty, transparent, without anything.
71. That is, water understood as matter.
72. 清水に不徹底 (SEISUI ni FUTETTEI), or “not right to the bottom as clean water.”
徹底 (TETTEI), lit. “getting right to the bottom” is the usual Japanese term for “thorough-
ness.”
73. 器界 (KIKAI), “the vessel-world,” suggests the world as an inclusive or spiritual
whole.
 116 ZAZENSHIN

ent.74 Swimming, for however many tens of thousands of distances it pro-

gresses, is unfathomable and is unlimited. There is no bank from which to
survey it, there is no air to which it might surface, and there is no bottom
to which it might sink. Therefore, there is no-one who can fathom it. If we
want to discuss its measurements, [we say] only that the water is clean right
to the bottom. The virtue of sitting in Zazen is like this swimming of fishes:
who can estimate it on a scale of thousands or tens of thousands? The
course of action that penetrates to the bottom, is the whole body not fol-
lowing the way of the birds.75
[44] “The sky is wide beyond limit. And birds are flying, far, far away.” The sky
is wide does not describe what is suspended in the firmament.76 The sky
suspended in the firmament is not the wide sky. Still less is that which per-
vades that place and this place universally,77 the wide sky. [The sky] not
hidden or revealed by any outside or inside: this is the wide sky. When
birds fly through this sky, flying in the sky is the undivided Dharma.
Their action of flying in the sky cannot be measured. Flying in the sky is
the whole Universe—because the whole Universe is flying in the sky. We
do not know the extent of this flying, but in expressing it with words
which are beyond the realm of estimation, we describe it as “far, far away.”
Straightaway, there should be no strings under the feet.78 When the sky is fly-
ing away, the birds also are flying away; and when the birds are flying
away, the sky also is flying away. Words that express mastery of flying
away are “It only exists at this concrete place.” This is a needle for the still-
still state. Tens of thousands of distances traveled vie to tell us, “It only
exists at this concrete place.”
[46] Such is the Zazenshin of Zen Master Wanshi. Among [the maxims of]
veteran patriarchs through the ages, there has never been a Zazenshin like
this one. If stinking skin-bags in all directions wished to express the like of

74. In other words, the reality of action exists. In the poem, “swimming” is 行 (GYO),
which means not only to go but also to act—as for example in the title of chap. 23,
Gyobutsu-yuigi (The Dignified Behavior of Acting Buddha).
75. 鳥道 (CHODO), the way of the birds, generally suggests the transcendent state,
but in this case Master Dogen contrasted it with the concrete state on the ground.
76. That is, the sky seen from the materialist view.
77. That is, abstract space.
78. The words of Master Tozan Ryokai, quoted in Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 15 (also
quoted in Shobogenzo, chap. 62, Hensan). In China captured birds had string tied around
their feet to stop them flying away. Having no strings under the feet means being free of
all hindrances.
 ZAZENSHIN 117

this Zazenshin, even if they exhausted the effort of a lifetime or of two life-
times, they would not be able to express it. Through all directions today,
we do not find [any other]: there is this maxim alone. When my late Mas-
ter held formal preaching in the Dharma Hall, he would constantly say,
“The eternal Buddha Wanshi!” He never spoke like this of other men at all.
When we have the eyes to know a person, we can also know the sound of
a Buddhist patriarch. Truly we have seen that in [the lineage of] Tozan, a
Buddhist patriarch exists.79 Now it is eighty years or so since [the death of]
Zen Master Wanshi. Admiring his Zazenshin, I have written the following
Zazenshin. Now it is the 18th day in the 3rd lunar month in the 3rd year of
Ninji.80 When I count [the years] between this year and the 8th day of the
10th lunar month in the 27th year of Shoko,81 it is only eighty-five years.
The Zazenshin that I have written now is as follows:
[47] Zazenshin
Pivotal essence of every buddha,
Essential pivot of every patriarch.
Beyond thinking, realizing,
Beyond complication, realization.
Beyond thinking, realizing:
The realizing is naturally immediate.
Beyond complication, realization:
The realization is naturally a state of experience.
The realizing is naturally immediate:
There has been no taintedness.
The realization is naturally a state of experience:
There has been no rightness or divergence.
There has been no tainting of the immediacy:
That immediacy is without reliance yet it gets free.
There has been no rightness or divergence in the experience:
That state of experience is without design yet it makes effort.

79. Master Wanshi was a Dharma-successor of Master Tanka Shijun (died 1119),
who was an 8th-generation descendant of Master Tozan Ryokai (807–869). The lineage of
Master Dogen and Master Tendo Nyojo, however, is through another of the successors of
Master Tanka Shijun, Master Shinketsu Seiryo. See chap. 15, Busso.
80. 1242.
81. 1157.
 118 ZAZENSHIN

The water is clean, right down to the ground,

Fishes are swimming like fishes.
The sky is wide, clear through to the heavens,
And birds are flying like birds.

[49] The Zazenshin of Zen Master Wanshi is never imperfect in expression,

but I would like to express it further like this. In sum, children and grand-
children of the Buddhist patriarchs should unfailingly learn in practice
that sitting in Zazen is the one great matter. This is the authentic seal
which is received and transmitted one-to-one.

Shobogenzo Zazenshin

Written at Kosho-horin-ji temple

on the 18th day of the 3rd lunar
month in the 3rd year of the Ninji
era.82

Preached to the assembly at

Kippo temple in the Yoshida dis-
trict of Esshu,83 in the 11th lunar
month, during the winter of the
4th year of the same era.84

82. 1242.
83. Corresponds to present-day Fukui prefecture.
84. 1243.
 [28]
仏向上事

BUTSU-KOJO-NO-JI
The Matter of the Ascendant State
of Buddha
Butsu means “buddha,” kojo means “ascend,” or “be beyond,” and ji means
“matter,” so butsu-kojo-no-ji means “the matter beyond buddha” or “the
matter of the ascendant state of buddha.” These words describe a buddha con-
tinuing Buddhist practice after attaining the truth. Attainment of the truth
is the practitioner’s recognition that he or she has been buddha since the eter-
nal past. Therefore even though buddhas have attained the truth, they do not
distinctly change their thought, their physical condition, their life, and their
practice of Zazen, after having attained the truth. They just continue with
their lives, practicing Zazen each day. Buddhas like this are called “beyond
buddha” or “ascendant buddhas” because they are buddhas who do not look
like buddhas, and who continue the same usual Buddhist life as the life which
they had before their enlightenment. Master Dogen revered these ascendant
buddhas very much. Ascendant buddhas like these are actual buddhas, and
we cannot find buddhas other than they in this world. So in this chapter,
Master Dogen explained the matter of ascendant buddhas, quoting the words
of many masters.

[51] The founding Patriarch, Great Master Gohon1 of Tozan mountain in

Inshu2 is the intimate rightful successor of Great Master Muju3 of Ungan-
zan mountain in Tanshu.4 He is the thirty-eighth patriarch ascending5

1. Master Tozan Ryokai (807–869). Great Master Gohon is his posthumous title.
2. A district of Jiangxi province in southeast China.
3. Master Ungan Donjo (782–841), successor of Master Yakusan Igen. Great Master
Muju is his posthumous title.
4. A district in Hunan province in southeast China.
5. 向上 (KOJO), as in the title of the chapter.

119
 120 BUTSU KOJO NO JI

from the Tath‡gata; and [the Tath‡gata] is the thirty-eighth patriarch as-
cending from him. The Great Master on one occasion preaches to the assembly,
“If you physically attain the matter of the ascendant state of buddha, you will
truly possess the means to speak a little.” A monk then asks, “What is such
speech?” The Great Master says, “[For example,] when speaking, ‡c‡rya, you are
not listening.” The monk says, “Does the Master himself listen [while speaking],
or not?” The Great Master says, “When I am not speaking, then I listen.”6
[53] The words spoken now on the matter of the ascendant state of buddha
have the Great Master [Tozan] as their original patriarch. Other Buddhist
patriarchs, having learned in practice the words of the Great Master,
physically attain the matter of the ascendant state of buddha. Remember, the
matter of the ascendant state of buddha is beyond latent causes and is beyond
the fulfillment of effects: even so, we can experience it to the full, by
physically attaining the state of when speaking, not listening. Without arriv-
ing at the ascendant state of buddha, there is no physical attaining of the
ascendant state of buddha. Without speaking,7 we do not physically attain
the matter of the ascendant state of buddha. [Speaking] is beyond mutual
revelation and beyond mutual concealment, and it is beyond mutual give
and take. For this reason, when speaking is realized, this [speaking] is the
matter of the ascendant state of buddha. When the matter of the ascendant
state of buddha is being realized, the ‡c‡rya is beyond listening.8 “The ‡c‡rya
is not listening” means the matter of the ascendant state of buddha itself is not
listening. Thus, “When speaking, the ‡c‡rya is not listening.” Remember,
speaking is neither tainted by listening nor tainted by not listening; there-
fore it is irrelevant to listening or not listening. The inside of not listening
contains the ‡c‡rya, and the inside of speaking contains the ‡c‡rya; at the
same time, [the state] is beyond meeting a person or not meeting a person,9 and

6. Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 12, and Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 15. Master Tozan’s
words are also discussed in the chapter Butsu-kojo-no-ji which is contained in the 28-
chapter Himitsu-shobogenzo (see Appendices to Book Four).
7. 語話 (GOWA) represents concrete action.
8. 不聞 (FUMON), “not listening” or “being beyond listening,” is an expression of the
state of buddha itself.
9. 逢人 (HOJIN), “meeting a person,” and 不逢人 (FUHOJIN), “not meeting a person”
(see end of para. [40] in chap. 27, Zazenshin), are both descriptions of the state of realiza-
tion. The formula “A-not-A” suggests transcendence of both affirmative and negative
expressions.
 BUTSU KOJO NO JI 121

beyond being like this or being not like this.10 At the time when the ‡c‡rya
speaks, just then the ‡c‡rya is not listening. The import of this situation of
not listening is that [the state] is beyond listening because it is restricted
by the tongue itself;11 it is beyond listening because it is restricted by the
ears themselves;12 it is beyond listening because it is pierced by the lumi-
nance of the Eye; and it is beyond listening because it is plugged up by the
body-and-mind. Because it is so, it is beyond listening. We should never
treat these states as speaking. Being beyond listening is not exactly the same
thing as speaking: it is simply that at the time of speaking, [the state is] beyond
listening. In the founding Patriarch’s words, “At the time of speaking, the
‡c‡rya is not listening,” the whole expression, from beginning to end, of
speaking, is like wisteria clinging to wisteria; at the same time, it may be
speaking entwining with speaking, or [speaking] being restricted by speaking
itself. The monk says, “Does the Master listen himself, or not?” These words
do not indicate that the Master might listen to [his own] speaking; for the
questioner is not the Master at all, and [the question] is not about speaking.
Rather, the aim of this monk is to ask whether or not he must learn in
practice, while he is speaking, simultaneously to listen. For example, he
aims to hear whether speaking is just speaking, and he aims to hear
whether listening itself is just listening itself. And although I express it like
this, [the expression] is beyond the tongue of that monk himself. We
should definitely investigate the words of the founding Patriarch Tozan,
“At the time when I am not speaking, then I listen.”13 In other words, just at
the moment of speaking, there is no simultaneous listening14 at all. The reali-
zation of just listening must be at the time of not speaking. It is not that
[Tozan] idly passes over the time of not speaking, waiting for “not speak-
ing” [to happen]. At the moment of just listening he does not regard

10. 恁麼不恁麼 (INMO-FU-INMO), alludes to the words of Master Sekito Kisen. See
chap. 29, Inmo.
11. 舌骨 (ZETSU-KOTSU), lit. “tongue-bone.”
12. 耳裏 (JIRI), lit. “the inside of the ears.”
13. 待我不語話時即聞 (WAGA-FUGOWA [no] JI [o] ma[tsu], sunawa[chi] ki[kan]), lit.
“Waiting for my time of not speaking, then I will listen.” The usage of 待 (matsu) is dis-
cussed in chap. 35, Hakujushi.
14. 即聞 (SOKUMON). 即 (SOKU, sunawa[chi]) can function as an adjective, “simulta-
neous,” “instantaneous,” or as an adverb “immediately,” or “just.” In Master Tozan’s
words, as an adverb, 即 (sunawa[chi]) means “just then.”
 122 BUTSU KOJO NO JI

“speaking” as a bystander; for [“speaking”] is truly [only] a bystander.15 It

is not that, at the moment of just listening, “speaking” has gone off and
remained on one side. Nor is it that, at the moment of speaking, “just listen-
ing” is intimately hiding its body inside the eyes of the speaking, then to
strike like a thunderbolt. Thus, when, in the case of the ‡c‡rya, the time of
speaking is not listening and, in the case of I, the time of not speaking is just
listening, this state is truly to possess the means to speak a little, and is to physi-
cally attain the matter of the ascendant state of buddha. That is, for example, to
physically attain the state of at the time of speaking, just then listening.16 For
this reason [Tozan says,] “At the time when I am not speaking, just then I am
listening.” Though described thus, the matter of the ascendant state of
buddha is not a matter prior to the Seven Buddhas; it is the matter of the
ascendant state of the Seven Buddhas.
[58] The founding Patriarch, Great Master Gohon, preaches to the assembly,
“You should know that there are human beings in the ascendant state of buddha.”
Then a monk asks, “What is a human being in the ascendant state of buddha?”
The Great Master says, “A non-buddha.” Unmon17 says, “We cannot name it,
and we cannot describe it, so we call it ‘non-.’” Hofuku18 says, “Buddha is ‘non-
.’” Hogen19 says, “As an expedient,20 we call it ‘buddha.’”21
[59] In general, one who is a Buddhist patriarch beyond Buddhist
patriarchs is the founding Patriarch Tozan. The reason [I say] so is that
though other individual buddhas and individual patriarchs are numerous,
they have never even dreamt of [Tozan’s] words on the ascendant state of
buddha. Even if he explained it to the likes of Tokuzan and Rinzai, they
would not be able to realize it in their own experience. The likes of Ganto

15. 傍観 (BOKAN), or “onlooker,” means a party which is not involved in the action,
or which is irrelevant. Master Tozan is living in the moment of the present, and so when
he is just listening his own speaking is forgotten.
16. Up to here Master Dogen has described the state at the moment of the present in
terms of the independence of speaking and listening. Here his description is opposite: he
describes both speaking and listening occurring in the same moment. The reversal sug-
gests the difficulty of describing the state in words.
17. Master Unmon Bun-en (864–949), a successor of Master Seppo Gison.
18. Master Hofuku Juten (?–928), also a successor of Master Seppo Gison.
19. Master Hogen Bun-eki (885–958), successor of Master Rakan Keichin.
20. 方便 (HOBEN), from the Sanskrit up‡ya, as in the title of the second chapter of the
Lotus Sutra. The chapter explains that the Buddha used expedient methods, or skillful
means—for example, parables—to teach what is impossible to teach directly.
21. A slightly different version is recorded in Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 72.
 BUTSU KOJO NO JI 123

and Seppo,22 though they pulverized their own bodies,23 were unable to
taste the fist [of a practical teacher]. The sayings of the founding Patriarch,
such as “If you physically attain the matter of the ascendant state of buddha, you
will truly possess the means to speak a little,” and “You should know that there
are human beings in the ascendant state of buddha,” cannot be mastered in real
experience only through the practice-and-experience of one, two, three,
four, or five24 triple-asa¸khyas of hundred-great-kalpas. The means are
present [only] in those who have truly experienced learning in practice of
the profoundly secret path. We should know that there are human beings in
the ascendant state of buddha. [The state] is, in other words, the vigorous
activity of playing with the soul.25 That being so, we can know it by taking
up [the study of] eternal buddhas, and we can know it by holding up a fist.
Having gained insight like this, we know a human being in the ascendant
state of having buddha,26 and we know a human being in the ascendant state of
being without buddha.27 The present preaching to the assembly is not that

22. Master Ganto Zenkatsu (828–887) and Master Seppo Gison (822–907) were both
successors of Master Tokuzan Senkan (780–865). Although Master Dogen often praised
Master Seppo, he was sometimes critical of Master Tokuzan Senkan (see, for example,
chaps. 18 and 19, Shin-fukatoku). In general, Master Dogen naturally revered his own
lineage, which passed from Master Sekito Kisen (700–790) to Master Tozan Ryokai, more
than other lineages—such as the lineage which passed from Master Sekito to Master
Tokuzan, or the lineage which passed from Master Nangaku Ejo to Master Rinzai.
23. Symbolizing dogged effort in pursuit of the truth.
24. In Tenzo-kyokun (Instructions for the Cook), Master Dogen relates the story of
how he asked the Chief Cook of the temple on Mt. Iku-o, “What are written characters?”
The Cook replied “One, two, three, four, five.” The question invited a more abstract expla-
nation, but the Cook simply gave the most basic examples of written Chinese characters:
一, 二, 三, 四, 五.
25. 弄精魂 (ROZEIKON) means action in the state which is free of body and mind. In
chap. 68, Udonge, Master Dogen says that 弄精魂 (ROZEIKON) means just sitting in Zazen
and dropping off body and mind.
26. 有仏向上人 (U-BUTSU-KOJO-NIN). The same five characters appear in Master To-
zan’s words, but by using the object particle “o” instead of the quotation particle “to”
before the verb shiru (to know), Master Dogen changed the meaning of 有 (U, a[ru]). In
Master Tozan’s words 有 (a[ru]) means “there are.” Here 有 (U), “having” or “existence,”
forms a compound with 仏 (BUTSU). The concept 有仏 (U-BUTSU), “having buddha[-
nature],” or “the real state of buddha, which is existence,” is explained in chap. 22,
Bussho.
27. 無仏向上人 (MUBUTSU-KOJO-NIN). 無仏 (MUBUTSU), “being without buddha[-
nature],” or “the real state of buddha, which is being without,” is also explained in detail
in chap. 22, Bussho. In the context of this chapter, “being without buddha” describes a
buddha who is without self-consciousness of being a buddha.
 124 BUTSU KOJO NO JI

we should become a human being in the ascendant state of buddha, and

not that we should meet with a human being in the ascendant state of
buddha; it is simply that we should, for the present, know that there are
human beings in the ascendant state of buddha. When we acquire com-
mand of this pivot-point, we do not know28 a human being in the ascendant
state of having buddha, and we do not know a human being in the ascen-
dant state of being without buddha. A human being in those ascendant
states of buddha, is a non-buddha. When prone to doubts as to what non-
buddha is, we should consider [the following]: [non-buddha] is not called
“non-buddha” because it is prior to the state of buddha, it is not called
“non-buddha” because it is subsequent to the state of buddha, and it is not
“non-buddha” because it surpasses the state of buddha. It is “non-buddha”
solely because it is the ascendant state of buddha itself. We call it “non-
buddha” because it has dropped off the face and eyes of a buddha and it
has dropped off the body-and-mind of a buddha.
[63] Zen Master Jo-in Kobuko29 of Tokei30 (a successor of Fuyo;31 his monk’s name was
Hojo) preaches to the assembly: “Once you know that there is the matter of the
ascendant state of a Buddhist patriarch, you will truly possess the means to talk.
Zen friends! Now tell me, what is this matter of the ascendant state of a Buddhist
patriarch? There is a child, of an [ordinary] human family, whose six sense or-
gans32 are incomplete and whose seven kinds of consciousness33 are imperfect. He
is a great icchantika,34 without the seeds of Buddha-nature. When he meets bud-
dha, he kills buddha. When he meets patriarchs, he kills patriarchs. Heaven
cannot accept him, and even Hell has no gate that would take him in. Monks! Do
you know this person or not?” After a good while, he says, “The one facing you

28. 不知する (FU-CHI suru) means not to know intellectually, or to transcend intellec-
tual understanding.
29. Master Koboku Hojo, (1071–1128).
30. In present-day Honan province in east central China.
31. Master Fuyo Dokai (1043–1118), successor of Master Tosu Gisei and the 45th pa-
triarch in Master Dogen’s lineage.
32. 六根 (ROKKON): eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, and mind.
33. 七識 (SHICHI-SHIKI). The first five kinds of consciousness correspond to con-
sciousness of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin. The sixth and seventh can be interpreted
as centers of proprioception (motor sense) and intellectual thought, respectively.
34. The Sanskrit word icchantika means “one who pursues desires to the end,” and
therefore who has no interest in pursuing the truth (see Glossary). Here Master Kobuko
suggests transcendence of intentional, or intellectual, pursuit of the truth.
 BUTSU KOJO NO JI 125

now is not [a man of] saindhava.35 He sleeps a lot and talks a lot in his sleep.”36
[65] This “six sense organs being incomplete” describes someone having
switched the eyeballs with black beads,37 someone having switched the nostrils
with bamboo tubes, and someone having borrowed the skull to make a shit-
scooper… what is the truth of this state of switching?38 For this reason, the six
sense organs are incomplete. Because of the incompleteness of his six sense
organs, after passing through the inside of a furnace he has become a
golden buddha, after passing through the inner depths of the great ocean
he has become a mud buddha, and after passing through the inside of
flame he has become a wooden buddha.39 The seven kinds of consciousness
being imperfect describes a broken wooden dipper. Though he kills buddha,
he does meet with buddha; it is because he has met with buddha, that he
kills buddha. If he aimed to enter Heaven, Heaven would collapse at once.
If he made for Hell, Hell would be instantly torn asunder. For this reason,
when he is facing [others], his face [simply] breaks [into a smile], without
any trace at all of saindhava. He sleeps a lot, and talks a lot in his sleep too.
Remember, the truth of this is that all mountains, and the whole Earth, both
are friends who know him well; and his whole body of jewels and stone is smashed
into a hundred bits and pieces.40 We should quietly investigate and consider
the preaching to the assembly of Zen Master Koboku. Do not be hasty

35. The Sanskrit word saindhava means “products of the Indus valley.” A parable in
the Mah‡parinirv‡ıa SÂtra tells of an intelligent servant who can guess which product—
salt, a bowl, water, or a horse—the king wants, on hearing only the king’s request of
“saindhava.” Hence, a person of saindhava means someone who is quick and sensitive.
See chap. 81, O-saku-sendaba.
36. Katai-futo-roku, chap. 5; and Rento-eyo, chap. 29.
37. Having black beads for eyeballs represents the state of non-emotion. “Black
beads” refers to the stone of the fruit of Aphananthe aspera (called muku no ki in Japanese).
These stones, which are hard and black, were used as rosary beads. Aphananthe aspera is a
large spreading tree, with big leaves resembling those of wisteria; in summer it produces
yellow and white blossoms.
38. The phrases in italics are in the form of a quotation from Chinese, but the source
has not been traced.
39. A golden buddha is an ideal image, a mud buddha is a non-ideal image, and a
wooden buddha is an everyday common object.
40. 玉石全身 (GYOKUSEKI-ZENSHIN), “the whole body of jewels and stones” sug-
gests the ascendant state of buddha as the combination of invaluable buddha-nature like
jewels, and physical matter like stones. 百雑砕 (HYAKU-ZASSAI), “smashed into a hun-
dred bits and pieces,” is Master Gensa’s description of the eternal mirror manifesting
concrete, real forms as they are (see chap. 20, Kokyo).
 126 BUTSU KOJO NO JI

about it.
[67] Great Master Kokaku41 of Ungo-zan mountain visits the founding Patriarch
Tozan. [To]zan asks him, “What is the ‡c‡rya’s name?” Ungo says, “Doyo.” The
founding Patriarch asks further, “Say again, in the ascendant state.” Ungo says,
“When I express it in the ascendant state, it is not named Doyo.” Tozan says,
“When I was in Ungan’s42 order, our exchange was no different.”43
[68] The present words of master and disciple we should without fail
examine in detail. This “In the ascendant state it is not named Doyo,” is the
ascendant state of Doyo. We should learn in practice that in what has hith-
erto been [called] “Doyo,” there exists an ascendant state of not being
named Doyo. Having realized the principle of in the ascendant state not being
named Doyo, he is really Doyo. But do not say that, even in the ascendant
state, he might be “Doyo.” Even if [Master Ungo Doyo], when he hears the
founding Patriarch’s words “Say again in the ascendant state,” offers [an-
other] account of his understanding, which he perfectly communicates as
“In the ascendant state I am still named Doyo,” those [also] would just be
words in the ascendant state. Why do I say so? Because, in a moment,
Doyo springs in through his brain and conceals himself in his body. And
while concealed in his body, he conspicuously reveals his figure.
[69] Zen Master Sozan Honjaku44 visits the founding Patriarch Tozan. [To]zan
asks him, “What is the ‡c‡rya’s name?” Sozan says, “Honjaku.” The founding
Patriarch says, “Say again in the ascendant state.” Sozan says, “I do not say.”
The founding Patriarch says, “Why do you not say?” The Master says, “It is not
named Honjaku.” The founding Patriarch affirms this.45
[70] To comment: in the ascendant state words are not nonexistent; they
are just “I do not say.”46 Why does he not say? Because he is beyond the name
Honjaku. So words in the ascendant state are “I do not say,” and not saying

41. Master Ungo Doyo (?–902), successor of Master Tozan and the 39th patriarch in
Master Dogen’s lineage. Great Master Kokaku is his posthumous title.
42. Master Ungan Donjo (782–841), successor of Master Yakusan Igen and the 37th
patriarch in Master Dogen’s lineage.
43. Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 17.
44. Master Sozan Honjaku (840–901), a successor of Master Tozan. His posthumous
title is Great Master Gensho.
45. Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 17.
46. 不道 (FUDO, i[wa]zu). The original words have no subject. They can be inter-
preted either as “I do/will not say” or as “It is beyond words.”
 BUTSU KOJO NO JI 127

in the ascendant state is the not named.47 Honjaku, not named, is expression
of the ascendant state. For this reason Honjaku is the not named. So there is
non-Honjaku,48 there is the not named which has dropped [all things] off,
and there is Honjaku who has dropped [all things] off.
[71] Zen Master Banzan Hoshaku 49 says, “Even a thousand saints do not
transmit the ascendant single path.”50
[71] These words the ascendant single path are the words of Banzan alone.
He neither speaks of the matter of the ascendant state nor speaks of hu-
man beings in the ascendant state; he speaks of a single path as the
ascendant state. The point here is that even if a thousand saints come vy-
ing head-to-head, the ascendant single path is beyond transmission. That it
is beyond transmission means that a thousand saints [each] preserves an
individual standing which is beyond transmission. We can study it like
this. Still, there is something further to say: namely, a thousand saints and
a thousand sages are not nonexistent and yet, saints and sages though
they may be, the ascendant single path is beyond the orbit of saints and
sages.
[72] Zen Master Koso51 of Chimon-zan mountain on one occasion is asked by a
monk, “What is the matter of the ascendant state of buddha?” The Master says,
“The head of the staff hoists up the sun and moon.”52
[73] To comment: the staff being inextricably bound to the sun and moon
is the matter of the ascendant state of buddha. When we learn the sun and
moon in practice as a staff, the whole cosmos fades away:53 this is the mat-

47. 不名 (FUMYO, nazu[ke]zu), in the story means “is not named,” but here suggests
that which cannot be named, the ineffable state. Not to say anything, in the case of bud-
dha, is the ineffable state.
48. 非本寂 (HI-HONJAKU), as in 非仏 (HI-BUTSU), “non-Buddha,” in para. [58].
49. Master Banzan Hoshaku (dates unknown), successor of Master Baso Do-itsu
(709–788). His posthumous title is Great Master Gyojaku.
50. Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 7.
51. Master Chimon Koso (dates unknown), successor of Master Kyorin Cho-on and a
seventh-generation descendant of Master Seigen Gyoshi. Master Seccho Juken was a later
master in Master Chimon’s lineage.
52. Bukka-geki-setsu-roku, last volume, chap. 4, no. 7. This record contains Master
Engo Kokugon’s discussions of Master Seccho Juken’s eulogies of past masters.
53. 尽乾坤くらし (JINKENKON kurashi). 尽 (JIN) means all or whole. 乾坤 (KENKON)
means northwest and southwest, representing all points of the compass. くらし (kurashi)
lit. means to be dark. When we find the reality of concrete things, abstract inclusive con-
cepts (such as “the whole cosmos”) fade away.
 128 BUTSU KOJO NO JI

ter of the ascendant state of buddha. It is not that the sun and moon are a
staff. The [concreteness of the] head of the staff54 is the whole staff.
[74] In the order of Great Master Musai of Sekito,55 Zen Master Dogo of Tenno-ji
temple56 asks, “What is the Great Intent of the Buddha-Dharma?” The Master
says, “It is beyond attainment, beyond knowing.” Dogo says, “In the ascendant
state, is there any further variation, or not?” The Master says, “The wide sky
does not hinder the flying of the white cloud.”57
[75] To comment: Sekito is the second-generation descendant of Sokei.58
Master Dogo of Tenno-ji temple is Yakusan’s59 younger brother [in Se-
kito’s order]. On one occasion he asks, “What is the Great Intent of the
Buddha-Dharma?” This question is not one with which beginners and late
learners can cope. When [someone] asks about the Great Intent, they speak
at a time when they might already have grasped the Great Intent. Sekito
says, “It is beyond attainment, beyond knowing.” Remember, in the Buddha-
Dharma the Great Intent exists in the very first moment of sincere mind,
and the Great Intent exists in the ultimate state. This Great Intent is beyond
attainment. Establishment of the mind, training, and acquiring of experi-
ence are not nonexistent: they are beyond attainment. This Great Intent is
beyond knowing. Practice-and-experience is not nonexistence and practice-
and-experience is not existence: it is beyond knowing and it is beyond attain-
ment. Again, this Great Intent is beyond attainment, beyond knowing. The
noble truths, and practice-and-experience, are not nonexistent: they are
beyond attainment, beyond knowing. The noble truths, and practice-and-
experience, are not existent: they are beyond attainment, beyond knowing.

54. C 杖頭上 (SHUJO-TOJO). C 杖 (SHUJO) means “staff.” 頭 (TO) means “head,” and
at the same time it is a symbol of a concrete thing. 上 (JO) means “upper,” and also “on
the basis of.” So C 杖頭上 (SHUJO-TOJO) suggests the concrete top of the staff, or the staff
on the basis of concreteness.
55. Master Sekito Kisen (700–790), successor of Master Seigen Gyoshi and 35th patri-
arch in Master Dogen’s lineage. Great Master Musai is his posthumous title. Sekito (lit.
“on top of the rock”) is the place where he built a hut.
56. Master Tenno Dogo (748–807), a successor of Master Sekito. Became a monk aged
25. He was first a disciple of Master Kinzan Koku-itsu, then of Master Baso Do-itsu, be-
fore eventually entering Master Sekito’s order.
57. Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 14, and Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 2 no. 91.
58. Master Daikan Eno (638–713), who transmitted the Dharma to Master Seigen
Gyoshi (660–740), who transmitted the Dharma to Master Sekito.
59. Master Yakusan Igen (745–828) was, like Master Dogo, a successor of Master Se-
kito Kisen.
 BUTSU KOJO NO JI 129

Dogo says, “In the ascendant state is there any further variation, or not?” If it is
possible for this variation to be realized, the ascendant state is realized. A
variation signifies an expedient means.60 An expedient means signifies the
buddhas and the patriarchs. In the expressing of such [expedient means],
the state should be there being [something] further.61 Though it may be there
being something further, at the same time there being nothing further62 should
not be allowed to leak away, but should be expressed. “The wide sky does
not hinder the flying of the white cloud” are the words of Sekito. The wide sky63
is utterly beyond hindering the wide sky, and the wide sky is beyond hin-
dering the flying of the wide sky; at the same time, the white cloud64 is
utterly beyond hindering itself, the white cloud. The flying65 of the white
cloud is beyond hindrance. And the flying of the white cloud does not
hinder the flying of the wide sky at all. What is beyond hindering others is
beyond hindering itself. It is not necessary that individuals “do not hin-
der” each other, and it cannot be that individual objects “do not hinder”
each other. For this reason, [each] is beyond hindrance, and [each] dis-
plays the essence and form of the wide sky not hindering the flying of the
white cloud. At just such a moment, we raise the eyebrows of these eyes of
learning in practice and glimpse a buddha coming or meet a patriarch
coming. We meet ourself coming and meet the other coming. This state
has been called the truth of asking once, being answered ten times. In the ask-
ing once, being answered ten times of which I now speak, [the one who] asks
once must be a true person and [the one who] answers ten times must be a
true person.
[78] Obaku66 says, “People who have left family life should know that there is a
state which is the matter that has come [to us] from the past. For instance, Great

60. 方便 (HOBEN). See note 20.

61. 更有 (KO-U). In Master Dogo’s words, these characters mean “is there … further.”
62. 更無 (KO-MU). In Master Dogo’s words, these characters mean “further … or
not.” Master Dogen described the same state from two sides.
63. 長空 (CHOKU), lit. “the long sky,” represents the subject.
64. 白雲 (HAKU-UN), “the white cloud,” represents the object.
65. 飛 (HI), “flying,” represents action.
66. Master Obaku Ki-un (died c. 855), successor of Master Hyakujo Ekai. He au-
thored a book called Denshinhoyo, “The Pivot of Dharma on Transmission of the Mind.”
His posthumous title is Zen Master Dansai.
 130 BUTSU KOJO NO JI

Master Hoyu67 of Gozu who was a pupil of the fourth Patriarch,68 though his
preaching was fluent in all directions, still never knew the pivotal matter of the
ascendant state. If you have the eyes and brain of this state, you will be able to tell
the false from the true among religious groups.”69
[79] The matter that has come from the past which Obaku expresses like
this, is the matter that has been authentically transmitted from the past by
the buddhas and the patriarchs, buddha-to-buddha and patriarch-to-
patriarch. It is called the right-Dharma-eye treasury and the fine mind of
nirv‡ıa. Though it is present in the self, it may be necessary to know.70
Though it is present in the self, it is still never known.71 For those who have
not received the authentic transmission from buddha to buddha, it is
never realized, even in a dream. Obaku, as the Dharma-child of Hyakujo,72
is even more excellent than Hyakujo, and as the Dharma-grandchild of
Baso,73 is even more excellent than Baso. In general, among the ancestral
patriarchs of [those] three or four generations, there is none who stands
shoulder-to-shoulder with Obaku. Obaku is the only one to have made it
clear that Gozu was missing a pair of horns;74 other Buddhist patriarchs
have never known it. Zen Master Hoyu of Gozu-zan mountain was a ven-
erable master under the fourth Patriarch. His preaching was fluent in all
directions: truly, when we compare him with sutra-teachers and commen-
tary-teachers, between the Western Heavens and the Eastern Lands, he is
not to be seen as insufficient. Regrettably, however, he never knew the
pivotal matter of the ascendant state, and he never spoke of the pivotal
matter of the ascendant state. If [a person] does not know the pivotal mat-
ter that has come [to us] from the past, how could he discern the true and
the false in the Buddha-Dharma. He is nothing more than a man who
studies words. Thus, to know the pivotal matter of the ascendant state, to

67. Master Gozu Hoyu (594–657). He lived and practiced Zazen on Gozu-zan moun-
tain, and is said to have realized the truth when Master Dai-i-Doshin, the fourth
Patriarch, visited him there.
68. Master Dai-i-Doshin (580–651), successor of Master Kanchi Sosan.
69. Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 9.
70. 須知 (SUCHI). In Master Obaku’s words, read as subekara[ku] shi[rubeshi], these
characters mean “you should know.” They express a state which must be realized
through effort.
71. In other words, it is beyond intellectual recognition.
72. Master Hyakujo Ekai (749–814), successor of Master Baso Do-itsu.
73. Master Baso Do-itsu (709–788), successor of Master Nangaku Ejo.
74. 牛頭 (GOZU) is lit. “Bull’s Head.”
 BUTSU KOJO NO JI 131

practice the pivotal matter of the ascendant state, and to experience the
pivotal matter of the ascendant state, are beyond the scope of ordinary
folk. Wherever true effort is present, [the state] is inevitably realized.
What has been called the matter of the ascendant state of buddha means, hav-
ing arrived at the state of buddha, progressing on and meeting buddha75
again. It is just the same state as that in which ordinary people meet bud-
dha. That being so, if meeting buddha is on the level of ordinary people’s
meeting buddha,76 it is not meeting buddha. If meeting buddha is like or-
dinary people’s meeting buddha, meeting buddha is an illusion. How
much less could it be the matter of the ascendant state of buddha? Re-
member, the matter of the ascendant state of which Obaku speaks is
beyond the comprehension of the unreliable people of today. To be sure,
there are those whose expressions of Dharma are below the level of Hoyu,
and there are the occasional few whose expressions of Dharma are equal
to Hoyu, but they [all] may be Hoyu’s older and younger brothers in
Dharma; how could they know the pivotal matter of the ascendant state?
Others, such as [bodhisattvas in] the ten sacred stages and three clever
stages, do not know the pivotal matter of the ascendant state at all. How
much less could they open and close the pivotal matter of the ascendant
state? This point is the very eyes of learning in practice. Those who know
the pivotal matter of the ascendant state are called human beings in the
ascendant state of buddha; they physically attain the matter of the ascen-
dant state of buddha.

Shobogenzo Butsu-kojo-no-ji

Preached to the assembly at Kan-

non-dori-kosho-horin-ji temple
on the 23rd day of the 3rd lunar
month in the 3rd year of Ninji.77

75. 見仏 (KENBUTSU), “meeting buddha,” is described in chap. 61, Kenbutsu, as the

state of living in reality.
76. Ordinary people are living in reality, but they understand meeting buddha as
something other than simply living in reality. In that sense, they are not living in reality.
In other words, their meeting buddha is not really meeting buddha.
77. 1242.
 [29]
恁麼

INMO
It
Inmo is a colloquial word in Chinese, and it means “it,” “that,” or “what.”
We usually use the words “it,” “that,” or “what” to indicate something that
we do not need to explain. Therefore Buddhist philosophers in China used the
word inmo to suggest something ineffable. At the same time, one of the aims
of studying Buddhism is to realize reality, and according to Buddhist phi-
losophy, reality is something ineffable. So the word inmo was used to
indicate the truth, or reality, which in Buddhist philosophy is originally inef-
fable. In this chapter Master Dogen explained the meaning of inmo, quoting
the words of Master Ungo Doyo, Master Sa¸ghanandi, Master Daikan Eno,
Master Sekito Kisen, and others.

[85] Great Master Kokaku1 of Ungo-zan mountain is the rightful heir of

Tozan,2 is the thirty-ninth generation Dharma-descendant of ¯‡kyamuni
Buddha, and is the authentic patriarch of Tozan’s lineage. One day he
preaches to the assembly, “If you want to attain the matter which is it,3 you must
be a person who is it. Already being a person who is it, why worry about the mat-
ter which is it?”4
[86] In other words, those who want to attain the matter which is it must
themselves be people who are it. They are already people who are it: why
should they worry about [attaining] the matter which is it?5 The point of this
is that directing oneself straight for the supreme truth of bodhi is described, for

1. Master Ungo Doyo (?–902). Great Master Kokaku is his posthumous title.
2. Master Tozan Ryokai (807–869), successor of Master Ungan Donjo.
3. 恁麼事 (INMO [no] JI), or “the matter of the ineffable.” Master Dogen uses these
words of Master Ungo Doyo in Fukan-zazengi.
4. Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 17.
5. In these sentences Master Dogen explained the Chinese characters of the story us-
ing a combination of Chinese characters (italicized) and Japanese kana.

133
134 INMO

the present, as “it.” The situation of this supreme truth of bodhi is such
that even the whole Universe in ten directions is just a small part of the su-
preme truth of bodhi: it may be that the truth of bodhi abounds beyond
the Universe. We ourselves are tools which it possesses within this Uni-
verse in ten directions. How do we know that it exists? We know it is so
because the body and the mind both appear in the Universe, yet neither is
ourself. The body, already, is not “I.” Its life moves on through days and
months, and we cannot stop it even for an instant. Where have the red
faces [of our youth] gone? When we look for them, they have vanished
without a trace. When we reflect carefully, there are many things in the
past that we will never meet again. The sincere mind,6 too, does not stop,
but goes and comes moment by moment. Although the state of sincerity
does exist, it is not something that lingers in the vicinity of the personal
self. Even so,† there is something which, in the limitlessness, establishes
the [bodhi-]mind. Once this mind is established, abandoning our former
playthings we hope to hear what we have not heard before and we seek to
experience what we have not experienced before: this is not solely of our
own doing. Remember, it happens like this because we are people who are it.
How do we know that we are people who are it? We know that we are people
who are it just from the fact that we want to attain the matter which is it. Al-
ready we possess the real features of a person who is it: we should not
worry about the already-present matter which is it. Even worry itself is just
the matter which is it, and so it is beyond worry. Again, we should not be
surprised that the matter which is it is present in such a state.† Even if it is
the object of surprise and wonderment, it is still just it. And there is it
about which we should not be surprised. This state cannot be fathomed
even by the consideration of buddha, it cannot be fathomed by the consid-
eration of the mind, it cannot be fathomed by the consideration of the
Dharma-world, and it cannot be fathomed by the consideration of the
whole Universe. It can only be described “Already you are a person who is it:
why worry about [attaining] the matter which is it?” Thus, the suchness of

6. 赤心 (SEKISHIN), lit. “red mind,” means naked mind or sincere mind.

†. 恁麼 (INMO) is used not only as a noun representing the state which is the subject
of the chapter (“it,” “suchness,” “the ineffable”), but also as a common adverb, adjective,
or pronoun (“so,” “like this,” “like that,” “such,” “such a state,” “as it is,” “the very
[moment],” “in such a way,” “thus,” et cetera). In the latter cases, translations of 恁麼
(INMO) in this chapter have been marked with the symbol “†”. Though in some sense
incidental, this frequent usage has the effect of emphasizing the inconspicuous, ever-
present, and normal nature of the state Master Dogen is describing.
 INMO 135

sound and form may be it; the suchness of body-and-mind may be it; and
the suchness of the buddhas may be it. For example, the time of falling
down on the ground7 we understand, as it is,† as it; and at the very† moment,
when we get up, inevitably relying on the ground, we do not wonder that the
falling down was on the ground. There are words that have been spoken
since ancient times, have been spoken from the Western Heavens, and
have been spoken from the heavens above. They are: “If we fall down on the
ground, we get up again on the ground. If we seek to get up apart from the
ground, that is, in the end, impossible.”8 In other words, those who fall down
on the ground inevitably get up on the ground, and if they want to get up
without relying on the ground, they can never do so at all. Taking up what
is described thus, we have seen it as the beginning of attainment of great
realization, and we have made it into the state of truth that sheds body
and mind. Therefore, if someone asks “What is the principle of the
buddhas’ realization of the truth?” we say “It is like someone who falls to
the ground getting up on the ground.” Mastering this [principle], we
should penetrate and clarify the past, we should penetrate and clarify the
future, and we should penetrate and clarify the very† moment of the pre-
sent.9 Great realization and non-realization; returning to delusion and losing the
state of delusion; being restricted by realization itself and being restricted by de-
lusion itself: each of these is the truth that someone who falls to the ground
gets up relying on the ground. It is an expression of the truth in the heav-
ens above and everywhere under the heavens, is an expression of the

7. 因地倒者 (CHI [ni] yo[rite] taoruru mono) originates in the words of Master
Upagupta, the 4th patriarch in India. Sei-iki-ki, “A History of Western Lands,” a widely-
read Chinese book on the history of countries west of China, contains the following:
Vasubandhu [the 21st patriarch] first made fun of the Mah‡y‡na on the basis of the H„nay‡na.
His elder brother, Asa§ga, pretended to be sick in order to get Vasubandhu to visit him, and then
he opened [a sutra of] Mah‡y‡na teachings and said, “Someone who disparages what he has not
read is a non-Buddhist.” So Vasubandhu tried reading the Garland Sutras, and he was convinced
by them. He joked, “I should cut off my tongue with a sword to atone for my wrongness.” Asa§ga
said, “Someone who falls down on the ground also stands up relying on the ground. The tongue
that slandered in the past can sing the praises of the state of repentance that you have now.”
Eventually [Vasubandhu] went into the mountains, opened and read [the teachings of] the
Mah‡y‡na, and made Jucchi-ron [Commentary on the Ten States].
Master Dogen picked up the words to explain the ineffable state of reality as a very
concrete situation in daily life. The ground symbolizes that which is concrete.
8. Direct quotation of Master Upagupta’s words from Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 1.
9. 正当恁麼時 (SHOTO-INMO-JI), “at this very moment,” or “at just such a moment”
is a phrase that appears in most chapters of Shobogenzo.
 136 INMO

truth in the Western Heavens and the Eastern Lands, is an expression of

the truth in the past, present, and future, and is an expression of the truth
of old buddhas and new buddhas. This expression of the truth is never
imperfect in expression, and it does not lack anything in expression. Even
so, it seems [to me] that only to understand the words like that,† without
also understanding them in a way which is not like that,† is to fail to mas-
ter these words. Although the expression of the truth of an eternal buddha
has been transmitted like that,† still, when [eternal buddha] listens as eter-
nal buddha to the words of the eternal buddha, there should be an
ascendant state of listening. Though never spoken in the Western Heavens
and never spoken in the heavens above, there is another truth to be ex-
pressed. It is that if those who fall down on the ground seek to get up by
relying on the ground, even if they spends countless kalpas, they will
never be able to get up. They can get up by means of just one vigorous
path. That is, those who fall down through reliance on the ground inevita-
bly get up relying on the void,10 and those who fall down through reliance
on the void inevitably get up by relying on the ground. Unless it is like
this,† getting up will, in the end, be impossible. The buddhas and the pa-
triarchs were all like this. Suppose a person asks a question like this:†
“How far apart are the void and the ground?” If someone asks a question
like this,† we should answer that person like this:† “The void and the
ground are one hundred and eight thousand miles11 apart! When we fall
down through reliance on the ground, we inevitably get up relying on the void,
and if we seek to get up apart from the void, it will be impossible at last. When we
fall down through reliance on the void, we inevitably get up by relying on the
ground, and if we seek to get up apart from the ground, it will be impossible at
last.” Someone who has never spoken such words has never known, and
has never seen, the dimensions of the ground and the void in Buddhism.
[93] The seventeenth ancestral patriarch, the Venerable Sa¸ghanandi,12
whose Dharma-successor in due course is Gey‡˜ata,13 on one occasion
hears bells hung in a hall ringing when blown by the wind; and he asks

10. 空 (KU) means “emptiness,” “space,” “the immaterial,” “bareness,” “the sky,” etc.
In this context, 空 (KU), “the void,” means that which is devoid of material substance, the
immaterial—in other words, ideas—as opposed to 地 (CHI), “the ground” which repre-
sents the concrete, that which has material substance.
11. 十万八千里 (JUMAN-HASSEN-RI). One ri is equal to 2.44 miles. We are expecting a
philosophical answer, so Master Dogen surprises us with a big concrete distance.
12. Master Sa¸ghanandi, successor of Master R‡hulabhadra.
13. Master Gey‡˜ata, the eighteenth patriarch in India.
 INMO 137

Gey‡˜ata, “Is it the sound of the wind? Is it the sound of the bells?” Gey‡˜ata
says, “It is beyond the ringing of the wind and beyond the ringing of the bells, it
is the ringing of my mind.” The Venerable Sa¸ghanandi says, “Then what is
the mind?” Gey‡˜ata says, “The reason [it is ringing] is that all is still.” The
Venerable Sa¸ghanandi says, “Excellent! Excellent! Who else but you, disci-
ple, could succeed to my truth.” Eventually, he transmits [to Gey‡˜ata] the
right-Dharma-eye treasury.14
[94] Here, in the state beyond the ringing of the wind, we learn my mind
ringing. In the time beyond the ringing of the bells, we learn my mind ring-
ing. My mind ringing is it; at the same time all is still. Transmitted from the
Western Heavens to the Eastern Lands, from ancient times to the present
day, this story has been seen as a standard for learning the truth, but
many people have misunderstood it [as follows]: “Gey‡˜ata’s words ‘It is
neither the ringing of the wind nor the ringing of the bells, it is the ringing
of the mind’ mean that there is in the listener, at just the moment of the
present,† the occurrence of mindfulness, and this occurrence of mindful-
ness is called ‘the mind.’ If this mindfulness did not exist, how could the
sound of ringing be recognized as a circumstance? Hearing is realized
through this mindfulness, which may be called the root of hearing, and so
he says ‘the mind is ringing’....” This is wrong understanding. It is like this
because it is devoid of the influence of a true teacher. For example, it is
like interpretations by commentary teachers on subjectivism15 and prox-
imity.16 [Interpretation] like this is not profound learning of the Buddha’s
truth. Among those who have learned under rightful successors to the
Buddha’s truth, on the other hand, the supreme state of bodhi and the
right-Dharma-eye treasury are called “stillness,” are called “being free of
doing,” are called “sam‡dhi,” and are called “dh‡raı„.” The principle is that
if only one dharma is still, the ten thousand dharmas are all still. The
blowing of the wind being still, the ringing of the bells is still, and for this
reason he says all is still. He is saying that the mind ringing is beyond the
ringing of the wind, the mind ringing is beyond the ringing of the bells, and

14. The original story (written in Chinese characters only) is quoted in Keitoku-dento-
roku, chap. 2. This is an indirect quotation written in Japanese.
15. 依主 (ESHU), lit. “reliance on the subject,” is one of the 六離合釈 (ROKU-RIGO-
SHAKU), or “six interpretations of separation and synthesis.”
16. 隣近 (RINGON), “proximity,” is another of the six interpretations. In contrast to
the subjective method of interpretation, it proceeds opportunistically by examining ob-
jective facts close at hand.
 138 INMO

the mind ringing is beyond the ringing of the mind.17 Having pursued to
the ultimate the close and direct state like this,† we may then go on to say
that it is the wind ringing, it is the bells ringing, it is the blowing ringing, and it
is the ringing ringing. The state like this† exists not on the basis of “Why
should we worry about the matter which is it?” It is like this† because “How
can the matter which is it be related [to anything]?”18
[97] The thirty-third patriarch, Zen Master Daikan,19 before having his
head shaved, is lodging at Hossho-ji temple in Koshu. Two monks there
are having a discussion. One monk says, “The flag is moving.” The other
monk says, “The wind is moving.” As the discussion goes endlessly back
and forth like this, the Sixth Patriarch says, “It is beyond the wind moving
and beyond the flag moving. You are the mind moving.”20 Hearing this, the two
monks are instantly convinced.21
[98] These two monks had come from India. With these words, then, the
Sixth Patriarch is saying that the wind and the flag and the moving, all exist
as the mind. Even today, although [people] hear the Sixth Patriarch’s
words they do not know the Sixth Patriarch’s words: how much less could
they express the Sixth Patriarch’s expression of the truth? Why do I say
so?† Because, hearing the words “You are the mind moving,” to say
that ”You are the mind moving” just means “Your minds are moving,” is not
to see the Sixth Patriarch, is not to know the Sixth Patriarch, and is not to
be the Dharma-descendants of the Sixth Patriarch. Now, as the children
and grandchildren of the Sixth Patriarch, speaking the truth of the Sixth
Patriarch, speaking with the physical body, hair and skin, of the Sixth Pa-

17. 心鳴 (SHINMEI), “the mind ringing” is a direct suggestion of the state of reality in
Zazen—in which there is no separation of agent and action.
18. Master Dogen replaced 愁 (ure[en]) “worry about getting” in Master Ungo’s
words with 関 (kan[sen]) “be related with.” Master Ungo’s words include a denial of
subjective attempts to relate to the state. Master Dogen went one step further and sug-
gested that the state described by Master Gey‡˜ata transcends all relations.
19. Master Daikan Eno (638–713), successor of Master Daiman Konin. Master Daikan
Eno is the 33rd patriarch counting Master Mah‡k‡˜yapa as the first, and the 6th patriarch
counting Master Bodhidharma as the first in China. He is usually called the Sixth Patri-
arch.
20. 仁者心動 (JINSHA SHINDO). In Master Dogen’s interpretation, these characters
mean “You are the mind moving”—a description of the reality which is the mind. The
alternative interpretation is that 仁者心動 (JINSHA-SHIN DO) means “Your minds are
moving”—a criticism of the monks.
21. Tensho-koto-roku, chap. 7.
 INMO 139

triarch, we should say as follows:† The words “You are the mind moving”
are fine as they are, but we could also express it as “You are moving.” Why
do we say so?† Because what is moving is moving, and because you are you.
We say so† because [you] already are people who are it.
[99] In his former days the Sixth Patriarch is a woodman in Shinshu. He
knows the mountains well and knows the waters well. Through his effort
under the green pines, he has eradicated roots, but how could he know of
the eternal teachings that illuminate the mind, when one is at one’s ease,
by a bright window?22 Under whom could he learn cleansing and sweep-
ing? In the marketplace, he hears a sutra: this is not something that he
himself has expected, nor is it at the encouragement of anyone else. Hav-
ing lost his father as a child, he has grown up looking after his mother,
never knowing that in his [woodman’s] coat lies hidden a pearl that will
light up the cosmos. Suddenly illuminated [by the Diamond Sutra], he
leaves his old mother and goes in search of a counselor—it is an example
of behavior that is rare among men. Who can make light of kindness and
love? [But] attaching weight to the Dharma, he makes light of his debt of
gratitude and so is able to abandon it. This is just the truth of Those who
have wisdom, if they hear [the Dharma],/Are able to believe and understand at
once.23 This wisdom is neither learned from other people nor established by
oneself: wisdom is able to transmit wisdom, and wisdom directly searches
out wisdom. In the case of the five hundred bats,24 wisdom naturally con-
sumes their bodies: they have no body and no mind [of their own] at all.
In the case of the ten thousand swimming fishes,25 due neither to circum-
stances nor to causes, but because wisdom is intimately present in their
bodies, when they hear the Dharma they understand at once. It is beyond

22. A bright window suggests a good place for reading sutras. Master Daikan Eno
was free of wrongness and illusions, but he was not familiar with verbal Buddhist teach-
ing, and he did not have a human teacher.
23. Lotus Sutra, Yakuso-yu (Parable of the Herbs): The Dharma-King who breaks ‘exis-
tence,’/Appears in the world/And according to the wants of living beings,/Preaches the Dharma in
many ways…The wise if they hear it,/Are able to believe and understand at once,/The unwise
doubt and grieve,/Thus losing it forever. ( LS 1.272).
24. Sei-iki-ki tells the tale of a merchant who, passing near the southern sea, stayed
the night at the foot of a big withered tree. He lit a fire because it was cold, and began to
read the Abidharma commentaries. The fire set light to the tree, but five hundred bats
inside the tree chose to burn to death rather than to miss hearing the reading of the
Abidharma.
25. In Hoku Ryo’s translation of Kon-komyo-kyo, ten thousand fishes who heard the
reading of a Buddhist sutra were reborn as angels in Tu˘ita Heaven.
140 INMO

coming and beyond entering: it is like the spirit of spring26 meeting

springtime, for example. Wisdom is beyond intention and wisdom is be-
yond no intention. Wisdom is beyond consciousness and wisdom is
beyond unconsciousness. How much less could it be related to the great
and the small? How much less could it be discussed in terms of delusion
and realization? The point is that although [the Sixth Patriarch] does not
even know what the Buddha-Dharma is, never having heard it before and
so neither longing for it nor aspiring to it, when he hears the Dharma, he
makes light of his debt of gratitude and forgets his own body; and such
things happen because the body-and-mind of those who have wisdom is al-
ready not their own. This is the state called able to believe and understand at
once. No-one knows how many rounds of life-and-death [people] spend,
even while possessing this wisdom, in futile dusty toil. They are like a
stone enveloping a jewel,27 the jewel not knowing that it is enveloped by a
stone, and the stone not knowing that it is enveloping a jewel. [When] a
human being recognizes this [jewel], a human being seizes it. This is nei-
ther something that the jewel is expecting nor something that the stone is
awaiting: it does not require knowledge from the stone and it is beyond
thinking by the jewel.28 In other words, a human being and wisdom do
not know each other, but it seems that the truth is unfailingly discerned by
wisdom. There are the words, “Those who are without wisdom doubt, / Thus
losing it forever.”29 Wisdom is not necessarily related to having and wisdom is
not necessarily related to being without; at the same time, there is existence30
in the spring pines at one moment, and there is [the real state of] being
without31 as the autumn chrysanthemums. At the moment of this wisdom

26. 東君 (TOKUN), lit. “the Eastern Lord” is the god of spring. The spirit of spring
meeting spring suggests a fact at one moment of the present, as opposed to a process.
27. The jewel symbolizes wisdom and the stone symbolizes the layers of interference
which surround the state of wisdom.
28. Realization in Zazen, for example, is the innate function of a human being; it is
prior to learned mental faculties such as expectation, knowledge, and thinking.
29. Lotus Sutra, Yakuso-yu (LS 1.272). The edition of the Lotus Sutra published by
Iwanami has 疑悔 (GIKE), “doubt and grieve,” but here Master Dogen has written 疑怪
(GIKE), “doubt and wonder,” or “doubt.”
30. 有 (U), in the phrase 有智 (UCHI) means “having [wisdom],” but here it means
real existence.
31. 無 (MU), in the phrase 無智 (MUCHI) means “being without [wisdom],” but here
it means the real state which is called 無 (MU), “being without.” See also chap. 22, Bussho.
 INMO 141

as being without,32 the whole truth of sa¸bodhi33 becomes doubt, and all
dharmas are doubt.34 And at this moment, to lose forever is just to act.35
Words that should be heard, and Dharma that should be experienced, are
totally doubt. The entire world, which is not me, has no hidden place; it is a
single iron track, which is not anyone, for ten thousand miles.36 While, in
this way,† twigs bud, In the Buddha-lands of the ten directions,/There only ex-
ists the one-vehicle Dharma.37 And while, in this way,† leaves fall, The
Dharma abides in its place in the Dharma,/And the form of the world is con-
stantly abiding.38 Because this already exists39 as the matter which is it, it exists
in having wisdom and in being without wisdom, and it exists as the face of the
sun and as the face of the moon. Because he is a person who is it, the Sixth
Patriarch is illuminated. Consequently, he goes directly to Obai-zan
mountain and prostrates himself to Zen Master Daiman,40 who lodges him
in the servants’ hall. He pounds rice through the night for eight short
months, then once, late into the night, Daiman himself secretly enters the
pounding room and asks the Sixth Patriarch, “Is the rice white yet or not?”
The Sixth Patriarch says, “It is white, but not yet sifted.” Daiman pounds the
mortar three times, and the Sixth Patriarch sifts the rice in the winnowing
basket three times. This is said to be the time when the state of truth be-
comes consonant between master and disciple. They do not know it
themselves, and it is beyond the understanding of others, but the trans-
mission of the Dharma and the transmission of the robe are just at that†
exact moment.

32. 無智 (MUCHI). In the Lotus Sutra 無 (MU) is a preposition, “without,” and 智

(CHI) is a noun “wisdom”; but in Master Dogen’s interpretation 無 (MU) and 智 (CHI) are
two nouns in apposition: “the state of being without, wisdom.”
33. The Sanskrit word sa¸bodhi means the inclusive and integrated state of truth.
34. “Doubt” here suggests the truth as the unknown.
35. The Lotus Sutra says 則為永失 (sunawa[chi] kore YO-SHITSU), lit. “which is to lose
forever.” Master Dogen changed the order of the characters, saying 永失則為 (YO-SHITSU
SOKU I), “to lose forever is just to act”—to be rid of all hindrances is the state of just sit-
ting.
36. 万里一条鉄 (BANRI-ICHIJOTETSU), “a single iron track for ten thousand miles,”
means a unified entity.
37. Lotus Sutra, Hoben (Expedient Means). See LS 1.106. “Twigs bud” suggests the
manifestation of miscellaneous concrete phenomena, which is opposed to the eternal
situation of the Dharma described in the Lotus Sutra.
38. Ibid. LS 1.120.
39. 既是 (KIZE), as in Master Ungo’s words “Already being [a person who is it]…”
40. Master Daiman Konin (688–761), successor of Master Dai-i Doshin and the fifth
patriarch in China.
 142 INMO

[105] Great Master Musai41 of Nangaku-zan mountain, on one occasion, is

asked by Yakusan,42 “The three vehicles and the twelve divisions of the teach-
ing43 I roughly know. [But] I have heard that in the south there is direct pointing
at the human mind, realizing the nature and becoming buddha. Frankly, I have
not clarified [this] yet. I beg you, Master, out of compassion, to teach me.”44
[106] This is Yakusan’s question. Yakusan in the past had been a lecturer;
he had thoroughly understood the meaning of the three vehicles and the
twelve divisions of the teaching. So it seems there was no Buddha-
Dharma at all that was unclear to him. In those days different sects were
never established; just to clarify the three vehicles and the twelve divisions
of the teaching was accepted as the customary way of learning the teach-
ing. That many people today, out of stupidity, individually establish
principles and suppose the Buddha-Dharma, is not the legitimate stan-
dard in Buddhism. The Great Master says, “To be like that is impossible.45
Not to be like that is impossible. To be like that or not to be like that is altogether
impossible. What do you make of it?” These are the words spoken by the
Great Master for Yakusan. Truly, because to be like that or not to be like that
is altogether impossible, to be like that is impossible and not to be like that is im-
possible. “Like that” describes it. It is not [a matter of] the limited usefulness
of words and not [a matter of] the unlimited usefulness of words: we
should learn “it” in the state of impossibility, and we should inquire into
“impossibility” in the state of it. It is not that this concrete it, and the impos-
sible, are relevant only to the consideration of buddhas. To understand it is
impossible. To realize it is impossible.
[108] Zen Master Daikan46 of Sokei-zan mountain, on one occasion, teaches
Zen Master Dai-e47 of Nangaku, “This is something48 coming like this.†”49
These words say that being like this† is beyond doubt, for it is beyond un-

41. Master Sekito Kisen (700–790), successor of Master Seigen Gyoshi.

42. Master Yakusan Igen (745–828), successor of Master Sekito Kisen.
43. 三乗十二分教 (SANJO JUNIBUN-KYO), the three vehicles and the twelve divisions
of the teaching, are explained in detail in chap. 24, Bukkyo.
44. Rento-eyo, chap. 19.
45. 恁麼不得 (INMO-FUTOKU).
46. Master Daikan Eno (638–713), the Sixth Patriarch.
47. Master Nangaku Ejo (677–744), successor of Master Daikan Eno.
48. 什麼物 (SHIMO-BUTSU). 什麼 (SHIMO) means “what,” and 物 (BUTSU) means
“thing.” Master Daikan Eno’s words can also be interpreted as a question: “What is it that
comes like this?”
49. Tensho-koto-roku, chap. 8; Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 2, no. 1.
 INMO 143

derstanding. Because this is something, we should realize in experience that

all the myriad things are truly something. We should realize in experience
that every single thing is truly something. Something is not open to doubt: it
comes like this.

Shobogenzo Inmo

Preached to the assembly at Kan-

non-dori-kosho-horin-ji temple
on the 26th day of the 3rd lunar
month in the 3rd year of Ninji.50

50. 1242.
 [30]
行持 (上)

GYOJI
[Pure] Conduct and Observance
[of Precepts] – Part 1
Gyo means deeds, actions, or conduct; and ji means observance of precepts.
So gyoji means “Pure Conduct and Observance of Precepts.” In short, we
can say that Buddhism is a religion of action. Gautama Buddha recognized
the importance of action in our life, and he established an ultimate philosophy
dependent on action. In sum, the solution to all problems relies upon the phi-
losophy of action and therefore Master Dogen esteemed action highly. In this
chapter he quoted many examples of pure conduct and observance of precepts
by Buddhas and patriarchs. The contents of this chapter are thus very con-
crete, and encourage us in practicing our Buddhist life and observing the
Buddhist precepts.

[111] In the great truth of the Buddhist patriarchs, there is always

[pure] conduct and observance [of precepts]1 above which there is nothing.
It continues in an unbroken cycle, so that there is not the slightest interval
between establishment of the mind, training, bodhi, and nirv‡ıa: conduct
and observance is a continuing cycle. For this reason, it is not doing that is
forced from ourselves and it is not doing that is forced from outside; it is
conduct and observance that has never been tainted.2 The virtue of this con-

1. 行持 (GYOJI). 行 (GYO), “conduct” or “practice,” can be interpreted as standing for

梵行 (BONGYO), which represents the Sanskrit brahma-carya, “pure conduct.” 持 (JI),
“maintaining” or “keeping,” can be interpreted as standing for 持戒 (JIKAI) “keeping the
precepts,” or “observing the rules of discipline.” The phrase 持戒梵行 (JIKAI-BONGYO)
appears, for example, in chap. 1, Bendowa, para. [51]. Alternatively, 行持 (GYOJI) can be
interpreted as “maintaining the practice.”
2. 不曽染汚 (katsu[te] ZENNA [se] zu) means there has been no separation of means
and end. Master Dogen’s Zazenshin, in chap. 27, says “There has been no taintedness.”

145
146 GYOJI-1

duct and observance maintains ourselves and maintains the outside world.
The import is that in the moment of my conduct and observance the
whole earth and whole sky through the ten directions are totally covered
by the virtue [of my conduct and observance]. Others do not know it, and
I do not know it, but it is so. Thus, through the conduct and observance of
the buddhas and the patriarchs, our own conduct and observance is real-
ized and our own great state of truth is penetrated; and through our
conduct and observance, the conduct and observance of the buddhas is
realized and the buddhas’ great state of truth is penetrated. It is due to our
own conduct and observance that the virtue of this cycle exists. Through
this means, every buddha and every patriarch abides as buddha, tran-
scends as buddha, realizes the mind as buddha, and is realized as buddha,
without any interruption. Through this conduct and observance, the sun,
moon, and stars exist; through this conduct and observance, the Earth and
space exist; through this conduct and observance, object-and-subject,
body-and-mind exist; through this conduct and observance, the four ele-
ments and five aggregates exist. Conduct and observance is not loved by
worldly people, but it may be the real refuge of all human beings.
Through the conduct and observance of the buddhas of the past, present,
and future, the buddhas of the past, present, and future are realized.
Sometimes the virtue of this conduct and observance is evident, so the will
arises, and we practice it. Sometimes this virtue is not apparent, so we
neither see, nor hear, nor sense it. Although it is not apparent, we should
learn in experience that it is not concealed—for it is not tainted by con-
cealment and revelation or by continuance and disappearance. That, in the
actual hiddenness of the present moment, we do not understand what
dependently-originated dharmas there are in the practice of the conduct
and observance which is realizing ourself, is because the grasping of con-
duct and observance is never a special state in a new phase.3 Dependent
origination is conduct and observance: we should painstakingly consider
and learn in practice that this is because conduct and observance does not
originate dependently.4 The conduct and observance that realizes such
conduct and observance is just our own conduct and observance in the
present moment. The present moment of conduct and observance is not
the original possession or the original abode of self. The present moment

3. Grasping of conduct and observance is a state of action, not a state of intellectual

enlightenment.
4. In other words, conduct and observance is reality; “dependent origination” is
only an explanation of reality.
 GYOJI-1 147

of conduct and observance does not depart from and come to, or leave
and enter, self. The words “the present moment” do not describe some-
thing that exists prior to conduct and observance: the realization of
conduct and observance itself is called “the present moment.” Therefore,
one day of conduct and observance is the seed of all the buddhas and is
the conduct and observance of all the buddhas. To fail to practice this
conduct and observance by which the buddhas are realized and by which
their conduct and observance is practiced, is to hate the buddhas, is to fail
to serve offerings to the buddhas, is to hate conduct and observance, is to
fail to live together with and die together with the buddhas, and is to fail
to learn with them and experience the same state as them. The opening
flowers and falling leaves of the present are just the realization of conduct
and observance. There is no polishing of mirrors or breaking of mirrors5
that is not conduct and observance. Therefore, if we aim to set aside con-
duct and observance, disregarding conduct and observance in the hope of
concealing the wrong mind which wants to avoid practicing conduct and
observance, even this is conduct and observance. On those grounds, [how-
ever,] intentionally to aim for conduct and observance, even though it
may look like the will to conduct and observance, is to become the
wretched son who threw away treasure in the homeland of his true father,
and wandered astray through foreign lands.6 During his time of wander-
ing astray, the winds and waters did not cause him to lose body and life;
nonetheless, he should not have thrown away the treasure of his true fa-
ther—for that is to lose, or to misunderstand, the Dharma-treasure of the
true father. Thus, [pure] conduct and observance [of precepts] is Dharma
that is not to be neglected even for an instant.
[117] The benevolent father, the great teacher, ¯‡kyamuni Buddha,
practiced [pure] conduct and observance [of precepts] deep in the moun-
tains from the nineteenth year of the Buddha’s lifetime to the thirtieth year
of the Buddha’s lifetime, when there was conduct and observance that
realized the truth simultaneously with the Earth and [all] sentient beings.
Into the eightieth year of the Buddha’s lifetime, still he maintained the
practice in the mountains and forests, and maintained the practice in

5. 磨鏡 (MAKYO), “polishing a mirror,” means practice in the Buddhist state (see, for
example, chap. 20, Kokyo). 破鏡 (HAKYO), “breaking a mirror,” means getting free of
idealism.
6. Alludes to the parable in the Shinge (Belief and Understanding) chapter of the Lotus
Sutra. See LS 1.236.
 148 GYOJI-1

monasteries, never returning to the royal palace, never assuming control

over the wealth of his land. He retained as his clothing7 a cotton sa¸gh‡Ò„
robe;8 throughout his life in the world he did not replace it—as, while in
the world, he did not replace his one bowl. He did not stay alone for a
single hour or a single day. He did not refuse offerings idly served to him
by human beings and gods. He patiently endured the insults of non-
Buddhists. In sum, his whole life of teaching was conduct and observance.
The forms practiced by the Buddha, washing the robe and begging for
food, are all nothing other than conduct and observance.
[119] The eighth patriarch,9 the Venerable Mah‡k‡˜yapa, was the rightful
successor of ¯‡kyamuni. Throughout his life he devotedly maintained the
practice10 of the twelve dhÂtas,11 never tiring of them at all. The twelve
dhÂtas are as follows: 1) Not to accept people’s invitations, but to go begging
for food every day; also, not to accept the money for [even] a single meal for a
monk. 2) To lodge on a mountain, not to lodge in someone’s house, a populated
district, or a village. 3) Never to beg clothes from people, and not to accept clothes
that people offer, but to take the clothes of dead people which have been discarded
by gravesides, and to mend [these clothes] and wear them. 4) To lodge under a
tree in the countryside. 5) To eat one meal a day—this is called, for instance,
“Sunkasunnai.”12 6) Not to lie down in the daytime or the nighttime, but only to
sit, and when sleepy to walk about13—this is called, for instance, “Sunnaisasha-
kyu.”14 7) To have three robes, not to have other robes, and not to sleep in
bedclothes. 8) To stay among graves, not in Buddhist temples, and not in human
society. Looking at the skulls and bones of dead people, to sit in Zazen and pursue
the truth. 9) Only to want to live alone, not to want to meet people, and not to
want to sleep together with people. 10) First to eat fruit and then to eat a meal,

7. 衣持す (EJI su). In this compound, 衣 (E), “clothing,” functions as object and 持 (JI),
“retain,” functions as verb.
8. The large robe. See chap. 12, Kesa-kudoku.
9. Counting ¯‡kyamuni Buddha as the seventh of the seven ancient buddhas.
10. “Maintained the practice of” is 行持す (GYOJI su). See note 1 and note 7.
11. Ascetic practices listed, for example, in Daibiku-sanzen-yuigi-kyo (Sutra of Three
Thousand Dignified Forms for Ordained Monks), and Bussetsu-juni-zuda-kyo (Sutra of the
Twelve DhÂtas Preached by the Buddha). The section in italics is a direct quotation from the
Chinese.
12. Represents the sound of a Sanskrit word; the original word has not been traced.
13. 経行 (KINHIN), from the Sanskrit caÔkrama. The traditional rule for kinhin in Ja-
pan is 一息半歩 (ISSOKU-HANPO), “one breath per half-step.”
14. Represents the sound of a Sanskrit word; the original word has not been traced.
 GYOJI-1 149

but never to eat fruit after finishing a meal. 11) Only to want to sleep in the open,
not sheltering under a tree. 12) Not to eat meat or dairy produce,15 and not to
apply herbal oil to the body. These are the twelve dhÂtas. The Venerable
Mah‡k‡˜yapa did not regress and did not stray from them throughout his
life. Even when he received the authentic transmission of the Tath‡gata’s
right-Dharma-eye treasury, he never relented in these dhÂtas. Once the
Buddha said, “You are already an old man, you should eat a monk’s meal.” The
Venerable Mah‡k‡˜yapa said, “If I had not met with the Tath‡gata’s appear-
ance in this world, I would have been a pratyekabuddha, living in mountains and
forests all my life. Fortunately, I met with the Tath‡gata’s appearance in the
world, and I have experienced the Dharma’s goodness. Nevertheless, I will not eat
a monk’s meal in the end.” The Tath‡gata praised him. On another occasion,
Mah‡k‡˜yapa’s body had become emaciated because of his practice of the
dhÂtas, and it seems that many monks looked on him with disdain. Then
the Tath‡gata warmly summoned him and offered Mah‡k‡˜yapa half of
his seat; and the Venerable Mah‡k‡˜yapa sat on the Tath‡gata’s seat. [So]
remember, Mah‡k‡˜yapa was the senior member of the Buddha’s order.
We could not enumerate all the examples of [pure] conduct and obser-
vance [of precepts] that he practiced through his life.
[123] The tenth Patriarch,16 the Venerable P‡r˜va, [swore] “through my life,
my side will not touch a bed.” Although this was the pursuit of the truth of
an old man of eighty, he thereupon quickly succeeded to the one-to-one
transmission of the great Dharma. Because he never let time go to waste,
in only three years of effort, he received the one-to-one transmission of the
right Eye of sa¸bodhi.17 The Venerable One had spent sixty years in the
womb, and he left the womb with his hair already white. He vowed never to
sleep like a corpse, and so was called “Kyo Sonja,” the Side Saint. Even in the
dark, his hands radiating brightness, he could pick up the sutras of the Dharma.
This was a mysterious trait with which he was born.
[124] The Side Saint was approaching the age of eighty when he left home and dyed
the robe. A young man of the region, having invited him [for the midday meal],
said, “Foolish fellow! Doddering old man! How can you be so dim? In general,

15. 醍醐 (DAIGO). The Spahn/Hadamitzky Japanese Character Dictionary gives 醍

(DAI) as “whey,” and 醐 (GO) as “a kind of butter-cream.” In Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1 no. 8,
Master Baso’s feeling of satisfaction on hearing the teaching of Master Nangaku Ejo is
described as “like having drunk 醍醐 (DAIGO).”
16. Counting Master Mah‡k‡˜yapa as the first patriarch.
17. The inclusive and integrated state of truth.
 150 GYOJI-1

those who have left family life have two practices: first they practice the balanced
state; second they recite the sutras. [But] now you are [already] a feeble old man.
There is nowhere for you to progress. Your footprints will dirty pure streams.
You will know the satisfaction of meals to no avail.” At that time, hearing the
denunciations, the Side Saint duly thanked the people present, and vowed to him-
self, “Until I understand the meaning of the tripiÒaka,18 eradicate the desires of
the triple world, attain the six mystical powers, and accomplish the eight kinds of
release,19 my side shall not touch a bed.” After that, he practiced walking about
and sitting in stillness without missing a single day, and he meditated while
standing still. In the daytime he researched and learned theory and teaching, and
at night he quieted his thoughts and concentrated his mind. In three years of con-
tinuous effort, he mastered the tripiÒaka, eradicated the desires of the triple world,
and attained the wisdom of the three kinds of knowledge. People of the time, out of
respect, therefore called him the Side Saint.20
[126] So the Side Saint was in the womb sixty years before first leaving the
womb. Might he not have been making his effort even in the womb? After
leaving the womb, he was nearly eighty when he first sought to leave fam-
ily life and learn the state of truth—one hundred and forty years after he
was conceived! Truly, he was an outstanding individual; at the same time,
this doddering old man must have been more doddering and old than
anyone—he reached old age inside the womb, and reached old age out-
side the womb as well. Nonetheless, paying no attention to the scorn of
people of the time, he single-mindedly and unrelentingly kept his vow,
and thus his pursuit of the truth came to realization in only three years.
Who could feel at ease looking at his wisdom and thinking of emulating
him? Do not worry about old age. It is hard to know what this life is,
whether it is a life or not a life, whether it is old or not old. The four views,
[as we have seen] already,21 are different; and the views of all kinds of
beings are different. Concentrating our resolve, we should just strive in
pursuit of the truth.22 We should learn in practice that in pursuing the

18. 三蔵 (SANZO), lit. “the three stores” i.e. the tripiÒaka or three baskets: sutras, pre-
cepts, and commentaries.
19. 八解脱 (HACHI-GEDATSU), from the Sanskrit a˘Òa vimok˜‡˛.
20. The paragraph is in the form of a quotation, written in Chinese characters only,
but the source has not been traced.
21. 四見 (SHIKEN), are the views of human beings, demons, fish, and gods, who see
water as water, pus, a palace, and a string of pearls, respectively. See, for example, chap.
3, Genjo-koan and chap. 14, Sansuigyo.
22. 弁道功夫 (BENDO-KUFU), means to make effort in Zazen.
 GYOJI-1 151

truth we are as if meeting life-and-death [itself]; it is not that we pursue

the truth in life and death. People today imagine that they will set aside
the pursuit of the truth when they reach fifty or sixty, or reach seventy or
eighty: this is extremely stupid. We are conscious of having lived for so
many years and months, but this is just the restless activity of the human
soul, not the state of learning the truth. Do not notice whether you are in
your prime or past it; determine solely to learn the state of truth and pur-
sue the ultimate: emulate the Side Saint. Do not be particularly concerned
about becoming a pile of dirt in a graveyard; give it no special considera-
tion. If you do not single-mindedly strive to be saved, who will be
inspired by whom? When we are vainly wandering in the wilds, skeletons
without a master, we should realize right reflection—as if making an eye.
[129] The sixth Patriarch23 was a woodman in Shinshu district. It would be
difficult to call him an intellectual. He had lost his father in infancy and
had been brought up by his old mother; he made a living as a woodman
in order to support her. After hearing one phrase of a sutra at a town
crossing, he left his old mother at once, and went in search of the great
Dharma. He was a man of great makings, rare through the ages. His pur-
suit of the truth was in a class by itself. To cut off an arm may be easy, but
this severance from love must have been enormously difficult; this aban-
doning of obligation could not have been done lightly. Having devoted
himself to the order of Obai,24 he pounded rice day and night, without
sleep or respite, for eight months. In the middle of one night, he received
the authentic transmission of the robe and the bowl. Even after getting the
Dharma, he still carried the stone mortar on his travels, and continued his
rice-pounding for eight years. Even when he manifested himself in the
world25 and preached the Dharma to deliver others, he did not set aside
the stone mortar. This was maintenance of practice26 rare through the ages.
[130] Baso of Kozei27 sat in Zazen for twenty years and he received the
intimate seal of Nangaku. It has never been said that he neglected Zazen
when, having received the Dharma, he saved others. When students first

23. Master Daikan Eno (638–713), successor of Master Daiman Konin.

24. Obai means Master Daiman Konin. Obai was the name of the mountain where he
lived.
25. 出世 (SHUSSE), “to manifest oneself in the world,” means to become the master of
a big temple.
26. 行持 (GYOJI). See note 1.
27. Master Baso Do-itsu (704–788), successor of Master Nangaku Ejo.
 152 GYOJI-1

came to him, he unfailingly caused them intimately to receive the mind-

seal.28 He was always first to go to communal work. Even into old age he
did not let up. [Followers of] Rinzai today are in Kozei’s stream.
[131] Master Ungan29 learned in practice alongside Dogo30 in the order of
Yakusan. Having made a pledge together, [Ungan and Dogo] did not put
their sides to a bed for forty years; with one taste, they investigated the
state in experience. [Ungan] transmitted the Dharma to Great Master Go-
hon of Tozan.31 Tozan said, “Wanting to realize wholeness,32 I have sat in
Zazen and pursued the truth, for twenty years already.” Now that truth has
been transmitted far and wide.
[132] Great Master Kokaku of Ungo-zan mountain33 in former days resided
in a hut on Sanpo mountain,34 at which time he was served meals from the
gods’ kitchen.35 The Great Master on one occasion, on visiting Tozan, deci-
sively attained the great state of truth, after which he returned once more
to his hut. When the angels came again to serve food to the Master, they
searched for three days but could not find him. No longer expecting heav-
enly cuisine, he saw the great state of truth as his sustenance. We should
try to imagine his determination.
[133] Zen Master Daichi36 of Hyakujo-zan mountain in former years was
the attendant monk of Baso; from then until the evening he entered

28. 心印 (SHIN-IN), short for 仏心印 (BUTSU-SHIN-IN), “the Buddha-mind-seal”

which, in chap. 72, Zanmai-o-zanmai, Master Dogen identifies with the full lotus posture.
29. Master Ungan Donjo (782–841), successor of Master Yakusan Igen and the 37th
patriarch in Master Dogen’s lineage.
30. Master Dogo Enchi (769–835), also a successor of Master Yakusan Igen.
31. Master Tozan Ryokai (807–869), successor of Master Ungan. Great Master Gohon
is his posthumous title.
32. 一片 (IPPEN), lit. “one piece.” In Fukan-zazengi Shinpitsu-bon, alluding to these
words, Master Dogen teaches: 久久忘縁 自成一片 此坐禅之要術也 “Forgetting circum-
stances forever, to naturally realize wholeness. This is the secret of Zazen.”
33. Master Ungo Doyo (?–902), successor of Master Tozan and 39th patriarch in Mas-
ter Dogen’s lineage. Great Master Kokaku is his posthumous title.
34. 三峰庵 (SANPO-AN), was the name of Master Ungo’s hut itself. 三峰 (SANPO) is
the name of the mountain and 庵 (AN) means hut, cell, or hermitage.
35. Legend says that when Buddhist practitioners are pursuing enlightenment, they
are served meals by angels, but after they realize the truth the angels do not come any
more.
36. Master Hyakujo Ekai (749–814), successor of Master Baso Do-itsu. Master Daichi
is his posthumous title.
 GYOJI-1 153

nirv‡ıa, he never had a day when he did not labor for the benefit of the
monks and for the benefit of other people. Thankfully, the traces remain of
his “A day without work is a day without food”—Zen Master Hyakujo was
already an old man, with many years as a monk behind him, but in the
communal work he still exerted himself alongside those in the prime of
life. The monks felt sorry for him. Though people pitied him, the Master
would not quit. In the end, at work time they hid his work tools, and
when they would not give the Master [his tools], the Master did not eat all
day. His motive was that he was unhappy not to be able to join in with the
work of the monks. This is called the tale of Hyakujo’s A day without work
is a day without food. The profound customs of the Rinzai Sect which have
swept through the great kingdom of Sung today, and those of monasteries
in all directions,37 are in many cases the practice, as conduct and obser-
vance, of Hyakujo’s profound customs.
[134] When Master Kyosei38 lived as master of [Kyosei] temple, the local
deities could not see the Master’s face; for they had no means of doing
so.39
[135] Zen Master Gichu40 of Sanpei-zan mountain in former times had been
served meals from the kitchen of the gods. After he met Daiten, [how-
ever,] when the gods tried to find the Master again, they could not see him.
[135] The later Master of Dai-i mountain41 said, “For twenty years42 I have
been on Isan mountain. I have eaten Isan meals, I have shat Isan shit; but I have
not studied the way of Isan.43 I have only been able to raise44 a castrated water

37. Master Hyakujo was instrumental in establishing the customs of Zen monasteries
in China. He compiled Ko-shingi (Old Pure Criteria), which later formed the basis for Zen-
en-shingi—a work frequently quoted in Shobogenzo.
38. Master Kyosei Dofu (864–937), successor of Master Seppo Gison. He later became
master of Ryusatsu-ji temple.
39. Buddhist practitioners, when they are doing Buddhist practice, are said to be in-
visible to gods and demons.
40. Master Sanpei Gichu (781–872), successor of Master Daiten Hotsu (died 819). He
first studied under Master Shakkyo.
41. Master Enchi Dai-an (died 883), successor of Master Hyakujo Ekai. One of his
elder-brothers in Master Hyakujo’s order was Master Isan Reiyu (771–853). When Isan
became the master of Dai-i mountain, Master Enchi helped him run the temple; then
after Master Isan’s death, Master Enchi became the second master of Dai-i mountain.
42. The quotation in chap. 64, Kajo, taken from Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 9, says thirty
years. It is possible that in this chapter Master Dogen was quoting from memory.
43. Ibid. “Isan Zen.”
 154 GYOJI-1

buffalo. All day long it is in a state of conspicuous brightness.” Remember, the

one castrated water buffalo was raised by twenty years of conduct and
observance on Isan mountain. This Master had previously learned in prac-
tice in Hyakujo’s order. Quietly reflect on his state during those twenty
years, and never forget it. Though there are people who study the way of
Isan, there may be few examples of conduct and observance that is not to
study the way of Isan.
[136] Master Jushin,45 [titled] Great Master Shinsai, of Kannon-in temple in
Joshu46 first established the will to pursue the truth when he was sixty-one
years old. Carrying a canteen and a traveling staff,47 he set out on foot to
visit masters in all directions, constantly telling himself, “If there is a child
of seven who is superior to me, I shall question him or her at once. If there is an
old man of a hundred who is inferior to me, I shall teach him at once.”48 With
this attitude, he strove to learn Nansen’s way for twenty years. When he
was eighty, he first took residence as master of Kannon-in temple in the
east of Joshu City, then taught and guided human beings and gods for
forty years. He never petitioned donors with a single letter, and so the
Monk’s Hall was not large: there was no front hall,49 and no rear stand.50
Once a leg of the [Zazen] platform broke. He roped to it a charred piece of
burnt-off wood and carried on practicing for years and months. The tem-
ple officers asked to replace this leg of the platform, but Joshu did not
allow it. We should recognize here the usual customs of an eternal buddha.
Joshu lived in Joshu from the age of eighty onwards—after he had re-
ceived the Dharma. He had received the authentic transmission of the
right Dharma, and people called him “the eternal buddha.” Others, who
have never received the authentic transmission of the right Dharma, must
be less important than the Master. [At the same time] people other than he,

44. Ibid. “watch over.”

45. Master Joshu Jushin (778–897), successor of Master Nansen Fugan.
46. In present-day Hopeh, in northeast China.
47. 瓶錫 (BYOSHAKU), the canteen and staff are two of the eighteen possessions a
monk is supposed to have. 錫 (SHAKU) stands for 錫杖 (SHAKUJO), lit. “tin and staff,” a
wooden staff with a metal top holding metal rings (Sanskrit: khakkhara). The rings are
intended to rattle as the monk walks, so as to warn off wild animals.
48. Master Dogen paraphrases the same words of Master Joshu in chap. 8, Raihai-
tokuzui.
49. 前架 (ZENKA), a corridor in front of the Zazen Hall proper where the temple offi-
cers sit.
50. 後架 (KOKA), a wash-stand located behind the Zazen Hall.
 GYOJI-1 155

not having reached the age of eighty, are likely to be stronger than the
Master. How might we, who are in our prime yet unimportant, equal him,
the old man who is profoundly venerable? We must spur ourselves to
pursue the state of truth and to practice conduct and observance! For
those forty years, they kept no worldly goods and in the stores there was
no rice and grain. Sometimes they would gather chestnuts or sweet acorns
for food; sometimes they would spin out a meal again and again. Truly,
these were the usual customs of the dragons and elephants of the past,
regulated conduct that we should love and admire.
[139] Once [Joshu] preached to the assembly, “If you spend your whole life not
leaving the monastery,51 not talking for ten years or for five years, no-one will be
able to call you a mute. Afterwards, how could even the buddhas do anything to
you?”52 This preaches conduct and observance. Remember, by not talking
for ten years or for five years we might seem to be stupid, but even if, by
virtue of the effort of not leaving the monastery, we are beyond talk, we
are not mutes. The Buddha’s state of truth is like this. Those who do not
hear the voice of the Buddha’s state of truth can never possess the truth
which is a non-mute53 being beyond talk. So the finest example of conduct
and observance is not to leave the monastery. Not to leave the monastery is
complete talk, in the state of liberation. The extremely stupid neither know
themselves as non-mutes nor let themselves be known as non-mutes; no-
one prevents them, but they do not let themselves be known [as non-
mutes]. Those who will not hear that to be a non-mute is to have attained
the ineffable, and who do not know that [to be a non-mute] is to have at-
tained the ineffable, are pitiful individuals. Quietly practice the conduct
and observance of not leaving the monastery: do not blow east and west
with the east and west wind. Even if, for ten years or for five years, the
spring breezes and autumn moons go unrecognized, the state of truth will
be present, transparently free of sound and form. Expressing the truth in
this state is beyond our own knowing, and beyond our own understand-
ing. We should learn in practice how valuable is each minute54 of conduct

51. 叢林 (SORIN), lit. “thicket-forest,” represents the Sanskrit piıÛa-vana, which lit.
means a round mass of forest, a clump of trees, and by extension a gathering of Buddhist
practitioners at one place. Usually, 叢林 (SORIN), suggests a place for Buddhist practice.
52. A slightly different version is quoted in chap. 39, Dotoku. Again, it is possible that
Master Dogen was quoting from memory.
53. 不唖漢 (FU-AKAN) suggests someone who does not talk about Buddhism, but
just lives quietly in a Buddhist temple.
54. 寸陰 (SUN-IN), lit. “an inch of shadow.”
 156 GYOJI-1

and observance. Do not wonder whether not-talking might be vacuous.

Entry is one monastery. Getting out is one monastery. The way of the
birds is one monastery. The entire Universe is one monastery.55
[141] Daibai-zan mountain is in the city of Keigen-fu. Gosho-ji temple was
established on this mountain, and its founder was Zen Master Hojo.56 The
Zen Master was a man of the Joyo district.57 In former days, when visiting
Baso’s order, he asked, “What is buddha?” Baso said, “The mind here and
now is buddha.”58 Hearing these words, Hojo realized the great state of re-
alization under their influence. Consequently he climbed to the summit of
Daibai-zan mountain, away from human society, and lived in solitude in a
thatched hut, eating pine nuts and wearing clothes made from lotus
leaves: there was a small pond on the mountain, and many lotuses grew in
the pond. He sat in Zazen and pursued the truth for more than thirty
years. He saw and heard absolutely nothing of human affairs, and he lost
track of the passing years, only seeing the mountains all around go from
green to yellow. One pities to imagine what the winds and frosts were like.
In Zazen, the Master placed an eight-inch iron tower on his head, as if he
were wearing a crown. By endeavoring to keep this tower from dropping
to the ground, he did not fall asleep. The tower remains in the temple to-
day: it is listed in the records of the temple storehouse. This is how he
pursued the truth until his death, never tiring of the effort. He had been
living like this for years and months when a monk from Enkan’s59 order
happened to come onto the mountain looking for a staff. [The monk] lost
his way on the mountain and unexpectedly came upon the site of the Mas-
ter’s hut. When, to [the monk’s] surprise, he saw the Master, he asked,
“Master, how long have you been living on this mountain?” The Master said, “I
have only seen the mountains all around go from green to yellow.” The monk
asked further, “What is the way down from the mountain?” The Master said,
“Follow the stream down.” The monk was struck. When he returned and

55. The four subjects of these four sentences may be understood as a progression
through four phases: 1) 入 (NYU), “entry” into Buddhist practice with the ideal of realiz-
ing the truth; 2) 出 (SHUTSU), “getting out,” of the area of idealism (while remaining in
the area of Buddhist practice); 3) realizing 鳥路 (CHORO), “the way of the birds,” that is,
the path by which all interferences are transcended; 4) realizing A 界 (HENKAI), “the
entire Universe” or the Dharma itself.
56. Master Daibai Hojo (752–839), successor of Master Baso Do-itsu.
57. In present-day Hupei province in east China.
58. Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 3, no. 79.
59. Master Enkan Sai-an (?–842), also a successor of Master Baso Do-itsu.
 GYOJI-1 157

told Enkan what had happened, Enkan said, “In former days when I was in
Kozei60 I once met a certain monk, and I do not know what happened to him after
that. This couldn’t be that same monk, could it?” Eventually [Master Enkan]
sent the monk to extend an invitation to the Master, but [the Master]
would not leave the mountain. He replied with a verse:
A withered tree, broken and abandoned, in a cold forest,
However many times it meets spring, it does not change its mind.
Passing woodsmen do not even look back.
Why should popular entertainers61 be keen to search it out?
In the end he did not go. Later, when he decided to move even deeper into
the mountains, he made the following verse:
I shall never outwear the lotus leaves in the pond.
The flowers of a few pines are more than a meal.
Now my abode has been discovered by people in the world.
I shall move my shack deeper into seclusion.

Finally, he moved his hut further into the mountains.

[145] Once Baso sent a monk especially to ask [Daibai Hojo], “Master, when
you visited Baso in former days, what truth did you attain and then come to live
on this mountain?” The Master said, “Baso told me, ‘The mind here and now is
buddha.’ Then I came to live on this mountain.” The monk said, “These days his
Buddha-Dharma is different.” The Master said, “How is it different?” The
monk said, “Baso says, ‘It is neither the mind nor buddha.’” The Master said,
“That old man! If he is out to disturb others, I will have no sympathy for him.
Never mind about ‘neither the mind nor buddha.’ For me, it is just that the mind
here and now is buddha.” [The monk] reported these words to Baso. Baso
said, “The fruit of the Plum62 is matured.” This story is known to all human
beings and gods. Tenryu63 was an excellent disciple of the Master, and

60. Kozei is where Master Baso had his order.

61. 郢人 (EIJIN), “people from Ei,” were renowned as accomplished singers of vulgar
songs. Here “people from Ei” suggests Buddhist masters who attracted popularity.
62. The Master’s name 大梅 (DAIBAI) means “Great Plum.”
63. Master Tenryu, successor of Master Daibai Hojo. His history is not known, but he
is famous for transmitting “one-finger Zen” to Master Gutei.
 158 GYOJI-1

Gutei64 was the Master’s Dharma-grandchild. Kachi65 of Korea, retaining

the transmission of the Master’s Dharma, became the first patriarch of that
country. So the many masters in Korea today are the Master’s distant de-
scendants. As long as he lived he was served and attended in everyday
life by a tiger and an elephant66 who never vied against each other. After
the Master’s death, the tiger and elephant carried rocks and carried mud
to build the Master a stÂpa. The stÂpa still stands today at Gosho-ji temple.
The Master’s maintenance of [pure] conduct is praised by [good] counsel-
ors of the past and present alike. People of inferior wisdom do not know
that they should praise him. To hold to the pretense that the Buddha-
Dharma can exist amid greed for fame and love of gain is the small and
stupid view.
[147] Zen Master Ho-en 67 of Goso mountain 68 said, “When my master’s
master69 first took up residence on Yogi peak, the rafters of the old roof were bro-
ken and the mischief of the wind and rain was severe, for it was the end of winter.
The temple buildings and halls were all run down and the Monks’ Hall was espe-
cially dilapidated: snow and hail covered the platforms so that there was nowhere
to sit. Even the most aged veterans, snowy hair bristling on their crowns, swept
away the snow, and monks of venerable years, with their graying eyebrows,
seemed to harbor sorrow in their wrinkled brows. None of the monks could prac-
tice Zazen in comfort. One patch-robed individual requested with utmost
sincerity that [the Monk’s Hall] be repaired, but the old master refused, saying,
‘Our Buddha has said that this is the kalpa of dissolution and even high cliffs and
deep valleys are changing and inconstant. How can we expect to have everything
as we please, and seek to call ourselves satisfied? The sacred people of olden times
usually walked about under a tree or out in the open; this is an excellent example

64. Master Gutei (dates unknown), successor of Master Tenryu. He used to live in a
hut, but at the instigation of a nun who scolded him, he set off to visit many masters and
met Master Tenryu. He is said to have realized the truth when Master Tenryu showed
him one finger. Thereafter, in answer to all questions, Master Gutei just showed one
finger.
65. Dates unknown.
66. Tigers and elephants symbolize excellent Buddhist practitioners.
67. Master Goso Ho-en (1024–1104), successor of Master Haku-un Shutan.
68. 五祖 (GOSO) means 五祖山 (GOSOZAN), lit. “Fifth Patriarch Mountain”; this is the
mountain from where Master Daiman Konin spread the Dharma. It is in present-day
Hupei province in east China.
69. Master Yogi Ho-e (992–1049), successor of Master Sekiso Soen and succeeded by
Master Haku-un Shutan.
 GYOJI-1 159

from the past, it is a profound custom of those who tread in bareness. Even though
you have all left family life and are learning the truth, the movements of your
hands and feet are not yet harmonized. This [life as a monk] is only forty or fifty
years. Who has time to spare for an opulent roof?’ In the end he did not consent.
The next day in formal preaching in the Dharma Hall, he preached to the assem-
bly, ‘When Yogi first took residence here as master, the roof and walls were barely
held together, and the floor was scattered all over with pearls of snow. Our necks
contracting, we secretly grumbled. But we remembered the people of old who
dwelt under trees.’” Finally [Master Goso Ho-en] did not give his permis-
sion. Yet patch-robed mountain monks from the four oceans and the five
lakes longed to come and hang their traveling staffs in this order. We
should be glad that so many people indulged themselves in the state of
truth. We should imbue our minds with this state of truth, and should
engrave these words on our bodies.
[150] Master [Goso Ho-]en once preached, “Conduct is not on a level beyond
thinking, and thinking is not on a level beyond conduct.” We should attach
importance to these words, considering them day and night, and putting
them into practice morning and evening. We should not be as if blowing
idly in the east, west, south, and north winds. Still less in this country of
Japan—where even the palaces of kings and ministers do not have opulent
buildings but only scant and plain ones—could those who have left home
to learn the truth dwell at leisure in opulent buildings. If someone has got
an opulent dwelling, it is without fail from a wrong livelihood; it is rarely
from a pure one. [A building] that was already there is a different matter,
but do not make plans for new buildings. Thatched huts and plain houses
were lived in by the ancient saints and loved by the ancient saints. Stu-
dents of later ages should yearn for their state and learn it in practice, and
should never go against it. The Yellow Emperor,70 and [emperors] such as
Gyo71 and Shun,72 although secular men, dwelt under roofs of thatch—an
excellent example for the world. Shishi73 says, “If we wish to reflect upon the
conduct of the Yellow Emperor, it is [manifest] in Gokyu palace. If we wish to
reflect upon the conduct of Gyo and Shun, it is [manifest] in Sosho palace. The

70. Kotei (Chinese: Huang Ti), supposed to have reigned from 2697 to 2597 B.C.
71. Reigned 2356 to 2255 B.C.
72. Reigned 2255 to 2205 B.C. These three emperors, Kotei, Gyo, and Shun, belong to
the period of Chinese history called the legendary age of the five rulers.
73. 尸子 (SHISHI), (Chinese: Shi-tzu), is the name of the book and also the name of
the author. The book was written in the Warring States era (475–221 B.C.) of the Chou
Dynasty.
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Yellow Emperor’s hall of brightness74 was thatched with straw, and it was called
‘Gokyu;’ Shun’s hall of brightness was thatched with straw, and it was called
‘Sosho.’” Remember, [the palaces] ‘Gokyu’ and ‘Sosho’ both were thatched
with straw. Now when we compare the Yellow Emperor, Gyo, and Shun
with ourselves, the difference is beyond that between the heavens and the
earth. [But] even these emperors used thatch for their halls of brightness.
When even secular people live under thatched roofs, how could people
who have left family life hope to live in lofty halls and stately mansions?
That would be shameful. People of old dwelt under a tree or dwelt in the
forest; these were abodes that both laymen and monks loved. The Yellow
Emperor was the disciple of the Taoist Kosei of Kodo.75 Kosei lived [in a
cave] inside the crag named “Kodo.” Many of the kings and ministers of
the great kingdom of Sung today have carried on this profound custom.
So even people immersed in dusty toil are like this. How could people
who have left family life be inferior to people immersed in dusty toil?
How could we be more sullied than people immersed in dusty toil?
Among the Buddhist patriarchs of the past, there were many who re-
ceived the offerings of gods. Yet when they had attained the state of truth,
the eyes of gods could not reach them, and demons had no connection to
them. We should be clear about this principle. When the celestial hosts
and those in the state of demons tread the path of a Buddhist patriarch’s
conduct, there is a way for them to approach a Buddhist patriarch. [But]
Buddhist patriarchs widely transcend in experience all gods and demons,
and gods and demons have no means by which to look up at them; so it is
hard [for gods and demons] to draw near to a Buddhist patriarch. Nan-
sen76 said, “The practice of this old monk has been so weak that I have been
spotted by a demon.”77 Remember, to be spotted by a demon of no training
is due to lacking power in one’s practice.
[154] In the order of Master Shokaku, [titled] Zen Master Wanshi,78 of

74. 明堂 (MEIDO), “Hall of Brightness,” means the building where the emperor con-
ducted political business.
75. The legend of the Yellow Emperor’s visit to the Taoist sage Kosei is described in
chap. 14, Sansuigyo.
76. Master Nansen Fugan (748–834), successor of Master Baso Do-itsu.
77. Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 18.
78. Master Wanshi Shokaku (1091–1157), successor of Master Tanka Shijun. See chap.
27, Zazenshin.
 GYOJI-1 161

Daibyaku-zan79 mountain, a guardian deity of the temple said, “I hear that

Master [Sho-]kaku has lived on this mountain for ten years or so, but whenever I
enter the abbot’s reception hall looking for him, I am always unable to proceed,
and I have never detected him yet.” [Here,] truly, we are meeting the traces of
a predecessor who possessed the state of truth. The temple on this moun-
tain, Tendo-zan, was formerly a small one. While Master [Sho-]kaku was
the resident master there, he cleaned away an assortment of Taoists’,
nuns’, and scholars’ temples, and established what is now Keitoku-ji tem-
ple. After the Master passed away, a senior mandarin and court secretary
called O Hakusho compiled a record of the Master’s deeds and achieve-
ments, at which time someone said, “You should record the fact that he
supplanted the Taoist temple, the nuns’ temple, and the scholars’ temple, and
established the present Tendo-ji temple.” The court secretary said, “That would
not be appropriate. Such matters are not related with a monk’s merits.” Many
people at that time praised the court secretary. Remember, the matters
described above are secular work, they are not the merits of a monk.
[155] In general, when we enter the Buddha’s state of truth for the very first
time, we far transcend the triple world of human beings and gods. We
should carefully investigate the fact that we are neither being used by the
triple world nor being seen by the triple world. We should consider this
and realize it in practice by means of body, mouth, and mind, and by
means of object and subject. The merit of the Buddhist patriarchs’ conduct
and observance originally possesses enormous benefit in leading human
beings and gods to salvation, but human beings and gods never sense that
they are being saved by the Buddhist patriarchs’ conduct and observance.
In practicing and observing now the Buddhist patriarchs’ great state of
truth, do not distinguish between great hermits and small hermits,80 and
do not discuss sagacity or stupidity. Just throw away fame and gain for-
ever and do not get caught in convoluted circumstances. Do not pass time
in vain. [Act as if to] put out a fire burning on your head. Do not expect
the great realization. The great realization is everyday tea and meals. Do

79. 大白山 (DAIBYAKU-ZAN), lit. “Big White Mountain,” is another name of Mt.
Tendo, where Master Dogen met Master Tendo Nyojo.
80. A poem by O Kokyo, a Chinese poet of the Later Jin Dynasty (936–946), says:
“Small hermits conceal themselves in hills and thickets,/Great hermits conceal themselves in
palaces and towns.”
 162 GYOJI-1

not aspire to non-realization. Non-realization is the pearl in the topknot.81

Simply, those who have homes and homelands should get free from their
homes and homelands; those who have loved ones should get free from
their loved ones; those who have fame should get away from their fame;
those who have gain should get away from their gain; those who have
fields and gardens should get away from their fields and gardens; and
those who have family should get free from their family. They should also
get free from the intention not to have fame, gain, and so on. Given that
we get free from having, the principle is evident that we should also get
free from not having. This is itself a kind of conduct and observance. To
make the throwing away of fame and gain into the one matter to be prac-
ticed and observed as long as one lives, is the conduct and observance
which has the depth and eternity of the Buddha’s lifetime. This conduct
and observance is inevitably practiced and observed by conduct and ob-
servance itself. Those in whom this conduct and observance is present
should love their own body and mind, and should respect themselves.
[158] Zen Master Kanchu82 of Daiji said, “Explaining83 one yard is inferior to
practicing one foot, and explaining one foot is inferior to practicing one inch.84,85
This sounds like an admonition directed to people present at that time
who seemed to be negligent in practicing conduct and observance and to
have forgotten real penetration of the Buddha’s truth; but it does not mean
that to explain a yard is wrong: it means that the merit of practicing a foot
is much greater still than the merit of explaining a yard. Why should it be
limited to measurements only in yards and feet? There should also be dis-
cussion of merits in terms of the difference between far-off Sumeru and a
poppy seed. In Sumeru the whole is present, and in a poppy seed the

81. Alludes to Lotus Sutra Anraku-gyo (Peaceful and Joyful Practice): “It is like the king
releasing from his topknot/The bright pearl, and giving it./This Sutra is honored/
As supreme among all sutras,/I have always guarded it,/And not revealed it at random./Now is
just the time/To preach it for you all.” (LS 2.276–278.) Non-realization, that is, the real state
which is beyond realization, is already present. At the same time, it is not simply the
materialistic denial of enlightenment, which can easily be grasped by anyone.
82. Master Daiji Kanchu (780–862), successor of Master Hyakujo Ekai.
83. 説 (SETSU, to[ku]) means 1) to explain in words, and 2), to preach or manifest in
action or in words. See, for example, chap. 38, Muchu-setsumu and chap. 48, Sesshin-sessho.
84. The original units corresponding to inch, foot, and yard are 寸, 尺, 丈 (SUN,
SHAKU, JO). One sun is 1.193 inches; ten sun (11.93 inches) is one shaku; and ten shaku
(119.3 inches) is one jo.
85. Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 77; Keitoku-dento-roku chap. 9.
 GYOJI-1 163

whole is present: the great integrity of conduct and observance is like this.
The present expression of the truth is not Kanchu expressing himself; it is
the natural expression of Kanchu.86
[159] Great Master Gohon87 of Tozan mountain said, “I explain what I am
unable to practice and practice what I am unable to explain.”88 This is the say-
ing of the founding Patriarch. The point is that practice illuminates a way
through to explanation, and there are ways in which explanation leads
through to practice. This being so, what we preach in a day is what we
practice in a day. The point is, then, that we practice what is impossible to
practice and preach what is impossible to preach.
[160] Great Master Kokaku89 of Ungo-zan mountain, having totally pene-
trated this teaching, said, “In the time of explanation there is no trace of
practice; in the time of practice there is no trace of explanation.” This expression
of the truth is that practice-and-explanation is not nonexistent: the time of
explanation is a lifetime without leaving the monastery,90 and the time of
practice is washing the head and going before Seppo.91 We should neither dis-
regard nor disarrange [the words that] “In the time of explanation there is no
trace of practice, and in the time of practice there is no trace of explanation.”
[162] There is something that has been said by the Buddhist patriarchs since
ancient times. It is that “If a person lives one hundred years without grasping
the buddhas’ state of the moment, that is worth less than living one day and being
able to realize the state decisively.”92 This was not said by one buddha or by
two buddhas; this has been expressed by all the buddhas and has been

86. 寰中の自為道 (KANCHU [no] JI-I-DO) means, in the first case, words that Kanchu
expresses through his own intention, and in the second case, words that naturally
emerge from Kanchu. 自 (JI, mizuka[ra], onozuka[ra],) means both “oneself” and “natu-
rally.”
87. Master Tozan Ryokai (807–869), successor of Master Ungan Donjo and 45th pa-
triarch in Master Dogen’s lineage.
88. Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 9.
89. Master Ungo Doyo (?–902), successor of Master Tozan and 46th patriarch in Mas-
ter Dogen’s lineage. Great Master Kokaku is his posthumous title.
90. The words of Master Joshu, quoted in para. [139] of this chapter. In chap. 39,
Dotoku, Master Dogen asserts that to spend a lifetime without leaving the monastery is to
express the truth.
91. The story of the monk who expressed the truth by washing his head and going
before Master Seppo Gison to have his head shaved is also contained in chap. 39, Dotoku.
92. Words of the Buddha, quoted in Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 2, section on Master
Sa¸ghanandi.
164 GYOJI-1

practiced by all the buddhas. In a hundred thousand myriad kalpas of

reciprocal life and death, one day of conduct and observance is the bright
pearl in the topknot, is the eternal mirror that is born with and dies with
[buddhas],93 and is a day to be rejoiced in. The power of conduct and ob-
servance rejoices in itself. Those who have neither attained the power of
conduct and observance nor received the bones and marrow of the Bud-
dhist patriarchs, do not treasure the body-and-mind of the Buddhist
patriarchs and do not rejoice in the real features of the Buddhist patriarchs.
The real features and bones and marrow of the Buddhist patriarchs are
beyond going, are thus-gone, are thus-come, and are beyond coming: even
so, in one day’s conduct and observance they are unfailingly received. So
one day may be very important. Idly to have lived a hundred years is a
lamentable waste of days and months; it is to be a pitiable skeleton. Even
if we are driven, as slaves to sight and sound, [every] day and month for a
hundred years, if we practice conduct and observance for one day among
those [years], then we will not only put into practice the whole life of one
hundred years, but will also save others’ lives of one hundred years. The
body and life for this one day is a body and life that should be venerated,
a skeleton that should be venerated. Therefore, if our life lasts a single day,
if we grasp the buddhas’ state of the moment, this one day is worth more
than many lives in vast kalpas of time. For this reason, before you have
decisively realized the state, never spend a single day in vain. This one
day is an important treasure that you should hate to lose. Do not liken its
value to a one-foot gem. Never trade it for the black dragon’s pearl. The
sages of old treasured [a day] more than their body and life. We should
quietly consider that the black dragon’s pearl can be retrieved, and a one-
foot gem also can be regained; but a day in a life of one hundred years,
once lost, can never be found again. Is there any skillful means by which
to get back a day that has passed? Such a thing has not been recorded in
any book of history. Those who do not pass time in vain wrap the days
and months in the bag of skin [which is themselves] so that [time] will not
leak away. Thus it was that the ancient saints and past sages treasured the
days and months, treasured time, more than their own eyes and more
than their national lands. Here, “passing in vain” means sullying oneself
and disturbing oneself in the floating world of fame and profit. “Not pass-
ing [time] in vain” means acting for the sake of the truth while already in
the state of the truth. Once we have realized this state decisively, we

93. See chap. 20, Kokyo.

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should never waste another day. We should solely practice for the sake of
the truth, and preach for the sake of the truth. So we have seen the stan-
dard by which, since ancient times, the Buddhist patriarchs have not spent
a day of effort in vain; and we should reflect on it constantly. We should
consider it on a slow, slow spring day, sitting by a bright window. We
should not forget it in the hushed silence of a rainy night, sitting under a
plain roof. How is it that time steals our efforts away from us? It not only
steals away single days, it steals the merits of abundant kalpas. Why
should time and I be adversaries? Regrettably, my own non-training
makes it so—that is, my not being familiar with myself, my bearing a
grudge against myself. Even the Buddhist patriarchs are not without their
loved ones, but they have already abandoned them. Even the Buddhist
patriarchs are not without miscellaneous involvements, but they have al-
ready abandoned them. However we treasure the factors and
circumstances [which we see] as self and others, they are impossible to
hold onto; therefore, if we do not abandon loved ones, it may happen, in
word and in deed, that loved ones abandon us. If we have compassion for
loved ones, we should be compassionate to loved ones. To be compas-
sionate to loved ones means to abandon loved ones.
[167] Master Ejo,94 [titled] Zen Master Dai-e of Nangaku, in former days
served in the order of Sokei,95 where he attended [the Master] through
fifteen autumns. Consequently, he was able to receive the transmission of
the state of truth and to accept the behavior—as a jug of water is poured
into another jug. We should venerate above all else the path of conduct of
the ancient ancestors. The winds and frosts of those fifteen autumns must
have brought him many troubles. Yet he purely and simply pursued the
ultimate; he is an excellent model for students of later ages. In winter, he
slept alone in an empty building, without charcoal for the stove. In the
cool of a summer night, he would sit alone by a bright window, without a
candle to burn. Even if devoid of a single recognition or half an under-
standing, it was the state beyond study, which is free of doing.96 This may
be conduct and observance. In general, once we have privately thrown
away greed for fame and love of gain, the merit of conduct and obser-

94. Master Nangaku Ejo (677–744), successor of Master Daikan Eno. Zen Master Dai-
e is his posthumous title.
95. Master Daikan Eno. See para. [129].
96. Alludes to the words of Master Yoka Genkaku in Shodoka: “A person who is
through with study and free of doing, who is at ease in the truth, does not try to get rid
of delusion and does not want to get reality.” See also Book 1, Fukan-zazengi.
 166 GYOJI-1

vance simply accumulates day by day. Do not forget this principle. “To
describe a thing does not hit the target”97 is eight years of conduct and obser-
vance. It is conduct and observance which people of the past and present
esteem as very rare, and which both the clever and the inept long for.
[169] Zen Master Chikan of Kyogen [temple],98 while cultivating the state of
truth under Dai-i,99 tried several times to express the truth in a phrase, but
in the end he could not say anything. Out of regret for this, he burnt his
books and became the monk who served the gruel and rice. He thus
passed years and months in succession. Later he went onto Buto-zan
mountain and searched out the former traces of Daisho;100 he built a
thatched hut and, abandoning everything, lived there in seclusion. One
day he happened to be sweeping the path when a pebble flew up and
struck a bamboo; it made a sound which led him suddenly to awaken to
the state of truth. Thereafter he lived at Kyogen-ji temple, where he made
do in his everyday life with one bowl and one set of clothes, never replac-
ing them. He made his home among oddly-shaped rocks and pure springs,
and lived out his life in restful seclusion. He was survived at the temple
by many traces of his conduct. It is said that in his everyday life he did not
come down from the mountain.
[170] Great Master Esho101 of Rinzai-in temple was a rightful successor of
Obaku.102 He was in Obaku’s order for three years. Pursuing the truth
with pure simplicity, three times he asked Obaku, at the instruction of the
venerable patriarch Chin103 from Bokushu district, “What is the Great Intent
of the Buddha-Dharma?,” whereupon he tasted [the Master’s] stick again
and again, sixty times in all. Yet his zeal was not diminished. When he
went to Daigu104 and realized the great state of realization, this also was at

97. Master Nangaku’s words to Master Daikan Eno after he had been in Master Dai-
kan Eno’s order for eight years. See chap. 62, Hensan.
98. Master Kyogen Chikan (?–898), successor of Master Isan Reiyu.
99. Master Isan Reiyu.
100. Master Nan-yo Echu (?–775), successor of Master Daikan Eno. National Master
Daisho is his title as the teacher of the Emperor.
101. Master Rinzai Gigen (815?–867), successor of Master Obaku. Great Master Esho
is his posthumous title.
102. Master Obaku Ki-un (died c. 855), successor of Master Hyakujo Ekai.
103. Master Bokushu Domyo (780?–877?), successor of Master Obaku. 陳尊宿 (CHIN-
SONSHUKU), Venerable Patriarch Chin, was a name given to him later.
104. Master Koan Daigu (780–862), successor of Master Hyakujo Ekai.
 GYOJI-1 167

the instruction of the two venerable patriarchs Obaku and Bokushu.105

They say that the heroes of the Patriarch’s order106 are Rinzai and Toku-
zan,107 but how could Tokuzan be equal to Rinzai? Truly, someone like
Rinzai is not to be classed with the rabble—and even the rabble of that
time are outstanding compared with those who in recent times are out-
standing. They say that [Rinzai’s] behavior was pure and simple108 and his
conduct and observance outstanding. Even if we tried to imagine how
many instances and how many varieties there were of his [pure] conduct
and observance [of precepts], we could never hit the mark.
[172] The Master [Rinzai] is in the order of Obaku. While he and Obaku are
planting cedars and pines, Obaku asks the Master, “Deep in the mountains, what
is the use of planting so many trees?” The Master says, “First, they will contrib-
ute to the beauty of the surroundings of the temple. Second, they will be a
signpost for people in future.” Then he strikes his mattock on the ground twice.
Obaku holds up his staff and says, “You are like that now, but you have already
tasted thirty strokes of my staff!” The Master makes the sound of snoring. Obaku
says, “In your generation our school will flourish greatly in the world.”109
[173] So we should know that even after he had attained the state of truth,
he took the mattock in his own hands and planted cedars and pines. It
may have been because of this that [Obaku said] “In your generation our
school will flourish greatly in the world.” It may have been that the ancient
traces of the pine-planting practitioner110 had been directly transmitted in
one straight line. Obaku himself also planted trees alongside Rinzai. In the
past Obaku had practiced conduct and observance by leaving an assembly
of monks and mixing in with laborers at Dai-an temple,111 where he swept

105. The story of Master Rinzai’s encounters with the masters Bokushu, Obaku, and
Daigu is recorded in Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 27.
106. 祖席 (SOSEKI) generally refers to the Buddhist lineages in China stemming from
Master Bodhidharma.
107. Master Tokuzan Senkan (780–865), successor of Master Ryutan Soshin. See, for
example, chaps. 18 and 19, Shin-fukatoku.
108. 行業純一 (GYOGO-JUNITSU). The four characters come directly from the story
quoted in Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 27.
109. Quoted from Rinzai-zenji-goroku.
110. 栽松道者 (SAISHO-DOSHA), or “the one of the Way of planting pines,” is another
name for the fifth patriarch in China, Master Daiman Konin (688–761). See chap. 22,
Bussho, para. [22].
111. 大安精舎 (DAI-AN-SHOJA). 精舎 (SHOJA) lit. means “spiritual house” or “spiri-
tual hut”—suggesting that the temple was not grand.
 168 GYOJI-1

and cleaned the temple buildings. He swept and cleaned the Buddha Hall.
He swept and cleaned the Dharma Hall. He did not expect conduct and
observance to sweep and clean his mind. He did not expect conduct and
observance to sweep and clean his brightness. This was when he met with
Prime Minister Hai.112
[174] The Tang Emperor Senso113 was the second son of Emperor Kenso.114
He was quick-witted and clever from his childhood. He always loved to
sit in the full-lotus posture, and he would constantly be sitting in Zazen in
the palace. Emperor Bokusho115 was Senso’s older brother. [Once] during
Bokusho’s reign, as soon as government business had finished in the
morning,116 Senso playfully ascended the Dragon-Dais117 and assumed a
posture of saluting the various retainers. A minister who saw this thought
[Senso] was insane, and he said so to Emperor Bokusho. When Bokusho
came to see for himself, he patted Senso and said, “My brother is the
brains118 of our family.” At the time Senso was just thirteen years old. In the
fourth year of Chokei,119 Emperor Bokusho died. Bokusho had three sons.
The first [became] the emperor Keiso, the second the emperor Bunso, and
the third the emperor Buso. Emperor Keiso120 died three years after acced-
ing to his father’s throne. Emperor Bunso121 took the throne for one year,
but court officials conspired to remove him. So when Emperor Buso122
came to the throne, Senso, who had not yet come to the throne himself,
was living in the kingdom of his nephew. Emperor Buso always called
Senso “my stupid uncle.” Buso was emperor during the Esho era123—he
was the man who abolished the Buddha-Dharma.
[176] One day Emperor Buso summoned Senso and ordered him to be put

112. The story of Master Obaku’s encounter with the prime minister is recorded in
Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 9.
113. Reigned 847 to 860.
114. Reigned 806 to 821.
115. Reigned 821 to 825.
116. It was customary in the Chinese court to conduct political business first thing in
the morning.
117. 龍牀 (RYUSHO), a raised platform serving as the emperor’s throne.
118. 英冑 (EICHU), lit. “excellent helmet.”
119. 824.
120. Reigned 825 to 827.
121. The historical records say that he reigned from 827 to 841.
122. Reigned 841 to 847.
123. 841 to 847.
 GYOJI-1 169

to death at once as punishment for climbing onto the throne of [Buso’s]

father in the past. He was laid in a flower garden behind the palace, but
when sewage was thrown over him, he came back to life. In due course
[Senso] left his father’s kingdom and secretly entered the order of Zen
Master Kyogen.124 He had his head shaved and became a ˜ramaıera—
though he never received full ordination. With Zen Master Shikan125 as a
traveling companion, he went to Rozan126 mountain. The story goes that
Shikan made his own verse on the subject of the falls, saying:
Carving out cliffs, passing through rock, never shirking toil,
Lofty origins evident from afar.

By fishing for the ˜ramaıera with these two lines, [Shikan] hoped to dis-
cover what person this was. The ˜ramaıera continued [the verse] as
follows:
How can the valley streams hold [the water] still?
At last it will return to the ocean and make great waves.

Reading these two lines, [Shikan] knew that the ˜ramaıera was no ordi-
nary man. Later [the ˜ramaıera] went to the order of National Master
Enkan Sai-an127 of Koshu district, where he was assigned as clerk to the
head monk:128 at the time Enkan’s head monk was Zen Master Obaku,129
and so [the ˜ramaıera-clerk] was next to Obaku on the [Zazen] platform.
Once Obaku was in the Buddha Hall doing prostrations to the Buddha
when the clerk came in and asked, “We do not seek out of attachment to Bud-
dha. We do not seek out of attachment to Dharma. We do not seek out of
attachment to Sa¸gha.130 Venerable Patriarch, what are you prostrating yourself
for?” When he asked this question, Obaku just slapped the ˜ramaıera-
clerk and told him, “I do not seek out of attachment to Buddha. I do not seek out

124. Master Kyogen Chikan (see para. [169]).

125. Master Kankei Shikan (?–895), mentioned earlier in this chapter in para. [141]; a
successor of Master Rinzai.
126. 盧山 (ROZAN), (Chinese: Lu-shan), is a mountain famed for its beauty. There are
said to be several hundred Buddhist temples on the mountain.
127. Master Enkan Sai-an (?–842), successor of Master Baso Do-itsu. 国師 (KOKUSHI),
“National Master,” is his title as the teacher of the Emperor Senso.
128. 書記 (SHOKI), the clerk assisting the head monk, was one of the six assistant offi-
cers of a big temple.
129. Master Obaku eventually became the successor of Master Hyakujo Ekai. Both
Master Hyakujo Ekai and Master Enkan Sai-an were disciples of Master Baso Do-itsu.
130. Quoted from Yuima-kyo (Vimalak„rti-n„rde˜a).
 170 GYOJI-1

of attachment to Dharma. I do not seek out of attachment to Sa¸gha. I always do

prostrations like this.” Having spoken thus, he gave [the clerk] another slap.
The clerk said, “What an extremely rude person!” Obaku said, “This is just the
place where something ineffable exists. What else is there to explain as rude or
refined?” He gave the clerk another slap. The clerk then desisted. After the
demise of Emperor Buso, the clerk duly returned to secular society and
acceded to the throne. Emperor Buso had initiated the abolition of the
Buddha-Dharma, but Emperor Senso immediately restored the Buddha-
Dharma. From the time he assumed the throne, and all the time he was on
the throne, Emperor Senso always loved to sit in Zazen. Before he as-
sumed the throne, when he had left his father’s kingdom and was
traveling along the valley streams of a distant land, he had purely and
simply pursued the truth. They say that after he assumed the throne he sat
in Zazen day and night. Truly, with his father the king already dead and
then his brother also dying, and with his being put to death by his nephew,
he might have looked like a pitiful destitute son.131 But his zeal did not
waver, and he kept striving in pursuit of the truth. It was an excellent ex-
ample, rare through the ages. It must have been heaven-sent conduct and
observance.
[180] Master Gison of Seppo-zan mountain, [titled] Great Master
Shinkaku,132 after he had established the [bodhi-]mind sat day and night
in Zazen, without flagging and without aversion to the place—though
there were long journeys between the monasteries where he hung his
traveling staff, and between the lodgings on the way. Until Seppo first
disclosed the state of imposing majesty, he practiced tirelessly, and he
died together with Zazen. In former days, in his quest to serve under [true
teachers] he nine times climbed Tozan mountain133 and three times visited Tosu
mountain134—pursuit of the truth that was rare through the ages. When
people today are encouraging others to be pure and stern in their conduct
and observance, they often cite Seppo’s noble conduct. Seppo’s uncer-
tainty was like that of other people, but Seppo’s sharpness was beyond

131. 窮子 (GUSHI), or “wretched son” again alludes to the parable in the Shinge (Belief
and Understanding) chapter of the Lotus Sutra. See notes to para. [111].
132. Master Seppo Gison (822–907), successor of Master Tokuzan Senkan. Great Mas-
ter Shinkaku is his posthumous title.
133. The mountain where Master Tozan Ryokai (807–869) had his order.
134. The mountain where Master Tosu Daido (819–914), and Master Tosu Gisei
(1032–1083) had their orders.
 GYOJI-1 171

other people. Conduct and observance is like that. People of the truth to-
day should unfailingly learn Seppo’s purity.
[181] When we quietly look back upon Seppo’s muscular exertion in
learning in practice under [masters in] all directions, truly, his virtue
might be that of having long possessed the sacred in his bones. Today,
when we are attending the order of a master who has the state of truth
and we really want to request and to partake in [the master’s teaching], it
is extremely difficult to find an opportunity to do so. [The order] is not
only twenty or thirty individual bags of skin; it is the [nameless] faces of
hundreds or thousands of people. Each wishes to find his or her real ref-
uge, so days on which the [master’s] hand is imparted135 soon darken into
night, and nights of pounding the mortar136 soon brighten into day. Some-
times, during the master’s informal preaching we have no ears or eyes,
and so we vainly pass by [chances] to see and hear. By the time our ears
and eyes are in place, the master has finished speaking. While old drills—
veteran patriarchs of venerable years—are already clapping their hands
and laughing out loud, there seem to be precious few opportunities for
us—as newly ordained juniors—even to get onto the edge of the mat.
There are those who enter the inner sanctum and those who do not enter,
those who hear the master’s conclusions and those who do not hear. Time
is swifter than an arrow, the dew-drop life more fragile than a body. There
is the anguish of having a teacher but being unable to partake in [the
teaching], and there is the sadness of being ready to partake in [the teach-
ing] but being unable to find a teacher—I have personally experienced
such matters. Great good counselors unfailingly possess the virtue of
knowing a person, but while they are striving to cultivate [their own] state
of truth, opportunities to get sufficiently close to them are rare. When
Seppo in ancient times climbed Tozan mountain, and when he climbed
Tosu mountain, he too must surely have endured such troubles. We
should be inspired by his Dharma-gymnastics of conduct and observance;
not to research them in experience would be a shame.

135. 授手 (JUSHU), “imparting of the hand,” means a teacher’s personal instruction or

guidance.
136. 打舂 (TASHO), “pounding the mortar,” suggests the efforts of Master Daikan
Eno and Master Daiman Konin described earlier in this chapter.
 [30]
行持 (下)

GYOJI
[Pure] Conduct and Observance
[of Precepts] – Part 2
[185] The first Patriarch in China1 came from the west to the eastern lands at the
instruction of the Venerable Praj§‡tara.2 For the three years of frosts and
springs during that ocean voyage, how could the wind and snow have
been the only miseries? Through how many formations of cloud and sea-
mist might the steep waves have surged? He was going to an unknown
country: ordinary beings who value their body and life could never con-
ceive [of such a journey]. This must have been maintenance of the practice
realized solely from the great benevolent will to transmit the Dharma and
save deluded emotional beings.3 It was so because the transmission of Dharma
is [Bodhidharma] himself; it was so because the transmission of Dharma is
the entire Universe; it was so because the whole Universe in ten directions
is the real state of truth; it was so because the whole Universe in ten direc-
tions is [Bodhidharma] himself; and it was so because the whole Universe
in ten directions is the whole Universe in ten directions. What conditions
surrounding [this] life are not a royal palace? And what royal palace is
prevented from being a place to practice the truth? For these reasons, he
came from the west like this.4 Because the saving of deluded emotional beings
is [Bodhidharma] himself, he was without alarm and doubt and he was

1. Master Bodhidharma (died c. 528), successor of Master Praj§‡tara. He was the

28th patriarch in India (counting from Master Mah‡k‡˜yapa) and the 1st patriarch in
China.
2. Master Praj§‡tara, the 27th patriarch in India.
3. The 4th line of Master Bodhidharma’s poem, quoted in chap. 43, Kuge: “A flower is
five petals opening,/Effects naturally are realized./I originally came to this land,/To transmit the
Dharma and save deluded emotional beings.”
4. In other words, he came from India not because of idealism, but because of real-
ity.

173
 174 GYOJI-2

not afraid. Because saving deluded emotional beings is the entire Universe, he
was not alarmed and doubting and he was without fear. He left his fa-
ther’s kingdom forever, made ready a great ship, crossed the southern
seas, and arrived at the port of Koshu.5 There would have been a large
crew, and many monks [to serve the Master] with towel and jug, but his-
torians failed to record this. After [the Master] landed, no-one knew who
he was. It was the 21st day of the 9th lunar month in the 8th year of the
Futsu era6 during the Liang dynasty.7 The governor of Koshu district, who
was called Shogo, received [the Master] displaying the proper courtesies
of a host. He then duly wrote a letter notifying Emperor Bu,8 for Shogo
was assiduous in fulfilling his duties. When Emperor Bu read the missive
he was delighted, and he dispatched a messenger with an imperial edict
inviting [the Master] to visit him. It was then the first day of the 10th lunar
month of that same year.
[188] When the first Patriarch arrived at the city of Kinryo9 and met with
the Liang emperor Bu, the Liang emperor Bu asked him, “It would be im-
possible to list all the temples built, all the sutras copied, and all the monks
delivered since I assumed the throne. What merit have I acquired?”
The Master said, “No merit at all.”
The Emperor said, “Why is there no merit?”
The Master said, “These things are only the trivial effects of human beings and
gods, and the cause of the superfluous. They are like shadows following the form:
though they exist, they are not the real thing.”
The Emperor said, “What is true merit?”
The Master said, “Pure wisdom being subtly all-encompassing; the body being
naturally empty and still. Virtue like this is not sought by the worldly.”
The Emperor asks further, “What is the paramount truth among the sacred
truths?”
The Master said, “It is [that which is] glaringly evident, and without anything
sacred.”

5. Present day Guangzhou. This part of China was the most active in terms of con-
tact with foreign countries.
6. 527. The Futsu era was from 520 to 527.
7. The Liang dynasty was from 502 to 557.
8. Emperor Bu, or Wu, reigned from 502 to 550.
9. In present-day Jiangsu province, in east China, bordering on the Yellow Sea.
 GYOJI-2 175

The Emperor said, “Who is the person facing me?”

The Master said, “I do not know.”
The Emperor did not understand. The Master knew that the time was not right.10
So, on that 19th day of the 10th lunar month [the Master] quietly left,
traveling north up the [Yangtse] River. On the 23rd day of the 11th month
of the same year he arrived at Rakuyo.11 He accepted the makeshift ac-
commodation of Shorin-ji temple on Suzan mountain, where he sat facing
the wall in silence all day long. But the ruler of the Wei12 dynasty also was
too inept to recognize [the Master], and he did not even know that this
was cause for shame. The Master was of the k˘atriya caste in South India;
he had been the crown prince of a great nation. He had long ago acquired
familiarity with the ways of a royal palace in a great nation. In the vulgar
customs of a small country there were habits and views that might be
shameful to the prince of a great nation, but the mind of the first Patriarch
was not moved: he did not abandon the country and he did not abandon
the people. At that time, he neither prevented nor hated the slander of
Bodhiruci;13 and the evil mind of the precepts-teacher Kozu14 [he consid-
ered] neither worthy of resentment nor even worth noticing. Despite [the
Master’s] abundance of such virtue, people of the eastern lands consid-
ered him the equal of mere ordinary scholars of the tripiÒaka 15 and
teachers of sutras and commentaries. This was extremely stupid; [they
thought so] because they were trivial people. Some thought that [the Mas-
ter] was proclaiming a peculiar lineage of the Dharma called “the Zen

10. The section in italics is quoted directly from the Chinese.

11. Present-day Luoyang, a city in the Hwang basin in northern Honan province in
east China.
12. The 169 years between 420 and 589 were the epoch of division between north and
south China. During this epoch, in the south, the Sung (420–479), Chi’i (479–502), Liang
(502–557), and Ch’en (557–589) dynasties prevailed. In the north, the Northern Wei dy-
nasty (386–535) and the Western Wei dynasty (535–589) prevailed.
13. A monk from North India who came to Luoyang in 508. He was one of the main
translators of Buddhist sutras from Sanskrit into Chinese during the Northern Wei dy-
nasty. He is said to have tried to poison Master Bodhidharma out of jealousy.
14. Precepts-teacher Kozu participated in the translation of Juchikyo-ron, “Sutra of
Commentaries on the Ten States,” and he made a commentary on the same text. He is
also said to have tried to poison Master Bodhidharma.
15. 三蔵 (SANZO), lit. “three stores” represents the Sanskrit tripiÒaka, the three baskets
of sÂtra, vinaya, and abhidharma. Chinese gave the title Sanzo to scholar-monks from
India, such as Bodhiruci, who were versed in the tripiÒaka.
 176 GYOJI-2

Sect,” and that the sayings of other teachers—commentary teachers and

the like—might amount to the same as the right Dharma of the first Patri-
arch. They were vermin who disturbed and dirtied the Buddha-Dharma.
The first Patriarch was the twenty-eighth rightful successor from
¯‡kyamuni Buddha. He left his father’s great kingdom to rescue the living
beings of eastern lands: whose shoulders could come up to his? If the first
Patriarch had not come from the west, how could the living beings of east-
ern lands have seen and heard the Buddha’s right Dharma? They would
only have worried in vain over the sands and stone which are names and
forms. Even those who have clothed themselves in fur and worn horns on
their head, in a remote and distant land like ours, have now become able
to hear our fill of the right Dharma. Now even peasants and plowmen, old
country folk and village children, see and hear. It is totally due to the an-
cestral Master’s maintenance of the practice in crossing the seas that we
have been saved. The natural climate of India was vastly superior to that
of China, and there were also great differences in the rightness and
wrongness of local customs. [China] was not a place to which a great saint
who had received and retained the Dharma treasury would go, unless he
were a man of great benevolence and great endurance. A suitable place of
practice, where [the Master] might live, did not exist, and the people who
could know a person were few. So he hung his traveling staff at Suzan
mountain for a spell of nine years. People called him “the Brahmin who
looks at the wall.” Historians recorded his name in lists of those learning
Zen meditation, but it was not so. The right-Dharma-eye treasury trans-
mitted from buddha to buddha and from rightful successor to rightful
successor, was simply the ancestral Master alone.
[193] Sekimon’s16 Rinkanroku17 says: Bodhidharma first went from the land of
the Liang dynasty to the land of the Wei dynasty. He passed along the foot of
Suzan mountain, and rested his staff at Shorin [temple]. He just sat in stillness
facing the wall, and only that—he was not practicing Zen meditation. For a long
time no-one could understand the reason for that [sitting], and so they saw Bo-
dhidharma as training in Zen meditation. Now, [the practice of] dhy‡na18 is only

16. Master Kakuhan Eko (1071–1128). He lived at Ruitoku-ji temple in Sekimon dis-
trict.
林間録 (RINKANROKU), lit. “Forest Records,” published in 1107. It has two vol-
17.
umes containing over three hundred fascicles describing the words, deeds, and teachings
of Buddhist patriarchs.
18. 禅那 (ZENNA), representing the sound of the Sanskrit dhy‡na, “meditation” or
“concentration,” here represents the practice of Zazen itself.
 GYOJI-2 177

one among many forms of conduct: how could it be all there was to the Saint? Yet
because of this [practice], the people of that time who made chronicles subse-
quently listed him among those who were learning Zen meditation: they grouped
him alongside people like withered trees and dead ash. Nevertheless, the Saint did
not stop at [the practice of] dhy‡na; and at the same time, of course, he did not go
against [the practice of] dhy‡na—just as the art of divination emerges from yin
and yang without going against yin and yang. When the Liang emperor Bu first
met Bodhidharma, he asked at once, “What is the paramount sacred truth?” [The
Master] replied, “It is [that which is] glaringly evident, and without anything
sacred.” [The Emperor] went on to say, “Who is the person facing me?” Then
[the Master] said, “I do not know.” If Bodhidharma had not been conversant with
the language of that region, how could [their conversation] have taken place as it
did at that time?
[195] Thus, it is evident that [the Master] went from the Liang kingdom to
the Wei kingdom. He passed along19 Suzan mountain, and rested his staff
at Shorin [temple]. He sat in stillness facing the wall, but he was not learn-
ing Zen meditation. Though he had not fetched with him a single sutra or
text, he was the true authority who had brought with him the transmis-
sion of the right Dharma. Chroniclers, however, not being clear, listed him
in sections about learning Zen meditation—this was extremely stupid and
regrettable. While [the Master] thus continued practicing 20 on Suzan
mountain, there were dogs who barked at the great ancestor:21 they were
pitiful and extremely stupid. How could any who has a heart think light
of [the Master’s] merciful kindness? How could any who has a heart not
hope to repay this kindness? There are many people who do not forget
even worldly kindness, but appreciate it deeply: these are called human
beings. The great kindness of the ancestral Master is greater even than [the
kindness of] a father and mother—so do not compare the benevolent love
of the ancestral Master even with [the love of] a parent for a child. When
we consider our own lowly position, we might be alarmed and afraid. We

19. 経行 read here as KEIKO, means to walk along, or to pass along, in order to get
from A to B.
20. 経行 read here as KINHIN, means walking as a Buddhist practice, maintaining the
balanced state of body and mind. In Japan kinhin is performed very slowly, the standard
being issoku-hanpo, or half a step for each breath.
21. 堯 (GYO), lit. means “high” or “far away.” At the same time, it is the name of an
emperor in the legendary period of Chinese history, who is supposed to have ruled be-
tween 2356 and 2255 B.C. In this context it means Master Bodhidharma as a great man or
a great founder.
178 GYOJI-2

are beyond sight of the civilized lands.22 We were not born at the center of
civilization.22 We do not know any saints. We have not seen any sages. No
person among us has ever ascended beyond the celestial world. People’s
minds are utterly stupid. Since the inception [of Japan], no person has edi-
fied the common people: we hear of no period when the nation was
purified. This is because no-one knows what is pure and what is impure.
We are like this because we are ignorant of the substance and details of
the two spheres of power23 and the three elements:24 how much less could
we know the rising and falling of the five elements?25 This stupidity rests
upon blindness to the phenomena before our very eyes. And we are blind
because we do not know the sutras and texts, and because there is no
teacher of the sutras and texts. There is no such teacher means that no-one
knows how many tens of volumes there are in this Sutra, no-one knows
how many hundreds of verses and how many thousands of sayings there
are in this Sutra: we read only the explanatory aspect of the sentences, not
knowing the thousands of verses and tens of thousands of sayings. Once
we know the ancient sutras and read the ancient texts, then we have the
will to venerate the ancients. When we have the will to venerate the an-
cients, the ancient sutras come to the present and manifest themselves
before us. The founder of the Han dynasty26 and founder of the Wei dy-
nasty27 were emperors who clarified the verses spoken by astrological
phenomena and who interpreted the sayings of geological forms. When
we clarify such sutras as these, we have gleaned some clarification of the
three elements. The common folk [of Japan], never having been subjected
to the rule of such noble rulers, do not know what it is to learn to serve a
ruler or what it is to learn to serve a parent and so we are pitiful even as
subjects of a sovereign and pitiful even as members of a family. As retain-
ers or as children,28 we vainly pass by [valuable] one-foot gems and vainly
pass by [invaluable] minutes of time. There is no [Japanese] person who,

22. 中土 (CHUDO), lit. “Middle Lands” and 中華 (CHUKA), lit. “Middle Flower [of
Civilization]” both refer to China.
23. 二柄 (NIHEI): 1) civilian power; 2) military power.
24. 三才 (SANSAI): 1) the heavens; 2) the earth; 3) people.
25. 五才 (GOSAI): 1) wood; 2) fire; 3) soil; 4) metal; 5) water.
26. 高祖 (KOSO) lit. means “The Founding Patriarch,” or “the Founder.” The founder
of the Han dynasty ruled from 206 to 194 B.C.
27. 太祖 (TAISO), lit. “the Big Patriarch,” also is a term used for the founding emperor
of a dynasty. In this case it refers to 道武帝 (DOBUTEI), the founder of the Northern Wei
dynasty who ruled from 386 to 409.
28. 子 (SHI) means child or disciple.
 GYOJI-2 179

having been born into an ancestry like this, would give up an important
national office; we even cling to trivial official positions. This is how it is in
a corrupt age: in an age of purity, [such things] might be rarely seen or
heard. Living in a remote land like this and possessing lowly bodies and
lives like these, if we had the opportunity to hear our fill of the
Tath‡gata`s right Dharma how could we have any hesitation about losing
these lowly bodies and lives on the way? Having clung to them, for what
purpose could we relinquish them later? Even if [our bodies and lives]
were weighty and wise, we should not begrudge them to the Dharma.
How much less [should we begrudge] bodies and lives that are lowly and
mean. Lowly and mean though they are, when we ungrudgingly relin-
quish them for the truth and for the Dharma, they may be more noble
than the highest gods and more noble than the wheel[-rolling] kings. In
sum, they may be more noble than all celestial gods and earthly deities
and all living beings of the triple world. The first Patriarch, however, was
the third son of the King of Koshi in South India. He was, to begin with,
an offspring of the imperial lineage of India, a crown prince. His nobility
and venerability were such that [people] in a remote nation in the eastern
lands never knew even the forms of behavior by which they should serve
him: there was no incense; there were no flowers; his seat and mat were
scant; the temple buildings were inadequate. How much worse it would
have been in our country, a remote island of sheer cliffs. How could we
know the forms by which to revere the prince of a great nation? Even if we
imitated them, they would be too intricate for us to understand: there
might be different forms for lords and for the emperor, and courtesies
large and small, but we would not be able to tell the difference. When we
do not know how high or low we are, we do not maintain and rely upon
the self. When we are not maintaining and relying upon the self, the most
important thing to clarify is how high or low we are.
[202] The first Patriarch was the twenty-eighth successor to the Dharma of
¯‡kyamuni. The longer he remained in the state of truth, the weightier he
became. That even a great and most venerable saint like this, following his
Master’s instruction, did not spare body and life, was in order to transmit
the Dharma and in order to save the living. In China, before the first Patri-
arch came from the west, no-one had seen a disciple of Buddha who had
received the one-to-one transmission from rightful successor to rightful
successor, no patriarch had given the face-to-face transmission from right-
ful successor to rightful successor, and no meeting buddha had ever taken
place. After that time also, no [patriarchs] other than the distant descen-
180 GYOJI-2

dants of the first Patriarch ever came from the west. The appearance of an
uÛumbara flower is an easy matter: one can count the years and months of
waiting [for it to happen].29 The first Patriarch’s coming from the west will
never happen again. Nevertheless, even people calling themselves the
distant descendants of the first Patriarch—intoxicated [like] the great fool
of the kingdom of So30 and never knowing the difference between a jewel
and a stone—have thought that teachers of sutras and teachers of com-
mentaries might stand shoulder-to-shoulder with [the Patriarch]. That is
due to small knowledge and meager understanding. People who lack the
right seeds of long-accumulated praj§‡ do not become the distant descen-
dants of the Patriarch’s truth; we should pity those who have idly
wandered astray on the wrong path of names and forms. Even after the
Futsu era of the Liang dynasty31 there were some who went to India. What
was the use of that? It was the most extreme stupidity. Led by bad karma,
they wandered astray through foreign lands. With every step they were
proceeding along the wrong path of insulting the Dharma; with every step
they were fleeing from their father’s homeland. What was to be gained by
their going to India? Only hardship and privation in the mountains and
the waters. They did not study the principle that the Western Heavens
had come to the east and they did not clarify the eastward advance of the
Buddha-Dharma, and so they uselessly lost their way in India. They have
reputations as seekers of the Buddha-Dharma, but they did not have any
will to the truth with which to pursue the Buddha-Dharma, and so they
did not meet a true teacher even in India. They only met fruitlessly with
teachers of sutras and teachers of commentaries. The reason is that they
did not have the right state of mind with which to pursue the right
Dharma, and so—even though authentic teachers were still present in In-
dia—those [wanderers] did not get their hands upon the authentic
Dharma. Some who went to India claimed to have met true teachers there,
[but] no mention was ever heard of who those teachers were. If they had
met true teachers, they would naturally name some names. There was no
[meeting] and so there has been no naming.

29. The uÛumbara flower is said to bloom once every three thousand years. See
chap. 68, Udonge.
30. 楚 (SO) is the name of an ancient kingdom in China where a man called Benka
found a big rough gemstone (“Benka’s gem”) and offered it to the king, but the king
could not recognize its value.
31. That is, after Master Bodhidharma had come to China (in the last year of the
Futsu era, 527).
 GYOJI-2 181

[205] Again, there have also been many monks in China, since the ancestral
Master came from the west, who have continued to rely upon understand-
ing of sutras and commentaries and so failed to investigate the authentic
Dharma. They open and read sutras and commentaries but are blind to
the meaning of the sutras and commentaries. This black conduct is due
not only to karmic influence of conduct today but also to bad karmic in-
fluence from past lives. If, in this life, they ultimately do not hear the true
secrets of the Tath‡gata`s teaching, and do not meet the Tath‡gata`s right
Dharma, and are not illuminated by the Tath‡gata`s face-to-face transmis-
sion, and do not use the Tath‡gata`s buddha-mind, and do not learn the
usual customs of the buddhas; then their life must be a sad one. During
the Sui, Tang, and Sung dynasties32 people like this abounded. Only peo-
ple possessing the seeds of long-accumulated praj§‡ have become the
distant descendants of the ancestral Master, some entering the gate of ini-
tiation without expectation and some liberating themselves from sand-
counting,33 but all having intelligence, superior makings, and the right
seeds of a right person. The stupid multitude have continued for long
years to dwell only in the straw shacks of sutras and commentaries. That
being so, [even the Patriarch] did not assert that he would not retreat in
the face of such severe difficulties. Even today, as we admire the profound
attitude of the first Patriarch in coming from the west, if we spare the
stinking bags of skin which are ourselves, in the end what will be the use
of that?
[207] Zen Master Kyogen34 said:
Making a hundred calculations and a thousand plans only
for the sake of [our own] body,
We forget that the body will become dust in a grave.
Never say that the white-haired35 speak no words:
They are just the people to tell us of the underworld.
So although we make hundreds of calculations and thousands of plans to
spare [the body], eventually it nonetheless turns into a pile of dust in a
grave. Worse still is to be fruitlessly scampering east and west in the em-
ploy of the king and citizens of a small nation, and therein being made to

32. Sui (c. 581–618); Tang (618–c. 907); Sung (960–1279).

33. Counting sand symbolizes the boring work of Buddhist scholars.
34. Master Kyogen Chikan. See para. [169].
35. 白髪 (HAKUHATSU), “the white-haired,” in this case suggests the corpse of an old
person.
182 GYOJI-2

suffer countless hardships through innumerable bodies and minds. Those

who think light of their own body and life because of a sense of loyalty
seem unable to forget the custom of ritual suicide following the death of a
lord. The way ahead for those driven by [such] obligation is only dark
clouds and mists. Many people since ancient times have been used by
small vassals and have thus thrown away their bodies and lives in the
world of common folk. These were human bodies that should have been
treasured, because they could have become vessels for the state of truth.
Now we have met the right Dharma, we should learn the right Dharma in
practice, even if it means throwing away bodies and lives as countless as
the sands of the Ganges. For which is it worth relinquishing body and life:
some futile small person, or the wide, great, profound, and eternal Bud-
dha-Dharma? There can be no cause for either the wise or the inept to
vacillate between advancing and retreating. We should quietly consider
that before the right Dharma has spread through the world, even if people
want to abandon their body and life for the right Dharma, they cannot do
so: they might dearly love to be in our place today, meeting with the right
Dharma. If, having met the right Dharma, we failed to abandon body and
life, we would have cause to be ashamed of ourselves: if we were ever
ashamed of anything, we would have to be ashamed of this fact. So the
way to repay the great kindness of the ancestral Master is with one day’s
conduct and observance. Have no regard for your own body and life. Do
not cling to love which is more dumb than that of birds and beasts—even
if you feel love and attachment, it will not stay with you over long years.
Do not remain content to rely upon family standing, which is equal to
rubbish—even if you remain content at this, you will ultimately not enjoy
a quiet life. The Buddhist patriarchs of old were wise: they all abandoned
the seven treasures and thousands of children; they speedily relinquished
jeweled palaces and red-lacquered buildings, seeing them as equal to spit
and tears or seeing them as equal to filth and soil. This is the manner in
which the Buddhist patriarchs of the past have always recognized the
kindness and repaid the kindness of the Buddhist patriarchs of the past.
Even the sick sparrow did not forget the favor it had received and was
able to return the favor with [the gift of] three rings of public office.36 Even
the stricken turtle did not forget the favor it had received and was able to

36. Refers to a Chinese legend recorded in Zoku-seikai-ki, (Tales from Sei, Part Two): A
nine-year old boy called Yoho saved an injured sparrow. The sparrow repaid him with
four white rings, which led Yoho to assume the three top official posts in the land.
 GYOJI-2 183

return the favor with the seal of the office of Yofu.37 How sad it would be,
while having human faces, to be more stupid than animals. Our meeting
buddha and hearing Dharma in the present is benevolence that has come
from the conduct and observance of every Buddhist patriarch. If the Bud-
dhist patriarchs had not passed on the one-to-one transmission, how could
it have arrived at the present day? We should repay the kindness con-
tained in even a single phrase. We should repay the kindness contained in
even a single dharma. How then could we fail to repay our debt of grati-
tude for the great blessing of the right-Dharma-eye treasury, the supreme
great method. We should desire to forsake, in a single day, bodies and
lives as countless as the sands of the Ganges. To the dead body we have
abandoned for the sake of the Dharma, we ourselves will return in age
after age to make prostrations and serve offerings; and it will be vener-
ated, honored, guarded, and praised by all gods and dragons—for the
truth [of abandonment for the Dharma] is inexorable. Rumors have long
been heard, from India in the west, of the Brahmins’ custom of selling
skulls and buying skulls: they honor the great merit in the skull and bones
of a person who has heard the Law. If we fail now to abandon body and
life for the truth, we will not attain the merit of hearing the Dharma. If we
listen to the Dharma without regard for body and life, that listening to the
Dharma will be fulfilled, and this very skull will deserve to be honored.
Skulls that we do not abandon today for the truth will some day lie aban-
doned in the fields, bleaching in the sun, but who will do prostrations to
them? Who would want to sell or buy them? We might look back with
regret upon the spirit [that we showed] today. There are the examples of
the demon that beat its former bones, and the god that prostrated itself to
its former bones.38 When we think on to the time when we will turn emp-
tily to dust, those who are without love and attachment now will gain
appreciation in future—the emotion aroused might be something akin to a

37. Refers to another Chinese legend, recorded in Shinsho-retsuden (the collection of

biographies contained within the book Shinsho (Writings of the Shin Dynasty). A man
called Koyu saved a turtle in distress, and as a result he later rose to the public office
called Yofu. (The seal of the office of Yofu depicted a turtle.)
38. Aiku-o-hiyu-kyo (The Sutra of the Parable of King A˜oka) contains the story of a trav-
eler who saw an angel prostrating itself to a corpse lying beside the road. The traveler
asked why, and the angel said that its body had done only good deeds when alive and so
the angel had been born in heaven. Further on, the traveler saw a demon beating a
corpse. The demon explained that this body had done only bad, and so it had become a
demon.
 184 GYOJI-2

tear in the eye of a person looking on. Using the skull which will turn
emptily to dust, and which may be abhorred by people, fortunately we
can practice and observe the Buddha’s right Dharma. So never fear the
cold. Suffering from the cold has never destroyed a person. Suffering from
the cold has never destroyed the truth. Only be afraid of not training. Not
training destroys a person and destroys the truth. Not training can destroy
a person and can destroy the truth. Never fear the summer heat. The
summer heat has never destroyed a person. The summer heat has never
destroyed the truth. Not training can destroy a person and can destroy the
truth. The acceptance of barley,39 and the gathering of bracken,40 are excel-
lent examples from the Buddhist world and the secular world. We should
not be like demons and animals, thirsting after blood and thirsting after
milk. Just one day of conduct and observance is the actual practice of the
buddhas.
[214] Taiso, the second Patriarch in China,41 [titled] Great Master Shoshu
Fukaku, was a teacher of lofty virtue and a man of erudition, adored by
both gods and demons, and esteemed by both monks and laymen. He
lived for many years between the rivers I and Raku,42 during which time
he widely read various books. He was considered to be one of the coun-
try’s rare individuals, [the like of] whom a person could not easily meet.
Because of his eminence in Dharma and the weight of his virtue, a mysti-
cal being suddenly appeared and told the Patriarch, “If you want to reap the
fruit [of your efforts], why do you linger here? The great truth is not far away.
You must go south!” The next day he suffered a sudden headache, a stab-
bing pain. His master, Zen Master Kozan Hojo43 of Ryumon mountain in

39. Chu-honki-kyo (Middle-length Sutra of Past Occurrences) has a chapter entitled

Butsu-jiki-babaku or “How the Buddha Ate Horses’ Barley.” The chapter relates how the
Brahmin king Akidatsu (Sanskrit name not traced), after inviting the Buddha and 500
disciples to a meal, became busy and forgot to serve food to the Sa¸gha, so they made
do with barley meant for the horses.
40. Alludes to an episode in Shiki-retsuden (the collection of biographies in the book
Shiki, or “Historical Records”). A warrior-king of the Chou dynasty (1122–255 B.C.) con-
quered the country of In, after which two former nobles of In took refuge in the
mountains, preferring to eat bracken than to eat the new king’s millet.
41. Master Taiso Eka, successor of Master Bodhidharma.
42. I and Raku are the names of rivers in the Kanan district of China. The place be-
tween them is Luoyang (pronounced Rakuyo in Japanese). The kings of the Chou
dynasty (1122–255 B.C.) made their capital in Luoyang, and the city also served as the
capital of later dynasties such as the Later Han, Western Tsin, Later Wei, Tsui, et cetera.
43. Master Kozan Hojo, Master Taiso Eka’s original teacher.
 GYOJI-2 185

Rakuyo, was about to cure the pain when a voice from the sky said, “This
is to change the skull, it is not an ordinary pain.” Then the Patriarch told the
Master about his meeting with the mystical being. When the Master
looked on top of [the Patriarch’s] skull, lumps had swelled up like five
mountain peaks. [Master Kozan] said, “Your physiognomy is a good omen;
you will surely attain realization. The reason the mystical being told you to go
south must be that the great man Bodhidharma of Shorin-ji temple is destined to
become your master.”
[216] Hearing this advice, the Patriarch left at once to visit Shoshitsu-ho
peak. The mystical being was a truth-guarding deity which belonged to
[the Patriarch’s] own long practice of the truth. At that time it was De-
cember, and the weather was cold. They say it was the night of the 9th day
of the 12th month. Even if there had been no great snowfall, we can imag-
ine that a high peak, deep in the mountains, on a winter night, was no
place for a man to be standing on the ground outside a window: it would
have been dreadful weather at that time of year, [cold enough] even to
break the joints of bamboo. Nevertheless, with a great snow covering the
earth, burying the mountains and submerging the peaks, [Taiso Eka] beat
a path through the snow—how severe should we suppose it was? Eventu-
ally he arrived at the Patriarch’s room, but he was not allowed to enter.
[The Patriarch] seemed not to notice him. That night he did not sleep, did
not sit, and did not rest. He stood firm, unmoving, and waited for dawn.
The night snow fell as if without mercy, gradually piling up and burying
him to his waist, while his falling tears froze one by one. Seeing the tears,
he shed more tears; he reflected upon himself and reflected upon himself
again. He thought to himself, “When people in the past sought the truth, they
broke their own bones to take out the marrow,44 they drew their own blood to save
others from starvation,45 they spread their own hair over mud,46 and they threw

44. This may refer to a story in Dai-hannyakyo: The Bodhisattva Jotai visited the Bo-
dhisattva Hoyu and heard the teaching of the great real wisdom, but he had nothing to
serve as an offering, so he sold his own body and served his own marrow as an offering.
45. Kengu-kyo contains the story of a king of Jambudv„pa who stabbed himself and
served up his own blood in order to save a hungry demon.
46. Refers to a story in Dai-ho-shak-kyo: Before ¯‡kyamuni realized the truth, he re-
vered people who had already realized the truth so much that he spread his hair over a
muddy puddle so that the Buddha D„pa¸kara could walk over it.
 186 GYOJI-2

themselves off cliffs to feed tigers.47 Even the ancients were like this, and who am
I?” As he thought such thoughts, his will became more and more deter-
mined. Students of later ages also should not forget what he says here:
“Even the ancients were like this, and who am I?” When this is forgotten, even
for an instant, there are eternal kalpas of depression. As [Taiso Eka]
thought thus to himself, his determination to pursue the Dharma and to
pursue the state of truth only deepened—perhaps he was like this because
he did not see the means of purity as a means.48 To imagine what it was
like that night, as dawn approached, is enough to burst one’s gallbladder.
The hair on one’s flesh simply bristles with cold and fear. At dawn, the
first Patriarch took pity on him and asked, “What are you after, standing
there in the snow for such a long time?” Questioned thus, his tears of sorrow
falling in ever greater profusion, the second Patriarch said, “Solely I beg,
Master, that out of compassion you will open the gate to nectar and widely save
all beings.” When [Taiso Eka] had spoken thus, the first Patriarch said,
“The buddhas’ supreme and wondrous state of truth is to persevere for vast kalpas
to become able to practice what is hard to practice, and to endure what is beyond
endurance. How can one hope to seek the true vehicle with small virtue and small
wisdom, and with a trivial and conceited mind? It would be futile toil and hard-
ship.” As he listened then, the second Patriarch was by turns edified and
encouraged. Secretly he took a sharp sword and severed his left arm.
When he placed it before the Master, the first Patriarch could then see that
the second Patriarch was a vessel of the Dharma. So he said, “When in the
beginning the buddhas pursued the truth, they forgot their own bodies for the sake
of the Dharma. Now you have cut off your arm before me. In your pursuit also
there is something good.”
[220] From this time forward he entered the [Master’s] inner sanctum. He
served and attended [the Master] for eight years, through thousand myr-
iads of exertions: truly he was a great rock beneath human beings and
gods and a great guiding teacher of human beings and gods. Exertion like
his was unheard of even in the Western Heavens: it happened for the first
time in the Eastern Lands. We learn the face breaking into a smile from the

47.Refers to a story in Konkomyo-kyo: Makasatta, the third son of the King of

Makaradei (Sanskrit names not traced), seeing that a mother tiger that was suckling
seven cubs was about to die of hunger, fed the tiger his own body.
48. He did not see purification as a means to an end. He was free from ulterior mo-
tives.
 GYOJI-2 187

ancient [Saint],49 but we learn getting the marrow under [this] Patriarch.50
Let us quietly reflect: no matter how many thousand myriads of first Pa-
triarchs had come from the west, if the second Patriarch had not
maintained the practice, there could be today no satisfaction in learning
and no handling of the great matter. Now that we today have become
people who see and hear the right Dharma, we should unfailingly repay
our debt of gratitude to the Patriarch. Extraneous methods of repayment
will not do: bodies and lives are not sufficient, and nations and cities are
not important. Nations and cities can be plundered by others, and be-
queathed to relatives and children. Bodies and lives can be given over to
the impermanent; they can be committed to a lord, or entrusted to false
ways. Therefore, to intend to repay our gratitude through such means is
not the way. Simply to maintain the practice day by day: only this is the
right way to repay our gratitude. The principle here is to maintain the
practice so that the life of every day is not neglected, and not wasted on
private pursuits. For what reason? [Because] this life of ours is a blessing
left over from past maintenance of the practice; it is a great favor bestowed
by maintenance of the practice, which we should hasten to repay. How
lamentable, how shameful, it would be, to turn skeletons whose life has
been realized through a share of the virtue of the Buddhist patriarchs’
maintenance of the practice, into the idle playthings of wives and children,
to abandon them to the trifling of wives and children, without regret for
breaking [precepts] and debasing [pure conduct]. It is out of wrongness
and madness that [people] give over their body and life to the demons51 of
fame and profit. Fame and profit are the one great enemy. If we are to as-
sign weight to fame and profit, we should really appreciate fame and
profit. Really to appreciate fame and profit means never to entrust to fame
and profit, and thereby cause to be destroyed, the body and life which
might become a Buddhist patriarch. Appreciation of wives, children, and
relatives also should be like this. Do not study fame and profit as phan-
toms in a dream or flowers in space:52 study them as they are to living
beings. Do not accumulate wrongs and retribution because you have

49. Master Mah‡k‡˜yapa, whose face broke into a smile when the Buddha showed
his audience an uÛumbara flower. See chap. 68, Udonge.
50. The story of Master Bodhidharma telling Master Taiso Eka, “You have got my
marrow” is recorded in chap. 46, Katto.
51. 羅刹 (RASETSU), represents the sound of the Sanskrit r‡k˘asa which means an evil
or malignant demon.
52. 夢幻空華 (MUGEN-KUGE), symbolize illusions.
 188 GYOJI-2

failed to appreciate fame and profit. When the right eyes of learning in
practice widely survey all directions, they should be like this. Even a
worldly person who has any human feeling, on receiving charity through
gold, silver, or precious goods, will return the kindness. The friendliness
of gentle words and a gentle voice, spurs, in all who have a heart, the
goodwill to return the kindness. What kind of human being could ever
forget the great blessing of seeing and hearing the Tath‡gata`s supreme
right Dharma? Never to forget this [blessing] is itself a lifelong treasure. A
skeleton or a skull that has never regressed or strayed in this maintenance
of the practice has—at the time of life and at the time of death equally—
such virtue that it deserves to be kept in a stÂpa of the seven treasures,
and to be served offerings by all human beings and gods. Having recog-
nized that we hold such a great debt of gratitude, we should without fail,
without letting our life of dew-on-grass fall in vain, wholeheartedly repay
the mountain-like virtue [of the second Patriarch]. This is maintaining the
practice. The merit of this maintaining the practice is already present in us
who are maintaining the practice as patriarch or buddha. In conclusion,
the first Patriarch and the second Patriarch never founded a temple; they
were free from the complicated business of mowing undergrowth,53 and
the third Patriarch and the fourth Patriarch were also like that. The fifth
Patriarch and the sixth Patriarch did not establish their own temple, and
Seigen54 and Nangaku55 were also like that.
[225] Great Master Sekito56 lashed together a thatched hut on a big rock and
he sat upon the rock in Zazen. He went without sleep day or night: there
was no time when he was not sitting. He did not neglect miscellaneous
chores; at the same time, he was always practicing Zazen through the
twelve hours.57 That Seigen’s school has now spread throughout the land,
and that it is benefiting human beings and gods, is due to Sekito’s mighty

53. 薙艸 (CHISO), lit. “mowing weeds,” means clearing a site for the building of a
temple.
54. Master Seigen Gyoshi (?–740), successor of Master Daikan Eno. Master Dogen’s
lineage is through Master Seigen.
55. Master Nangaku Ejo (677–744), also a successor of Master Daikan Eno. The Rin-
zai sect traces its lineages back to Master Nangaku.
56. Master Sekito Kisen (700–790), successor of Master Seigen Gyoshi. 石頭 (SEKITO),
lit. means “Rock Top.”
57. 十二時の坐禅 (JUNIJI no ZAZEN), or “twelve-hour Zazen,” means Zazen all day
long. “Twelve hours” in Master Dogen’s time was a whole day and night, twenty-four
hours in our time.
 GYOJI-2 189

firmness in maintaining the practice. Those present-day [followers of]

Unmon58 and Hogen59 who have clarified something are all the Dharma-
descendants of Great Master Sekito.
[226] Zen Master Dai-i,60 the thirty-first Patriarch, after meeting at the age
of fourteen the Great Master who was the third Patriarch,61 labored in his
service for nine years. Having already succeeded to the ancestral customs
of the Buddhist patriarchs, he regulated the mind62 and went without
sleep, his side never touching a bed for a small matter of sixty years. He
spread his influence over friend and foe, and his virtue pervaded [the
worlds of] human beings and gods. He was the fourth Patriarch in China.
[227] In the [17th] year of Jokan,63 the Emperor Taiso, admiring from afar the
Master’s taste of the truth, and desiring to see for himself [the Master’s] style and
color, issued an edict for him to come to the capital. Three times altogether, the
Master offered to the throne letters of humble apology, eventually declining by
citing ill health. The fourth time [the Emperor] ordered his messenger: “If he will
not come in the end, bring me his head.” The messenger went to the mountain
and warned of the [Emperor’s] command. The Master at once stretched out his
neck towards the sword, his spirit and his complexion unblenched. The messenger
was astonished at this. He returned and issued his report. The Emperor’s admira-
tion grew all the stronger. He bestowed on [the Master] a gift of precious silk, and
let him have his own way.64
[228] Thus, the Zen Master the fourth Patriarch did not see his body and life
as his body and life. The conduct and observance which he maintained in

58. Master Unmon Bun-en (864–949), founder of the Unmon sect. See chap. 49,
Butsudo.
59. Master Hogen Bun-eki (885–958), founder of the Hogen sect. Ibid.
60. Master Dai-i Doshin (580–651), successor of Master Kanchi Sosan, is the 31st pa-
triarch counting from Master Mah‡k‡˜yapa. He is the 4th patriarch in China, counting
from Master Bodhidharma.
61. 三祖大師 (SANSO-DAISHI), lit. “Great Master the third Patriarch,” is Master Kanchi
Sosan, successor of Master Taiso Eka and the 3rd patriarch in China.
62. 摂心 (SESSHIN), lit. “to collect/gather together/concentrate the mind.” Recently,
the same two characters have been used as a name for short Zazen retreats.
63. 貞観癸卯 (JOKAN-KIBO). The Jokan era corresponds to the reign of the Tang Dy-
nasty emperor Taiso: 627 to 650. 癸卯 (KIBO), the 10th calendar sign and the 4th horary
sign, identifies the year as the 17th year of the Jokan era: 643.
64. The paragraph is quoted directly from the Chinese; the source has not been
traced.
 190 GYOJI-2

not being close to kings and ministers65 is a singular example, encountered

once in a thousand years. The Emperor Taiso was a righteous ruler. A
meeting with him might not have been a bore; nevertheless, we should
learn in practice that the conduct and observance of our illustrious prede-
cessors was like this. Even as a ruler of men, [the Emperor] still admired a
man who would stretch out his neck towards the sword, not fearing to
lose body and life. This [behavior] was not without reason: [the Master]
valued time and was exclusively devoted to conduct and observance. Of-
fering letters [of refusal] to the throne three times is an example rare
through the ages. In present degenerate times, there are [many monks]
who positively want to meet with the Emperor.66 On the 4th day of the inter-
calary 9th lunar month in the [2nd] year of Eiki67 in the reign of Emperor Koso,68
[the Master] suddenly bestowed upon his disciples the following exhortation: “All
the dharmas of the Universe are totally liberated. You must each remember this,
and spread the influence of the teaching into the future.” When he had finished
speaking, he sat still and died. He was seventy-two years of age. They enshrined
him at the temple. On the 8th day of the 4th lunar month of the following year,
the door of the shrine opened by itself, for no [apparent] reason, and the [Mas-
ter’s] form seemed to be alive. After that his disciples did not dare to shut the door
again.
[230] Remember, all the dharmas of the Universe are totally liberated. Dharmas
are not empty, and dharmas are not anything other than dharmas; they
are dharmas which are totally liberated. Here the fourth Patriarch has his
maintenance of the practice before entering the stÂpa, and he has his
maintenance of the practice while already in the stÂpa. To see and hear
that the living are inevitably mortal is the small view. To be of the opinion
that the dead are without thinking and perception is small knowledge. In
learning the truth, do not learn such shallow knowledge and small views.
There may be those among the living who are immortal, and there may be
those among the dead who have thinking and perception.

65. Alludes to Lotus Sutra, Anraku-gyo. See LS 2.244.

66. From this point onwards, this paragraph is in Chinese characters only, indicating
that it is a direct quotation from a Chinese text.
67. The Eiki era was from 650 to 656. 辛亥 (SHINGAI), the 8th calendar sign and the
12th horary sign, identifies the year as the 2nd year of the Eiki era: 651.
68. Emperor Koso reigned from 650 to 684.
 GYOJI-2 191

[231] Great Master Gensa Shu-itsu69 of Fuchou70 had the Dharma-name of

Shibi. He was from Bin-ken county in Fuchou. His family name was Sha.
From his childhood he liked fishing. He sailed a small boat on the Nantai
river, and got along with all the fishing folk. At the beginning of the
Kantsu era71 of the Tang dynasty, when he was just over thirty years old,
he suddenly desired to leave the [world of] dust. Abandoning his fishing
boat at once, he devoted himself to the order of Zen Master Reikun72 of
Fuyo-zan mountain, and shed his hair. He received full ordination from
Precepts Teacher Dogen of Kaigen-ji temple in Yosho. 73 With patched
clothes and straw shoes, and with barely enough food to sustain him, he would
always be sitting in stillness all day long. All the monks thought him peculiar.
From the beginning he was on good terms in that Dharma-order with Seppo
Gison;74 their closeness was like that between master and disciple. Seppo called
[Gensa’s] hard practice “dhÂta.”75 One day Seppo asked, “What is the substance
of Bi of the dhÂta?” The Master replied, “In the end I just cannot be deceived by
others.” On another day Seppo called him over and said, “Bi of the dhÂta, why do
you not go exploring?”76 The Master said, “Bodhidharma did not come to the
Eastern Lands. The second Patriarch did not go to the Western Heavens.” Seppo
approved of this.77 Eventually [Gensa] climbed Zokutsuzan mountain78 and
he and the Master pooled their efforts to bind and build [a humble tem-
ple], where a group of profound individuals came together. The Master
[Seppo] allowed them to enter his room and glean his conclusions no mat-
ter whether it was dawn or dusk. If, among the students of the profound

69. Master Gensa Shibi (835–907), successor of Master Seppo Gison. Gensa was the
name of the mountain/temple where Master Gensa lived. Shibi was his 法名 (HOMYO),
lit. Dharma-name, i.e., the name he received when he became a monk and used thereaf-
ter in his lifetime—it was the custom in China not to use the Dharma-name after a
monk’s death, but to use a posthumous name or title, which, in Master Gensa’s case, was
Great Master Shu-itsu.
70. In present-day Fujian province in southeast China, bordering on the Formosa
strait.
71. The Kantsu era was from 860 to 874.
72. Master Fuyo Reikun, successor of Master Shiso Chijo.
73. In Jiangxi province in southeast China.
74. Master Seppo Gison (822–908), successor of Master Tokuzan Senkan.
75. The 12 dhÂtas are listed earlier in this chapter, in the section on Master
Mah‡k‡˜yapa (para. [119]).
76. A参 (HENSAN), or “thorough exploration,” is the title of chap. 62, Hensan.
77. These episodes are also discussed in chap. 4, Ikka-no-myoju.
78. 象骨山 (ZOKOTSU-ZAN), lit. “Elephant Bone Mountain,” is another name for Mt.
Seppo.
 192 GYOJI-2

who came from all directions, there were any who had an unresolved
problem, they would inevitably turn to the Master and ask for his teach-
ing. In such cases Master Seppo would say, “Ask Bi of the dhÂta!”. The
Master [Gensa], in his charity, would then duly apply himself to the task
unremittingly. Such behavior would have been impossible if it were not
for his outstanding conduct and observance. His conduct and observance
of sitting in stillness all day long is a rare example of conduct and obser-
vance. There are many who vainly run after sounds and forms, but few
people who practice sitting in stillness all day long. Now, as students of later
ages, and fearing that time is running out, we should practice sitting in
stillness all day long.
[234] Master Chokei Eryo79 was a venerable patriarch in the order of Seppo.
Going back and forth between Seppo and Gensa, he learned in practice for
a small matter of twenty-nine years. In those years and months he sat
through twenty round cushions. People today who love Zazen cite Chokei
as an excellent example of an adorable ancient—many adore him, but few
equal him. His thirty years of effort, then, were not in vain: once while he
was rolling up a summer reed screen, he suddenly realized the state of
great realization. In thirty years he had never returned to his home coun-
try, never visited his relatives, and never chatted with those either side of
him: he just directed his effort single-mindedly.80 The Master’s mainte-
nance of the practice was for thirty years. For thirty years, he saw his
doubts and hesitation as doubts and hesitation: he should be called one of
steadfast sharp makings, and should be called one of great qualities. Tid-
ings of [such] firmness of resolve are heard sometimes, following the sutras.
If we desire what we should desire and are ashamed of what we should
be ashamed of, then we may be able to meet with Chokei. Honestly speak-
ing, it is only because [people] lack the will to the truth, and lack skill in
regulating their conduct, that they remain idly bound by fame and gain.
[235] Zen Master Dai-en81 of Dai-i-zan mountain, after receiving Hyakujo’s
affirmation, went directly to the steep and remote slopes of Isan mountain
and, befriending the birds and beasts, he tied together [a hut of] thatch
and continued his training. He never shrank from the wind and snow.

79. Master Chokei Eryo (854–932), successor of Master Seppo Gison.

80. 専一に功夫す (SENITSU ni KUFU su). The same phrase appears in Fukan-zazengi and
suggests the practice of Zazen.
81. Master Isan Reiyu (771–853), successor of Master Hyakujo Ekai. Zen Master Dai-
en is his posthumous title.
 GYOJI-2 193

Small chestnuts served him for food. There were no temple buildings, and
no provisions. Yet [here] he was to manifest his conduct and observance
for forty years. Later, when the temple had become famous throughout
the country, it brought dragons and elephants tramping to it. Even if you
do want to establish a place for pure conduct,82 do not set your human
sentiments in motion: just be firm in your conduct and observance of the
Buddha-Dharma. A place where there is training but no building is the
practice-place of eternal buddhas. We have heard from afar rumors of
practice done on open ground or under a tree. These places have become
sanctuaries83 for ever. If a place contains the conduct and observance of
just one person, it will be transmitted as a practice-place of the buddhas.
We should never let ourselves be wasted, as the stupid people of a degen-
erate age, on the futile construction of buildings. The Buddhist patriarchs
never desired buildings. Those who have not yet clarified their own eyes
and yet vainly construct temple halls and buildings are absolutely not
serving offerings of Buddhist buildings to the buddhas: they are making
their own dens of fame and gain.
[238] We should quietly imagine conduct and observance on Isan mountain
in those days of old. “Imagining” means thinking what it would be like for
us now to be living on Isan mountain: deep in the night, the sound of rain
with such force that it might not only cut through moss but even drill
through rocks. On a snowy winter night, birds and wild animals would be
few and far between; how much less might smoke from human chimneys
be able to know us? It was a vigorous existence that could not have been
so without conduct and observance in which [Master Isan] thought light
of his own life and assigned weight to the Dharma. He was in no hurry to
mow the undergrowth; he did not busy himself with construction work:
he solely trained himself in conduct and observance, and strove in pursuit
of the state of truth.84 It is pitiable that an authentic patriarch who had
received and maintained the right Dharma was troubled in the mountains
by so much steep and rocky hardship. They say that Isan mountain has
ponds and streams, so the ice and fog must have been thick. It was a life of

82. 梵刹 (BONSETSU). 梵 (BON) represents the Sanskrit br‡hma, moral, pure, sacred, or
brahma-carya, pure conduct. 刹 (SETSU) represents the Sanskrit k˘etra, which means place,
land, or temple. (See Glossary.)
83. 結界 (KEKKAI), lit. “bounded areas,” from the Sanskrit s„m‡-bandha, are discussed
in chap. 8, Raihai-tokuzui.
84. 功夫弁道 (KUFU-BENDO), a favorite expression of Master Dogen’s to suggest
Zazen itself.
 194 GYOJI-2

seclusion beyond a human being’s endurance. Nevertheless, it is evident

that his Buddhist state of truth and the profound solitude merged into one
reality—we see and hear expressions of the truth that he practiced and
observed in this state. We should not hear [these expressions] in a noncha-
lant posture. At the same time, conduct and observance does not
recognize the debt of gratitude which we must strive to repay. That being
so, even if we were listening nonchalantly, when we imagine the Isan
mountain of those days as if it were before our eyes in the present, how
could any human-hearted student of later ages fail to be moved? Through
the bodhi-power and the teaching influence of this conduct and obser-
vance on Isan mountain, the wheel of wind85 does not move, the world is
not broken, the palaces of gods are peaceful, and human nations are pre-
served. Even to those who are not the distant descendants of Isan, Isan
may be an ancestral patriarch. Latterly, Kyozan86 came there and served
him. Kyozan himself had been, in the order of the late Master Hyakujo,87 a
¯‡riputra88 with a hundred answers for every ten questions. Yet he waited
upon Isan, spending a further three years of effort watching over a buf-
falo.89 This was conduct and observance that, in recent times, has become
extinct: it is nowhere to be seen or heard. The three years of watching over
the buffalo made it needless for him to ask any person to speak an expres-
sion of the truth.
[241] The Patriarch [Do]kai90 of Fuyo-zan mountain was solely a font of
realization of conduct and observance. When the ruler of the nation be-
stowed upon him the title of Zen Master Josho and a padded purple91
garment, the Patriarch did not accept them; he wrote letters to the throne
in which he politely refused them. The King was reproachful, but the Mas-

85. 風輪 (FURIN) refers to wind as one of the five elements, or five wheels (from the
Sanskrit pa§ca-maıÛalaka): earth, water, fire, wind, and air.
86. Master Kyozan Ejaku (807–883), successor of Master Isan.
87. Master Hyakujo Ekai (749–814).
88. ¯‡riputra was said to be the most excellent of the Buddha’s ten great disciples. In
Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 61, Master Isan says “The mystical powers and the wisdom of you
two disciples [Kyozan and Kyogen] are far superior to those of ¯‡riputra and Maudgaly‡yana.”
The story is quoted in chap. 25, Jinzu.
89. 看牛 (KANGYU) alludes to the words of Master Enchi Dai-an quoted earlier.
Watching over a buffalo means training himself.
90. Master Fuyo Dokai (1043–1118), successor of Master Tosu Gisei, and the 44th pa-
triarch in Master Dogen’s lineage (the 18th in China).
91. Purple indicated the highest among the ranks of priests.
 GYOJI-2 195

ter did not accept them in the end. His diluted gruel92 has transmitted to
us the taste of Dharma. When he made his hut on Fuyo-zan mountain, the
monks and laymen who flocked there numbered in the hundreds, but on a
daily ration of one bowl of gruel, many withdrew. The Master, according
to his vow, did not go to meals offered by donors. On one occasion he
preached to the assembly as follows:
“In general, because those who have left family life dislike dusty [secular]
toil, and seek to get free of life and death, we rest the mind, cease mental images,
and cut off ensnaring involvements; therefore we are called those who have left
family life. How could we regard offerings lightly and use them to indulge in a
common life? We should straightaway let go of duality, and abandon the middle
too. When we meet sounds and meet sights, we should be like rocks upon which
flowers have been planted. When we see advantage and see fame, we should be as
if dust has got into our eyes. Moreover, it is not that, since times without begin-
ning, we have never before passed through [such detachment]. Neither is it that
we do not know the condition. If we do not go beyond turning the head into a tail,
[however,] we remain in that [upside down] state.93
Why should we suffer the pain of greed and love? If we do not put an end to them
here and now, what other time can we expect? Therefore, the saints of the past
taught people that it is solely vital to exhaust the moment of the present. When
we are able to exhaust the moment of the present, what further problems can there
be? When we have got the state in which there are no problems in our mind, even
a Buddhist patriarch will be like an enemy. When everything in the world is
naturally cool and pale,94 we will then accord with the ideal95 for the first time.
Do you not remember Inzan,96 who would not see anyone to his dying day. And
Joshu,97 who had nothing to tell anyone to his dying day. Hentan98 gathered
chestnuts for his meals. Daibai99 used lotus leaves as his clothes. Practitioner Shi-

92. 米湯 (BEITO), lit. “hot rice water,” refers to a line in the quote from Master Fuyo
Dokai which follows.
93. In this opening section, Master Fuyo outlines the general principles of Buddhism,
in much the same way that Master Dogen does at the beginning of Fukan-zazengi: we
have the balanced state originally, but we still need to make effort to realize it.
94. 冷淡 (REITAN), “cool and pale,” means without emotional heat or color.
95. 那辺 (NAHEN), lit. “that area over there.”
96. Master Tanshu Inzan, a successor of Master Baso Do-itsu. He lived away from
human society, deep in the mountains.
97. Master Joshu Jushin (778–897). See para. [136].
98. Master Hentan Gyoryo, successor of Master Daikan Eno.
99. Master Daibai Hojo. See para. [141].
196 GYOJI-2

e100 wore only paper. Veteran monk Gentai101 wore only cotton. Sekiso102 estab-
lished a Withered Tree Hall103 where he sat and slept with the monks, wanting
only to master his own mind. Tosu104 had others take care of the rice, which they
boiled together and ate in common: he wanted to be able to concentrate on his own
original task. Now, in the saints listed above there is such distinction. If they had
been without [such] excellence, how could we delight in them?
Friends! If you too physically master this state, you will truly be faultless people.
If, on the other hand, you fail to experience it directly, I am deeply afraid that in
future you will exhaust your energy in vain. Though there is nothing to attach to
in the behavior of this mountain-monk,105 I have been privileged to become master
of the temple: how could I sit by while our provisions were used up in vain, sud-
denly forgetting the legacy of the past saints? Now I hope to demonstrate, as best
I am able, the attitude in which people of old lived as temple masters. I have dis-
cussed it with everyone and we have decided not to go down from the mountain,
not to go to meals offered by donors, and not to have a monk in charge of raising
donations;106 instead, we will ration the annual produce of the fields of this temple
into three hundred and sixty equal parts, and use one ration every day, without
increasing or reducing [the ration] according to the [number of] people [in the
order]. If there is enough to make boiled rice, then we shall make rice; if there is
not enough to make boiled rice, then we shall make gruel; if there is not enough to
make gruel, then we shall make rice water. To welcome a newcomer we shall just
have [plain] tea, not a tea ceremony. We will simply provide a tea-room, which
each person may visit and use individually. We shall do our best to sever in-
volvements and to pursue the state of truth solely.

100. 紙衣道者 (SHIE-DOSHA), lit. “Paper Clothes Way-Being,” was the nickname of
Master Takushu Shi-e, a successor of Master Rinzai.
101. Master Nangaku Gentai, successor of Master Sekiso Keisho. He was known for
refusing to wear fine silk clothes.
102. Master Sekiso Keisho (807–888), successor of Master Dogo Enchi. His posthu-
mous title is Great Master Fu-e.
103. 枯木堂 (KOBOKUDO), lit. “Withered Tree Hall,” means the Zazen Hall, which is
more commonly referred to as 僧堂 (SODO), “Monks’ Hall” or 雲堂 (UNDO), “Cloud Hall.”
This sentence suggests that Master Sekiso’s temple consisted only of the Zazen Hall.
104. Master Tosu Daido (819–914), successor of Master Suibi Mugaku. He originally
studied the teachings of the Kegon sect, then realized the truth in Master Suibi’s order,
after which he built himself a hut on Mt. Tosu. His posthumous title is Great Master Jisai.
105. 山僧 (SANSO), “mountain monk,” is a humble term used by the speaker to refer
to himself or herself. Hereafter it has sometimes been translated as “I.”
106. 化主 (KESHU). 化 (KE) means to raise donations, and 主 (SHU) means the monk in
charge.
 GYOJI-2 197

Still more, vigorous activity surrounds us in abundance. There is no scarcity of

beautiful scenery. The flowers know how to laugh, and the birds know how to
sing. The timber horses whinny, and the stone bulls gallop. Beyond the sky, the
greenness of the mountains fades. Beside our ears, the babbling spring loses its
voice. On mountain peaks monkeys are squeaking. Dew moistens the moon in the
sky. In the woods cranes call. The wind swirls around the pines in the clear light
of dawn. When the spring breezes blow, withered trees sing dragon songs.107 The
autumn leaves shrivel and the frozen forest scatters flowers. On the precious-
stone steps are laid patchworks of moss. People’s faces have the [mild] air of haze
and mist. Sounds are still. Situations are just as they are. In the sheer peace and
solemnity, there is nothing to pursue.
Before you all today, this mountain-monk is preaching [the traditional teaching
of] our lineage, which is just not to attach to expedients. Why should it ever be
necessary to ascend [the seat of formal preaching in the Dharma] Hall or to have
entry into the [master’s] room; or to take up the clapper or stand up the whisk; or
to yell to the east and put a staff to the west; or to tense the brows and glare with
the eyes, as if having an epileptic fit. That not only dismays veteran monks; it also
insults the saints of the past. Do you not remember that Bodhidharma came from
the west to the foot of Sho-shitsu-zan mountain and faced the wall for nine years?
And the second Patriarch, standing in the snow and cutting off his arm, suffered
what can only be described as hardship. Still, Bodhidharma never set down a sin-
gle word and the second Patriarch never requested a single phrase. Yet can we say
that Bodhidharma did not teach others? Can we say that the second Patriarch had
not wanted to find a teacher? Whenever I come to preach about the behavior of the
ancient saints, I always feel that there is nowhere to put myself, so ashamed am I
of our weakness as people of later ages. How then could we serve each other offer-
ings of exotic and delicious meals of a hundred tastes? We are equipped with the
four things,108 and so we must establish the mind at once: having said that, I am
only afraid that the behavior of our hands and feet is so imperfect that we will
pass remotely through lives and pass remotely through ages. Time is like an ar-
row, and we should profoundly hate to be losing it.
Although we are like this, still it is a fact that other people, relying upon their
merits, have been delivered. This mountain-monk is unable to force the teaching
upon you, but, my friends, have you ever read the following verse by a person of

107. 枯木龍吟 (KOBOKU-RYUGIN). See chap. 65, Ryugin.

108. 四事 (SHIJI), or four necessities: food, drink, bedding, and medicine.
 198 GYOJI-2

old?109
Our meal is boiled foxtail millet, reaped from the mountain fields,
For vegetables we have faded yellow pickles:
Whether you eat them is up to you.
If you choose not to eat, you are free to go east or west.
With due respect, fellow practitioners, may each of you be diligent. Take good care
of yourselves.”110,111
This is the very bones and marrow transmitted one-to-one by the
ancestral patriarchs. There are many examples of [this] founding Patri-
arch’s conduct and observance, but for the present I have just cited this
one instance. We students of later ages should long for, and learn in prac-
tice, the conduct and observance that the founding Patriarch Fuyo
practiced and refined on Fuyo-zan mountain. It is just the right standard
of behavior [established at] Jetavana park.112
[250] Zen Master Daijaku113 of Kaigen-ji temple in Kozei, in the Koshu
district,114 whose name in his lifetime was Do-itsu, was from Juppo-ken
county in Kanshu.115 He served under Nangaku for more than ten years.
Once he decided to visit his old home town, and he got half way there. At
half way he returned, and burned incense and performed prostrations,
whereupon Nangaku wrote the following verse and gave it to Baso:
I recommend you not to return home,
If you return home the truth will go unpracticed.
Old women in the neighborhood
Will call you by your old name.
He gave this Dharma-preaching to Baso, who received it with veneration,

109. Master Fukushu Gozubi. A slightly different version of the verse is quoted in
Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 15.
110. 珍重 (CHINCHO) was a common salutation used when taking leave of someone.
111. The original quotation of Master Fuyo Dokai’s words (recorded in Zokukan-
kosonshuku-goyo, Part 2) is one long paragraph in the source text.
112. The park purchased by Sudatta from King Prasenajit`s son Prince Jeta, and do-
nated to the Buddha as a site for Buddhist practice.
113. Master Baso Do-itsu (709–788), successor of Master Nangaku Ejo. His family
name was 馬 (BA), “Horse,” so he was called 馬祖 (BASO), “the Horse Patriarch,” and the
mountain where he had his order was called 馬祖山 (BASOZAN), “Horse Patriarch Moun-
tain.”
114. In present-day Jiangxi province in southeast China.
115. In present-day Sichuan in southwest China.
 GYOJI-2 199

and vowed, “I shall never in any life travel towards Kanshu.” Having made
this vow, he never walked a single step towards the Kanshu district; he
lived in Kozei for the rest of his life, letting [monks from] the ten direc-
tions come to him. He expressed the truth only as, “The mind here and now
is buddha,” besides which he had not a single word of teaching for others.
Even so, he was the rightful heir of Nangaku, and the lifeblood of human
beings and gods.
[252] Just what is not to return home? How are we to understand not to return
home? Returning to and from the east, west, south, and north is only our
own selfish falling down and getting up: truly, when we return home, the
truth goes unpracticed. [But] is the conduct of returning home maintained as
“the truth going unpracticed”? Is the conduct maintained as beyond “re-
turning home”?116 Why is returning home, the truth going unpracticed? Is it
hindered by non-practice? Is it hindered by self? [Nangaku] is not arguing
that “Old women in the neighborhood will call you by your old name.”
[His words] are the expression of the truth of “Old women in the neighbor-
hood calling you by your old name.”117 By what means does Nangaku possess
this expression of the truth? By what means does Baso grasp these words
of Dharma? The truth in question is that when we are going south, the
whole Earth similarly is going south. For other directions also the same
must be true. To doubt that it is so, using Sumeru or the great ocean as a
scale, and to hesitate, using the sun, moon, and stars as benchmarks: this
is the small view.
[253] The thirty-second Patriarch, Zen Master Daiman,118 was from Obai.
His secular name was Shu: this was his mother’s surname. The Master
was born fatherless, as for example was Lao-tze. 119 He received the
Dharma at seven years of age,120 after which, until the age of seventy-four,
he exactly dwelt in and maintained the Buddhist patriarchs’ right-
Dharma-eye treasury. His secret transmission of the robe and the Dharma

116. With these two questions, Master Dogen considered 帰郷 (KIKYO), “returning
home,” not as a subjective journey but as concrete conduct—which Master Dogen him-
self maintained, for example, in returning from China to Japan.
117. Master Nangaku was expressing a fact of life, not a supposition about the fu-
ture.
118. Master Daiman Konin (688–761), successor of Master Dai-i Doshin. He was the
5th patriarch in China.
119. It was well-known in China and Japan that Lao-tze, who laid the foundations of
Taoist philosophy in the 6th century B.C., was born to a single mother.
120. This refers to a legend quoted in chap. 22, Bussho (para. [22]).
 200 GYOJI-2

to the laborer Eno121 was conduct and observance in a class by itself. He

did not let Jinshu122 know about the robe and the Dharma, but transmitted
them to Eno, and because of this, the lifetime of the right Dharma has been
uninterrupted.
[254] My late Master Tendo123 was from the Etsu area.124 When he was
nineteen he abandoned philosophical study for learning in practice, after
which he did not regress at all, even into his seventies. He was given a
purple robe and a master’s title125 from the Emperor126 during the Kajo
era,127 but he did not accept them at last. He wrote letters to the throne
declining and expressing thanks. Monks in the ten directions all revered
him deeply for this. The wise, far and near, all rejoiced. The Emperor him-
self was delighted and presented him with a gift of tea. Those who knew
what had happened praised the event as rare through the ages. Truly, this
was real conduct and observance. The reason is that to love fame is worse
than to break the precepts. To break the precepts is a momentary wrong:
love of fame is a lifetime encumbrance. Do not, out of stupidity, fail to
abandon [fame], and do not, out of ignorance, accept it. Not to accept it is
conduct and observance. To abandon it is conduct and observance. That
the six ancestral masters128 each has a master’s title125 is, in every case, be-
cause an emperor decreed it after their death, not because they loved fame
while they were in the world. So we should swiftly abandon the love of
fame which is [the cause of suffering in] life and death, and we should
aspire to the conduct and observance of the Buddhist patriarchs. Do not,
through rapacious love, be equal to the birds and beasts. Greedily to love
the trivial self is an emotion possessed by the birds and beasts, a mental
state possessed by animals. Even among human beings and gods, aban-

121.Master Daikan Eno, the sixth Patriarch.

122.Jinshu was regarded by many as the most brilliant member of Master Daiman’s
order. See notes to chap. 20, Kokyo (para. [134]).
123. Master Tendo Nyojo (1163–1228), successor of Master Seccho Chikan. He was
the 50th patriarch (the 23rd in China).
124. In present-day Chekiang province in east China.
125. 師号 (SHIGO) refers to a posthumous title conferred by an emperor upon a highly
esteemed master. The second Patriarch in China, for example, was called Taiso Eka
(among other names) during his lifetime. After his death, the Emperor gave him the title
“Great Master Shoshu Fukaku.” (See para. [214].)
126. Emperor Neiso, reigned from 1195 to 1225.
127. 1208 to 1225.
128. The first six patriarchs in China: Master Bodhidharma; Master Taiso Eka; Master
Kanchi Sosan; Master Dai-i Doshin; Master Daiman Konin; and Master Daikan Eno.
 GYOJI-2 201

donment of fame and gain is considered unusual. But no Buddhist patri-

arch has ever failed to abandon them. Some have said that greed for fame
and love of profit can work to the benefit of living beings, but their argu-
ment is grossly mistaken: they are non-Buddhists attaching themselves to
the Buddha-Dharma; they are a band of demons who malign the right
Dharma. If what they say is true, does it mean that the Buddhist patri-
archs, having no greed for fame and profit, are of no benefit to living
beings? That is laughable, laughable. There are [people other than Bud-
dhist patriarchs], also, who benefit the living without greed—is it not so?
Those who do not study such limitlessly many instances of benefiting the
living, and who describe as “benefiting the living” what does not benefit
the living, I say again: they may be demons. Living beings benefited by
them might be beings destined to fall into hell. They should lament that
they have spent their whole life in darkness; they should never claim that
their stupidity benefits the living. Thus, though the master’s title was the
Emperor’s benevolent gift, writing a letter to decline it is an excellent ex-
ample from the eternal past, and it may be research for students of later
ages. I met the late Master in person: it was to meet a human being. From
the age of nineteen, when my late Master left his home district to go in
search of teachers, he had striven in pursuit of the truth to the age of sixty-
five,129 without regressing and without straying at all. He did not get close
to emperors and he was not seen by emperors. He was not on intimate
terms with ministers and he was not on intimate terms with officials. Not
only did he decline the purple robe and the master’s title but also, his
whole life through, he never wore a ka˘aya of patterned cloth. For formal
preaching in the Dharma Hall, or for [accepting] entry into the Master’s
room, he always wore a black ka˘aya and black monk’s robes. He in-
structed the monks as follows, “In practicing [Za]zen130 and learning the
truth, the most important thing is to have the will to the truth: it is the starting
point of learning the truth. For two hundred years now, the truth of the ancestral
Master has been falling into disuse—it is lamentable. Needless to say, then, that
skinbags who have expressed the truth, in even a single phrase, are few and far
between.”

129. Master Tendo was born in 1163, and so when Master Dogen practiced under
him, between 1225 and 1227, Master Tendo would have been in his mid-60s.
130. 参禅 (SANZEN), lit. “experiencing/participating in/practicing dhy‡na.” Chap. 58,
Zazengi begins 参禅は坐禅なり (SANZEN wa ZAZEN nari), “To practice Zen is to sit in
Zazen.”
 202 GYOJI-2

[259] “In former days I hung my traveling staff at Kinzan mountain,131 at which
time the head of the table was Ko Bussho.132 In formal preaching in the Dharma
Hall he said, ‘In the Buddha-Dharma, the Way of Zen, you need not seek the
words of others. Let each of you grasp the principle by yourself!’ So saying, he
paid no attention whatsoever to what happened inside the Monks’ Hall. The
monks, senior and junior, also were totally unconcerned; they were only inter-
ested in meeting and courting official guests. Bussho was singularly ignorant of
the pivot of the Buddha-Dharma; he only craved fame and loved gain. If we could
each grasp the principle of the Buddha-Dharma by ourself, how could there be old
drills who went looking for teachers and searching out the truth? Truly, Ko
Bussho never experienced [Za]zen133 at all. Old veterans in all directions today
who have no will to the truth are solely the offspring of Ko Bussho. How can the
Buddha-Dharma exist in their hands? It is so regrettable, so very regrettable.”
When he spoke like this, Bussho’s children and grandchildren would of-
ten be listening, but they did not resent him.
[261] Again [Master Tendo] said, “Practicing [Za]zen is the dropping off of
body and mind. We need not burn incense, do prostrations, recite the Buddha’s
name, confess, or read sutras. When we are just sitting, we have attainment from
the beginning.”
In truth, through all directions of the great kingdom of Sung today,
the skinbags who profess to be Zen practitioners, and who call themselves
the descendants of the ancestral founders, number not only one or two
hundred: they are [as numerous as] rice, flax, bamboos, and reeds. Never-
theless, we hear no rumor at all of any who recommends sitting for the
purpose of sitting. Between the four oceans and the five lakes, only my
late Master Tendo did so. [Monks in] all directions praised Tendo with
one voice, but Tendo did not praise [the monks of] all directions. At the
same time, there were leaders of great temples who did not know of
Tendo at all. This was because, although they were born in China as the
center of civilization, they might be a lower species of bird or beast, who
did not serve where they should have served, but idly squandered their
time. It is pitiful that people who never knew Tendo mistook the clamor of
outlandish preaching and confused assertions for the traditional customs
of the Buddhist patriarchs. My late Master would usually say in his in-

131. Kosho Manju-ji temple on Kinzan mountain was one of the five most famous
temples in China. Its site is in present-day Chekiang province.
132. Bussho Tokko, successor of Master Dai-e Soko.
133. 参禅 (SANZEN). See note 130.
 GYOJI-2 203

formal preaching, “From the age of nineteen, I widely visited monasteries in all
directions, but there was no master who could teach people. Since the age of nine-
teen, I have not passed a single day or a single night without flattening the round
cushion. Before the time when I took residence [as master] of a temple, I did not
converse with the people of villages, because time is too precious. At places where
I hung my traveling staff, I never entered or saw inside a hut or dormitory.134
How much less could I expend effort on outings and jaunts among the mountains
and waters? Besides sitting in Zazen in the Cloud Hall and the common areas, I
would sit in Zazen at quiet and convenient places, going alone to an upper floor
or in search of some secluded spot. I always carried a round cushion inside my
sleeve,135 and sometimes I would even sit in Zazen at the base of a crag. I always
felt I would like to sit through the Diamond Seat136—that was the end which I
hoped to gain. There were times when the flesh of my buttocks swelled up and
burst. At these times, I liked Zazen all the more. This year I am sixty-five. My
bones are old and my brain is dull; I do not understand Zazen. Even so, out of
compassion for my brothers in the ten directions, I have become abbot of this tem-
ple, so as to counsel those who come from [all] quarters and to transmit the truth
to the monks of the assembly. How can the Buddha-Dharma exist in the orders of
the old veterans in all directions? So I preach like this in formal preaching in the
Dharma Hall, and I preach like this in my informal preaching.” Further, he
would not accept gifts of personal salutation from the monks who came
from all directions.
[264] Minister Cho137 was of the ancestral line of the sacred sovereign138 of
the Kajo era;139 he was a general of the Minshu140 army, and the District
Envoy for Promotion of Agriculture. When he invited my late Master to
come to the capital of the district and to ascend the seat of formal preach-
ing, he presented a donation of ten thousand pieces of silver. After my late

134. Master Tendo lived and slept in the Zazen Hall.

135. The robe worn by monks in China and Japan under the ka˘aya has very wide
sleeves, the hems of which form a kind of pocket.
136. There was said to be a flat bed of rock under the soil upon which the Buddha
was sitting, beneath the bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, when he realized the truth. This bed of
rock is called the Diamond Seat.
137. 趙提挙 (CHO-TEIKYO). 提挙 (TEIKYO) was the official title of a minister in charge of
irrigation, tea and salt, and other matters. Minister Cho was the 8th-generation descen-
dant of the Sung Emperor Taiso who reigned from 976 to 998.
138. The Emperor Neiso (reigned 1195–1225). See also para. [254].
139. 1208 to 1225.
140. 明州 (MINSHU) was a district of what is now Chekiang province in east China.
204 GYOJI-2

Master had finished his formal preaching, he thanked the Minister and
said, “As is the custom, I have left my temple and ascended the seat of formal
preaching, and I have proclaimed the right-Dharma-eye treasury and the fine
mind of nirv‡ıa, in order respectfully to offer happiness to your late father in the
realm of the departed. But I would not dare to accept this silver. Monks have no
need for this kind of thing. With thousands and tens of thousands of thanks for
your generosity, I will humbly return [the silver] as it formerly was.” The Min-
ister said, “Master, this humble officer is fortunate to be the relative of his
majesty the Emperor, so I am honored wherever I go, and I have riches in verita-
ble abundance. Today is the day to celebrate my late father’s happiness in the next
world, and so I wished to contribute something to the realm of the departed. Mas-
ter, why will you not accept? This has been a day of abundant happiness. In your
great kindness and great compassion, retain without further ado this small dona-
tion.”141 My late Master said, “Minister! Your order is a very grave matter, and
I dare not decline. I only have [the following] excuse. When I ascended the seat of
formal preaching and preached the Dharma, was the Minister able to hear me
clearly or not?” The Minister said, “This humble officer listened with pure joy.”
My late Master said, “Minister, you have appreciated my words sagaciously,
and I cannot hide my awe. I would like to ask further, while you graced us with
your kind attendance, conferring great happiness, and this mountain-monk was
upon the lecture seat, what Dharma was I able to preach? Try to express it your-
self. If you are able to express it, I shall respectfully accept the ten thousand pieces
of silver. If you are unable to express it, then let your emissaries keep the silver.”
Teikyo rose and said to my late Master, “With respect, Master, this morning
your Dharma-presence, your movement and stillness, were full of health and hap-
piness.” My late Master said, “That is [only] the state that I manifested. What
state did you get by listening?” The Minister faltered. My late Master said,
“The happiness of the departed has been roundly realized. Let us leave the contri-
bution to the decision of your late father himself.” So saying, [the Master] took
his leave and Teikyo said, “I do not resent your not accepting [the gift]. I am
very glad to have met you.” With these words, he saw my late Master off.
Many monks and lay people, east and west of the Setsu river,142 praised
this event, which was recorded in the diary of the attendant monk Hei.
Attendant monk Hei said, “This old Master is a person [whose like] cannot be
found. How could he be easily met anywhere else?” Is there any among people

Y (SHIN) represents the sound of the Sanskrit dak˘ina, which means a donation.
141.
142.逝江 (SEKKO), lit. “Setsu River,” is the name not only of a river but also of
Chekiang province itself. 逝東逝西 (SETSU-TO-SETSU-SEI), “east of Setsu and west of Se-
tsu,” therefore means east and west Chekiang.
 GYOJI-2 205

in all directions who would not have accepted the ten thousand pieces of
silver? A person of old said, “When we see gold, silver, pearls, and jewels, we
should see them as filth and soil.” Even if we see them as gold and silver, it is
the traditional custom of monks not to accept them. In my late Master this
observance was present. In other people this observance was absent. My
late Master always used to say, “There has not been a counselor like me for
three hundred years. You must all painstakingly strive in pursuit of the truth.”
[269] In the order of my late Master, there was a certain Dosho, a man from
the Menshu district of the western province of Shoku,143 who belonged to
the Taoist tradition. He was in a group of five companions who together
made the following vow: “In our lifetimes we shall grasp the great truth of the
Buddhist patriarchs, or else we shall never return to our home country.” My late
Master was especially delighted at this, and he let them walk and practice
the truth144 as one with the monks. When arranging them in order, [how-
ever,] he positioned them below the bhik˘uı„s145—an excellent example,
rare through the ages.146 In another case, a monk from Fukushu,147 whose
name was Zennyo, made the following vow: “Zennyo shall never in this life
travel one step towards the south,148 but shall solely partake in the Buddhist pa-
triarchs’ great truth.” There were many such characters in the order of my
late Master—I saw them with my own eyes. Though absent from the or-
ders of other masters, this was the conduct and observance of the [true]
order of monks in the great kingdom of Sung. It is sad that this attitude of
mind is absent among us [Japanese]. We are like this even in an age when
we can meet the Buddha-Dharma: in an age when we could not meet the
Buddha-Dharma, our bodies and minds would be beyond even shame.
[271] Let us quietly consider: a lifetime is not so long, [and yet] if we are
able to speak the words of a Buddhist patriarch—even if three and three
[words] or two and two—we will have expressed the state of truth of the
Buddhist patriarchs themselves. Why? [Because] the Buddhist patriarchs
are the oneness of body and mind, and so the one word or the two words
will be totally the warm body-and-mind of a Buddhist patriarch. That
body-and-mind comes to us and expresses as the truth our own body-

143. Corresponds to present-day Sichuan province in southwest China.

144. 経行道業 (KINHIN-DOGYO) means to walk in kinhin and to sit in Zazen.
145. The Sanskrit bhik˘uı„ means female monks, nuns.
146. It was rare for men to be ranked lower than women.
147. In present-day Fujian province in southwest China.
148. That is, towards his home in Fujian.
206 GYOJI-2

and-mind. At just the moment of speaking, the state of expressing the

truth comes and expresses our own body-and-mind. It may be that with
this life we can express the body which is the accumulation of past lives.149 There-
fore, when we become buddha or become a patriarch, we go beyond being
buddha and go beyond being a patriarch.150 Words spoken by conduct
and observance, [even if only] three and three or two and two, are like
this. Do not chase after the empty sounds and forms of fame and gain. Not
to chase them may be the conduct and observance transmitted one-to-one
by the Buddhist patriarchs. I recommend you, whether you are a great
hermit or a small hermit,151 a whole person or half a person, throw away
the ten thousand things and the myriad involvements, and maintain the
practice of conduct and observance in the state of the Buddhist patriarchs.

Shobogenzo Gyoji

Written at Kannon-dori-kosho-
horin-ji temple, on the 5th day of
the 4th lunar month in the 3rd
year of Ninji.152

149. Master Ryuge Koton, quoted at the end of chap. 9, Keisei-sanshiki, said: “With this
life we can deliver the body which is the accumulation of past lives.” Master Dogen substituted
道取 (DOSHU), “express,” for 度取 (DOSHU), “deliver.”
150. In other words, when we become buddha we express nothing other than our-
selves.
151. Alludes to the Chinese saying quoted in notes to para. [155]: “Small hermits con-
ceal themselves in hills and thickets,/Great hermits conceal themselves in palaces and towns.”
152. 1242.
 [31]
海印三昧

KAI-IN-ZANMAI
Sam‡dhi, State Like the Sea
Kai means “sea” and in (a translation of the Sanskrit word mudr‡) means
“seal” or “stamp.” Zanmai (a phonetic representation of the Sanskrit word
sam‡dhi) means the state in Zazen. So kai-in-zanmai means “sea-stamp
sam‡dhi” or “sam‡dhi as a state like the sea.” These words appear frequently
in the Garland Sutra. Master Dogen explains that the words describe the
state in Zazen, or the mutual interrelation between subject and object here
and now. In this chapter Master Dogen expounds on sam‡dhi as a state like
the sea, quoting from the Vimalak„rti Sutra, the Lotus Sutra, and from a con-
versation between Master Sozan Honjaku and his disciple.

[3] Those who are buddhas and patriarchs are always in sam‡dhi, the
state like the sea.1 Swimming in this sam‡dhi, they have times of preach-
ing, times of experiencing, and times of moving. The virtue of their
moving over the surface of the sea includes movement along the very bot-
tom of that [sea]: they move over the surface of the sea [knowing] this to
be “movement along the bottom of the deepest ocean.”2 To seek to make the
uncertain currents of life and death return to their source is not to be mov-
ing along in the ineffable state of mind. While past instances of passing
through barriers and breaking joints were, of course, individual instances
of the buddhas and the patriarchs themselves, at the same time, each was
governed by sam‡dhi, the state like the sea.
[4] The Buddha said:

1. 海印三昧 (KAI-IN-ZANMAI), according to Bukkyogo-daijiten, represents the Sanskrit

s‡gara-mudr‡-sam‡dhi. Other sources give the phrase samudra-mudr‡-sam‡dhi. S‡gara and
samudra both mean the sea.
2. From a verse by Master Yakusan Igen, quoted in chap. 11, Uji: “Sometimes standing
on top of the highest peak/Sometimes moving along the bottom of the deepest ocean…“

207
 208 KAI-IN-ZANMAI

Only of real dharmas is this body composed.

The moment of appearance is just the appearance of dharmas;
The moment of disappearance is just the disappearance of dharmas

At the moment when these dharmas appear we do not speak of

the appearance of self.
At the moment when these dharmas disappear we do not speak of
the disappearance of self.3
An instant before, an instant after: instant does not depend on instant;
A dharma before, a dharma after: dharma does not oppose dharma.
Just this is called sam‡dhi, state like the sea.

[5] We should painstakingly learn in practice and consider these words of

the Buddha. Attaining the truth and entering the state of experience do
not always depend upon an abundance of knowledge or upon an abun-
dance of words. Scholars of wide learning and abundant knowledge have
gone on to attain the truth under four lines. Scholars extensively versed
[in texts as numerous as] the sands of the Ganges have eventually entered
the state of experience under a single line or verse. Still less are the present
words about seeking inherent enlightenment in the future or about grasp-
ing initiated enlightenment in the middle of experience. In general, though
the real manifestation of inherent enlightenment and so on is a virtue of a
Buddhist patriarch, the various kinds of enlightenment such as initiated
enlightenment and inherent enlightenment do not define a Buddhist pa-
triarch.
[7] The Buddha said:
Only of real dharmas is this body composed.
The moment of appearance is just the appearance of dharmas;
The moment of disappearance is just the disappearance of dharmas.
At the moment when these dharmas appear we do not speak of
the appearance of self.
At the moment when these dharmas disappear we do not speak of
the disappearance of self.
An instant before, an instant after: instant does not depend on instant;
A dharma before, a dharma after: dharma does not oppose dharma.
Just this is called sam‡dhi, state like the sea.

3. The poem up to this point is quoted in Yuima-kyo, pt. 2, chap. 5 (the chapter in
which Ma§ju˜r„ asks after Vimalak„rti's health). It is not known if Master Dogen found
the rest of the poem in another sutra.
 KAI-IN-ZANMAI 209

[7] The concrete moment of this “sea-like sam‡dhi” is just a concrete

moment only of real dharmas, and it is expression of the truth of sole reliance
on real dharmas.4 This moment is said to be “this composed body.” The inte-
grated form which is composed of real dharmas, is this body. We do not see
this body as “an integrated form”: real dharmas compose it. This composed
body has been expressed as the truth as “this body.”
[8] The moment of appearance is just the appearance of dharmas. This appear-
ance of dharmas never leaves “appearance” trailing behind. For this reason,
appearance is beyond sensing and beyond knowing, and this state is ex-
pressed as “not speaking of the appearance of self.” It is not that, while we are
not speaking of the appearance of self, other people are perceiving, realizing,
thinking, and discriminating that these dharmas appear.5 Just in the moment
of the ascendant state of mutual realization, we fall upon convenient op-
portunities for mutual realization.6 Appearance is inevitably a concrete
moment having arrived; for the moment is appearance. Just what is this “ap-
pearance”? It may be appearance itself. It is appearance which is itself already
a moment, and it never fails to disclose the naked skin, flesh, bones, and
marrow. Because appearance is appearance which is composed,7 appearance
as this body and appearance as appearance of the self is only of real dharmas. It
is beyond only perception of sound and form: it is the real dharmas which
are the appearance of the self, and it is the appearance of the self which is be-
yond speech.8 “Not speaking” does not mean failing to express anything; for
being able to express the truth is not the same as being able to speak. The
moment of appearance is these real dharmas here and now: it is not of the
twelve hours. These real dharmas here and now are the moment of appearance;

4. From this paragraph to paragraph [17], Master Dogen expands the meaning of
each character of the Buddha’s verse, character by character. The first line of the poem
says 但以衆法合成此身 (tada shuho [o] mot[te] ko[no] mi [o] gojo [su]). In this paragraph
Master Dogen considers the meaning of each of the four elements of the sentence: 但以
(TAN-I), “only of” or “sole reliance,” 衆法 (SHUHO), “real dharmas,” 合成 (GOJO), “com-
posed,” or “realized composition,” and 此身 (SHISHIN), “this body.”
5. Cessation of subjective tendencies on the one hand, and realization of real things
on the other, are not separate but are realized in the oneness of subject and object.
6. 相見 (SOKEN), “meeting each other,” or “mutual realization,” suggests oneness be-
tween the subjective side (not speaking of self) and the concrete side (appearance of
dharmas).
7. In other words, which is real.
8. 不言 (FUGON) means “do not speak” or “beyond speaking.”
 210 KAI-IN-ZANMAI

they are beyond the competitive appearance of the three worlds.9 An an-
cient buddha said, “Suddenly fire appears.”10 The independence of this real
appearance is expressed as “fire appears.” An ancient buddha said, “In the
moment, when appearance and disappearance do not cease, what are we to do?”11
Thus, appearance and disappearance, though they are the appearance of the
self itself and are the disappearance of the self itself, are not ceasing.12 We
should determine the real meaning of these words “not ceasing” by en-
trusting ourselves totally to that buddha.13 This time in which appearance
and disappearance are not ceasing is cut and continued as the very lifeblood
of the Buddhist patriarchs. At the moment when appearance and disap-
pearance are not ceasing, “It is who that appears and disappears.” The
appearance and disappearance of who is people who must be saved through
this body, is at once manifesting this body, and is preaching for them the
Dharma;14 it is past mind being unable to be grasped;15 it is ”you having got my
marrow,”16 and it is “you having got my bones”17—for it is who18 that appears
and disappears.
[11] At the moment when these dharmas disappear, we do not speak of the
disappearance of self. The very moment in which we do not speak of the disap-
pearance of self is just the moment when these dharmas disappear. Disappearance
is the disappearance of real dharmas: it is disappearance, but at the same

9. A monk once asked Master Ganto Zenkatsu (828–887), a successor of Master To-
kuzan Senkan, “What are we to do when the three worlds appear in competition with each
other?” The Master said, “Just sit!” The monk said, “I do not understand. What does the
Master mean?” The Master said, “Bring Rozan mountain here and I will tell you.” Shinji-
shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 75.
10. Lotus Sutra, Hiyu (A Parable): “Whereupon the house/Suddenly catches fire./In the four
directions, all at once,/Its flames are in full blaze.” (LS 1.186–188.)
11. Master Razan Dokan, a successor of Master Ganto Zenkatsu, asked Master
Ganto, “When appearance and disappearance do not cease what are we to do?” Master Ganto
replied, “Who is it that appears and disappears?” Wanshi-koroku, vol. 2.
12. 不停 (FUTEI), “not ceasing,” suggests the standing still of time in the present.
13. かれ (kare), “him,” means Master Razan.
14. Alludes to the description of Bodhisattva Avalokite˜vara in Lotus Sutra, Kanzeon-
bosatsu-fumon. See LS 3.252.
15. The Buddha’s words from the Diamond Sutra. See Shobogenzo, chap. 18, Shin-
fukatoku.
16. Master Bodhidharma’s words to his disciple Taiso Eka. See chap. 46, Katto.
17. Master Bodhidharma’s words to his disciple Do-iku. Ibid.
18. 是誰 (ko[re] tare [ka], ZESUI) means “who is it?” or “concrete who.” 誰 (tare, SUI),
“who,” is often used in Shobogenzo to represent a person whose state cannot be ex-
pressed in words.
 KAI-IN-ZANMAI 211

time it must also be real dharmas. Because it is real dharmas, it is not con-
fined to the atoms of the objective world, and because it is not confined to
the atoms of the objective world, it is untainted. 19 Simply this un-
taintedness is the buddhas and the patriarchs themselves. They say “You
are also like this,” [but] who could not be “you”?—it may be that all those
who have an instant [of mind] before and an instant [of mind] after20 are “you.”
[Buddhas and patriarchs] say “I am also like this,” [but] who could not be
“I”?—because all those who have an instant [of mind] before and an instant
[of mind] after are “I.” This disappearance is adorned with abundant varie-
ties of hands and eyes. That is to say, it is supreme and great nirv‡ıa, which
is called “death,” which is insisted to be extinction,21 and which is seen as an
abode. Such limitlessly abundant hands and eyes22 are all virtues of disap-
pearance. Not speaking in the moment when disappearance is the self, and
not speaking in the moment when appearance is the self, while sharing the
common liveliness of not speaking, may be beyond the not speaking of
common deadness. [Not speaking] is, already, the disappearance of the
dharma before and the disappearance of the dharma after; it is the instant be-
fore of Dharma and the instant after of Dharma; it is dharmas before and after
working for the Dharma; and it is instants before and after working for the
Dharma. Not to be dependent is to work for the Dharma. Not to be opposed is
to work for the Dharma. To cause [dharmas] not to be opposed and not to

19. Master Daikan Eno asks Master Nangaku Ejo, “Do you rely on practice and experi-
ence, or not?” Master Nangaku says, “Practice-and-experience is not nonexistent, but it must
not be tainted.” Master Daikan Eno says, “Just this untaintedness is that which the buddhas
guard and desire. You are also like this. I am also like this. And the ancestral masters of India
were also like this...” In the story, “not tainted” means not divided by thinking into means
and aim. See, for example, chap. 7, Senjo, and chap. 63, Hensan.
20. 前念後念 (ZENNEN-KONEN), as in the verse under discussion. 念 (NEN) means 1)
thinking, mindfulness, or consciousness; 2) a thought, a mental image, a moment of con-
sciousness; and hence 3) a moment or an instant.
21. Rokuso-dankyo (The Sixth Patriarch’s Platform Sutra—section on Master Shido)
says, “Supreme and great nirv‡ıa is perfectly bright and always serenely illuminating, but the
common man calls it death, non-Buddhists insist that it is extinction, and people who seek the two
vehicles see it as non-becoming.”
22. 許多手眼 (KYOTA-SHUGEN), “limitlessly abundant hands and eyes,” appears in a
story quoted and discussed in chap. 33, Kannon: Master Ungan Donjo asks Master Dogo
Enchi how he understands the limitlessly abundant hands and eyes of Bodhisattva
Avalokite˜vara. Bodhisattva Avalokite˜vara is usually understood as a spiritual symbol
of compassion, but Master Dogo compared the function of the Bodhisattva to a hand
reaching back for a pillow in the night.
212 KAI-IN-ZANMAI

be dependent is to express eighty or ninety percent of the truth.23 When disap-

pearance makes the four elements and the five aggregates into its hands
and eyes, there is taking up and there is drawing back. When disappearance
makes the four elements and the five aggregates into its course of action, a
step forward is taken and a meeting takes place. At this time even [the
expression] “the thoroughly realized body is hands and eyes”24 is not sufficient,
and even “the whole body is hands and eyes”25 is not sufficient. In sum, disap-
pearance is the virtue of the Buddhist patriarchs.26 In regard to the present
expression of the words “not opposed” and the expression of the words
“not dependent,” remember, appearance in the beginning, middle, and end,
is appearance—“Officially, there is no room for a needle, but privately, a horse
and cart can get through.”27 [Appearance] neither depends upon nor op-
poses disappearance at the beginning, middle and end. It makes real
dharmas suddenly appear where there was formerly disappearance, but it
is not appearance defined by disappearance: it is the appearance of real
dharmas. Because it is the appearance of real dharmas, it is a form beyond
opposition and dependence.28 At the same time, disappearance and dis-
appearance neither depend upon each other nor oppose each other.
Disappearance also, at the beginning, middle, and end, is disappearance—
“While we are meeting it, it does not stand out, but when our attention is drawn
then we recognize its existence.”29 Disappearance happens suddenly where

23. 八九成の道得 (HAKKUJO no DOTOKU), or “an expression of the truth that is eighty
or ninety percent of realization,” are the words of Master Dogo Enchi from the discus-
sion of Bodhisattva Avalokite˜vara in chap. 33, Kannon.
24. 通身是手眼 (TSUSHIN ko[re] SHUGEN), words of Master Dogo. Ibid.
25. 遍身是手眼 (HENSHIN ko[re] SHUGEN), words of Master Ungan. Ibid.
26. 滅 (METSU) means not only disappearance but also dissolution or cessation, as in
the third of the four noble truths, 滅諦 (METTAI), “the truth of cessation,” from the San-
skrit nirodha-satya.
27. Master Kyosei Dofu asks, “Without the eyes of the sacred, how could we reflect some-
thing so ineffable?” Master Sozan Honjaku answers, “Officially, there is no room for a needle,
but privately, a horse and cart can get through.” (Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 17.)
28. 不対待相 (FUTAITAI-SO). 相 (SO) means 1) mutually, and 2) form, aspect, appear-
ance. The verse says 不相待 (FUSOTAI), “not mutually dependent,” and 不相対 (FUSOTAI),
“not mutually opposed.” In those compounds 相 (SO) functions as an adverb (“mutu-
ally”). In this sentence, Master Dogen moved the position of 相 (SO) so that it functions as
a noun (“form”) and its meaning is completely changed.
29. These are originally the words of Master Tanka Tennen. Further to them, a monk
asked Master Chokei Eryo, “A man of old said ‘While we are meeting it, it does not stand out;
when our attention is drawn to it, then we recognize its existence.’ What is this situation?” The
Master said, “Have you recognized existence yet?” (Keitoku-dento-roku chap. 18).
 KAI-IN-ZANMAI 213

there was formerly appearance, but it is not disappearance defined by

appearance: it is the disappearance of real dharmas. Because it is the dis-
appearance of real dharmas, it is beyond mutual opposition and
dependence.30 Either way—whether disappearance is just this31 or whether
appearance is just this—sole reliance on sam‡dhi as the state like the sea is called
“real dharmas.” Practice-and-experience which is just this is not nonexis-
tent; it is simply that this untaintedness is called “sam‡dhi, the state like the
sea.” Sam‡dhi is realization; it is the expression of the truth; it is a night in
which a hand reaches back and gropes for the pillow.32 In such reaching
back in the night and groping for the pillow, the groping for the pillow is
not only a matter of koÒis of koÒis of myriad kalpas; it is “myself being in the
middle of the sea, preaching the Sutra of the Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
solely and eternally.”33
[17] Because of not speaking of the appearance of self, “myself is in the middle of
the sea.” The surface before [me]34 is eternal preaching as ten thousand ripples
following a single slight wave;35 and the surface behind [me] is the Sutra of the
Flower of the Wonderful Dharma as a single wave following ten thousand
slight ripples.36 Even though I have wound and cast a thousand feet or ten
thousand feet of fishing line, regrettably, the line just hangs straight down.
The aforementioned surface before and surface behind37 is the surface of the sea

30. 不相対待 (FUSOTAITAI). See note 28.

31. 是即 (ZESOKU). Master Dogen, as was his custom, interpreted even the seemingly
innocent characters of the verse as direct representations of reality here and now.
32. Alludes again to the words of Master Dogo quoted in chap. 33, Kannon.
33. Lotus Sutra, Devadatta. LS 2.218.
34. 前面 (ZENMEN). 面 (MEN) means face, surface, scene, or instance. 前面 (ZENMEN)
suggests the concrete scene before the eyes and at the same time it suggests the instant
before the moment of the present.
35. From a verse by Master Sensu Tokujo: “For a thousand feet my line hangs straight
down,/The slightest wave is followed by ten thousand ripples./The night is quiet, the water cold,
the fish not biting./My boat filled with a vacant cargo of moonlight, I return.”
36. To suggest the mutual relation of subject and object, Master Dogen reversed the
expression in Master Sensu Tokujo’s verse.
37. 前面後面 (ZENMEN-KOMEN), “surface before, surface behind,” mirrors the expres-
sions of the original verse under discussion: 前念後念 (ZENNEN-KONEN), “instant before,
instant after,” and 前法後法 (ZENPO-KOHO), “dharma before, dharma after.” The expres-
sions all suggest the momentary occurrence of reality.
214 KAI-IN-ZANMAI

that I am on: it is like saying “a concrete thing before, a concrete thing after.”38
“A concrete thing before, a concrete thing after” describes the placement of a
thing upon a thing.39 It is not that in the middle of the sea there is a person:
[the sea of] my being in the sea is neither an abode of worldly people nor a
place loved by sacred people, but my being there exists only in the middle of
the sea. This is the preaching proclaimed solely and eternally. This being in the
middle of the sea neither belongs to the middle nor belongs to inside and
outside; it exists peacefully and eternally, preaching the Sutra of the Flower of
Dharma.40 It does not reside in the east, west, south, or north; it is, in a full
boat emptily loaded with moonlight, to come back. This real refuge41 is the
process itself, here and now, of coming back: who could describe it as the
drudgery of staying in water?42 It is realized only within the steep confines
of the Buddha’s state of truth. We call this [realization] the seal that seals
water [as water]. Expressing it further, it is the seal that seals space [as
space], or still further, the seal that seals mud [as mud]. The seal that seals
water, though not necessarily the seal that seals the sea, in the further as-
cendant state may be the seal that seals the sea.43 This is what is meant by
“the seal of the sea,”44 “the seal of water,” “the seal of mud,” and “the seal

38. 前頭後頭 (ZENTO-KOTO), lit. “head before, head after.” 面 (MEN), “face,” and 頭
(TO), “head,” are both used as counters for things in general. But whereas 面 (MEN) is
used to count thin flat objects, and sometimes to count abstractions (see, for example,
usage in chap. 20, Kokyo), 頭 (TO) is used only to count solid concrete objects. Here Master
Dogen seems to be stressing that 面 (MEN) means not only a phenomenal aspect but also
a concrete surface.
39. 頭上安頭 (ZU-JO-AN-ZU), lit. “placing a head on a head,” in Master Dogen’s usage,
expresses the state in which each concrete thing exists as it is. Master Dogen explains the
expression in detail in chap. 38, Muchu-setsumu, para. [182].
40. 鎮常在説法華経 (CHINJO-ZAI-SETSU-HOKKEKYO), most likely a quote from the Lo-
tus Sutra, but source not traced.
41. 実帰 (JIKKI), “or the real place to come back to.” 帰 (KI, kae[ru]), “come back” or
“return,” is the final character of the four-line verse by Master Sensu Tokujo.
42. 滞水の行履 (TAISUI no ANRI). 滞水 (TAISUI) usually occurs in the phrase T泥滞水
(DADEI-TAISUI), “dragging through mud and staying in water,” symbolizing mundane
daily trials. See, for example, the closing sentences of chap. 22, Bussho.
43. As concepts, “water” and “sea” are different, but in reality they may be one
thing.
44. 海印 (KAI-IN), as in the last line of the verse, and the title of the chapter.
 KAI-IN-ZANMAI 215

of the mind.” Having been transmitted one-to-one, the mind-seal seals

water, seals mud, and seals space.45
[20] Great Master Gensho46 of Sozan mountain on one occasion is asked by a
monk, “I have heard it said in the teachings that ‘the Great Sea does not accom-
modate dead bodies.’47 What is meant by ‘the Sea’?”
The Master says, “It includes myriad existence.”
The monk says, “Then how can it not accommodate dead bodies?”
The Master says, “What has stopped breathing does not belong.”
The monk says, “Given that [the Sea] includes myriad existence, how can what
has stopped breathing not belong?”
The Master says, “Myriad existence, being beyond those virtues, has stopped
breathing.”48
[21] This Sozan is the brother disciple of Ungo.49 Here Tozan’s50 funda-
mental instruction has found its mark exactly. The present words “I have
heard it said in the teachings” mean the true teachings of the Buddhist patri-
archs, not the teachings of the common and the sacred and not the small
teachings of those who attach themselves to the Buddha-Dharma.

45. In other words, Zazen makes water water, makes mud mud, and makes space
space. In chap. 72, Zanmai-o-zanmai, Master Dogen says that the mind-seal transmitted
from the Seven Buddhas is just sitting in the full lotus posture.
46. Master Sozan Honjaku (840–901), successor of Master Tozan Ryokai. Great Mas-
ter Gensho is his posthumous title.
47. Non-accommodation of dead bodies is one of ten virtues traditionally ascribed to
the sea. The Garland Sutra has a chapter called Jucchi (Ten States), comparing the state of
a bodhisattva to the following ten states of the sea: 1) It gets gradually deeper; 2) it does
not accept dead bodies; 3) its name cannot be given to lesser bodies of water; 4) it has a
single taste; 5) it contains many treasures; 6) its depths are impenetrable; 7) it is wide,
great, and immeasurable; 8) it contains many creatures with big bodies; 9) its tides do not
lose time; 10) it can accept all great rains without overflowing. In the Sutra, the sea not
accepting dead bodies (i.e. washing up corpses on the shore) suggests that there is noth-
ing in this world which does not have any life, or meaning.
48. In other words, reality which is beyond thinking just exists in the moment, prior
to any intentional movement. Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 2, no. 94.
49. Master Ungo Doyo (?–902), like Master Sozan, was a successor of Master Tozan
Ryokai.
50. Master Tozan Ryokai (807–869), successor of Master Ungan Donjo.
 216 KAI-IN-ZANMAI

[22] “The Great Sea does not accommodate dead bodies.” This “Great Sea” is
beyond the inland seas, the outlying seas,51 and suchlike, and it may be
beyond the eight seas52 and the like. Such things are not the concern of
[Buddhist] students. We recognize as sea not only that which is not the
sea;53 we recognize as the sea that which is the sea. Even if we forcibly
insist that [this sea] is the sea, we cannot call it “the Great Sea.”54 The Great
Sea does not always mean profound depths of water of the eight quali-
ties,55 and the Great Sea does not always mean nine great pools56 of salt
water and so on: real dharmas may be its realized composition. Why should
the Great Sea always be deep water? Therefore, the reason [human beings
and gods] ask the question “What is the Sea?” is that the Great Sea remains
unknown to human beings and gods, and so they express “the Great Sea”
in words. People who ask about it are disturbing their attachment to the
Sea. “It does not accommodate dead bodies”: The meaning of “not accommodat-
ing” may be acting with a clear head when a clear head comes, and acting with a
dull head when a dull head comes.57 “A dead body” is dead ash—a mind that
never changes however many times it meets spring.58 [At the same time] “a
dead body” is something that no person has ever experienced; therefore no-
one knows what it is.

51. The Abidharma-ko˜a-˜‡stra contains a legendary description of inland seas and

outlying seas.
52 .The Long ‚gama Sutra describes eight seas bordering the eight mountains
around Mt. Sumeru.
53. For example, the literary world is called 筆海 (HITSUKAI), lit. “the ocean of the
brush.” See chap. 9, Keisei-sanshiki. Other examples, the Sea of Buddha-nature and the
Sea of Vairocana, follow in the next paragraph.
54. 大海 (DAIKAI), “the Great Sea,” represents not only the sea but the whole of real-
ity.
55. 1) sweet, 2) cool, 3) soft, 4) light, 5) pure, 6) not odorous, 7) not harmful to the
throat when being drunk, 8) not harmful to the intestines after being drunk. This list is
also from the Abidharma-ko˜a-˜‡stra.
56. 九淵 (KYU-EN) refers to nine famous deep river pools in China. They are also
mentioned in chap. 14, Sansui-gyo. Here they are examples of great bodies of water, be-
yond which there exists the reality symbolized by the sea.
57. The words of Master Chinshu Fuke, the Happy Buddha (see Shinji-shobogenzo, pt.
1, no. 22). Master Dogen suggested that “not accommodating” means not retaining any
worrisome concepts.
58. The words of Master Daibai Hojo, from a poem quoted in chap. 30, Gyoji. In this
case, “dead ash” symbolizes the state of an excellent Buddhist practitioner in whom all
interferences have ceased.
 KAI-IN-ZANMAI 217

[24] The Master’s words “includes myriad existence” express the Sea. The
fundamental principle he is expressing is not the assertion that some
anonymous subject includes myriad existence; it is inclusive myriad exis-
tence. He is not saying that the Great Sea includes myriad existence, but
that what is expressing inclusive myriad existence is just the Great Sea itself.
Though we do not know what it is, it is, for the moment, myriad existence.
Even to meet the figure of a buddha or the figure of a patriarch is just a
momentary misperception of myriad existence. In the time of inclusion, even
mountains are not confined to rising to the top of the highest peak and even
water is not confined to moving along the bottom of the deepest sea.59 Drawing
in may be like this, and letting go may be like this.60 We speak of “the Sea
of Buddha-nature” and we speak of “Vairocana’s Sea”:61 these are just
myriad existence. Although the surface of the Sea is invisible, those who are
swimming along do not doubt it. For example, in expressing [himself as]
A Bamboo Thicket, Tafuku62 says “The odd one or two stalks are awry” and
“Three or four stalks are askew.” His is the path of action that realizes myriad
existence as a confusion of mistakes. Even so, why does he not say “A
thousand crooked ones, ten thousand crooked ones!” Why does he not say
“A thousand thickets, ten thousand thickets!” We should not forget the
truth that is present like this in a thicket of bamboo. Even Sozan’s expres-
sion “It includes myriad existence” is just myriad existence itself.
[26] The monk says, “How can what has stopped breathing not belong?”
Though this might mistakenly be seen in the form of a doubt, it is just the
working of the ineffable mind. When [Master Rinzai says] “I have long had
my doubts about this fellow,”63 it is simply that he is meeting really with [the
fellow in] “I have long had my doubts about this fellow.” At the place where
the ineffable exists, how can what has stopped breathing ‘not belong’?, and how

59. References to Master Yakusan’s poem. See note 2.

60. 収 (SHU), lit. “accepting,” “retracting,” or “drawing in,” and 放 (HO), “releas-
ing,” “casting out,” or “letting go,” represent passive and active behavior. Actions as
well as things are included in the state of inclusion.
61. Vairocana is the Sun Buddha, so Vairocana’s Sea suggests a scene flooded with
light.
62. Master Koshu Tafuku (dates unknown), a successor of Master Joshu Jushin. His
nickname was 一叢竹 (ISSOCHIKU) which means “A Bamboo Thicket.” A monk asks him,
“Just what is Tafuku’s Bamboo Thicket?” The Master says, “One stalk or two stalks are awry.”
The monk says, “This student does not understand.” The Master says, “Three stalks or four
stalks are askew.” (Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 11 and Goto-egen, chap. 4.)
63. Master Rinzai’s ironic words in praise of his disciple Master Fuke.
218 KAI-IN-ZANMAI

can [the Great Sea] ‘not accommodate’ dead bodies? At this concrete place, this
already is inclusive myriad existence; how can what has stopped breathing ‘not
belong’? Remember, inclusion is beyond “belonging”: inclusion is not ac-
commodating.64 Even if myriad existence is a dead body, it may be that not
accommodating directly goes through ten thousand years, and that not be-
longing65 is this old monk placing one stone. Sozan says, “Myriad existence,
being beyond those virtues, has stopped breathing.” This myriad existence,
whether it has stopped breathing or has not stopped breathing, may be not
belonging. Even if a dead body is a dead body,66 if it experiences action in
the state of myriad existence, it will include [myriad existence], and it may
be inclusion itself. In the process before and the process after described as
“myriad existence,” there are peculiar virtues. [But] this is not the state of
having stopped breathing: it is what is usually described as “the blind leading
the blind.”67 The principle of the blind leading the blind, going further, is
that of blind person leading blind person, and that of the blind masses
leading the blind masses. At the time when the blind masses are leading
the blind masses, inclusive myriad existence includes inclusive myriad exis-
tence. Are there any number of additional great truths which are other
than myriad existence? Before such consideration has ever been realized,
the state is sam‡dhi, state like the sea.

Shobogenzo Kai-in-zanmai

Written at Kannon-dori-kosho-
horin-ji temple on the 20th day of
the first month of summer,68 in
the 3rd year of Ninji.69

64. 不宿 (FUSHUKU), “not accommodating,” or “transcending accommodation,” sug-

gests a state without division between subject and object.
65. 不著 (FUJAKU), “not belonging” or “transcending attachment,” also suggests the
state without division between subject and object.
66. 死屍 (SHISHI), “dead body,” may be interpreted not only as a corpse, but also,
figuratively, as a person whose life is being wasted.
67. 一盲引衆盲 (ICHIMO [no] SHUMO [o] hi[ku]), lit. “a blind person leading many blind
people.”
68. That is, the 4th month in the lunar calendar.
69. 1242.
 [32]
授記

JUKI
Affirmation
Ju means to give, and ki means affirmation, so juki means affirmation.1
Buddhist sutras contain many descriptions of Gautama Buddha giving his
disciples affirmation that they would attain the truth, but few Buddhist
scholars concerned themselves with the meaning of these affirmations. Mas-
ter Dogen, however, saw the great significance of these affirmations in
Buddhist philosophy. In this chapter he explained the meaning of affirmation
and taught us why Buddhist sutras so often described affirmations of attain-
ing the truth.

[31] The great truth transmitted one-to-one by the Buddhist patriarchs,

is affirmation. Those who lack a Buddhist patriarch’s learning in practice
have never seen it even in a dream. With respect to the timing of this af-
firmation, affirmation is given even to those who have not yet established
the bodhi-mind. Affirmation is given to [those who are] without the bud-
dha-nature2 and affirmation is given to [those who] have the buddha-
nature.3 Affirmation is given to existent bodies4 and affirmation is given to

1. 授記 (JUKI) represents the Sanskrit vy‡karaıa, which lit. means prediction or

prophecy (see Glossary). 記 (KI) of 授記 (JUKI) originally means to write, or to certify. So
in a narrow sense, the Chinese characters 授記 (JUKI) suggests the formal certification that
a Buddhist practitioner will become buddha. More broadly, this chapter describes affir-
mation of and affirmation by momentary reality.
2. 無仏性 (MUBUSSHO), “[those who are] without the Buddha-nature,” may be inter-
preted as “those who are without anything, and who [therefore] are the Buddha-nature
itself.” See chap. 22, Bussho.
3. 有仏性 (UBUSSHO). In chap. 22, Bussho, Master Dogen explains 無仏性 (MUBUSSHO),
“being without the Buddha-nature,” and 有仏性 (UBUSSHO), “having the Buddha-nature,”
as both descriptions of the real state of buddha.
4. 有身 (USHIN), “existent bodies,” suggests, for example, Masters Gensa and Seppo
described in the following paragraph.

219
220 JUKI

non-existent bodies.5 Affirmation is given to buddhas. The buddhas main-

tain and rely upon the affirmation of the buddhas. We should not learn
that they become buddha after receiving affirmation, and we should not
learn that they receive affirmation after becoming buddha. In the moment
of affirmation there is becoming buddha, and in the moment of affirma-
tion there is practice. For this reason, there is affirmation in the buddhas,
and there is affirmation in the ascendant state of buddha. Affirmation is
given through the self and affirmation is given through the body-and-
mind. To be fulfilled in the learning of and adept in the great matter of
affirmation is to be fulfilled in the learning of and adept in the great mat-
ter of the Buddha’s truth. Affirmation is present before the body and
affirmation is present after the body.6 There is affirmation recognized by
the subject and there is affirmation not recognized by the subject. There is
affirmation that others are made aware of and there is affirmation that
others are not made aware of. Remember, affirmation has realized the self,
and affirmation is just the self which has been realized. Therefore, what
has been received from the buddhas and the patriarchs, rightful successor
to rightful successor, is nothing other than affirmation. There is not a sin-
gle dharma that is other than affirmation. How much less could the
mountains, rivers, and the Earth, or Sumeru and the vast oceans, be [other
than affirmation]? Beyond it there is not a single or even a half of a third
son of Chang or fourth son of Lee. Affirmation that we investigate like this
is being able to express the truth in one phrase, is being able to hear the
one phrase, is not understanding the one phrase, and is grasping under-
standing of the one phrase; it is action itself and it is the act of preaching.
It directs a step backward7 and it directs a step forward.8 That we are able
to sit wearing the robe today could never have been realized without our
receiving the affirmation that has come from the ancient past. Because we
put the palms together and humbly place [the robe] upon the head, reality
is affirmation. The Buddha said, “There are many kinds of affirmation, but if I
now briefly summarize them, there are eight kinds, as follows:

5. 無身 (MUSHIN), “non-existent bodies,” suggests, for example, the objects of the

Buddha’s affirmation described in para. [50] of this chapter.
6. 身前 (SHINZEN), “before the body,” suggests intuition before the moment of action,
and 身後 (SHINGO), “after the body,” suggests recognition after the moment of action.
Affirmation is a momentary state in action.
7. 退歩 (TAIHO), “backward step(s),” is a term which Master Dogen uses to describe
Zazen. See, for example, Fukan-zazengi.
8. 進歩 (SHINPO), “forward step(s),” means movement towards an end.
 JUKI 221

1) the subject knows, others do not know;

2) everybody else knows, the subject does not know;
3) both the subject and everybody else know;
4) neither the subject nor everybody else knows;
5) the near realize it, the far do not realize it;
6) the far realize it, the near do not realize it;
7) both [the near and the far] realize it;
8) neither [the near nor the far] realize it.”9
Another sutra says, “[There are] those [affirmations] that the near know, those
that the far know, those that both far and near know, and those that neither near
nor far know.”
[35] There are such affirmations as these. So do not wildly imagine that,
just because it is beyond the recognition of this present soul in a stinking
bag of skin, affirmation cannot be. Do not say that affirmation cannot eas-
ily be given [even] to human features which are unenlightened. In worldly
thoughts what has usually been studied is that affirmation may be given
when the merit of practice is fulfilled and becoming buddha is assured,
but the Buddha’s truth is not like that. Hearing a single phrase, sometimes
following [good] counselors, and hearing a single phrase, sometimes following
the sutras, is just the attainment of affirmation—for [attaining affirmation]
is just the original practice of all the buddhas, and because it is the good
root of the hundred weeds.10 If we were to say in words what affirmation
is, it may be that people who have attained affirmation are all people who
have realized the ultimate. Remember, even an atom is supreme, even an
atom is in the ascendant state. Why should affirmation not be an atom?
Why should affirmation not be a single dharma? Why should affirmation
not be the myriad dharmas? Why should affirmation not be practice-and-
experience? Why should affirmation not be the Buddhist patriarchs? Why
should affirmation not be effort in pursuit of the truth?11 Why should af-
firmation not be great realization and great delusion? Affirmation is “In

9 . A similar quotation appears in Bosatsu-yoraku-kyo (see chapter on non-

attachment).
10. 百艸 (HYAKUSO) means miscellaneous things, miscellaneous natural phenomena.
11. 功夫弁道 (KUFU-BENDO) means the practice of Zazen.
 222 JUKI

your generation our school will flourish greatly in the world,”12 and affirmation
is “You are also like this and I am also like this.”13 Affirmation is a sign; affir-
mation is ambiguity; 14 affirmation is a face breaking into a smile; 15
affirmation is living-and-dying, going-and-coming; affirmation is the
whole Universe in ten directions; affirmation is the entire Universe never
having been hidden.
[38] Great Master Shu-itsu of Gensa-in temple16 is walking along with
Seppo,17 when Seppo points to the ground in front of them and says, “This
plot of land is a good place to build a tombstone.”18
Gensa says, “How high?”
Seppo then looks up and down.19
Gensa says, “Your happy effects upon human beings and gods are undeniable,
but, Master, it appears that you have never dreamt of the affirmation given on
Vulture Peak.”
Seppo says, “What would you say?”
Gensa says, “Seven feet or eight feet.”20
[39] Gensa’s present expression, “It appears that the Master has never dreamt
of the affirmation given on Vulture Peak” neither says that Seppo lacks the
affirmation given on Vulture Peak nor says that Seppo has the affirmation

12. Master Obaku Ki-un said these words in praise of Master Rinzai Gigen. Quoted
from Rinzai-zenji-goroku; also quoted in chap. 30, Gyoji [172].
13. Master Daikan Eno to Master Nangaku Ejo. See chap. 7, Senjo; chap. 29, Inmo;
and chap. 62, Hensan.
14. 何必 (KAHITSU), lit. “how necessary.” A Chinese sentence beginning with these
characters would ask the question, “Why should it necessarily be that…?” or “How can
it conclusively be decided that...?” Used as a noun, the two characters therefore suggest
the state of ambiguity, or something indefinite. See also chap. 3, Genjo-koan.
15. Refers to the transmission between the Buddha and Master Mah‡k‡˜yapa (see
chap. 68, Udonge).
16. Master Gensa Shibi (835–907), successor of Master Seppo Gison. Great Master
Shu-itsu is his posthumous title.
17. Master Seppo Gison (822–907), successor of Master Tokuzan Senkan.
18. 無縫塔 (MUHOTO), lit. “seamless stÂpa.” This is an oval stÂpa, or tombstone,
carved in solid rock (hence “seamless”) and placed on square steps, as a monument to a
deceased Buddhist master. In this case, Master Seppo was thinking about a tombstone
for himself.
19. Master Seppo indicated the height by shifting his line of vision up and down.
20. A slightly different version of the story is recorded in Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 2, no.
46. and pt. 2, no. 63.
 JUKI 223

given on Vulture Peak: it says “It appears that the Master has never dreamt of
the affirmation given on Vulture Peak.”21 “The affirmation given on Vulture
Peak” is the Eye which is worn on high.22 It is “I possess the right-Dharma-
eye treasury and the fine mind of nirv‡ıa. I transmit them to Mah‡k‡˜yapa.”23
Remember, in regard to the sameness of experience at the time when Sei-
gen gave affirmation to Sekito,24 that Mah‡k‡˜yapa was receiving the
affirmation of Seigen and Seigen was giving the affirmation of ¯‡kyamuni;
therefore, it is clear that every buddha and patriarch is in possession of the
transmission of the right-Dharma-eye treasury. Thus Sokei25 had given his
affirmation to Seigen already. And when Seigen had received the affirma-
tion of the Sixth Patriarch, he was, maintaining and relying upon the
affirmation, Seigen. At this time, what the Sixth Patriarch and all the pa-
triarchs had learned by experience was directly being put into practice
through the affirmation of Seigen. This state is described: “Clear, clear are
the hundred weeds; clear, clear is the will of the Buddhist patriarchs.”26 So is
there any Buddhist patriarch who is other than the hundred weeds? And
how could the hundred weeds be other than I and you?27 Do not be so stu-
pid as to think that the dharmas with which we are equipped are
necessarily recognizable and visible to us. It is not so. The dharmas which
we ourselves recognize are not always our own possessions, and our own
possessions are not always seen by us or recognized by us. So do not sus-
pect that, just because [affirmation] is beyond our present ability to know
it or to consider it, it cannot be present in us. Needless to say, the affirma-
tion given on Vulture Peak means the affirmation given by ¯‡kyamuni
Buddha. This affirmation is the affirmation which has been given by

21. Master Gensa’s expression is not to be understood intellectually, one way or the
other.
22. 高著眼 (KO-CHAKU-GAN); in other words, the exalted viewpoint.
23. Daibonten-o-monbutsu-ketsugi-kyo records that the Buddha spoke these words to a
great gathering on Vulture Peak when he transmitted the Dharma to Master
Mah‡k‡˜yapa. See for example chap. 68, Udonge.
24. Master Seigen Gyoshi (?–740) and Master Sekito Kisen (700–790) were both dis-
ciples in the order of the sixth patriarch, Master Daikan Eno (638–713). When the sixth
patriarch was about to die, he recommended the young Master Sekito to become the
disciple of Master Seigen.
25. Sokei means Master Daikan Eno. It is the name of the mountain where he lived.
26. This was a famous expression in Chinese Buddhism, quoted for example by
Layman Ho-on in Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 88.
27. 吾汝 (ware-nanji), “I, you,” alludes to Master Daikan Eno’s words, “I am also like
this and you are also like this.” See para. [35].
 224 JUKI

¯‡kyamuni Buddha to ¯‡kyamuni Buddha. The principle here may be that

before affirmation becomes a joining together, affirmation is not given. In
other words, the principle is that even where affirmation is already pre-
sent there is no obstacle to affirmation, and where affirmation has been
absent affirmation does not make something surplus. Nothing lacking,
nothing surplus: this is the principle of the affirmation which has been
given by all the Buddhist patriarchs to all the Buddhist patriarchs. For this
reason, an ancient Buddha28 said:
[Masters of] the past and present hold up the whisk
to preach to East and South,
Their great intention is deep and subtle—not easily experienced.
If the masters had not given us this principle in their teachings,
By means of what view could we discuss the profound?29

[42] Now to investigate Gensa’s point, in consideration of how high is a

tombstone there should be expression of the truth of how high it is—it is
never five hundred yojanas or eighty thousand yojanas.30 Thus, it is not
that [Gensa] dislikes the looking up and down. It is simply that—although
[Seppo’s] happy effects upon human beings and gods are undeniable—his
looking at the height of the tombstone is not what is affirmed by
¯‡kyamuni Buddha. What obtains the affirmation of ¯‡kyamuni Buddha
is an expression of the truth which is “seven feet or eight feet.” To examine
the real affirmation given by ¯‡kyamuni Buddha, we should examine it by
means of an expression of the truth which is “seven feet or eight feet.” So
then, setting aside for the moment the ascribing of fitness or unfitness to
the expression of the truth “seven feet or eight feet,” affirmation must defi-
nitely include the affirmation of Seppo and the affirmation of Gensa.31
Moreover, we should express how high a tombstone is by utilizing affir-
mation. If we utilize anything other than affirmation to express the
Buddha-Dharma, it will not be an expression of the truth. [But] if we un-
derstand, hear, and say that our self is really our self, the Universe that
realizes affirmation will definitely be present. To those in the position of
giving affirmation there has come the effort which commonly experiences
the state of affirmation. It is in order to master the giving of affirmation

28.Master Tokufu of Uncho-zan mountain.

29. Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 29.
30. It is not figurative or imagined length.
31. In other words, affirmation as reality must include the affirmation of Seppo and
the affirmation of Gensa.
 JUKI 225

that so limitlessly many Buddhist patriarchs have realized the right state
of truth. And it is the power of the effort to give affirmation that brings
out the buddhas themselves: this is why it is said that “only by reason of the
one great purpose do [the buddhas] appear in the world.”32 The point here is
that, in the ascendant state, it is inevitably non-self which receives the af-
firmation of non-self. This is why buddhas receive the affirmation of
buddhas. In general in their giving of affirmation, with a single hand they
give affirmation, with both hands they give affirmation, and with a thou-
sand hands and eyes33 they give affirmation and are given affirmation. On
one occasion [the Buddha] gave affirmation by holding up an uÛumbara
flower and on another occasion he gave affirmation by taking up a robe of
golden brocade.34 Neither of these was an enforced act; they were the
words and deeds of affirmation itself. There may be affirmation received
from within and affirmation received from without. The principle of mas-
tering within-and-without should be learned in practice under
affirmation. Learning of the truth as affirmation is a single track of iron for
ten thousand miles. Mountain-still sitting as affirmation is ten thousand
years in a single instant.
[45] An ancient Buddha35 said:
Following one after another, they are able to realize buddha; 36
And from one to the next in turn, they give affirmation.37

32. Lotus Sutra Hoben (Expedient Means). See LS 1.88-90. See also Shobogenzo, chap.
17, Hokke-ten-hokke.
33. Refers to the thousand hands and eyes of Bodhisattva Avalokite˜vara. See chap.
33, Kannon.
34 . Refers to stories of the transmission between the Buddha and Master
Mah‡k‡˜yapa.
35. ¯‡kyamuni Buddha in Lotus Sutra Gohyaku-deshi-juki (Affirmation of Five Hundred
Disciples); “Five hundred bhik˘us,/One by one will become buddha,/With the same title, “Uni-
versal Light,”/And one after another, they will give affirmation.” (LS 2.112).
36. 相継得成仏. The standard Chinese translation of the Lotus Sutra (by Kum‡raj„va)
says 次第當作佛, “One by one will become buddha.” The expression used by Master Dogen,
相継 (ai-tsu[gite]), “following one after another,” and the expression in Kum‡raj„va's
translation, 次第 (shidai [ni]), “one by one,” both may be interpreted as descriptions of
instantaneousness.
37. 転次而授記. 転 (TEN) means “to turn,” “to change,” or “to move,” and 次 (JI)
means “the next.” In the Lotus Sutra, the Chinese characters seem to suggest person by
person, but again Master Dogen interpreted the characters in a way that emphasizes
instantaneousness—moving, or changing, from one moment to the next.
226 JUKI

The realization of buddha expressed here inevitably follows one [moment] after
another. Through tiny intervals that follow one after another, we realize bud-
dha. Through this means, the giving of affirmation, turns from one [moment]
to the next. Turning from one to the next is turning attaining turning,38 and
turning from one to the next is being next attaining being next.39 It is, for ex-
ample, “the moment.”40 The moment is activity. This activity is beyond
“the intentionally-produced body” of limited thought, is beyond “the in-
tentionally-produced circumstances” of limited thought, is beyond doing
which is fathomed out, and is beyond the created mind.41 Truly, inten-
tional production of circumstances and non-production of circumstances
should both be investigated by relying utterly on the principle of turning
from one [moment] to the next. Doing and not doing should both be investi-
gated by relying utterly on the principle of turning from one [moment] to the
next. That the buddhas and the patriarchs are now being realized is be-
cause they are being turned from one [moment] to the next by activity. Five
buddhas and six patriarchs coming from the west are being turned from
one [moment] to the next by activity. Still more, fetching of water and carry-
ing of firewood42 has continued turning from one [moment] to the next. The
actual appearance of an existent buddha with mind here and now43 is
[moments] turning from one to the next. In regard to the extinction of an exis-
tent buddha with mind here and now, one extinction and two extinctions
are not to be seen as odd: [buddhas] may pass through limitlessly abun-
dant extinctions, may realize limitlessly abundant realizations of the truth,

38.転得転 (TEN-TOKU-TEN), “turning attaining turning,” suggests change as some-

thing as it is.
39. 次得次 (JI-TOKU-JI), “being next attaining being next,” suggests the independence
of each successive moment.
40. 造次 (ZOJI) is a compound which means “moment.” At the same time, its compo-
nent characters, 造 (ZO), “produce, create,” and 次 (JI), “be next, follow after,” feature
independently in this paragraph of Master Dogen’s commentary.
41. The four elements of this sentence are 造身 (ZOSHIN), 造境 (ZOKYO), 造作 (ZOSA),
and 造心 (ZOSHIN). In general, 造 (ZO), which means make, produce, build, or create,
carries a connotation of intentionality or of something forced into being with difficulty.
Here, however, the four elements can be interpreted in four phases: subject, object, regu-
lated action, and the realized mind.
42. 運水般柴 (UNSUI-HANSAI), “carrying water and lugging firewood,” symbolizes
our mundane daily tasks. See chap. 25, Jinzu, para. [194].
43. 即心是仏 (SOKU-SHIN-ZE-BUTSU). As a statement, this means “the mind here and
now is buddha” (see chap. 6, Soku-shin-ze-butsu). Here, however, 即心是 (SOKU-SHIN-ZE)
modifies 仏 (BUTSU).
 JUKI 227

and may manifest as signs and features limitlessly abundant signs and
features.44 This is, in one [moment] after another, being able to realize buddha; it
is, in one [moment] after another, being able to accomplish extinctions; it
is, in one [moment] after another, being able to give affirmation; and it is,
in one [moment] after another, being able to turn from one to the next.
Turning from one [moment] to the next is not inherent; it is simply that which
is all-pervasive and totally penetrating. Buddhas and patriarchs now see-
ing each other face-to-face and meeting each other face-to-face is one
[moment] following after another. There is no gap whereby buddhas and
patriarchs might flee the turning, from one [moment] to the next, of their
giving of affirmation.
[47] An ancient Buddha45 said:
Now, that we have heard from the Buddha
Of the splendid matter of affirmation,
And, from one to the next in turn, have received affirmation,
Body-and-mind everywhere rejoices.46

[47] This says that the splendid matter of affirmation is always what we now
hear from the Buddha. What we now hear from the Buddha, that “Onward47
turning from one [moment] to the next receives affirmation,” describes body-
and-mind everywhere rejoicing. Onward turning from one [moment] to the next
might be we now: it may be unconnected with the self and others of past,
present, and future. It might be what is heard from the Buddha, not what is
heard from others. It is beyond delusion and realization, beyond living
beings, and beyond grass, trees, and national lands: it is the splendid matter
of affirmation, which is heard from the Buddha, and it is onward turning from
one [moment] to the next receiving affirmation. The fact of turning from one
[moment] to the next cannot stop in any nook or cranny even for an instant,
and body-and-mind everywhere rejoices incessantly. Joyful receiving of affirma-

44. 相好 (SO-GO), “pleasing features,” represents the meaning of the Sanskrit lak˘aıa
and vya§jana. See Glossary. A buddha is said to require a hundred great kalpas to de-
velop the thirty-two signs and eighty distinguishing features.
45. ‚jn‡takauıÛinya. He is the first of the five hundred disciples affirmed by the
Buddha in the Lotus Sutra Gohyaku-deshi-juki chapter.
46. These are the last four lines of Gohyaku-deshi-juki. (LS 2.120.)
47. 及 (GYU, oyo[bi]), in the sutra means “And…” but in his commentary, Master
Dogen treats the character as part of the verb phrase rather than as a simple conjunction.
The character represents extension towards something; for instance, extension from
means to end.
 228 JUKI

tion in onward turning from one [moment] to the next, is always commonly
experienced and everywhere explored48 with the body, and is always
commonly experienced and everywhere explored with the mind. Fur-
thermore, because the body everywhere pervades the mind and the mind
everywhere pervades the body, [the Sutra] says “body-and-mind every-
where.” Just this state is the whole world,49 the whole [of space in all]
directions, the whole body, and the whole mind. It is, in other words, a
singular state and an individual case of rejoicing. This rejoicing makes sleep
and wakefulness conspicuously joyful and makes delusion and realization
joyful, at which time [rejoicing, and sleep, wakefulness, delusion, or reali-
zation] are in immediate contact with each other but are not tainted by
each other.50 Thus, turning from one [moment] to the next and thereby receiv-
ing affirmation, is the splendid matter of affirmation.
[50] ¯‡kyamuni Buddha addresses eighty-thousand mah‡sattvas through the
Bodhisattva Medicine King:51 “Medicine King! You see among this great assem-
bly countless gods, dragon kings, yak˘as, gandharvas, asuras, garuÛas, ki¸naras,
mahoragas,52 humans and nonhumans, as well as bhik˘us, bhik˘uı„s, up‡sakas,
and up‡sik‡s, those who seek to be ˜r‡vakas, those who seek to be pratyeka-
buddhas, and those who seek the truth of Buddha. When such beings as these are,
all before the Buddha, hear a single verse or a single word of the Sutra of the
Flower of the Wonderful Dharma and rejoice in it even for a single moment of
consciousness, I give affirmation to them all: ‘You will attain anuttara-samyak-
sa¸bodhi.’”53

48. A参 (HENSAN), “Everywhere Exploring,” or “Thorough Exploration,” is the title

of chap. 62, Hensan.
49. A界 (HENKAI), or “the world everywhere.” In the Lotus Sutra A is read as an ad-
verb (amane[ku]), “everywhere.” In Master Dogen’s commentary, A is also used 1) as a
verb Aず (hen[zu], “to pervade,” and, 2) as an adjective A (HEN), “whole.”
50. 不染汚 (FUZENNA), “not being tainted,” means no separation of means and end.
Enjoyment is not the aim of practice but the Buddhist process itself.
51. 薬王 (YAKU-O), from the Sanskrit Bhai˜ajya-r‡ja.
52. Yak˘as (ghosts), gandharvas (fragrance-devouring celestial musicians), asuras
(belligerent devils), garuÛas (dragon-devouring birds), ki¸naras (half-horses, half-
humans), and mahoragas (serpent-headed demons) are mythical beings introduced to
add color to Buddhist preaching.
53. These are the opening words of the Hosshi (Dharma-teacher) chapter of the Lotus
Sutra. See LS 2.140.
 JUKI 229

[51] Thus, in the present gathering of countless multitudes, although the

pursuits and the understandings of gods, dragon kings, the four groups,54
and the eight groups55 are different, who among them could not be of the
Wonderful Dharma? What does it mean to let a single word or a single
verse be heard? It means that even a single moment of your own con-
sciousness can make external things rejoice. “Beings such as they are”56
means beings of the Flower of Dharma. “All before the Buddha” means to-
tally inside the Buddha. Humans and nonhumans—whether [the distinc-
tion] is delusion in regard to myriad phenomena or whether it is a seed
already planted in the hundred weeds—may be beings as they are. To
beings as they are, “I totally give affirmation.” The state of “I totally give af-
firmation,” which is right from head to tail, is itself just the attainment of
anuttara-samyak-sa¸bodhi.
[52] ¯‡kyamuni Buddha addresses Medicine King: “Moreover, after the
Tath‡gata's extinction, if there are any people who hear even a single verse or a
single word of the Sutra of the Flower of the Wonderful Dharma and rejoice in it
for even a single moment of consciousness, again, I give affirmation of anuttara-
samyak-sa¸bodhi.”57
[53] What passage of time might be being described by the present words
“After the Tath‡gata's extinction...” ? Forty-nine years? Or the whole eighty-
year span?58 For the present, they may be describing the whole eighty-
year span. “If there are any people who hear even a single verse or a single word
of the Sutra of the Flower of the Wonderful Dharma and rejoice in it for even a
single moment of consciousness…” Does this describe [the Sutra] being heard
by the wise or being heard by those without wisdom? Does it describe
fallible hearing or infallible hearing? If we express it for others, [the ex-
pression] should be ”If there are any people, [the Sutra] is heard.” Never

54. Bhik˘us, bhik˘uı„s, up‡sakas, and up‡sik‡s, i.e. monks, nuns, lay men, and lay
women.
55. Devas (gods), n‡gas (dragons), yak˘as, gandharvas, asuras, garuÛas, ki¸naras,
and mahoragas.
56. 如是等類 (NYOZE-TORUI). In the Lotus Sutra this means “beings like these.” Here
it means “beings as they are,” or “real beings.”
57. This quotation follows immediately after the previous quotation in Lotus Sutra
Hosshi (LS 2.140).
58. One account says that Gautama Buddha realized the truth when he was thirty,
and then lived for eighty years in total. Master Dogen asked whether we should judge
the state after realization to be nirv‡ıa, or whether the whole of life is in the state of
nirv‡ıa.
230 JUKI

discuss [those people] as beings who have wisdom, who do not have wis-
dom, and so on. Speak as follows: although what hears the [Sutra of the]
Flower of Dharma is the profound and unfathomable wisdom of countless
buddhas,59 when [the Sutra] is heard it is always a single word, when [the
Sutra] is heard it is always a single verse, and when [the Sutra] is heard it
is always a single moment of joy. Such a moment might be, “My giving
again affirmation of anuttara-samyak-sa¸bodhi.” There is giving of affirma-
tion again, and there is giving of affirmation to all. Do not leave
[affirmation] at the mercy of any blundering third son of Chang: experi-
ence it in the same state [as buddhas] through painstaking effort. Rejoicing
at a word or a verse may be an instance of an existent person hearing60—there
being no spare time to place ‘skin,’ ‘flesh,’ ‘bones,’ and ‘marrow’ on top of
skin, flesh, bones, and marrow.61 To be given affirmation of anuttara-
samyak-sa¸bodhi is my own wish having been fulfilled; [at the same
time] it may describe countless bags of skin; it is the hopes of the many
also being satisfied; and it might be countless instances of existent people
hearing. There have been affirmations given by taking up a sprig of pine;62
there have been affirmations given by picking up an uÛumbara flower;63
there have been affirmations given by the wink of an eye; and there have
been affirmations given by a face breaking into a smile. There is a past
example of [affirmation] being transmitted with a pair of sandals.64 These
may be so many examples of this Dharma not being able to be understood by

59.Alludes to Lotus Sutra Hoben (LS 1.66).

60. 若有人聞 read in the Lotus Sutra as mo[shi] hito a[rite] ... ki[ku]) means “If there are
any people who hear...” but Master Dogen liked to interpret all the words of the Lotus Su-
tra as direct suggestions of reality. Thus, 若 “if” becomes “possibility,” “case,” or
“instance,” and 有 “there are” becomes “existent” or “actual.”
61. 頭上安頭 (ZUJO-ANZU), “to place the head on the head,” is explained in chap. 40,
Gabyo. This phrase, lit. “to place-the-head-on-the-head to skin, flesh, bones, and mar-
row,” suggests that when body-and-mind is really rejoicing, our skin, flesh, bones, and
marrow do not have self-consciousness of rejoicing.
62. May allude to a story of Master Rinzai and Master Obaku recorded in Goto-egen
chap. 11. See also Shobogenzo, chap. 30, Gyoji [172].
63. It is said that the Buddha picked up an uÛumbara flower and winked before a
great gathering on Vulture Peak, whereupon Master Mah‡k‡˜yapa smiled. See chap. 68,
Udonge.
64. Goto-egen chap. 14 relates how Master Taiyo Keigen entrusted some portraits,
sandals, and clothing to Master Fuzan Ho-en to pass onto Master Tosu Gisei, thus mak-
ing Master Tosu the successor of Master Taiyo. See also Shobogenzo, chap. 15, Busso.
 JUKI 231

thinking and discrimination.65 Affirmation is given in my body being it, and

affirmation is given in your body being it. This truth can affirm the past, the
present, and the future. Because the past, the present, and the future are
included in the giving of affirmation, they are realized when the self is
affirmed, and they are realized when the external world is affirmed.
[56] Vimalak„rti66 says to Maitreya,67 “Maitreya! The World-honored One [it is
said] has given you affirmation that in a certain life68 you will attain anuttara-
samyak-sa¸bodhi. With which life might you accomplish the affirmation: past,
future, or present? If [you say] a past life, [I say] past lives have already vanished.
If a future life, future lives have not yet come. If the present life, the present life
does not abide at all. According to the Buddha’s preaching, just in the now,
bhik˘u, you live and age and die. If affirmation is accomplished through non-
birth,69 the non-birth is just the right state. [But] in the right state there is neither
“receiving affirmation” nor “attaining anuttara-samyak-sa¸bodhi.” So how,
Maitreya, can you receive affirmation for a certain life? Are you expecting to
accomplish the affirmation by following the appearance of reality?70 Are you ex-
pecting to accomplish the affirmation by following the disappearance of reality? If
[you expect] to accomplish the affirmation through the appearance of reality, [I
say] reality does not have appearance. If [you expect] to accomplish the affirma-
tion through the disappearance of reality, [I say] reality does not have
disappearance. All living beings are just reality; all dharmas are also just reality;
saints and sages are also just reality; and even [you,] Maitreya, are also just real-
ity. If Maitreya is able to receive affirmation, all living beings must receive
affirmation too. Why? [Because] reality is not dual and not differentiated. If Mai-
treya attains anuttara-samyak-sa¸bodhi, all living beings must attain it too.
Why? [Because] all living beings are just the manifestation of bodhi.”71

65. Quoted from Lotus Sutra, Hoben: “This Dharma cannot be understood by thinking
and discrimination.” (LS 1.88–90.)
66. Vimalak„rti was a lay student of the Buddha. He was said to be so excellent in
Buddhist philosophy that monks feared to enter into discussions with him. At the same
time, Master Dogen criticized him for not becoming a monk himself (see chap. 73, Sanju-
shichi-bon-bodai-bunbo).
67. Maitreya is a bodhisattva believed to be living in Tu˘ita Heaven, waiting for the
time when he will come down to this world and succeed ¯‡kyamuni Buddha.
68. 一生 (ISSHO), lit. “one life,” or “one birth.”
69. 無生 (MUSHO), lit. “non-birth” or “non-appearance,” is a synonym for nirv‡ıa.
70. 如生 (NYO [no] SHO). 如 (NYO), as a preposition, means “like,” but here it is used
as a noun meaning “reality,” “that which is as it is.”
71. Yuimakitsu-shosetsu-kyo, vol. 1.
 232 JUKI

[58] The Tath‡gata does not say that what Vimalak„rti says is wrong. At
the same time, Maitreya’s accomplishment of affirmation has already been
assured. Therefore, all living beings’ accomplishment of affirmation must
likewise be assured. Without the affirmation of living beings, the affirma-
tion of Maitreya could not be—for, indeed, all living beings are just the
manifestation of bodhi. Bodhi receives the affirmation of bodhi. And the re-
ception of affirmation is life today. Thus, because all living beings estab-
lish the mind together with Maitreya, it is a common reception of affirma-
tion, and it may be a common realization of the truth. But from
Vimalak„rti's words “In the right state there is no ‘receiving affirmation’” [Vi-
malak„rti] seems not to know that the right state is just affirmation, and he
seems not to be saying that the right state is just bodhi. Again, he says, for
instance, that “past lives have already vanished, future lives have not yet come,
and the present life does not abide.” [But] the past is not necessarily “already
vanished,” the future is not necessarily “yet to come,” and the present is not
necessarily “non-abiding.” While studying such [attributes] as ”non-
abiding,” “not yet come,” and “already vanished” as the past, the future, and
the present, we should always express the principle that what has not yet
come is just “the past,” “the present,” and “the future.” There may be,
then, a principle that appearance and disappearance both accomplish affir-
mation, and a principle that appearance and disappearance both attain bodhi.
When all living beings accomplish affirmation, Maitreya also accom-
plishes affirmation. Now, Vimalak„rti, I ask you: Is Maitreya the same as
all living beings? Or is he different? Try to say something, and I will test
you. You have said already that “If Maitreya accomplishes affirmation, all
living beings will also accomplish affirmation.” If you are saying that Maitreya
is other than living beings, living beings cannot be living beings, and Mai-
treya cannot be Maitreya. Is this not so? Just at such a moment, even
[Vimalak„rti] could not be Vimalak„rti. If he were not Vimalak„rti, this ex-
pression of his would be useless. In conclusion we can say that when
affirmation makes all living beings exist, all living beings and Maitreya
exist. Affirmation can make everything exist.
 JUKI 233

Shobogenzo Juki

Written at Kannon-dori-kosho-
horin-ji temple on the 25th day of
the 4th lunar month in the sum-
mer of the 3rd year of Ninji.72

Copied in the attendant monks’

quarters of Kippo-ji temple in Es-
shu,73 on the 20th day of the 1st
lunar month in the 2nd year of
Kangen.74

72. 1242.
73. Corresponds to modern-day Fukui prefecture.
74. 1244.
 [33]
観音

KANNON
Avalokite˜vara
Kannon is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese name of the Bodhi-
sattva called Avalokite˜vara in Sanskrit. Avalokite˜vara is described in the
Lotus Sutra as someone who always comes to this world to save a man or
woman who cries for help.1 Kannon literally means “Regarder of Sounds,”
and this expresses the character of Avalokite˜vara who always responds to the
cries for help of living beings in this world. Thus, Avalokite˜vara is usually
thought of as a symbol of compassion. But Master Dogen understood Avalo-
kite˜vara as a symbol of a life force that is more fundamental to living beings
than compassion. So in this chapter he explained the true meaning of Avalo-
kite˜vara, quoting a famous conversation about Avalokite˜vara between
Master Ungan Donjo and Master Dogo Enchi.

[63] Great Master Ungan Muju2 asks Great Master Shu-itsu3 of Dogo-zan
mountain, “What does the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion4 do by using his
limitlessly abundant hands and eyes?”5

1. See Lotus Sutra Kanzeon-bosatsu-fumon (The Universal Gate of the Bodhisattva Re-
garder of the Sounds of the World): “Good son! If there are countless hundred thousand myriad
koÒis of living beings who, suffering from many agonies, hear of this Bodhisattva Regarder of the
Sounds of the World and with undivided mind call [the Bodhisattva’s] name, the Bodhisattva
Regarder of the Sounds of the World will instantly regard their cries, and all will be delivered.”
(LS 3.242)
2. Master Ungan Donjo (782–841), successor of Master Yakusan Igen. He studied
under Master Hyakujo Ekai for 20 years until the latter’s death, after which he studied
under Master Yakusan. His disciples included Master Tozan Ryokai and Master Shinzan
Somitsu. Great Master Muju is his posthumous title.
3. Master Dogo Enchi (769–835), also a successor of Master Yakusan Igen. Great
Master Shu-itsu is his posthumous title.

235
 236 KANNON

Dogo says, “He is like a person in the night reaching back with a hand to grope
for a pillow.”
Ungan says, “I understand. I understand.”
Dogo says, “How do you understand?”
Ungan says, “The whole body6 is hands and eyes.”
Dogo says, “Your words are nicely spoken. At the same time, your expression of
the truth is just eighty or ninety percent of realization.”
Ungan says, “I am just like this. How about you, brother?”
Dogo says, “The thoroughly realized body7 is hands and eyes.”8
[65] Many voices expressing the truth of Kannon have been heard, before
and since, but none has been equal to Ungan and Dogo. If we want to
learn Kannon in experience, we should investigate the present words of
Ungan and Dogo. The Bodhisattva of Great Compassion described now is the
Bodhisattva Regarder of the Sounds of the World.9 He is also called the
Bodhisattva Free in Reflection.10 He is studied as the father and mother11
of all the buddhas. Do not learn that he is a lesser expression of the truth
than the buddhas: he is the past Tath‡gata Clarifier of the Right Dharma.
Then let us take up and investigate the words spoken by Ungan, “What
does the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion do by using his limitlessly abundant
hands and eyes?” There are lineages that maintain and rely upon Kannon,
and there are lineages that have never dreamt of Kannon. Kannon is pres-

4. 大悲菩薩 (DAIHI-BOSATSU), “Bodhisattva of Great Compassion”; 観音 (KANNON),

“Regarder of Sounds”; 観世音 (KANZEON), “Regarder of the Sounds of the World”; and
観自在 (KANJIZAI), “Free in Reflection,” are all names for the Bodhisattva known in San-
skrit as Avalokite˜vara. Throughout this chapter 観 音 (KANNON) has been left
untranslated. Other versions of the name have been rendered by approximate English
translations.
5. Bodhisattva Avalokite˜vara is said to have thousands of hands and eyes.
6. A身 (HENSHIN).
7. 通身 (TSUSHIN). Both A身 (HENSHIN) and 通身 (TSUSHIN) mean “the whole body,”
but A (HEN), lit. “everywhere,” is more general and not as dynamic as 通 (TSU), which
describes something pervading throughout something.
8. Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 2, no. 5, and Hekigan-roku (Blue Cliff Record), no. 89.
9. 観世音菩薩 (KANZEON-BOSATSU).
10. 観自在菩薩 (KANJIZAI-BOSATSU). The Maka-hannya-haramitta-shin-gyo, or Heart Su-
tra, begins with the words 観自在菩薩 (KANJIZAI-BOSATSU). See chap. 2, Maka-hannya-
haramitsu.
11. Bodhisattva Avalokite˜vara is sometimes portrayed, especially in East Asia, as a
goddess of mercy.
 KANNON 237

ent in Ungan, who has been experiencing it together with Dogo. And not
only one or two Kannons, but hundreds of thousands of Kannons are ex-
periencing the same state as Ungan. Kannon is really allowed to be
Kannon only in the order of Ungan. Why? The difference between the
Kannon expressed by Ungan and the Kannon expressed by other buddhas
is the difference between being able to express the truth and not being
able to express the truth. The Kannon expressed by other buddhas is only
twelve faces.12 Ungan is not like that. The Kannon expressed by other
buddhas is merely a thousand hands and eyes. Ungan is not like that. The
Kannon expressed by other buddhas is just eighty-four thousand hands
and eyes. Ungan is not like that. How can we recognize that it is so? Be-
cause when Ungan says “The Bodhisattva of Great Compassion is using his
limitlessly abundant hands and eyes,” the words limitlessly abundant do not
mean only eighty-four thousand hands and eyes. How much less could
they describe only kinds numbered as twelve, or thirty-two, or thirty-
three? Limitlessly abundant13 means countless. It is an expression of infinite
abundance14—of diversity without restriction. Given that the diversity is
originally unrestricted, we should not limit it even with a measure of lim-
itlessness. We should learn in practice the arithmetic of using limitless
abundance, like this. It is already beyond the bounds of countlessness and
limitlessness.
[67] Now, when the words of Ungan take up the words limitlessly abundant
hands and eyes, Dogo never says that the words express nothing, and there
may be import in this. Ungan and Dogo, since becoming fellow students
under Yakusan,15 have already practiced together for forty years, in which
time they have discussed stories of the past and present, weeding out the
false and verifying the true. Because they have been continuing like this,
today, in speaking of limitlessly abundant hands and eyes, Ungan speaks and
Dogo verifies. Remember, limitlessly abundant hands and eyes have been
expressed equally by the two eternal buddhas. Limitlessly abundant hands

12. Statues of Bodhisattva Avalokite˜vara sometimes have eleven small faces carved
around the head. The Kannon of twelve faces suggests the idealistic image of Kannon.
13. 許多 (KYOTA). Master Dogen explained the meaning of these Chinese characters
with the Japanese phonetic word いくそばく (ikusobaku) which means “how much?”,
“how many?”, or “countlessly many.”
14. 如許多 (NYOKYOTA). Master Dogen said that 許多 (KYOTA) is short for 如許多
(NYOKYOTA). 如許 (NYOKO) means “how much?” and 多 (TA) means “many” or “abun-
dance.”
15. Master Yakusan Igen (745–828).
 238 KANNON

and eyes, clearly, are a state that Ungan and Dogo are experiencing to-
gether. Now [Ungan] is asking Dogo “The use does what?”16 We should not
liken this question to questions asked by teachers of sutras and teachers of
commentaries, or by [bodhisattvas at] the ten sacred stages or three clever
stages. This question has manifested an assertion; it has manifested hands
and eyes. While [Ungan] now says “Using limitlessly abundant hands and eyes
does what,” there may be old buddhas and new buddhas who are realizing
buddha by virtue of his effort. He might equally have said, “Utilizing17
limitlessly abundant hands and eyes does what.” And there might equally
have been expressions of “doing something”18 or “moving something”19
or “expressing something.”20
[69] Dogo says, “He is like a person in the night reaching back with a hand to
grope for a pillow.” This means that [the Bodhisattva] is like, for example, a
person in the night who reaches back with a hand and gropes for a pil-
low.21 “To grope for” means to search around for. “In the night” is an
expression of the darkness: it is like speaking of seeing the mountains in
the light of day. The use of hands and eyes is like a person in the night reaching
back with a hand to grope for a pillow; on this basis we should learn the use of
hands and eyes. We should examine the difference between night-time as
it is supposed in the light of day and the night-time as it is in the night. In
sum, we should examine it as that time which is not “day” or “night.”
When people grope for a pillow, though we do not comprehend that this

16. 用作麼 (YO-SOMO). In Master Ungan’s words 用 (mot[te]), “with” or “by using,”
functions as a preposition. Here, 用 (YO) means “use” or “function.” Master Dogen’s
question means, in other words, “Is there any aim other than simply to function?”
17. 使 (SHI, tsuka[u]), which is clearly a verb (to use, to utilize) is substituted for 用
(YO, mot[te]), which can be a verb (to use, to function) or a preposition (with, by). This
again draws the attention back from the end (doing something) to the means or the func-
tion (using hands and eyes).
18. 作什麼 (SA-SHIMO). In Master Ungan’s words 作麼 (SOMO), “doing what,” is a
compound which is a common construction in Chinese sentences. 作什麼 (SA-SHIMO),
however, separates into 作 (SA), “doing,” and 什麼 (SHIMO), “something.” Master Dogen
thus emphasizes that the individual character 作 (SA), “doing,” represents action.
The elements of Master Dogen’s sentence are 作什麼 (SA-SHIMO), “doing some-
thing,” 動什麼 (DO-SHIMO), “moving something,” and 道什麼 (DO-SHIMO), “speaking
something” or “expressing something.”
19. 動什麼 (DO-SHIMO).
20. 道什麼 (DO-SHIMO).
21. Master Dogen simply explained the meaning of the Chinese characters in the
story with a Japanese sentence.
 KANNON 239

behavior is just like Kannon using hands and eyes, we cannot escape the
truth that it is like that. Is the person in the words “like a person” only a
word in a metaphor? Or is this person, being a normal person,22 no ordi-
nary person?23 If studied as a normal person in Buddhism, [the person] is
not only metaphorical, in which case there is something to be learned in
the groping for a pillow. Even pillows have certain shapes and grades that
deserve inquiry. The night-time, too, is not necessarily only the night-time
of the “day and night” of human beings and gods. Remember, what is
now being discussed is neither grasping the pillow, nor pulling in the pil-
low, nor pushing away the pillow. [Dogo] is speaking of “reaching back
with a hand in the night to grope for a pillow,” and if we are to examine the
state that Dogo is expressing, we should notice, we should not disregard,
that eyes realize the night.24 A hand that is groping for a pillow has not yet
touched the edge of the pillow. If reaching back with the hands is essen-
tial, is it essential to reach back with the eyes?25 We should clarify the
night-time. Might it be called “the World of Hands and Eyes”? Does it have
a person’s hands and eyes? Is it simply hands and eyes alone, flashing by
like a thunderbolt? Is it one instance or two instances of hands and eyes
which are right from beginning to end? When we closely examine princi-
ples like these, the use of limitlessly abundant hands and eyes is present—
but still, just who is the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion? It is as if all that
can be heard is the Bodhisattva of Hands and Eyes. In that case we might ask,
“What does the Bodhisattva of Hands and Eyes do by using his limitlessly
abundant bodhisattvas of great compassion?” Remember, hands and eyes
do not hinder each other;26 at the same time, their use doing what is the in-
effable functioning and is the use of the ineffable. When the ineffable
expresses the truth we should not expect to be able to express the whole of
hands and eyes—although the whole of hands and eyes has never been
hidden—as “the whole of hands and eyes.” Unhidden hands and eyes
exist at that concrete place and unhidden hands and eyes exist at this con-

22. 平常の人 (HEIJO no NIN). In this case, 平常 (HEIJO) means “balanced and constant,”
as in the phrase 平常心 (HEIJO-SHIN), “balanced and constant mind,” or “the normal
mind,” or “the everyday mind.”
23. 平常の人 (HEIJO no NIN). In this case, 平常 (HEIJO) means ordinary or common.
24. In other words, eyes (mental function) and night (objective fact) are one reality.
25. Master Dogen’s question encourages consideration of the relation between body
and mind.
26. Hands and eyes not hindering each other suggests the state in which physical ac-
tions and mental processes are harmonized.
 240 KANNON

crete place, but they are not the self, they are not the mountains and
oceans, they are not the face of the sun and the face of the moon, and they
are not the mind here and now as buddha.
[73] Ungan’s words “I understand, I understand” are not saying that “I
understand” the words of Dogo. In speaking of the hands and eyes that use
the ineffable, and in causing them to express the truth, [Ungan says,] “I
understand, I understand.” This might be freedom in using this place, and
might be freedom in having to get into today. Dogo’s words “How do you
understand?” are another way of saying “I understand.” Although they do
not get in the way of [Ungo’s expression] “I understand,” Dogo has his
own words, which are “How do you understand?” This [common state of
Ungan and Dogo] is, already, I understand, you understand. Could it be
other than eyes understand, hands understand? Is it understanding that has
been realized, or is it understanding that has not been realized yet? The
understanding described by “I understand” is the “I” itself; at the same
time we should consider its existence as “you” in “How do you under-
stand?” With respect to the words of Ungan which have been manifested
in the present, that “The whole body is hands and eyes,” there are very many
Kannons who, when orating upon reaching back with a hand in the night to
grope for a pillow, study that [Ungan] has said that the whole body is the
same as hands and eyes. These Kannons, though they are Kannons, are
Kannons who have not yet expressed themselves. When Ungan says “The
whole body is hands and eyes” he is not saying that hands and eyes are a body
which is everywhere.27 Being everywhere is the whole world, but the very
moment of the body-hands and body-eyes cannot be pervaded by “being
everywhere.” Even if there is, in the body-hands and body-eyes, the virtue
of being everywhere, they cannot be hands and eyes that would rob from
a street-market. [At the same time] the virtue of hands and eyes should
not be seeing, practicing, or preaching that recognizes “rightness.” 28
Hands and eyes have already been described as limitlessly abundant: they
are beyond thousands, beyond ten thousands, beyond eighty-four thou-
sands, and beyond countlessness and limitlessness. It is not only the whole
body as hands and eyes which is like this. Saving the living and preaching

27.“A body which is everywhere” is 身A (SHIN-HEN). “Whole body” is A身

(HENSHIN).
28. 是 (ZE, ko[re]) here means rightness, as in the compound 是非 (ZEHI), “right and
wrong.” In Master Ungan’s words A身是手眼 (HENSHIN ko[re] SHUGEN), “the whole body
is/as hands and eyes,” 是 functions as a copula—“is” or “as.”
 KANNON 241

the Dharma may be like this, and the radiance of national lands may be
like this. Therefore, Ungan’s expression may be the whole body as hands and
eyes. We should learn in practice that he does not make “hands and eyes”
into “the whole body.” Though we use the whole body as hands and eyes,
though we make it into our movements and demeanors, active and pas-
sive, we must not disturb it.
[76] Dogo says, “Your words are nicely spoken. At the same time, your
expression of the truth is just eighty or ninety percent of realization.” The point
here is that expression of the truth is speaking to a nicety. “Speaking to a nicety”
means hitting the target by speaking, clearly manifesting something by
speaking, and leaving nothing unexpressed. When what has hitherto been
unexpressed is finally expressed so that nothing remains that words might
express, the expression of the truth is just eighty or ninety percent of realization.
Even if study of this point is realized a hundred percent, if the power to
speak has not been perfected, that is not mastery of the state. An expres-
sion of the truth is eighty or ninety percent of realization; at the same time,
the words to be spoken may be spoken eighty-or-ninety-percent perfectly,
or they may be spoken a hundred-percent perfectly. At the very moment
[when Ungan speaks] he can express himself in a hundred thousand myr-
iad expressions of the truth, but his power is so wonderful that, utilizing a
bit of his power, he simply expresses the truth in the state of eighty or
ninety percent of realization. Even if, for example, we would need the power
of a hundred thousand myriads to summon up the whole Universe in the
ten directions, [to try] may be better than not taking it up at all. [A person
such as Ungan], then, who can summon up [the whole Universe] with the
power of one, must be beyond ordinary power. The meaning of the pre-
sent eighty or ninety percent of realization is like this. Nevertheless, [people]
understand, when they hear the Buddhist Patriarch’s words “Your expres-
sion of the truth is just eighty or ninety percent of realization,” that expressions
of the truth can be one hundred percent of realization, and so an expres-
sion of the truth which does not reach that level is called “eighty or ninety
percent of realization.” If the Buddha-Dharma were like that, it could never
have reached the present day. We must learn through experience that the
said “eighty or ninety percent of realization” is like saying “hundreds of
thousands” or like saying “limitless abundance.” [Dogo] has said, already,
“eighty or ninety percent of realization,” and we have seen that he means we
 242 KANNON

must not be restricted to eights and nines.29 Stories of the Buddhist patri-
archs are studied like this. When Ungan says, “I am just like this. How about
you, brother?” he speaks about “being just like this” because he wants to
make Dogo himself speak words that Dogo has called expression of eighty
or ninety percent of realization. This [being just like this] is not retaining any
new sign or old trace; at the same time, it is arms being long and sleeves being
short. “The words I have just spoken are imperfect in expression but I will
leave them as they are,” is not the meaning of “I am just like this.”30
[79] Dogo says, “The thoroughly realized body is hands and eyes.” These
words do not mean that hands and eyes, as hands and eyes each existing
independently, are a thoroughly realized body. The thoroughly realized body as
hands and eyes is expressed “The thoroughly realized body is hands and eyes.”
So [Dogo also] is not saying that the body is the same as hands and eyes. “Us-
ing limitlessly abundant hands and eyes” describes the limitless abundance of
using hands and using eyes, in which state hands and eyes are inevitably
the thoroughly realized body as hands and eyes. If someone were to ask,
“Whatever is he doing by using limitlessly abundant bodies and minds?”
there might be [in answer] the expression of the truth that “thoroughly
realized body is the doing of whatever.”31 Furthermore, it is not true that,
comparing Ungan’s “whole” and Dogo’s “thoroughly realized,” one is per-
fect in expression and the other is imperfect in expression. Ungan’s
“whole” and Dogo’s “thoroughly realized” are both beyond relative com-
parisons; rather it may [simply] be that, in the limitlessly abundant hands
and eyes of each respective [master], such words are present. So the Kan-
non of which the Old One ¯‡kyamuni speaks is only a thousand hands

29. Master Dogo’s words “eighty or ninety percent of realization” are 八九成
(HAKKU-JO), lit. “eight, nine realized.” This seems on the surface to be saying “eight or
nine out of ten,” or “eighty or ninety percent perfect.” But Master Dogen understood 八
九成 (HAKKU-JO) not as an abstract number expressing relative evaluation, but as a repre-
sentation of reality which does not conform to the ideal.
30. 祇如是 (TADA-NYOZE), “being just like this,” is an expression of reality.
31. In other words, the question might be interpreted, “Is there any real meaning in
all the human activity going on in the world?” And the answer, “The real meaning is in
the activity itself.”
 KANNON 243

and eyes, or twelve faces, or thirty-three bodies32 or eighty-four thousand.

The Kannon of Ungan and Dogo is limitlessly abundant hands and eyes—
though it is beyond discussion of abundance and scarcity. When they
learn in experience Ungan and Dogo’s Kannon of limitlessly abundant
hands and eyes, all the buddhas realize Kannon’s sam‡dhi as eighty-or-
ninety-percent realization.

Shobogenzo Kannon

Preached to the assembly on the

25th day of the 4th lunar month
in the 3rd year of Ninji.33

[79] Now, since the Buddha-Dharma came from the west, many Buddhist
patriarchs have spoken of Kannon, but they have not equaled Ungan and
Dogo; therefore I have spoken of only this latter Kannon. In [the teaching
of] Great Master Yoka Shinkaku34 there are the words, “The state of not
seeing a single dharma is called ‘the Tath‡gata‘; or it can be called ‘the [Bodhi-
sattva] Free in Reflection’”35—this is verification that the Tath‡gata and
Kannon simultaneously manifest this body,36 and that they are not separate
bodies. There is the encounter, between Mayoku37 and Rinzai,38 concern-

32. Lotus Sutra Kanzeon-bosatsu-fumon. LS 3.252: “Good son! If living beings in any land
must be saved through the body of a buddha, the Bodhisattva Regarder of the Sounds of the World
manifests at once the body of a buddha and preaches for them the Dharma. To those who must be
saved through the body of a pratyekabuddha, [the Bodhisattva] manifests at once the body of a
pratyekabuddha and preaches for them the Dharma….” The list continues through 1) buddha,
2) pratyekabuddha, 3) ˜r‡vaka, 4) King Brahm‡, 5) ¯akra, 6) ‰˜vara, 7) Mahe˜vara, 8) a
celestial great general, 9) Vai˜ravaıa, 10) a minor king, 11) a rich man, 12) a householder,
13) a government official, 14) a Br‡hman, 15) a bhik˘u, 16) a bhik˘uı„, 17) an up‡saka, 18)
an up‡sik‡, 19) the wife of a rich man, 20) the wife of a householder, 21) the wife of a
government official, 22) the wife of a Br‡hman, 23) a boy, 24) a girl, 25) a god, 26) a
dragon, 27) yak˘a, 28) gandharva, 29) asura, 30) garuÛa, 31) ki¸nara, 32) mahoraga, 33)
vajra-holding god.
33. 1242.
34. Master Yoka Genkaku, successor of Master Daikan Eno. Great Master Shinkaku
is his posthumous title.
35. Quoted from Master Yoka’s Shodoka.
36. Refers to LS 3.252.
37. Master Mayoku (dates unknown), successor of Master Baso Do-itsu. Master
Mayoku on one occasion asks Rinzai, “Of the thousand hands and eyes of [the Bodhisattva of]
Great Compassion, which is the True Eye?” Rinzai says, “Of the thousand hands and eyes of
244 KANNON

ing true hands and eyes—it is one [hand] and one [eye] among the limit-
lessly abundant. In [the teaching of] Unmon39 there is the Kannon who on
seeing sights clarifies the mind, and on hearing sounds realizes the truth40—
what sound or sight could be other than the Bodhisattva Regarder of the
Sounds of the World seeing and hearing? In [the teaching of] Hyakujo
there is [Kannon’s] gate of entry into truth.41 In orders of the ¯Âra¸gama42
there is the Kannon of all-pervading realization. In orders of the Flower of
Dharma43 there is the Kannon who is universally manifest on all sides.44
All these are in the same state as Buddha and are in the same state as
mountains, rivers, and the Earth. At the same time, they are just one or
two instances of limitlessly abundant hands and eyes.

[the Bodhisattva of] Great Compassion, which is the True Eye? Tell me at once! Tell me at once!”
The Master pulls Rinzai down from the Zazen platform and sits there in his place. Rinzai
stands up and says, “I do not understand.” The Master pauses for thought. Then Rinzai
pulls the Master down from the Zazen platform and sits there in his place. The Master
exits at once. (Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 3 no. 45.)
38. Master Rinzai Gigen (815?–867), successor of Master Obaku Ki-un.
39. Master Unmon Bun-en (864–949), successor of Master Seppo Gison.
40. Master Unmon preaches to the assembly, “To hear sounds is to realize the truth, to
see sights is to clarify the mind. Just what does it mean to realize the truth by hearing sounds and
to clarify the mind by seeing sights?” He holds up his hand and says, “The Regarder of the
Sounds of the World comes with cash to buy my rice cakes. If I drop them, then they are originally
just bits of dough.” (Goto-egen.)
41. Master Hyakujo Ekai (749–814), a successor of Master Baso Do-itsu. One day
when Master Hyakujo has asked everyone to work in the fields, a certain monk is hold-
ing up his rake when he suddenly hears the sound of the temple drum, throws down his
rake, and laughing loudly, goes straight back to the temple. The Master exclaims, “What
a splendid thing this is! It is Kannon’s gate of entry into truth.” When the Master returns to
the temple, he calls the monk and asks him, “What truth have you seen to make you behave
as you did just before?” The monk says, “Before I was hungry, so when I heard the sound of the
drum I went back for something to eat.” The Master laughs loudly. (Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 2
no. 28, and Keitoku-dento-roku chap. 6.)
42. “Orders of the ¯Âra¸gama” means Buddhist orders which rely upon the teach-
ings of the ¯Âra¸gama-sam‡dhi-nirde˜a-sÂtra—or Shu-ryogon-kyo in Japanese. The sixth
chapter of the sutra preaches the many forms of Kannon’s all-pervading realization.
43. That is, Buddhist orders, such as the Tendai Sect, which are based upon the
teaching of the Lotus Sutra.
44. 普門示現観音 (FUMON-JIGEN-KANNON). The 25th chapter of the Lotus Sutra is
called 観世音菩薩普門 (KANZEON-BOSATSU-FUMON). 普門 (FUMON), which means “univer-
sal gate” or “all-sidedness,” represents the Sanskrit samantamukha (see Glossary, Book 1).
 [34]
阿羅漢

ARAKAN
The Arhat
Arakan represents the sound of the Sanskrit word arhan or arhat, which
means a person who is worthy of veneration. Arhathood is also the ultimate
state of the ˜r‡vaka, or rigoristic Buddhist. The ˜r‡vaka belongs to H„nay‡na
Buddhism, and so Mah‡y‡na Buddhists usually did not value arhathood. But
Master Dogen did not share this opinion. According to Master Dogen, there
cannot be any difference between H„nay‡na Buddhism and Mah‡y‡na Bud-
dhism, because he believed that there is only one Buddhism, which has been
transmitted from Gautama Buddha to us. He thought that the difference be-
tween Mah‡y‡na Buddhism and H„nay‡na Buddhism was a difference
produced by the difference between ages, and so we should not affirm the ex-
istence of more than one Buddhism. From this basis he explained the supreme
value of the arhat in this chapter.

[83] All excesses completely exhausted; without troubles; self-possessed;

realizing all bonds of existence; liberated in mind.1 Such is the great state of
arhat, the ultimate effect of one who studies buddha, called the fourth
effect,2 buddha-arhat. All excesses are a broken wooden dipper with no
handle:3 it has already been used for long ages, but its complete exhaustion
is the springing forth of the wooden dipper’s whole body. Self-possession is

1. From the opening words of the Lotus Sutra, Jo (Introductory), LS 1.8: “Thus have I
heard. At one time the Buddha was living at R‡jagÁha. On Mount GÁdhrakÂÒa, he was with
twelve thousand great bhik˘us. They were all arhats, having ended all excesses, being without
troubles, self-possessed, realizing all bonds of existence, and liberated in mind.”
2. In H„nay‡na Buddhism, the ˜r‡vaka is said to pass through four stages or effects.
In Sanskrit, the first is srot‡panna (entry into the stream), the second is sakÁd‡g‡min
(being subject to return only once again), the third is an‡g‡min (not being subject to re-
turning), and the fourth is arhat.
3. Symbolizes an old monk.

245
 246 ARAKAN

to leave and to enter the brain. Realization of all bonds of existence is the
whole Universe in ten directions never having been hidden. We investi-
gate the form and grade of liberation of the mind as “high places being natu-
rally balanced being high and low places being naturally balanced being low”4—
upon which basis fences, walls, tiles, and pebbles exist. The meaning of
liberation is the mind as the manifestation of all functions. Without troubles
means that troubles have yet to arise, that troubles are restricted by trou-
bles. An arhat’s mystical powers, wisdom, balanced state of dhy‡na,
preaching of Dharma, instruction, radiance of brightness, and so on, are
never to be likened to those discussed by non-Buddhists, celestial demons,
and the like. Doctrines such as [the arhat’s] seeing of hundreds of Buddha-
worlds5 must never be associated with the views and opinions of the com-
mon man. The principle here is having just said that a foreigner’s beard is red,
there also being the fact that a red-beard is a foreigner.6 Entering nirv‡ıa is an
arhat’s conduct of getting inside a fist. For this reason [an arhat’s conduct]
is the fine mind of nirv‡ıa and is the place of no escape. Arhats who have
entered their own nostrils are truly arhats. Those who have never got out
of or into their own nostrils are not arhats.
[86] Of old it was said: “Now we are truly arhats, causing all to hear the voice
of the Buddha’s truth.”7
The point of this “causing all to hear” is to make all dharmas into the
voice of Buddha. How could [“all”] refer only to the buddhas and their
disciples? All beings that have consciousness, that have intelligence, that
have skin, have flesh, have bones, and have marrow: causing these to hear
is described as “causing all.” “That which has consciousness and has intel-
ligence” means national lands, grass and trees, fences and walls, tiles and
pebbles. Rising and falling, flourishing and fading away, living and dying,

4. Reference to the words of Master Kyozan Ejaku, quoted in Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1,

no. 23. In the Shinji-shobogenzo version, “naturally” (自, onozuka[ra]) is omitted.
5. Daichido-ron says, “The mystical eyes of an arhat see merely a thousand worlds, the mys-
tical eyes of a pratyekabuddha see a hundred thousand worlds, the mystical eyes of a buddha see
all the Buddha-lands.”
6. The words of Master Hyakujo Ekai, quoted, for example, in chap. 76, Dai-shugyo.
In this context, the quote means that an arhat has mystical powers, wisdom, etc., and
someone who has mystical powers, wisdom, etc., is an arhat.
7. Lotus Sutra, Shinge (Belief and Understanding). LS 1.260: “Now we are/Truly voice-
hearers,/The voice of the Buddha’s truth/We cause all to hear./Now we are/
Truly arhats.”
 ARAKAN 247

going and coming: all these hear. [But] the basis for causing all to hear the
voice of the Buddha’s truth is not simply study of the whole world as an ear.8
[87] ¯‡kyamuni Buddha said, “If any of my disciples, calling themselves arhats
or pratyekabuddhas, neither hear nor recognize the fact that the buddha-
tath‡gatas instruct only bodhisattvas, they are not the Buddha’s disciples, nor
arhats, nor pratyekabuddhas.”9
The fact of the instruction of only bodhisattvas, of which the Buddha
speaks, is [the fact in] “I, and buddhas in the ten directions, alone can know this
fact;”10 it is that buddhas alone, together with buddhas, are directly able to per-
fectly realize that all dharmas are real form; 11 and it is anuttara-samyak-
sa¸bodhi.12 This being so, the self-evaluation13 of bodhisattvas or buddhas
must be utterly equal to [arhats and pratyekabuddhas] calling themselves
arhats or pratyekabuddhas. Why? Because [truly] to evaluate oneself is just to
hear and to know the fact that buddha- tath‡gatas instruct only bodhisattvas.
[89] Of old it was said, “In the sutras of ˜r‡vakas, arhat is the name given to the
state of buddha.”14
The words expressed here are verification of the Buddha’s truth; they
are not mere speculation from the sentimental hearts of commentary-
teachers; they contain the standard which is universal to Buddhism. We
must learn in practice the principle of calling arhat the state of buddha,
and we must also learn in practice the principle of calling the state of bud-
dha arhat. Beyond the effect of arhathood, not a single atom or a single
dharma of surplus remains—how much less could the truth of samyak-
sa¸bodhi remain? Beyond the truth of anuttara-samyak-sa¸bodhi, again,
not a single atom or a single dharma of surplus remains—how much less

8. The basis is Buddhist practice-and-experience.

9. Lotus Sutra Hoben (Expedient Means). See LS 1.98–100.
10. Lotus Sutra, Hoben. See LS 1.70. See also Shobogenzo chap. 60, Juppo.
11. Ibid. See LS 1.68. See also Shobogenzo chap. 50, Shoho-jisso, and chap. 91, Yui-
butsu-yo-butsu.
12. 事 (JI, koto), means “fact” or “matter.” In the Lotus Sutra, the character is used in-
cidentally [recognize the fact that = recognize that]. But Master Dogen picked up the
character to emphasize that the Buddha’s instruction is the realization of facts.
13. 自謂 (JI-I), translated in the Lotus Sutra as “calling themselves...” 謂 (I) means to
call or to consider. The same characters 自謂 (JI-I), translated as “think to themselves,”
appear in para. [91].
14. Maka-shikan, chap. 3.
 248 ARAKAN

could the four processes and four effects15 remain? Just at the moment
when arhats are bearing all the dharmas upon their shoulders, these
dharmas are, in truth, neither “eight ounces” nor “half a pound.”16 They
are beyond the concrete mind, beyond the concrete state of buddha, and
beyond concrete things. Even the Buddha’s eyes cannot glimpse them. We
need not discuss the eighty thousand kalpas before or after. We must
learn in practice the ability to gouge out the Eye. If anything is surplus, the
whole Dharma is surplus.
[91] ¯‡kyamuni Buddha said, “If these bhik˘us and bhik˘uı„s think to them-
selves, ‘I have already attained the state of arhat; this is my last life, ultimate
nirv‡ıa,’ and then they no longer desire and pursue anuttara-samyak-sa¸bodhi,
you should know that these are all people of lofty arrogance. Why? [Because]
there is no such thing as a bhik˘u really attaining the state of arhat without be-
lieving in this teaching.”17
These words certify that one who is able to believe in anuttara-
samyak-sa¸bodhi is an arhat. Definitely to believe in this teaching18 is to
belong to this teaching, to receive the one-to-one transmission of this teach-
ing, and to practice and experience this teaching. Real attainment of the state
of arhat is beyond [the understanding that] “This is my last life, ultimate
nirv‡ıa,” because [real attainment] is to desire and to pursue anuttara-
samyak-sa¸bodhi. To desire and to pursue anuttara-samyak-sa¸bodhi is to play
with the Eye; it is to sit facing the wall;19 it is to face the wall20 and open
the Eye. It is the whole world inclusively; and at the same time it is gods
appearing, demons vanishing.21 It is the whole of Time inclusively; and at

15. 四向四果 (SHIKO-SHIKA) refers to the four effects of srot‡panna, sakÁd‡g‡min,

an‡g‡min, and arhat, and the four processes leading to those four effects.
16. Lit. eight 両 (RYO) or half a 斤 (KIN). Eight 両 (RYO) and half a 斤 (KIN) are the
same weight. One 斤 (KIN) is approximately equal to a pound (or 600 grams).
17. This quotation from the Lotus Sutra follows directly after the quotation in para.
[87] of this chapter. See LS 1.98–100.
18. 此法 (SHIHO) means “this teaching” or “this Dharma” or “concrete reality.”
19. 壁面 (HEKIMEN).
20. 面壁 (MENPEKI). Master Dogen reversed the characters to suggest the mutual rela-
tion of wall and sitter, sitter and wall.
21. 神出鬼没 (SHINSHUTSU-KIBOTSU), “gods appear, demons vanish,” describes unex-
pected random happenings. The phrase appears in a verse by Master Engo Kokugon
quoted in chap. 23, Gyobutsu-yuigi.
 ARAKAN 249

the same it is [arhats] reciprocally throwing themselves into the moment.22

Such is “to desire and to pursue anuttara-samyak-sa¸bodhi,” which is, there-
fore, to desire and to pursue the state of arhat. To desire and to pursue the
state of arhat is to be satisfied with your gruel and to be satisfied with
your rice.23
[93] Zen Master Engo24 of Kassan mountain said, “After people of old had
attained the gist, they went deep into the mountains and, in [huts of] straw and
bramble, or in stone caves, they lived for ten or twenty years on rice cooked in
broken three-legged cauldrons; they completely forgot the human world and said
good-bye forever to dusty circumstances. In this age, I do not desire such a situa-
tion, but only to conceal my name, cover my tracks, and stick to my original task;
to become an old monk who is a bony and stern old drill and who naturally ac-
cords with the state experienced [by the Buddha]; to receive and use the state
according to my own ability; to let my past karma melt away and to adapt to the
long-practiced customs. If I have energy to spare, I will extend it to others, estab-
lishing conditions for praj§‡, and we will train to perfection our own legs and
feet. We will be as if in a wilderness, gouging out one real individual or half of
one: together we will know existence and together we will get free of life and
death, creating more and more benefit for the future, and thus repaying the pro-
found benevolence of the Buddhist patriarchs. If the frost and dew cannot be
stopped from ripening the fruit, and through my continuing effort I am manifest
in the world,25 I will harmonize with circumstances, I will open up and cultivate
human beings and gods, but I will never dispose my mind towards gain. Still less
will I depend upon the power of the nobility and become a vulgar and obsequious
teacher whose behavior deceives ordinary people and defies the saints, who pur-
sues gain and contrives fame, producing the karma of incessant [hell].26 Though I

22. 互換投機 (GOKAN-TOKI). This phrase also appears in the verse by Master Engo
Kokugon.
23. Monks in China and Japan in Master Dogen’s time took two meals a day. Gruel
was for breakfast, rice was for the midday meal.
24. Master Engo Kokugon (1063–1135), successor of Master Goso Ho-en. He received
the title of Zen Master Bukka from the Sung emperor Kiso and the title of Zen Master
Engo from the Southern Sung emperor Koso. His posthumous title is Zen Master
Shinkaku. Master Engo edited Heki-gan-roku (Blue Cliff Record) based on Master Seccho
Juken’s collection of poems and stories.
25. 出世 (SHUSSE) means in this case to become the master of a big temple. To become
the master of a big temple was not Master Engo’s aim, but he recognized that it might be
the natural consequence of his efforts as a monk.
26. 無間業 (MUGENGO). 無間 (MUGEN), “incessant,” represents the Sanskrit Av„ci, the
name of a particular hell.
 250 ARAKAN

lack the makings and the conditions, if I can simply go through the world like
this, and be without karmic effects, might I be a true dust-transcending arhat?”27
Thus, a genuine monk here and now is a true dust-transcending arhat. If
we want to know the nature and form of an arhat, we should know them
like this. Do not deludedly consider the words of the commentary-
teachers of the Western Heavens. Zen Master Engo of the Eastern Lands is
a Buddhist patriarch who is a rightful successor of the true transmission.
[96] Zen Master Daichi28 of Hyakujo-zan mountain in Koshu29 said, “Eyes,
ears, nose, tongue, body, mind: each does not covet and is not tainted by all sub-
stantial things and immaterial phenomena. This state is called ‘to be receiving
and retaining a four-line verse,’ and is also called ‘the fourth effect.’”
The head-to-tail rightness here and now of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue,
body, and mind which are beyond self and others, is unfathomable. For this
reason, the whole body is naturally beyond coveting and taintedness. In the
wholeness of all substantial things and immaterial phenomena, [the whole
body] is beyond coveting and taintedness. The naturally whole wholeness of
receiving and retaining a four-line verse is called beyond coveting and tainted-
ness. This state is also called “the fourth effect,” and the fourth effect is
arhat. Therefore, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind which are realized
here and now are the state of arhat itself. If we maintain basics and revere
details, the state will naturally be transparent and free. To arrive for the first
time at a solid barrier is to be receiving and retaining a four-line verse, which is
the fourth effect. Right through to the top and right through to the bottom, the
whole is being realized, and there is not the slightest remnant. Ultimately, if
we want to express it, how can we express it? We can say: When arhats are
in the state of the profane, all things and phenomena disturb them, and when
arhats are in the state of the sacred, all things and phenomena liberate them. [So]
we should know that arhats and things and phenomena are in the same state.
Once we have experienced arhat, we are restricted by arhat. Thus, since before the
King of [the Kalpa of] Emptiness,30 [arhat] has been an old fist.

27.Engo-zenji-goroku, chap. 14.

28. Master Hyakujo Ekai (749–814), successor of Master Baso Do-itsu. At Master
Baso’s instruction, he went to teach in Nanko, where he lived on Mt. Hyakujo. Zen Mas-
ter Daichi is his posthumous title.
29. In present-day Jiangxi province.
30. 空王 (KU-O), “Emptiness King,” is the name of the legendary first Buddha, who
appeared in the Kalpa of Emptiness. Master Dogen uses the phrase 空王以前 (KU-O-IZEN),
“since before the King of Emptiness,” to describe something which has eternal value.
 ARAKAN 251

Shobogenzo Arakan

Preached to the assembly on the

15th day of the 5th lunar month
in the summer of the 3rd year of
Ninji,31 while residing at Kannon-
dori-kosho-horin-ji temple in the
Uji district of Yoshu.32

31. 1242.
32. Corresponds to present-day Kyoto prefecture.
 [35]
栢樹子

HAKUJUSHI
Cedar Trees
The koan, or story, of Hakujushi, “The Cedar Trees,” is very famous both in
China and in Japan. Although many Buddhists have presented their interpre-
tations of the story, most of them are unsatisfactory. In this chapter, Master
Dogen gives his own interpretation. First he describes Master Joshu’s charac-
ter, then he interprets the story. In the story a monk asks Master Joshu
Jushin what was Master Bodhidharma’s intention in coming to China from
the west. Master Joshu says “The cedar trees in the garden.” His intention is
“It was just reality” or “It was just Dharma.” But the monk understood him
to mean that cedar trees are just objective things. So he asked the Master for
another answer. But the Master again insisted that cedar trees in the garden
are just reality.

[101] Great Master Shinsai of Joshu1 is the thirty-seventh patriarch after

the Tath‡gata ¯‡kyamuni. He first establishes the [bodhi-]mind when he is
sixty-one years old, and leaves home to learn the truth. At that time he
vows, “Even if someone is a hundred years old, if he is inferior to me, I shall
teach him. Even if someone is seven years old, if he is superior to me, I shall ask
him to teach me.” Vowing thus, he travels as a cloud through the south. As
he continues on his quest for the truth, he arrives at Nansen and goes to
do prostrations to the Master [Nansen Fu]gan.2 Nansen happens to be ly-

1. Master Joshu Jushin (778–897), successor of Master Nansen Fugan. He also stud-
ied under Masters Obaku, Hoju, Enkan, and Kassan. “Great Master Shinsai” is his
posthumous title.
2. Master Nansen Fugan (748–834). He received the precepts from another master
but later became the disciple, and eventually a successor, of Master Baso Do-itsu. It is
said that after building a small temple at Nansen [“Southern Spring”] in the Chiyo dis-
trict, he passed thirty years without coming down from his mountain. He had many
students, including Master Joshu Jushin and Master Chosa Keishin.

253
 254 HAKUJUSHI

ing down in the abbot’s quarters, and when the Master comes to see him,
[Nansen] asks him straight away,3 “Where are you from?”4
The Master says, “Zuizo-in [Auspicious Image Temple].”5
Nansen says, “Have you seen the auspicious image yet?”
The Master says, “I have not seen any auspicious image, but right now I see a
reclining Tath‡gata.”
Then Nansen gets up at once and asks, “Are you a novice6 who has a master
or a novice without a master?”
The Master replies, “A novice who has a master.”
Nansen says, “Who is your master?”
The Master says, “It is early spring and still cold. With respect, Master, I am
very happy to see you in such fine form.”7
Nansen immediately calls the ino8 and says, “Find a special place for this
novice.”
Thus [Joshu] joins the order of Nansen, where he directs his energy in pur-
suit of the truth for thirty years, without visiting other districts at all. He
does not waste a moment of time and is free of miscellaneous preoccupa-
tions. Eventually, after he has received the transmission of the truth and
received the behavior, he resides for another thirty years as master of
Kannon-in temple in Joshu. The facts and features of his life as a temple
master are never the same as those of the ordinary masters of other dis-
tricts.9
[104] On one occasion he says:

3.That is, without getting up.

4. Lit. “Recently what place have you left?”
5. 瑞像院 (ZUIZO-IN), “Auspicious Image Temple,” was the name of Master Nansen’s
temple. 瑞像 (ZUIZO), “Auspicious Image,” would usually suggest a statue, for instance,
the Buddha-image in the Buddha Hall.
6. 沙弥 (SHAMI) represents the sound of the Sanskrit ˜r‡maıera, meaning “novice.”
7. 尊体起居万福 (SONTAI-KIKYO-BANPUKU), lit. “[Your] venerable body, and standing
up and sitting down, are ten thousand happinesses.” Master Joshu meant that he had
already become a novice in the order of Master Nansen.
8. 維那 (INO), also called 堂司 (DOSU), “Hall Chief,” is one of the six main officers, re-
sponsible for supervising the monks in the Zazen Hall. The term 維那 (INO) derives from
the Sanskrit karma-d‡na.
9. The information in this paragraph is contained in Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 10.
 HAKUJUSHI 255

Fruitlessly we stare at the smoking fires of neighbors all around.

We have not seen a bun or a rice cake since last year.
Thinking of them today, I vainly swallow my spit.
Periods of composure are scarce, sighs are frequent.
Among one hundred people there is no good person.
Those who come here only say that they want to drink tea.
Unable to drink tea, they leave in anger.10

Pitifully, [in Joshu’s order] a smoking fire is a rare event. They have
little plain food and they have not had a meal of many tastes since the
previous year. If a hundred people come, they are [all] looking for tea.
Those who are not after tea do not come.11 There may be no-one among a
hundred people who could bring tea. There are common monks12 who
meet the wise man, but there might be no dragons and elephants13 who
want to be the same as him.
[105] On another occasion he says:
Considering people throughout the country who have left home,
How many can there be who endure a life like mine?
A bed of earth and a tattered straw mat,
The old elm log pillow is totally bare.
I burn no incense14 before the honored images,
In the ashes I smell only the whiff of cow-dung.15

From these words of the truth we can know the spotless cleanliness
and purity of that order; we should study and learn these ancient traces
today. The monks were not many; it is said that the assembly numbered
less than twenty, and the reason was that [the life] was so difficult to en-
dure. The Monks’ Hall was not large; it had neither a front hall16 nor a rear

10. Kosonshuku-goroku, chap. 14.

11. Wanting to get tea suggests wanting to get some concrete effect, for example,
enlightenment.
12. 雲水 (UNSUI), “clouds and water,” is a usual term for the monks of a temple.
13. 竜象 (RYUZO), “dragons and elephants,” means outstanding or transcendent prac-
titioners.
14. 安息香 (ANSOKU-KO), lit. “peaceful breath incense.” This is a kind of incense made
from benzoin, which is a resin obtained from trees (genus Styrax) of southeast Asia.
15. Cow-dung was burned as heating fuel.
16. 前架 (ZENKA), an adjoining hall in front of the Monks’ Hall [Zazen Hall] proper,
also furnished with a Zazen platform, where monks with jobs to do in the temple could
come and go without disturbing the other members.
 256 HAKUJUSHI

wash-stand.17 It had no lighting at night, and no charcoal fire in winter.

We might say that they were the living conditions of a pitiful old man.
[But] the behavior of eternal buddhas is like this. Once when a leg of the
[Zazen] platform broke, they bound it with a charred log and made do
with this for years and months. Whenever the temple officers18 reported
that it should be repaired, the Master refused. This is an excellent exam-
ple, rare through the ages. Usually the gruel for lunch and breakfast was
thinned out so much that it was completely devoid of grain; [they] vainly faced
empty windows and the dust in cracks.19 Sometimes they would gather nuts,
which the monks of the assembly, and [the Master] himself, used to enli-
ven their daily diet. When present students of later ages praise this
behavior, although we do not equal the Master’s behavior, we assume
veneration of the ancients as our attitude of mind.
[107] One day [Joshu] preaches to the assembly, “For the thirty years I was in
the south, I solely sat in Zazen. If you people want to attain this one great matter,
you should see if you can master its principle by sitting in Zazen. After three
years, five years, twenty years, or thirty years, if you have not attained the truth,
you may make the skull of this old monk into a dipper for scooping piss.” This
was his vow. Truly, pursuing the truth by sitting in Zazen is the direct
path to the Buddha’s truth. We should master its principle by sitting and
seeing. Later, people would say “the eternal Buddha Joshu!”20
[108] The Great Master is once asked by a monk, “What is the ancestral
Master’s21 intention in coming from the west?”
The Master says, “The cedar trees in the garden.”22

17. 後架 (KOKA), mentioned, for example, in chap. 56, Senmen.

18. 知事 (CHIJI). There were six of these main officers; namely, 1) 都寺 (TSUSU), chief
officer, head of the temple office, comptroller; 2) 監寺 (KANSU) prior; 3) 副司 (FUSU), assis-
tant prior; 4) 堂司 (DOSU) or 維那 (INO), supervisor of monks in the Zazen Hall, rector; 5)
典座 (TENZO), head-cook; and 6) 直歳 (SHISUI), caretaker.
19. Quotation of Master Joshu’s words from Kosonshuku-goroku, chap. 14.
20. Master Seppo Gison’s words, quoted in chap. 44, Kobusshin. See also Shinji-
shobogenzo, pt. 3, no. 84.
21. 祖師 (SOSHI) is often used, as in this case, for Master Bodhidharma himself. See
chap. 67, Soshi-sairai-no-i.
 HAKUJUSHI 257

The monk says, “Master, do not teach a person with objective things.”23
The Master says, “I do not teach people with objective things.”
The monk says, “What is the ancestral Patriarch’s intention in coming from the
west?”
The Master says, “The cedar trees in the garden.”24
This koan,25 although it stemmed from Joshu, ultimately is that which
all buddhas, with their whole bodies, have established. Just who is the
boss?26 The truth we should recognize in the present [story] is the principle
that cedar trees in the garden are beyond objective things, and the principle
that cedar trees are beyond the self—because [the monk says], “Master, do
not teach a person with objective things,” and because [Joshu says], “I do not
teach people with objective things.”27 What Master could be restricted by be-
ing “Master”? Because he is not restricted, he may be I.28 What I could be
restricted by being “I”? Even if restricted, [I] may be a person.29 What objec-
tive thing could not be restricted by [the ancestral Master’s] intention in

22. 栢樹子 (HAKUJUSHI). In Japanese this kind of tree is called 児の手柏 (konotega-
shiwa), which the Kenkyusha dictionary gives as “an Oriental arborvitae; a thuja.” The
name arborvitae [lit. tree of life] applies to any of various evergreen trees of the pine fam-
ily, but it applies especially to the genus Thuja. The name cedar applies firstly to the
genus Cedrus, but secondly to numerous other coniferous trees that resemble the true
cedars, including trees of the genus Thuja. Therefore, for the sake of using a more famil-
iar term than “arborvitae” or “thuja,” the translation “cedar trees” has been preferred.
23. That is, “Don’t teach me with objective things.”
24. Kosonshuku-goroku, chap. 13.
25. 公案 (KOAN). In Shobogenzo, the word koan is used to represent 1) a story which
points to reality, following the universal principles of Buddhist theory, and 2) the Uni-
versal law, that is, Dharma.
26. 主人公 (SHUJINKO) alludes to the words of Zen Master Zuigan who used to call to
himself “Boss!” and answer himself “Yes.” (See Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 3, no. 48). Master
Dogen begins his commentary by asking what the self is, so he picks up the word “Boss”
from this story, to express the self as a person who is living in reality.
27. Both Master Joshu and the monk knew that Master Bodhidharma’s intention and
cedar trees are real, and therefore beyond subject and object.
28. 吾 (wa[re]), “I,” is the first character in Master Joshu’s line “I do not teach people
with objective things.” So 吾 (wa[re]) means the Master as himself. In order to describe a
real thing, Master Dogen often describes the thing as not being restricted by the concept
“thing.”
29. The character 人 (hito), or “human being,” appears in both the monk’s words (“a
person”) and Master Joshu’s words (“people”). The point is that, whether restricted or
not, we cannot escape the fact that we are human beings.
258 HAKUJUSHI

coming from the west—because objective things must inevitably be his in-
tention in coming from the west.30 At the same time, the intention in
coming from the west is beyond dependence upon objective things. The
ancestral Master’s intention in coming from the west is not necessarily “the
right-Dharma-eye treasury and the fine mind of nirv‡ıa”; it is beyond the con-
crete mind, beyond the concrete state of buddha, and beyond concrete things.31
The present expression, “What is the ancestral Master’s intention in coming
from the west?” is not only the asking of a question and is not only two
people having got the same idea. Just at the moment of such a question, it
is impossible for [the questioner] to meet with anybody,32 and by himself he can
attain how much?33 To express it further, he is free of wrongness, and there-
fore he is one mistake after another mistake.34 Because he is mistake after
mistake, he sees a mistake as a mistake. Could this be other than on hearing
silence, touching sound?35 Because the all-pervading soul is free of attachment
and detachment, it is cedar trees in the garden. Without being objective things,
[cedar trees] cannot be cedar trees. Even though [cedar trees] are objective
things, [Joshu says,] “I do not teach people with objective things” and [the
monk says,] “Master, do not teach a person with objective things.” [Cedar
trees] are beyond an old shrine. Because they are beyond an old shrine,
they keep on vanishing. Because they keep on vanishing, “Give me back my
effort!”36 Because the state is [expressed] “Give me back my effort!” [Joshu

30. Another formula used by Master Dogen to describe a real thing is to describe the
thing as being restricted by the thing itself.
31. 不是心なり, 不是仏なり, 不是物なり. (FUZESHIN nari, FUZEBUTSU nari, FUZEMOTSU
nari.) Exactly the same expression appears in chap. 34, Arakan, para. [89].
32. In other words, the questioner is a person existing independently.
33. 幾 (ikubaku), “how much” or “how many,” may be interpreted as an expression
of the immeasurable, or the ineffable. At the same time the words suggest that the inde-
pendent self has nothing to attain.
34. In other words, someone who is doing his or her best is not wrong, but at the
same time, in actual life he or she has to make many mistakes. For example, Master
Dogen affirmed the efforts made by the monk in the story, but at the same time, the
monk did not understand the intention of Master Joshu’s first answer.
35. When we are silent, we can recognize what sound and non-sound is. Similarly,
when we are humble enough to recognize that life is full of mistakes, we can recognize
what mistakes and non-mistakes are.
36. Because every present moment is cut off from the past, the present is empty of
past efforts. “Give me back my effort!” represents the reality of the present.
 HAKUJUSHI 259

says] “I do not teach people with objective things.” What else might he use to
teach people? Maybe “I am also like this.”37
[113] The Great Master is asked by a monk, “In the end, do cedar trees have the
buddha-nature or not?”
The Great Master says, “They have.”
The monk says, “When do cedar trees become buddha?”
The Great Master says, “They time38 it with space falling to the ground.”39
The monk says, “When does [space] fall to the ground?”
The Great Master says, “In time38 with the cedar trees becoming buddha.”40
We should listen to the present words of the Great Master, and we
should not disregard the questions of this monk. When the Great Master
speaks of the time of space falling to the ground and the time of cedar
trees becoming buddha, he is not expressing a state in which two factors
are waiting on each other. [The monk] is questioning cedar trees and ques-
tioning the buddha-nature. He is questioning becoming buddha and is
questioning time.41 He is questioning space and is questioning falling to the
ground. When, in reply to the monk, the Great Master now says, “they
have,” [he is saying that] the buddha-nature of cedar trees actually exists.42
Attaining mastery of this truth, we should thus penetrate the life-blood of
the Buddhist patriarchs. The words quoted here that cedar trees have the
buddha-nature ordinarily cannot be expressed, and they have never be-
fore been expressed. [But cedar trees] do indeed have the buddha-nature,
and we should clarify this situation. How high in the [Universal] order are
these cedar trees that do have the buddha-nature situated, here and now?

37. 吾亦如是 (GO-YAKU-NYOZE) are the words spoken by the Sixth Patriarch to Master
Nangaku Ejo. See Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 2, no. 1. See also, Shobogenzo, chap. 29, Inmo.
38. 待 (TAI, ma[tsu]) lit. means “to wait.” As an adverb, the character sometimes
means “at the time when” but here it is used as a verb. Master Joshu however, is not
saying that cedar trees are waiting for realization in future; he is emphasizing that reali-
zation occurs in real time.
39. “Space falling to the ground” suggests reality as it is, without illusions.
40. Kosonshuku-goroku, chap. 14.
41. The monk’s second and third questions begin with the words 幾時 (IKU-JI), “What
time...?”
42. 有 (U, a[ri]), as a transitive verb means “to have” and as an intransitive verb
means “to exist.” As a noun, it means “existence.” See also discussion of 有仏性 (U-
BUSSHO), “having the buddha-nature,” in chap. 22, Bussho.
 260 HAKUJUSHI

We should investigate the length of their age, their life, and their physical
bodies. We should identify their families and species. To go further, do
hundreds of thousands of cedar trees all belong to the same caste, or do
they have distinct bloodlines? Is it possible that there are cedar trees
which become buddha, cedar trees which undergo training, and cedar
trees which establish the mind? Or is it that although cedar trees become
buddha, they are not furnished with [virtues] such as training and estab-
lishment of the mind? What causes and conditions are there linking cedar
trees and space? If cedar trees becoming buddha is inevitably in time with
you43 falling to the ground, does that mean that a cedar tree’s virtue as a
tree is necessarily related with space?44 As regards the stages of a cedar
tree, is space [a cedar tree’s] initial state or [a cedar tree’s] ultimate stage?45
We should consider and investigate [these questions] in detail. Let me ask
you, Old Joshu: Is it because you yourself are a withered old cedar tree
that you could breathe life into such vivid thoughts? In summary, that
cedar trees have the buddha-nature is beyond non-Buddhists, the two
vehicles, and the like, and is beyond the perceptions of teachers of sutras
and commentaries. How much less could it be preached by the flowery
words of [people like] withered trees and dead ash? It is learned and mas-
tered only by those of the Joshu species.
[116] The words now spoken by Joshu that cedar trees have the buddha-
nature [ask] “Are cedar trees restricted by cedar trees, or not?” and “Is the
buddha-nature restricted by the buddha-nature, or not?” This expression
had never been perfectly realized before, not by one buddha or by two
buddhas. [Even] those who have the Buddha-countenance cannot always
perfectly realize this expression of the truth. Even among buddhas, there
may be buddhas who can express it, and there may be buddhas who can-
not express it. The aforementioned “waiting46 for space to fall to the ground”
does not describe something that may never happen: at every time when
cedar trees become buddha, space falls to the ground. The sound of such

43.By substituting “you” (i.e., that monk, or a concrete person) for “space,” Master
Dogen suggested that space falling to the ground and a person coming down to earth
(becoming practical) are the same fact.
44. The question encourages us to take a whole or integrated view, not only consid-
ering the elements one by one.
45. Master Dogen generally considers problems in four phases: conceptual, physical,
actual, and real. Thus, the space of a cedar tree is 1) a concept, 2) a physical area, 3) the
place where the cedar tree actually exists, and 4) the cedar tree itself.
46. 待 (ma[tsu]). See note 38.
 HAKUJUSHI 261

falling to the ground is louder than a hundred thousand rolls of thunder.

The time of cedar trees becoming buddha, while provisionally described
as “in the twelve hours,”47 is also the twelve hours themselves.48 The space that
falls to the ground is not merely the space seen by the common and the
sacred. There is a unity of space beyond this, which is not seen by other
people, but Joshu alone sees it. The ground on which space falls is also
other than the ground occupied by the common and the sacred. There is a
unity of ground beyond this, which is not reached by the forces of yin and
yang,49 but Joshu alone has reached it. The moment when space falls to the
ground—even for the sun and moon and mountains and rivers—must be
a matter of timing. Who can assert that the buddha-nature must necessar-
ily become buddha? The buddha-nature is an adornment which follows
after becoming buddha. Furthermore, there may also be buddha-nature
which appears together with, and experiences together with, becoming
buddha. In conclusion, cedar trees and the buddha-nature are not different
sounds in the same tune.50 They are, in other words, the indefinable.51 We
should investigate them, asking “like what?”52

47. 十二時中 (JUNIJI-CHU).

48. 十二時中 (JUNIJI-CHU). 中 (CHU) means 1) inside, and by extension, 2) the inside
of, the reality of, the thing itself. See also chap. 11, Uji, and chap. 39, Muchu-setsumu.
49. 陰陽 (ONYO), “yin and yang” represent the negative and positive poles, respec-
tively, within the flow of energy. See also chap. 40, Gabyo para. [222].
50. 異音同調 (I-ON-DO-CHO), lit. “different sounds, same tune,” means “different
words for the same thing.” We should not call cedar trees and the buddha-nature differ-
ent words for the same thing—because we honestly do not know what they are.
51. 何必 (KA-HITSU) lit. means “How can it be decided that…” Used as a noun, the
characters therefore suggest ambiguity, the ineffable, or something indefinable. See also
note 11 to chap. 3, Genjo-koan.
52. 作麼生 (SOMOSAN) expresses a questioning attitude. The expression often appears
in the Chinese stories quoted by Master Dogen from Keitoku-dento-roku et cetera. In chap.
33, Kannon, for example, in order to get Master Dogo to express himself, Master Ungan
uses the words 作麼生 (SOMOSAN), “how about you?” or “what do you say?” In chap. 32,
Juki, Master Seppo uses the words in the same way with Master Gensa.
262 HAKUJUSHI

Shobogenzo Hakujushi

Preached to the assembly at Kan-

non-dori-in temple in the Uji
district of Yoshu,53 on the 21st
day of the 5th lunar month—the
season of the Japanese iris—in
the 3rd year of Ninji.54

53. Corresponds to present-day Kyoto prefecture.

54. 1242.
 [36]
光明

KOMYO
Brightness
Komyo means luminosity, light, or brightness. Such light has been revered
in Buddhism since ancient times, and has both a physical and a mental or
spiritual side. Generally speaking, idealistic people believe in spiritual light
whereas materialistic people only believe in physical light, but according to
Buddhist theory, brightness has both a physical side and a mental side. In
this chapter Master Dogen explained this brightness. He explained that the
Universe is our own brightness, that the Universe is just brightness, that our
behavior in the Universe is brightness, and that there is nothing other than
brightness.

[121] Great Master Chosa Shoken1 of Konan2 in the great kingdom of

Sung, in formal preaching in the Dharma Hall, preaches to the assembly:
The whole Universe in ten directions is the eye of a ˜ramaıa.
The whole Universe in ten directions is the everyday speech of a
˜ramaıa.
The whole Universe in ten directions is the whole body of a ˜ramaıa.
The whole Universe in ten directions is the brightness of the self.
The whole Universe in ten directions exists within the brightness of the
self.
In the whole Universe in ten directions there is no-one who is not them-
selves.3

1. Master Chosa Keishin (?–868), successor of Master Nansen Fugan. People of the
time called him Shin Daichu (Shin, the Big Cat) because he was as sharp and quick as a
tiger.
2. In present-day Hunan province.
3. Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 10. See also Shobogenzo, chap. 60, Juppo.

263
264 KOMYO

Learning in practice of the Buddha’s truth must always be done in

earnest; it should not be more and more distant, further and further removed.
[But] the past masters who have learned brightness through such effort
are rare. The Chinese Emperor Komyo of the Later Han Dynasty4—whose
name during his reign was So and whose posthumous name was Emperor
Kenso—was the fourth son of Emperor Kobu. During the reign of Em-
peror Komyo, in the 10th year of the Eihei era,5 [K‡˜yapa-]m‡taıga6 and
Jiku-horan7 first introduced the Buddha’s teaching into the Han kingdom.
Before altars for the burning of sutras, they defeated a false group of Tao-
ists and demonstrated the mystical power of the buddhas.8 Thereafter, in
the Futsu era during the reign of Emperor Bu of the Liang dynasty,9 the
First Patriarch10 personally journeyed from India to Koshu11 district on the
South [China] Sea. He was the rightful heir to the authentic transmission
of the right-Dharma-eye treasury, and the twenty-eighth generation
Dharma-descendant of ¯‡kyamuni Buddha. At that time he hung his trav-
eling staff at Shorin-ji temple of Shoshitsu-ho peak in the Su-zan
mountains. He authentically transmitted the Dharma to the second patri-
arch, Zen Master Taiso.12 This was the direct experience of the Buddhist
patriarchs’ brightness. Before this, no-one had seen or heard of the bright-
ness of the Buddhist patriarchs. How could any have known their own
brightness? Even if they came across that brightness, fetching it via the
brain, they did not learn it in experience with their own eyes. Therefore,
they did not clarify whether the brightness is long or short, square or

4.The Later (or Eastern) Han Dynasty (25–220 A.D.) was founded by the Emperor
Kobu in 25 AD.
5. 67 A.D.
6. A monk from central India.
7. (Chinese: Chu-fa-lan). Also a monk from central India, but the Sanskrit rendition
of his name is not known. The arrival of K‡˜yapam‡taıga and Jiku-horan was tradition-
ally believed to be the introduction of the theoretical teaching of Buddhism into China
from India.
8. The Chinese history book 故事 (KOJI) relates how two stands were erected in the
garden of the imperial palace, one on the left for Taoist sutras and one on the right for
Buddhist sutras. When the sutras were set on fire, the Taoist sutras burned but the Bud-
dhist sutras did not.
9. The Liang Dynasty (502–556) was founded by Emperor Bu (or Wu) in 502. The
Futsu era was from 520 to 527.
10. Master Bodhidharma.
11. Kuangchou.
12. Master Taiso Eka. See, for example, chap. 30, Gyoji.
 KOMYO 265

round; and they did not clarify whether the brightness is winding or un-
winding, focusing in or radiating out. Because they hated to meet with the
brightness, the brightness became more and more distant and further and
further removed from the brightness. This alienation—although it is itself
brightness—is restricted by alienation.13 Stinking skin bags who are more
and more distant and further and further removed hold the following views
and opinions: “The Buddha’s light and the brightness of the self must be
red, white, blue, and gold, like light from a fire or light on water, like the
light of a pearl or the light of a jewel, like the light of dragons and gods,
like the light of the sun and moon.” Although they sometimes follow good
counselors and sometimes follow the sutras, when they hear the spoken teach-
ing on brightness they think that [brightness] might be like the light of a
firefly. This is never learning in practice through the eyes and the brain.
From the Han through the Sui, Tang, and Sung dynasties14 to the present,
there have been very many such streams. Do not learn from literary
Dharma-teachers. And do not listen to the outlandish explanations of Zen
masters.
[126] The aforementioned “brightness of the Buddhist patriarchs” is the
whole Universe in ten directions; it is the whole of buddhas and the whole
of patriarchs; it is buddhas alone, together with buddhas; it is the Bud-
dha’s state of brightness and the bright state of Buddha. Buddhist
patriarchs see Buddhist patriarchs as the brightness. Practicing and ex-
periencing this brightness, they become buddha, sit as buddha, and
experience buddha. For this reason, there is the expression that “This light
illuminates the eighteen thousand Buddha-lands of the East.”15 This is the light
in words.16 This light17 is the Buddha’s light. Illumination of the East is the

13. “Alienation restricted by alienation” means true alienation or undeniable alien-

ation. Alienation here means not being ourselves.
14. Han (206 B.C.–220 A.D.), Sui (c. 581–618), Tang (618–c. 907), and Sung (960–1279).
15. Lotus Sutra, Jo (Introductory): “This light illuminated the eastern quarter/Of eighteen
thousand Buddha-lands.” (LS 1.54.)
16. 話頭光 (WATO-KO). 話頭 (WATO) means “words,” “talk,” “comment,” “conversa-
tion,” or “story.” In the Rinzai sect, comments and stories (so-called koans), such as those
recorded by Master Dogen in Shinji-shobogenzo, are called 話頭 (WATO). See also chap. 20,
Kokyo para. [162].
17. 此光 (SHIKO). 此 (SHI), “this,” in Master Dogen’s commentaries means the real, the
concrete, that which is not abstract. 光 (KO) means “light.”
 266 KOMYO

East’s luminance.18 The East is beyond secular doctrines of this place and
that place:19 it is the heart of the Dharma-doctrine, and the middle of a
fist.20 Even though [the word “East”] restricts the East, it is describing eight
pounds of brightness.21 We should learn in experience the principle that
the East exists in this land, the East exists in other lands, and the East exists
in the East. As for the meaning of “eighteen thousand,”22 a ten thousand23 is
half a fist, and is half of the mind here and now: it is not always a matter
of ten units of a thousand, or of myriad myriad hundred myriads and so
on. “Buddha-lands” means the inside of the eyes. If, when we see and hear
the words “illuminating the East,” we assume and learn that it is as if a line
of white silk were extending to the East, that is not learning of the truth.
The whole Universe in ten directions is nothing other than the East. The
East is called “the whole Universe in ten directions.” On this basis the
whole Universe in ten directions exists. And the words by which it pro-
claims itself as the whole Universe in ten directions, we hear as the sound
of “the eighteen thousand Buddha-lands.”
[128] The Tang Emperor Kenso24 is the father of the two emperors Bokuso25
and Senso,26 and the grandfather of the three emperors Keiso,27 Bunso,28
and Buso.29 At his devout request, the Buddha’s relics are brought into the
palace for the service of offerings and in the night, the story goes, they

18. 照東方は東方照なり (SHO-TOHO wa TOHO-SHO nari). By reversing the order of the

elements 照 (SHO), “illumination,” and 東方 (TOHO), “East” or “eastern quarter,” Master
Dogen suggested oneness between illumination and place.
19. “Doctrines of this place” means materialistic philosophies (which affirm indul-
gence in this world) and “doctrines of that place” means idealistic philosophies (which
affirm life in the next world).
20. 東方 (TOHO), “the East,” or “the eastern quarter,” symbolizes a concrete and real
place, not an abstraction.
21. 光明の八両 (KOMYO no HACHIRYO), “eight pounds of brightness,” means the con-
crete reality of brightness, not abstract or purely spiritual brightness.
22. 万八千 (MAN-HASSEN), lit. “a ten thousand and eight thousands”—in the Chinese
and Japanese system, 18,000 is counted as one unit of 10,000 and eight units of 1,000.
23. Master Dogen discussed the unit of 10,000—it sounds like an abstraction, but he
did not understand it like that.
24. Reigned from 806 to 821.
25. Reigned from 821 to 825.
26. Reigned from 847 to 860.
27. Reigned from 825 to 827.
28. Reigned from 827 to 841.
29. Reigned from 841 to 846.
 KOMYO 267

radiate light. The Emperor is overjoyed. Early next morning all his retain-
ers present letters of congratulation saying, “It is the response of the sacred to
His Majesty’s sacred virtue.” But there is one retainer, Kan Yu Bunko30—his
pen-name is Taishi—who in the past has studied in the back row of the
orders of Buddhist patriarchs. Only Bunko fails to write the letter of con-
gratulation. Emperor Kenso asks him, “All my retainers have presented
letters of congratulation. Why have you not written a letter of congratulation?”
Bunko answers, “Your humble servant has seen it written in Buddhist texts
that the Buddha’s light is not blue, yellow, red, or white. The present [light] was
just the light that is guarded by dragon-gods.” The Emperor asks, “What is the
Buddha’s light?” Bunko does not answer.31 This Bunko, though a layman,
has the spirit of a stout fellow. His talent might be said to turn the heavens
and spin the earth. Study like this is the starting point in learning the state
of truth. Study which is not like this is not in the state of truth. Even if our
lecturing on sutras causes heavenly flowers to fall, if we have not arrived
at this truth, it is vain effort. Even if we are [only a bodhisattva in] the ten
sacred stages or the three clever stages, if we can retain the long tongue32
in the same mouth as Bunko, that is establishment of the will, and prac-
tice-and-experience. Nevertheless, Kan Bunko, there is still something in
the Buddhist texts that you have not seen or heard. How have you un-
derstood these words that “The Buddha’s light is not blue, yellow, red, or
white”? If you have the ability to understand, when you look at blue, yel-
low, red, and white, that they are not the Buddha’s light, then further,
when you look at the Buddha’s light, you must never see it as blue, yel-
low, red, or white. If Emperor Kenso were a Buddhist patriarch, he would
pursue such a line of questioning. In summary, the brightness which is
utterly clear is the hundred weeds.33 The brightness of the hundred weeds
is, already, their roots, stems, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruits, light, and
color—it is never something added on or taken away. There is the bright-

30. 韓愈文公 (KAN YU BUNKO). 韓 (KAN) was his family name, 愈 (YU) his first name,
文 (BUN), lit. “Letters,” his posthumous title as a man of letters, and 公 (KO) a title of re-
spect for an officer. Kan Yu Bunko was said to be one of the eight great men of letters
during the Tang and Sung dynasties.
31. Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 2, no. 73.
32. 長舌 (CHOZETSU), “a long tongue,” is one of the 32 distinguishing marks of the
Buddha. Figuratively, it symbolizes excellent ability in speaking or, as in this case, in not
speaking.
33. Alludes to the saying 明明百艸頭 (MEI-MEI taru HYAKU-SO-TO), “utterly clear are
the hundred weeds.” The hundred weeds symbolize miscellaneous concrete things.
 268 KOMYO

ness of the five worlds,34 and the brightness of the six worlds:35 perhaps
this is just the place where the ineffable exists. [The expression] which explains
light and explains brightness might be: “How is it that mountains, rivers, and
the Earth suddenly appear?”36
[132] We must painstakingly learn in practice the words spoken by Chosa
that “The whole Universe in ten directions is the brightness of the self.” We
must learn the self which is brightness, as the whole Universe in ten direc-
tions. Living-and-dying, going-and-coming, are the going-and-coming of
the brightness. Transcendence of the common and transcendence of the
sacred are the indigo and vermilion of the brightness. Becoming buddha
and becoming a patriarch are the black and gold of the brightness. Practice
and experience are not nonexistent: they are the brightness being tainted.37
Grass, trees, fences, and walls; skin, flesh, bones, and marrow: these are
the red and white of the brightness. Smoke, mist, water, and stone; the
way of birds, the hidden paths: these are the turning cycle of the bright-
ness. To see and hear the brightness of the self is proof of having directly
encountered buddha; it is proof of having met buddha. The whole Universe
in ten directions is the concrete self,38 and the concrete self is the whole Universe
in ten directions—there is no scope for evasion. If there is a place of escape,
it is the vigorous road of getting the body out.39 The present seven feet of
skull and bones is just the form and the image of the whole Universe in
ten directions. The whole Universe in ten directions that we practice and
experience in Buddhism is the skull and bones, the physical body, the
skin, flesh, bones, and marrow.
[134] Great Master Daiji-un Kyoshin of Unmon-zan mountain, 40 is the
thirty-ninth generation descendant of the World-honored Tath‡gata. He

34. 五道 (GODO), the five worlds, are hell, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, and
gods.
35.六道 (ROKUDO) are the five worlds plus the world of angry demons (asuras).
36.A similar expression, by Master Roya Ekaku, is quoted in chap. 9, Keisei-sanshiki.
37. 染汚 (ZENNA), “taintedness,” means separation. Master Nangaku Ejo described
the practice and experience of Zazen as “not to be tainted”; that is, not to be separated
into means and end. See, for example, chap. 7, Senjo.
38. 是自己 (ZE-JIKO). In Master Chosa’s words 是 (ZE, kore) is a copula (“is”). Here
Master Dogen uses 是 (ZE, kore) as an adjective (“the concrete”). See also chap. 6, Soku-
shin-ze-butsu.
39. 出身の活路 (SHUSSHIN no KATSURO), see Book 1, Fukan-zazengi.
40. Master Unmon Bun-en (864–949), successor of Master Seppo Gison, and founder
of the Unmon sect. Great Master Daiji-un Kyoshin is his posthumous title.
 KOMYO 269

has succeeded to the Dharma of Great Master Shinkaku of Seppo.41

Though a junior in the Buddha’s retinue, he is a hero in the order of the
Patriarch.42 Who could say that on Unmon-zan mountain no brilliant
buddha has ever manifested himself in the world? Once, in formal preach-
ing in the Dharma Hall, he preaches to the assembly: “Each human being
totally possesses the brightness. When looked for it is invisible, obscured in utter
darkness. Just what is this brightness that is present in all people?” The assem-
bled monks make no reply. [Unmon] himself says in their place, “The
Monks’ Hall, the Buddha Hall, the Kitchen, and the Three Gates.”43
[135] The present words of the Great Master, “Each human being totally
possesses the brightness,” do not say that [brightness] will appear in future,
do not say that [brightness] was there in the past, and do not say that
[brightness] is the realization of some onlooker: they assert that each hu-
man being naturally possesses the brightness—and we should clearly hear
this and retain it. [Unmon] is bringing together a hundred thousand Un-
mons, letting them experience the same state, and letting them speak, with
a common voice, from one mouth. “Each human being totally possesses the
brightness:” Unmon is not dragging [these words] out of himself; the
brightness of each human being is gathering itself up and speaking. “Each
human being totally possesses the brightness” means the whole of humanity
naturally is the brightness. “The brightness” means each human being. [The
brightness] gathers hold of the brightness and makes it into object and
subject. It may be that the brightness totally possesses each human be-
ing!44 The brightness naturally is each human being;45 each human being
naturally possesses each human being;46 each moment of brightness natu-
rally possesses each moment of brightness;47 each moment of existence
totally possesses each moment of existence;48 and the existence of each

41. Master Seppo Gison (822–907). Great Master Shinkaku is his posthumous title.
42. 祖席 (SOSEKI), “the order of the Patriarch,” usually refers to the lineages de-
scended from the first patriarch in China, Master Bodhidharma.
43. Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 81.
44. 光明尽有人人在. This is a simple reversal of the elements of Master Unmon’s
words 人人尽有光明在. In the following sentence, Master Dogen uses various permuta-
tions of the characters in Master Unmon’s words, including the additional characters 自
“naturally,” and 是 “is.”
45. 光明自是人人在
46. 人人自有人人在
47. 光光自有光光在
48. 有有尽有有有在. The character 有 means both “to possess” and “existence.”
 270 KOMYO

moment of totality possesses each moment of totality.49 So remember, the

brightness that each individual human being totally possesses is the realized
individual human being, and is the individual human being that each in-
dividual state of brightness totally possesses. Now let us ask Unmon,
What do you mean by “each human being”? What do you mean by “bright-
ness”? Unmon himself has said, “Just what is this brightness?” This question
is brightness in which doubt kills comment.50 Nonetheless, when words
are being spoken like this, each individual human being is an individual
state of brightness. The monks in the assembly make no reply. Though
they have a hundred thousand expressions of the truth, they speak by
means of no reply. This state is the right-Dharma-eye treasury and the fine
mind of nirv‡ıa, which are authentically transmitted by the Buddhist pa-
triarchs.
[138] Unmon, putting himself in the place [of the assembly], says, “The
Monks’ Hall, the Buddha Hall, the Kitchen, and the Three Gates.” The words
expressed now, “putting himself in the place,” mean putting himself in
Unmon’s place, putting himself in the place of the assembly, putting him-
self in the place of the brightness, and putting himself in the place of the
Monks’ Hall, the Buddha Hall, the Kitchen, and the Three Gates. But what
does Unmon mean by “The Monks’ Hall, the Buddha Hall, the Kitchen, and
the Three Gates?” We should not call the assembly, and each human being [in
it], “the Monks’ Hall, the Buddha Hall, the Kitchen, and the Three
Gates.”51 How many Monks’ Halls, Buddha Halls, Kitchens, and Three
Gates are there?52 Should we see them as Unmon? Should we see them as
the Seven Buddhas? Should we see them as four lots of seven?53 Should
we see them as two lots of three?54 Should we see them as a fist? Should
we see them as nostrils? Though the aforementioned Monks’ Hall, Bud-
dha Hall, Kitchen, and Three Gates are any Buddhist patriarch, they are
not immune to each individual human being. Therefore, they are beyond each

49.尽尽有有尽尽在
50. 疑殺話頭の光明 (GI-SATSU-WATO no KOMYO). See note 16.
51. We should not confuse the subjects (monks) and the objects (temple buildings).
52. Subjectively, the temple buildings are different for each person who sees them.
Objectively, they are the same.
53. 四七 (SHI-SHICHI), “four sevens,” that is, twenty-eight, suggests the twenty-eight
patriarchs in India up to Master Bodhidharma.
54. 二三 (NI-SAN), “two threes,” suggests the six patriarchs in China up to Master
Daikan Eno.
 KOMYO 271

individual human being.55 Once they have become so, there are instances of
there being Buddha Halls without buddhas,56 and there are states of being
without buddha in which there is no Buddha Hall.57 There are buddhas
who have light;58 there are luminant buddhas who are without;59 there is
the light of Buddha in being without;60 and there is the light of Buddha
which is existence.61
[139] Great Master Shinkaku62 of Seppo preaches to the assembly, “In front of the
Monks’ Hall, I have met you all.”63 This is just the time when Seppo’s whole
body is the Eye, it is the moment Seppo glimpses Seppo, and it is the
Monks’ Hall meeting the Monks’ Hall.
Referring to this, Hofuku64 asks Gako,65 “Let us set aside for a while the front of
the Monks’ Hall. At what place are we to meet Boshu-tei pavilion,66 or Useki-rei

55. In other words, because the temple buildings are real (they have the universal
objective state of a Buddhist patriarch, and at the same time they are open to different
subjective perceptions by each human being), they are beyond the subject.
56. 有仏殿の無仏 (U-BUTSUDEN no MUBUTSU naru) suggests, for example, a temple
where ceremonies are conducted only for profit.
57. 無仏殿の無仏 (MU-BUTSUDEN no MUBUTSU naru) suggests, for example, the state of
Master Reiun Shigon who realized the truth on seeing peach blossoms in the mountains.
無仏 (MUBUTSU), “being without buddha,” is explained in chap. 22, Bussho.
58. 有光仏 (U-KO-BUTSU).
59. 無光仏 (MU-KO-BUTSU).
60. 無仏光 (MU-BUTSU-KO).
61. 有仏光 (U-BUTSU-KO).
62. Master Seppo Gison (822–907). Shinkaku is his posthumous name.
63. Traditionally, the Dharma Hall (where the Master gives formal preaching) is lo-
cated in front of the Monks’ Hall (where the monks practice Zazen). A slightly different
version of the quotation is recorded in Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 3, no. 91, in which, Master
Seppo says, “At Boshu-tei pavilion I have met you, at Useki-rei peak I have met you, in front of
the Monks’ Hall I have met you.” In the Shinji-shobogenzo version, “you” is 汝 (nanji). In the
version quoted in this chapter, “you all” is 諸人 (SHONIN), lit. “all/many people” or “eve-
ryone.” A related quotation also exists in Keitoku-dento-roku chap. 19 (section on Master
Hofuku Juten). In the third line of the Keitoku-dento-roku quotation, 諸人 (SHONIN), “eve-
ryone,” is both the subject and object of to meet: “Brothers! I went to Boshu-tei pavilion and
met you, I went to Useki-rei peak and met you. Everyone has met everyone in front of the Monks’
Hall.”
64. Master Hofuku Juten (867?–927), successor of Master Seppo.
65. Master Gako Chifu (dates unknown), also a successor of Master Seppo.
66. 望州亭 (BOSHUTEI), lit. “Pavilion that Surveys the Province,” was one of the
twenty-three beauty spots on Mt. Seppo in Fuchou province, and therefore a symbol of
an ideal place.
 272 KOMYO

peak?”67 Gako runs back to the abbot’s quarters. Hofuku goes straight into the
Monks’ Hall.
The present returning to the abbot’s quarters and going into the Monks’
Hall are getting the body free as a comment, are the truth of the state of
meeting each other, and are the Monks’ Hall having met itself.
[141] Great Master Shin-o of Jizo-in temple68 says, “The Cook69 is going into the
Kitchen Hall.”70 This comment is a matter before the Seven Buddhas.

Shobogenzo Komyo

Preached to the assembly at Kan-

non-dori-kosho-horin-ji temple,
in the 4th period of the 3rd
watch71 of the night of the 2nd
day of the 6th lunar month, in the
3rd year of Ninji.72 At the time,
the rain of the wet season fell
thick and heavy, drops dripping
endlessly under the eaves. Just
what is this brightness? The monks
in the assembly could not help
being pierced by Unmon’s
words.

67.烏石嶺 (USEKI-REI), lit. “Crow’s Rock Peak,” a gently sloping mountain located
close to Fuchou city.
68. Master Rakan Keichin (867–928), successor of Master Gensa Shibi. Great Master
Shin-o is his posthumous title.
69. 典座 (TENZO), one of the six main officers in a temple.
70. Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 24.
71. 三更四点 (SANKO-SHITEN). Each night was divided into five 更 (KO), or watches,
and each watch was divided into five 点 (TEN).
72. 1242.
 [37]
身心学道

SHINJIN-GAKUDO
Learning the Truth
with Body and Mind
Shinjin means “body and mind,” and gakudo means “learning the truth,”
so shinjin-gakudo means “Learning the Truth with Body and Mind.” Gen-
erally speaking, people usually think that they can arrive at the truth through
intellectual reasoning. In Buddhism, however, it is taught that the truth can
be attained not by the intellect alone, but through action. Therefore learning
the truth in Buddhism includes both physical pursuit of the truth and mental
pursuit of the truth. This is why Master Dogen called the Buddhist pursuit
of the truth “learning the truth with body and mind.” In this chapter he ex-
plained learning the truth with body and learning the truth with mind, and
at the same time, he explained that the two ways of pursuing the truth are
always combined in the oneness of action. So we can say that the division of
learning the truth into two ways is only a method of explaining the Buddhist
pursuit of the truth through action.

[143] The Buddha’s truth is such that if we intend not to practice the truth
we cannot attain it, and if we intend not to learn [the truth] it becomes
more and more distant. Zen Master Dai-e1 of Nangaku said, “Practice-and-
experience is not nonexistent, but it must not be tainted.”2 If we do not learn
the Buddha’s truth, we are bound to fall into the states of non-Buddhists,
icchantikas,3 and so on. Therefore former buddhas and later buddhas all
unfailingly practice the Buddha’s truth. Provisionally, there are two ways

1. Master Nangaku Ejo (677–744), successor of Master Daikan Eno. Zen Master Dai-e
is his posthumous title.
2. See, for example, chap. 7, Senjo.
3. The Sanskrit icchantika means one who pursues desires to the end and therefore
has no interest in the truth.

273
 274 SHINJIN-GAKUDO

to learn the Buddha’s truth: to learn it with the mind, and to learn it with
the body.
[144] “To learn with the mind” is to learn with all the kinds of mind that
there are. “All the kinds of mind” means the mind [called] citta,4 the mind
[called] hÁidaya,5 the mind [called] vÁiddha,6 and so on. Further, after we
have established—through sympathetic communication of the truth7—the
bodhi-mind, we take refuge in the great truth of the Buddhist patriarchs
and learn the concrete actions which are the establishment of the bodhi-
mind. Even if the real bodhi-mind has not yet arisen in us, we should imi-
tate the methods of the Buddhist patriarchs who established the bodhi-
mind before us. This is the establishment of the bodhi-mind, it is the na-
ked mind moment by moment, it is the mind of eternal buddhas, it is the
normal mind, and it is the triple world as the one mind. There is learning
of the truth through casting aside these kinds of mind, and there is learn-
ing of the truth through taking them up. In such instances, the truth is
learned through thinking, and the truth is learned through not thinking. In
some instances, a robe of golden brocade is authentically transmitted and
a robe of golden brocade is received.8 In other instances, there is ”You have
got my marrow” and there is standing in place after making three prostra-
tions.9 Or there is the learning of the mind with the mind10 in pounding of

4. The Sanskrit citta means thought, intention, reason, intelligence. (See Book 1,
Glossary.)
5. The Sanskrit hÁidaya means the heart (especially as the seat of emotions and men-
tal activity), soul, or mind. The Chinese commentary Maka-shikan translates hÁidaya as 草
木心 (SOMOKU-SHIN), “the mind of grass and trees.” Broadly then, hÁidaya can be inter-
preted as the unconscious or subconscious mind. Ibid.
6. The Sanskrit vÁiddha means grown up, experienced, wise. Maka-shikan translates
vÁiddha as 積聚精要心 (SHAKUJU-SHOYO-SHIN), “experienced and concentrated mind.”
Ibid.
7. 感応道交 (KANNO-DOKO). 感応 (KANNO) means response, 道 (DO) means way,
truth, or state of truth, and 交 (KO) means intercourse, interchange, or intersection. 感応
道交 (KANNO-DOKO) is a traditional phrase which JEBD translates as “responsive com-
munion,” adding: The communication between the Buddha and human beings. Moreover in zen
Buddhism, rapport between a zen master and his disciple characterized by full communication.
8. Refers to the transmission between the Buddha and Master Mah‡k‡˜yapa.
9. Refers to the transmission between Master Bodhidharma and Master Taiso Eka.
10. 以心学心 (I-SHIN-GAKU-SHIN), lit. “with the mind learning the mind,” is a modifi-
cation of the common phrase 以心伝心 (I-SHIN-DEN-SHIN), lit. “with the mind transmitting
the mind,” which describes intuitive transmission from mind to mind—as sound is
transmitted through the sympathetic resonance of tuning forks.
 SHINJIN-GAKUDO 275

rice and transmission of the robe.11 To shave one’s head and dye one’s
clothes are just to convert one’s mind and to enlighten one’s mind. To
scale the city walls and go into the mountains12 is to leave one mind and
enter another mind. That the mountains are being entered is “Thinking the
concrete state of not thinking.”13 That the world is being abandoned is ”Non-
thinking.”14 To be amassing this state as an Eye is a matter of two or three
bushels.15 To be playing with this state as karmic consciousness is a matter
of a thousand myriad concrete characteristics. In learning the truth like
this—whether acclaim has naturally accrued to the effective or whether
effectiveness has yet to accrue to the acclaimed—secretly to borrow the
nostrils of a Buddhist patriarch and let them expel air, or to use the hooves
of a horse or a donkey to stamp the seal of real experience, is just a sign-
post for ten thousand ages.
[148] In brief, mountains, rivers, and the Earth, and the sun, moon, and
stars, are the mind. [But] just at the moment this is so, what state is being
actualized before us? As regards the meaning of “mountains, rivers, and
the Earth,” “mountains and rivers” are for example a mountain and wa-
ter,16 and “the Earth” is not only this place.17 Mountains may be of many
kinds—there is the great Sumeru and there are the lesser Sumerus; there
are [mountains] which lie horizontally and those which stand vertically;
there are those of three thousand worlds and those of countless realms;
there are those which depend on matter and those which depend on the
immaterial. Rivers also may be of many kinds—there are celestial rivers
and earthly rivers, there are the four great rivers,18 there is the Lake of

11. Refers to the transmission between Master Daiman Konin and Master Daikan
Eno.
12.Refers to the Buddha’s leaving home to seek the truth.
13.Words of Master Yakusan Igen, describing Zazen. See, for example, chap. 27,
Zazenshin.
14. Also words of Master Yakusan, describing Zazen. Ibid.
15. 斛 (KOKU) is a measure of capacity equivalent to about 180 liters. The state of non-
thinking in action is not only an abstract matter; it has real content.
16. 山水 (SANSUI), or “mountains and water,” in general means Nature, or natural
scenery (see chap. 14, Sansuigyo). Here it means a concrete mountain and real water as
opposed to an abstract concept.
17. “The Earth” is not only this concrete place, but is also a concept which is univer-
sally valid.
18. 四大河 (SHIDAIKA). In Sanskrit they are GaÔg‡ (the Ganges), Sindhu, Vaksu, and
Sita. These rivers were thought by ancient Indians to flow from Anavatapta, a lake inhab-
ited by a dragon king where all fires of suffering are extinguished.
276 SHINJIN-GAKUDO

Freedom from Heat,19 there are the four Anavatapta lakes in the northern
continent of Uttara-kuru,20 there are oceans and there are ponds. The earth
is not always soil, and soil is not always the earth.21 There can be [“earth”
in] land, there can be [“earth” in] a mental state, and there can be [“earth”
in] a treasure-site.22 [“Earth”] is of myriad kinds, but that does not nullify
[the concept] “earth.” There may be worlds in which space is seen as
earth. There may be differences in the way that the sun, moon, and stars
are seen by human beings and gods: the views of all creatures are not the
same. Because this is so, what is seen by the mind of oneness23 is uniform.
The [mountains, rivers, and Earth, sun, moon, and stars] described above
are already the mind—so should we see them as inner or as outer? Should
we see them as appearing or as leaving? At the moment of birth is a bit of
something added or not? At death is a speck of something taken away or
not? Where are we to place this life and death, and these views of life and
death? The past was simply one moment of the mind, then a second mo-
ment of the mind. One moment of the mind then a second moment of the
mind, is one moment of mountains, rivers, and the Earth then a second
moment of mountains, rivers, and the Earth. Because the mountains, the
rivers, the Earth, and so on are beyond existence and nonexistence, they
are not great or small, they are not attainable or unattainable, they are be-
yond recognition and non-recognition, they are beyond penetrability and
impenetrability, and they do not change with realization and non-
realization. We should definitely believe that when the mind thus de-
scribed is acquiring by itself the habit of learning the truth, that is called
“the mind learning the truth.” This belief itself is beyond great and small,
existence and nonexistence. Our present learning of the truth, knowing that

19.無熱池 (MUNETSUCHI), a synonym for Lake Anavatapta.

20.One of the four great continents imagined by ancient Indians to surround Mt.
Sumeru, often described as a realm of everlasting happiness. (See Book 1, Glossary.)
21. 地 (CHI) means “earth” or (as in this sentence) “the earth,” or “the ground.” “The
Earth” (capitalized); i.e., planet Earth, is 大地 (DAICHI), lit. “the Great Earth.” This sen-
tence simply points out that the ground is composed of not only soil but also, for
example, various forms of rock, and that soil resides not only on the ground but also, for
example, in a river, or in a hanging plant pot.
22. 地 (CHI) has various meanings including earth, state, and site. The character 地
(CHI) is present in 土地 (TOCHI), “land,” in 心地 (SHINCHI), “mental state,” and in 宝地
(HOCHI), “treasure-site.” 宝地 (HOCHI), “treasure-site,” suggests a site for the Three
Treasures, that is, the grounds of a Buddhist temple.
23. 一心 (ISSHIN), lit. “one mind,” means the whole mind, the undivided mind, the
concentrated mind, or the balanced mind.
 SHINJIN-GAKUDO 277

a home is not our home, giving up our families, and leaving family life: this is
beyond estimation as great or small and is beyond estimation as far or
near; it is beyond all the patriarchs from the first to the last and is beyond
ascending and descending.24 We have development of things—of seven feet
or eight feet. We have devotion to the moment25—for ourselves and for oth-
ers. The state like this is just learning the truth.
[152] Because learning the truth is like this, fences, walls, tiles, and pebbles
are the mind. [Learning the truth] is never that “the triple world is solely the
mind” or that “the Dharma-world is solely the mind”; it is fences, walls, tiles,
and pebbles. Before the Kantsu years it is nurtured; after the Kantsu years it is
broken.26 It is dragging through the mud and staying in the water; and it is
binding oneself without rope.27 It has the power to extract a gem; and it
has skill in entering the water.28 There are days when it is released, there
are times when it disintegrates, and there are times when minutely it fades
away.29 It is not in the same state as outdoor pillars, and it is not on a par

24. 向上向下 (KOJO-KOGE). 向上 (KOJO), “ascending” or “being in the ascendant state,”

is explained in chap. 28, Butsu-kojo-no-ji. 向下 (KOGE), “descending,” or “directing oneself
downward,” suggests the direction of a teacher who, having realized the ascendant state,
hands the teaching down to others.
25. 展事投機 (TENJI-TOKI), “developing things and devoting oneself to the moment,”
is an expression of sincerity in everyday life which appears in several places in Sho-
bogenzo.
26. Alludes to the words of Master Sozan Kyonin: “Before the Kantsu years, this humble
monk understood matters on the periphery of the Dharma-body. After the Kantsu years I under-
stood matters beyond the Dharma-body.” (Goto-egen, chapter 13). Kantsu was the name of the
era during the reign of the Tang emperor Iso, from 860 to 873. Master Dogen picked up
the quote to suggest that the nature of learning the truth is not fixed, but changes with
time.
27. Suggests endurance and self-restraint in mundane daily behavior.
28. Suggests the ability to realize what is valuable, either through hard work or
through subtle means. 玉をひく (GYOKU o hiku), “extracting a gem,” may allude to a story
in Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 10: Master Joshu Jushin says, “Tonight I have given the answer.
Let anyone who understands the question come forward.” A monk steps out and prostrates
himself. The Master says, “Instead of throwing away a tile and extracting a gem, I have drawn
out this clod.” 水にいる (MIZU ni iru), “entering the water,” alludes to a story in Daihatsu-
nehan-kyo chap. 2: “There was a wise man who, using the power of expediency, entered the water
calmly and gradually, and got the pearl.”
29. In other words, as the process of learning the truth continues, self-consciousness
of learning the truth is lost.
 278 SHINJIN-GAKUDO

with stone lanterns.30 Because it is like this, in running barefoot we are

learning the truth and—who will put in their eyes and look?—in doing a
somersault we are learning the truth. Everyone has the state of just follow-
ing circumstances,31 at which moment falling walls allow us to learn the ten
directions and the absence of gates allows us to learn the four quarters.32
[154] Establishment of the bodhi-mind:33 this is sometimes achieved in life-
and-death, sometimes achieved in nirv‡ıa, and sometimes achieved in cir-
cumstances other than life-and-death and nirv‡ıa. It does not depend on a
place; rather, at a place where the mind is established [the establishment]
is unhindered. It neither arises from circumstances nor arises from wis-
dom; it is the bodhi-mind arising34 and is establishment of the bodhi-
mind.35 Establishment of the bodhi-mind is beyond existence and beyond
nonexistence; it is beyond good, beyond bad, and beyond indifference; it
does not originate from a reward-state, and it is not always impossible for
gods and sentient beings to realize. It is simply that, in time with time, we
establish the bodhi-mind. Because [the establishment] is not concerned
with circumstances, in the very moment of establishment of the bodhi-
mind, the whole Dharma-world establishes the bodhi-mind. [The estab-
lishment] seems to turn circumstances around, but circumstances are not
aware of it—[subject and object] are extending one hand together. [At the
same time] the establisher is extending his or her own hand, and is going
among alien beings. Even in states such as those of hell, hungry ghosts,

30. Learning the truth is a matter of action in which subject and object are combined;
it is not the state of purely objective things.
31. 随他去 (ZUITA-KO). 随 (ZUI) means “follow,” 他 (TA) means “others,” “the exter-
nal,” or “circumstances,” and 去 (KO), lit. “gone,” is emphatic—it suggests that the action
described has been performed completely. 随他去 (ZUITA-KO), “just following circum-
stances,” represents a compromising as opposed to a willful attitude. The phrase appears
in the following story: A monk asks Master Daizui Hoshin, “[They say that] when the holo-
caust at the end of a kalpa is blazing, the great-thousandfold world will be totally destroyed. I
wonder whether or not this place will be destroyed.” The Master says, “It will be destroyed.”
The monk says, “If that is so, should we just follow circumstances?” The Master says, “We
just follow circumstances.” (Goto-egen, chap. 4)
32. Master Kankei Shikan said, “In the ten directions there are no falling walls; in the four
quarters there are no gates. [Reality] is open, completely naked, bare, utterly clear, and without
anything to grasp.” (Goto-egen, chap. 11)
33. 発菩提心 (HOTSU-BODAISHIN) is the title of chap. 70, and also the theme of chap.
69, Hotsu-mujoshin and chap. 93, Doshin.
34. 菩提心発 (BODAISHIN-HOTSU).
35. 発菩提心 (HOTSU-BODAISHIN).
 SHINJIN-GAKUDO 279

animals, and asuras, we establish the bodhi-mind.

[156] “The naked mind moment by moment:”36 all things in the moment-moment
state are the naked mind, which is beyond [separation] into one moment
and two moments; it is moment-moment.
Lotus leaves are roundness on roundness,37
Their roundness is like a mirror.38
Spines of water chestnuts are pointedness on pointedness,39
Their pointedness is like a drill.

We say that [lotus leaves] are like mirrors, but they are moment, moment.
We say that [chestnut spines] are like drills, but they are moment, moment.
[157] “The mind of eternal buddhas:”40 long ago a monk asked the National
Master Daisho,41 “What is the mind of eternal buddhas?” Then the National
Master said, “Fences, walls, tiles, and pebbles.” So remember, the mind of
eternal buddhas is beyond fences, walls, tiles, and pebbles; and fences,
walls, tiles, and pebbles are not to be called “the mind of eternal
buddhas.” This is how we learn the mind of eternal buddhas.
[158] “The normal mind,”42 whether in this world or in other worlds, means
the normal mind. Yesterday leaves from this place and today comes from
this place. When [yesterday] leaves the whole sky leaves and when [today]
comes the whole earth comes. This is the normal mind. The normal mind
opens and closes within these confines. Because a thousand gates and ten
thousand doors at any one time are open or closed, they are normal.43 The

36. 赤心片片 (SEKISHIN [no] HENPEN), lit. “pieces of the red mind.” 赤 (SEKI), lit. “red,”
means naked or bare, as red flesh. 片 (HEN) lit. means “piece,” “bit,” or “fragment,” but
片片 (HENPEN) represents the passage of successive moments.
37. 団団 (DAN-DAN), lit. “round-round,” or “roundness moment by moment.”
38. In ancient China and Japan, mirrors were made from round plates of highly pol-
ished copper.
39. 尖尖 (DAN-DAN), lit. “pointed-pointed,” or “pointedness moment by moment.”
40. 古仏心 (KOBUSSHIN). See chap. 43, Kobusshin.
41. Master Nan-yo Echu (?–775), successor of Master Daikan Eno. National Master
Daisho is his title as teacher of the Emperor.
42. 平常心 (BYOJOSHIN, or in modern Japanese pronunciation, HEIJOSHIN), means the
balanced and constant mind, the everyday mind, or the normal mind. See also chap. 25,
Jinzu, para. [211], and Butsu-kojo-no-ji of the 28-chapter edition of Shobogenzo.
43. In other words, normality is a momentary state of natural functioning which is
common to a large number of agents.
 280 SHINJIN-GAKUDO

present whole sky and whole earth44 are like speech which is unfamiliar, like
a voice erupting from the ground, [but] the words are in equilibrium, the
mind is in equilibrium, and the Dharma is in equilibrium. The living and
dying of lifetimes arise and vanish in the moment, but in regard to [life-
times] before the ultimate body45 we are utterly ignorant. Ignorant though
we are, if we establish the mind we will unfailingly progress along the
way of bodhi. Already this place is present, and we should have no fur-
ther doubt. Already there is doubt, but that itself is normal.
[159] “The body learning the truth” means learning the truth with the body,
learning the truth with a mass of red flesh. The body derives from learn-
ing the truth, and what derives from learning the truth is, in every case,
the body. The whole Universe in ten directions is just the real human body.46
Living-and-dying, going-and-coming, are the real human body.47 Using this
body to quit the ten wrongs,48 to keep the eight precepts,49 to take refuge
in the Three Treasures, and to give up a family and leave family life: this is
real learning of the truth. On this basis, we speak of “the real human body.”
Students of later ages must never be like non-Buddhists of the naturalistic
view.
[161] Zen Master Daichi of Hyakujo50 says, “If a person attaches to the under-
standing that, being originally pure and originally liberated, we are naturally
buddha and naturally one with the way of Zen, [that person] belongs among the
non-Buddhists of naturalism.”51

44. 蓋天 (GAITEN), “the whole sky,” or “the whole of the heavens,” and 蓋地 (GAICHI),
“the whole earth,” are uncommon expressions (they both appear in this chapter and in
chap. 42, Tsuki, and 蓋天 appears in chap. 1, Bendowa). However, Master Dogen thought
them suitable to describe the normal mind, which is the inclusive Buddha-mind, not the
mind of the common person.
45. 最後身 (SAIGOSHIN), “the ultimate body,” means our present life on the earth.
46. The words of Master Chosa Keishin (?–868). See chap. 50, Shoho-jisso.
47. The words of Master Engo Kokugon (1063–1135). Ibid.
48. 十悪 (JU-AKU), the ten wrongs, are 1) killing; 2) stealing; 3) adultery; 4) lying; 5)
flattery; 6) abusive language; 7) two-faced speech; 8) greed; 9) anger; and 10) foolishness.
49. 八戒 (HACHIKAI), the eight precepts, are: 1) not killing living things; 2) not steal-
ing; 3) not having sexual intercourse; 4) not lying; 5) not drinking alcohol; 6) not wearing
decorative clothing or make-up, and not enjoying entertainment; 7) not sleeping on high,
luxurious beds; 8) not eating after midday. These precepts were sometimes kept by lay
people for a period of 24 hours.
50. Master Hyakujo Ekai (749–814), successor of Master Baso Do-itsu. Zen Master
Daichi is his posthumous title.
51. Kosonshuku-goroku, chap. 2.
 SHINJIN-GAKUDO 281

These are not the broken tools of an idler; they are the accumulated
merit and heaped-up virtue52 of learning the truth. Having sprung free, they
are brilliant in all aspects. Having dropped free, they are like wisteria
hanging on the trees. Sometimes they manifest this body to save others and
preach for them the Dharma;53 sometimes they manifest another body to save
others and preach for them the Dharma; sometimes through non-
manifestation of this body they save others and preach for them the
Dharma; sometimes through non-manifestation of another body they save
others and preach for them the Dharma, and so on... as far as not preach-
ing for others the Dharma. At the same time, in [Hyakujo’s] abandonment
of the body there is something that has stopped all sound by raising its
voice,54 and in his throwing away of his life there is something that has got
the marrow by cutting the bowels.55 He develops as his own children and
grandchildren even those who set out to learn the truth before the King of
Majestic Sound.56 The words “the whole Universe in ten directions” mean
that each of the ten directions is the whole Universe. The East, the West,
the South, the North, the four diagonals, up and down—these are called
“the ten directions.” We should consider the moment when their front,
back, length, and breadth are perfectly whole. “Considering” means
clearly seeing and ascertaining that the human body, although it is restricted
by self and others,57 is the whole of the ten directions. We have heard in this
[expression] what has never been heard before—because its direction is
balanced, and because its sphere58 is balanced. The human body is the four
elements and the five aggregates. Neither the great elements nor the
smallest particles can be wholly realized by the common man, but they are
mastered in experience by the saints. Further, we should clearly see the
ten directions in a single particle. It is not that the ten directions comprise

52. 積功累徳 (SHAKKU-RUITOKU), a phrase borrowed from the Lotus Sutra. See, for
example, LS 2.218–220.
53. Alludes to the famous passage in the Lotus Sutra about Bodhisattva Avalo-
kite˜vara. See LS 3.252, and Shobogenzo, chap. 33, Kannon.
54. Master Dogen not only praised Master Hyakujo’s words, but also supposed
Hyakujo’s powerful presence as a speaker when he delivered the words to an audience.
55. Master Hyakujo had realized the truth through painstaking effort.
56. 威音王 (I-ON-NO), a very old buddha mentioned in Lotus Sutra Jofugyo-bosatsu :
“In the eternal past, countless, infinite, inconceivable asa¸khya kalpas ago, there was a buddha
named King of Majestic Voice...” (LS 3.128).
57. In other words, although a human body must belong to someone.
58. 界 (KAI), as in 尽十方界 (JIN-JUPPO-KAI), “the whole Universe in the ten direc-
tions.”
282 SHINJIN-GAKUDO

single particles. In some instances a Monks’ Hall and a Buddha Hall are
constructed in a single particle, and in some instances the whole Universe
is constructed in a Monks’ Hall and a Buddha Hall. On this basis59 [the
whole Universe] is constructed; and construction, on this basis, is realized.
Such a principle is that the whole Universe in ten directions is the real human
body. We should not follow the wrong view of naturalism. That which is
beyond spatial measurement is not wide or narrow. The whole Universe in
the ten directions is the eighty-four thousand aggregates of Dharma-
preaching, it is the eighty-four thousand states of sam‡dhi, and it is the
eighty-four thousand dh‡raı„s.60 Because the eighty-four thousand aggre-
gates of Dharma-preaching are the turning of the wheel of Dharma, a
place where the wheel of Dharma turns is all the world and is all of Time.
It is not a place without directions or boundaries: it is the real human body.
You now and I now are people of the real human body which is the whole
Universe in ten directions. We learn the truth without overlooking such
things. As we continue, moment by moment, to give up the body and re-
ceive the body—whether for three great asa¸khyas of kalpas, for thirteen
great asa¸khyas of kalpas, or for countless great asa¸khyas of kalpas—
the momentary state of learning the truth is always to learn the truth in
forward steps and backward steps.61 To do a prostration and to bow with
joined hands are the moving and still forms of dignified behavior. In
painting a picture of a withered tree, and in polishing a tile of dead ash,
there is not the slightest interval.62 The passing days are short and pressed,
but learning the truth is profound and eternal. The air of those who have
given up their families and left family life may be bleak, but we are not to
be confused with woodcutters. The livelihood is a struggle, but we are not
the same as peasants. Do not compare us in terms of deludedness or of
good and bad. Do not get stuck in the area of wrong and right or true and
false. “Living-and-dying, going-and-coming, are the real human body”: These
words “living-and-dying”63 describe the aimless wandering64 of the com-

59.That is, on the basis of unity—through the unity of particles and the Universe,
and through the unity of the valuable and the material.
60. Aggregates of Dharma-preaching, sam‡dhis, and dh‡raı„s all suggest Buddhist
realization in action. Dh‡raı„s are explained in chap. 55, Darani.
61. In other words, in action—both active and passive.
62. In other words, the effort continues 24 hours a day to realize the state in which
there are no emotional reactions.
63. 生死 (SHOJI), or “life-and-death,” is the title of chap. 92. Master Dogen saw life
and death as a momentary state in the present; hence the translation “living-and-dying.”
 SHINJIN-GAKUDO 283

mon man and at the same time that which was shed by the Great Saint.
The effort to transcend the common and transcend the sacred is not sim-
ply to be described as “the real human body.” In this effort there are the two
kinds and the seven kinds [of life-and-death];65 at the same time every
kind, when perfectly realized, is totally life-and-death—which, therefore,
we need not fear. The reason [we need not fear life-and-death] is that even
before we are through with life, we are already meeting death in the pre-
sent. And even before we are through with death, we are already meeting
life in the present.66 Life does not hinder death, and death does not hinder
life. Neither life nor death is known to the common man. Life may be lik-
ened to a cedar tree and death to a man of iron.67 Cedar trees are restricted
by cedar trees, but life is never restricted by death, for which reason it is
the learning of the truth. Life is not the primary occurrence, and death is
not the secondary one. Death does not oppose life, and life does not de-
pend on death.
[168] Zen Master Engo68 says:
Life is the manifestation of all functions,
Death is the manifestation of all functions.
They fill up the whole of space.
The naked mind is always moment by moment.69

We should quietly consider and examine these words. Although Zen Mas-
ter Engo has spoken like this, he still does not know that life-and-death is
beyond all functions. When we learn going-and-coming in practice, there is
life-and-death in going, there is life-and-death in coming, there is going-
and-coming in life, and there is going-and-coming in death. Going-and-

64. 流転 (RUTEN) represents the Sanskrit sa¸s‡ra (see Book 1, Glossary).

65. 二種七種 (NISHU-SHICHISHU), “the two kinds and seven kinds,” categorize various
forms of wandering in life and death experienced by the common and the sacred respec-
tively. For the common person there are only two kinds: discrimination and change. For
sacred beings there are a further five.
66. In short, life and death co-exist in the present.
67. 鉄漢 (TEKKAN), “iron man,” like 古木 (KOBOKU), “withered tree,” and 死灰
(SHIKAI), “dead ash,” represents a practitioner who has got free of all emotional worry-
ing.
68. Master Engo Kokugon (1063–1135), successor of Master Goso Hoen. Master Engo
was the compiler of Hekigan-roku (The Blue Cliff Record).
69. Quoted in Engo-bukka-zenji-goroku (Record of the Words of Master Engo), chap. 17.
See also Shobogenzo, chap. 41, Zenki.
284 SHINJIN-GAKUDO

coming, with the whole Universe in the ten directions as two wings or
three wings, goes flying away and comes flying back, and with the whole
Universe in the ten directions as three feet or five feet, steps forward and
steps backward. With life-and-death as its head and tail, the real human
body which is the whole Universe in ten directions can turn somersaults
and turn around its brain. In turning somersaults and turning around its
brain, it is as if the size of a penny, or like the inside of an atom.70 The flat,
level, and even state is walls standing a thousand feet high.71 And the
place where walls stand a thousand feet high is the flat, level, and even
state. Thus the real features of the southern continent72 and the northern
continent73 exist; examining their [real features], we learn the truth. The
bones and marrow of non-thought and non-non-thought exist; resisting
this [idea], we solely learn the truth.

Shobogenzo Shinjin-gakudo

Preached to the assembly at

Horin-ji temple on the day of
double good fortune74 in the 3rd
year of Ninji.75

70. The actions and thoughts of a real human body, although it is one with the whole
Universe, are not abstract and general but concrete and exact.
71. Thousand-foot walls suggests difficult problems in daily life. See also chap. 44,
Kobusshin.
72. 南洲 (NANSHU), “the southern continent,” means Jambudv„pa, the world in which
human beings are living.
73. 北洲 (HOKUSHU), “the northern continent,” means Uttara-kuru, a blissful realm
north of Mt. Sumeru inhabited by celestial beings. See also note 20.
74. 重陽日 (CHOYO [no] HI), “double Yang day,” means the 9th day of the 9th lunar
month. Seeing nine as a lucky number, the Chinese sometimes represented the number
nine as Yang, which represents the bright side of life.
75. 1242.
 [38]
夢中説夢

MUCHU-SETSUMU
Preaching a Dream in a Dream
Mu means “dream,” chu means “in,” and setsu means “preach.” So
muchu-setsumu means “preaching a dream in a dream.” In Buddhist phi-
losophy there is an idea that our life is a kind of dream, because in everyday
life we cannot recognize our life itself. In other words, our actual life is just a
moment here and now, and we cannot grasp such a moment. We are living at
every moment of the present, and every moment cannot be expressed with
words. So we can say that we are living in something like a dream. At the
same time, to preach Buddhist theory is a kind of preaching a dream, and fur-
thermore to live our life is also a kind of preaching, telling, or manifesting a
dream. So Master Dogen compared our life to preaching a dream in a dream.

[173] The truth which the buddhas and the patriarchs manifest is prior
to the sprouting of creation; therefore it is beyond discussions that arise
from old nests. On this basis there exist virtues, such as those in the vicin-
ity of Buddhist patriarchs and those in the ascendant state of buddha,
which are not concerned with the times, and whose age and life are there-
fore neither long-lasting nor short-lived—they may be far beyond the
suppositions of the common world. The turning of the wheel of Dharma,
again, is a criterion prior to the sprouting of creation; therefore it is a sign-
post for a thousand ages whose great virtue is beyond praise. This I
preach as a dream in a dream. Because it is the realization of experience in
experience, it is the preaching of the dream-state in the dream-state.1

1. 夢中説夢 (MUCHU-SETSUMU), as in the chapter title. In this chapter 夢 (MU),

“dream,” means not only images seen by a sleeping person, but rather the state which we
are describing when we say that life is like a dream. 中 (CHU) means 1) “in” or “inside,”
and 2) “the inside of,” “the center of,” “the state of,” or “the reality of.” 説 (SETSU) means
1) to preach, or to explain in words, and 2) to manifest or to tell in action or in words.

285
 286 MUCHU-SETSUMU

[175] This place of preaching the dream-state in the dream-state is the realm of
Buddhist patriarchs and is the order of Buddhist patriarchs. The Buddha’s
realm, the Buddha’s order, the patriarchs’ truth, and the patriarchs’ order,
are experience on the basis of experience and are preaching of the dream-
state in the dream-state. Do not think, when you encounter this speech or
this preaching, that it does not belong in the Buddha’s order. It is just the
Buddha’s turning of the wheel of Dharma. Because this wheel of Dharma
is the ten directions and eight aspects themselves, the great ocean,
Sumeru, national lands, and all dharmas are realized here and now. This
[realization] is the preaching of the dream-state in the dream-state which is
prior to all dreams. The pervasive disclosure of the entire Universe is the
dream-state. This dream-state is just the clear-clear hundred things2—and it
is the very moment in which we doubt that it is so; it is the very moment
of confusion. At this moment, it is to dream things,3 it is to be in things,4 it
is to preach things,5 and so on. When we learn this in practice, roots and
stalks, twigs and leaves, flowers and fruit, and light and color, are all the
great dream-state, which is not to be confused with dreaminess. Yet peo-
ple who prefer not to learn the Buddha’s truth, when they encounter this
preaching a dream in a dream, idly suppose that it might mean creating in-
substantial dreamy things which do not exist at all; they suppose it might
be like adding to delusion in delusion. [But] it is not so. Even when we are
adding to delusion in delusion, we should endeavor just then to learn in
practice the path of clarity6 of expression on which the words “delusion
upon delusion” are naturally spoken. 7 Preaching the dream-state in the
dream-state is the buddhas, and the buddhas are wind, rain, water, and
fire. They retain the latter names,8 and they retain the former name.9

2. 明明たる百艸 (MEIMEI taru HYAKUSO), lit. “the clear-clear hundred weeds,” alludes
to the traditional saying, “Clear-clear are the hundred weeds. Clear-clear is the will of
the Buddhist patriarchs.” (See Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 88.) 百艸 (HYAKUSO), “the hun-
dred weeds,” means miscellaneous individual concrete things.
3. 夢艸 (MUSO), “dreaming things,” suggests the mental side of reality.
4. 中艸 (CHUSO), “being in things,” suggests the material situation of reality. As a
verb, 中 (CHU suru) means to hit the target, or to exist in a finite, concrete state.
5. 説艸 (SESSO), “preaching things” or “manifesting things,” suggests the reality
which, in the state of action, is manifested as concrete things.
6. 通霄の路 (TSUSHO no RO), lit. “path through the sky,” or “path through to the
[dawn] sky,” means a path through to clarity.
7. Master Dogen understood delusion practically as a momentary state that we
should clarify by our effort.
8. “Wind, rain, water and fire.”
 MUCHU-SETSUMU 287

Preaching the dream-state in the dream-state is eternal buddhas, who, “riding

in this precious carriage, arrive directly at the place of truth.”10 Direct arrival at a
place of the truth is in the riding of this precious carriage.
Dreams going awry and dreams coming true,
Holding back and letting go,
We give free play to the elegant ways.11

The wheel of Dharma at such a moment sometimes turns the vast world
of the great wheel of Dharma, unfathomably and boundlessly, and some-
times turns in the smallest particle, operating ceaselessly even inside
atoms. The principle here is that in whatever matter which is it12 the
Dharma[-wheel] is turned, [even] enemies smile and nod.13 And whatever the
place, because the Dharma[-wheel] is turned as a matter which is it, it sets
in motion the elegant ways. Thus, the whole Earth is the instantaneously
limitless14 wheel of Dharma, and all the Universe is unambiguous cause-
and-effect. To the buddhas, [the whole Earth and all the Universe] are su-
preme. Remember, the instruction of the buddhas and the aggregates of
Dharma-preaching are each limitlessly establishing the teaching and limit-
lessly abiding in place. Do not look for the limits of their coming and
going: totally relying on this place they go, and totally relying on this place they
come. Thus, the planting of arrowroot and wisteria, and the entanglement
of arrowroot and wisteria,15 are the nature and form of the supreme truth
of bodhi. Just as bodhi is limitless, living beings are limitless and supreme.
Restrictions are limitless and at the same time release is limitless. The real-

9. “The buddhas.”
10. Lotus Sutra, Hiyu (A Parable): “Riding in this precious carriage,/We arrive directly at
the place of truth.” LS 1.202. In the Lotus Sutra, 此宝乗 (SHI-HOJO), “this precious carriage,”
refers to the one Buddha-vehicle. Here it is identified with the preaching of the dream-
state in the dream-state.
11. Words of Master Tendo Nyojo, quoted in Nyojo-osho-goroku, part 1.
12. 恁麼事 (INMOJI), or “ineffable something.” See chap. 29, Inmo.
13. Joso-seiryo-roku contains the preaching: “Letting go or holding back, we give free play
to the elegant ways. On the whole this makes [even] enemies smile and nod.” Joso-seiryo-roku
(Records of Patriarch Jo of Seiryo), like Nyojo-osho-goroku, is a record of the words of Master
Tendo Nyojo.
14. 無端 (MUTAN). 無 (MU) expresses absence. 端 (TAN) means end, limit, or origin. 無
端 (MUTAN), “limitless,” describes freedom or adaptability which can neither be pinned
down by the intellect nor totally perceived by the senses.
15. Complicated situations here and now. See chap. 46, Katto.
288 MUCHU-SETSUMU

ity of the Universe will give you thirty strokes:16 this is realized preaching of the
dream-state in the dream-state. So the tree without roots, the land beyond
yin and yang, and the valley that does not echo a cry,17 are just realized
preaching of the dream-state in the dream-state. It is beyond the bounded
worlds of human beings and gods, and beyond the suppositions of the
common man. Who could doubt that the dream-state is the state of bo-
dhi?—for it does not fall under the jurisdiction of doubt. And who could
affirm it?—for it is not subject to affirmation. Because this supreme state of
bodhi is just the supreme state of bodhi, we call the dream-state the
dream-state. There is centering on dreams,18 there is dream-preaching,19 there
is preaching of the dream-state,20 and there is being in the dream-state.21 With-
out being in the dream-state there is no preaching of the dream-state, and
without preaching of the dream-state there is no being in the dream-state.
Without preaching of the dream-state there are no buddhas, and without
being in the dream-state, buddhas can never appear in the world to turn
the wondrous wheel of Dharma. This wheel of Dharma is of buddhas alone,
together with buddhas, and it is preaching of the dream-state in the dream-state.
It is solely in preaching the dream-state in the dream-state that the supreme-
bodhi-multitude of buddhas and patriarchs exists. Still more, matters be-
yond the Dharma-body22 are just the preaching of the dream-state in the dream-
state, wherein there is homage to buddhas alone, together with buddhas,
and wherein attachment to head and eyes, marrow and brains, body and

16. Master Bokushu, seeing a monk approaching, said, “The real Universe will give you
thirty strokes.” Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 12.
17. Addressing ¯akra-dev‡n‡m-indra, seven wise women quoted a tree without
roots, a land without yin and yang, and a valley that does not echo a cry, as examples of
things that are very difficult to find. Rento-eyo, chap. 1. The phrases may be interpreted as
representations of the reality which defies expression.
18 . 中夢 (CHUMU) suggests the idealistic function of concentrating upon one’s
dreams or aiming to realize one’s dreams. This and the following three expressions rep-
resent different combinations of the characters in the chapter title, 夢 中 説 夢 (MU, CHU,
SETSU, MU).
19. 夢説 (MUSETSU) suggests the concrete recounting of a dream.
20. 説夢 (SETSUMU). In this context, 説 (SETSU) suggests not only preaching with
words, but also manifestation of what cannot be expressed with words. 夢 (MU) suggests
not only dream-images, but the reality that cannot be expressed with words.
21. 中夢 (CHUMU).
22. 法身向上事 (HOSSHIN-KOJO-JI), alludes to the words of Master Sozan Kyonin: “Be-
fore the Kantsu years, this humble monk understood matters on the periphery of the Dharma-
body. After the Kantsu years I understood matters beyond the Dharma-body.” (Goto-egen, chap-
ter 13; see also Shobogenzo, chap. 37, Shinjin-gakudo, para. [152]).
 MUCHU-SETSUMU 289

flesh, or hands and feet, is impossible. Because it is not attached to, the
state in which a seller of gold must be a buyer of gold,23 is called “the profound
within the profound,” is called “the fine within the fine,” is called “experience
within experience,” and is called “the head being placed on the head.”24 This
state is just the concrete behavior of a Buddhist patriarch. [But] in study-
ing this, [people] simply think that ”the head” means the top of a human
being. They never think of it as the top of Vairocana.25 How much less could
they think of it as in the clear-clear hundred weeds?26 They do not know the
head itself.
[182] The phrase “placing the head on the head” has been passed down since
ancient times. When stupid people hear it, they think it is a saying that re-
monstrates against something superfluous. To express that there is no
need for something, it is accepted as the usual custom to say, “Why place
a head on a head?” Truly, is this not mistaken? When [the phrase] is real-
ized as what is being preached, there are no differences [in its meaning]
whether it applies to the common or to the sacred.27 Therefore, preaching
of a dream in a dream by both the common and the sacred could happen
yesterday and can progress today. Remember, when yesterday’s preach-
ing of a dream in a dream was preaching of a dream in a dream being
recognized as preaching of a dream in a dream; and when today’s preach-
ing of a dream in a dream is preaching of a dream in a dream being
experienced as preaching of a dream in a dream, that is the happiness of
directly meeting buddha. How lamentable it is that although the Buddhist

23. 売金須是買金人 (kin o uru wa subekaraku kore kin o kau hito naru beshi); in other
words, sellers needs to put themselves in the place of buyers. The phrase suggests the
desirability of a balance between subject and object. Source not traced.
24. 頭上安頭 (ZU-JO-AN-ZU), lit. “placing the head on the head.” As explained in the
following paragraph, this expression was used in China to describe dreamy or superflu-
ous behavior. But Master Dogen interpreted the words as “the head being in the place of
the head,” that is, as an expression of the state of reality as it is.
25. P盧の頂上 (BIRU no CHOJO), “the top of Vairocana,” appears in Shinji-shobogenzo,
pt. 1, no. 26. Vairocana Buddha is the Sun Buddha, the main Buddha in the Buddha-
vatamsaka-nama-mah‡vaipulya-sÂtra, the Mah‡vairocana-sÂtra, the Vajra˜ekhara-sÂtra,
and others. The sun illuminates all things and phenomena, so the Sun Buddha can be
seen as a symbol of the oneness of the Universe.
26. 明明百艸頭 (MEIMEI [taru] HYAKUSOTO). In this phrase 頭 (TO), “head,” is a suffix
indicating individuality and concreteness. See also note 2.
27. Because the common and the sacred are always preaching (manifesting) them-
selves as they are, both are always realizing the meaning of “placing the head on the
head,” as the phrase is interpreted by Master Dogen.
290 MUCHU-SETSUMU

patriarchs’ dream, as the clear-clear hundred weeds, is more conspicuous

than a hundred thousand suns and moons, the living blind do not see it.
How pitiful it is. In the saying “placing the head on the head,” the head is that
of the hundred weeds,28 is that of the thousand kinds of things, is that of
myriad varieties of things, is that of the thoroughly realized body,29 is that of
the whole world never having been hidden, is that of the whole Universe in the
ten directions, is that of one phrase fitting the head,30 and is the top of the hun-
dred-foot pole.31 We should experience and should investigate that even
[the action of] placing and [the state of being] on are [the concreteness of]
head-head. In sum, “The appearance of all the buddhas and the buddhas’ truth of
anuttara-samyak-sa¸bodhi, relying entirely on this Sutra,”32 is the preaching
of a dream in a dream in which the head has been placed on the head. When
this Sutra itself preaches a dream in a dream, it manifests the buddhas
who are the supreme truth of bodhi. That the buddhas who are the truth
of bodhi go on to preach this Sutra is decidedly the preaching of a dream in a
dream. Dream-causes are not obscure, and so dream-effects are unambigu-
ous. [Preaching of a dream in a dream] is just one strike of the clapper
making a thousand hits or ten thousand hits, and is a thousand strikes or
ten thousand strikes of the clapper making one hit or half a hit. We should
know that, because it is like this, there is preaching of a dream in a dream
as matters which are it,33 there is preaching of a dream in a dream as people
who are it,34 there is preaching of a dream in a dream as matters which are

28. 百艸頭 (HYAKUSOTO), lit. “hundred weed-heads,” means hundreds of individual

concrete things. Besides its original meaning of “head,” 頭 (TO), is used 1) as a counter,
and 2) as a suffix to indicate that the preceding noun is something individual and con-
crete. Master Dogen is describing the dream-state as concrete things being as they are.
29. 通身 (TSUSHIN). See chap. 33, Kannon.
30. 一句合頭 (IKKU-GATTO). Master Sensu Tokujo said, “Words in which one phrase fits
the head [i.e. words that can be understood intellectually] are a stake to which to tie a donkey for
ten thousand kalpas.” See Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 90, and Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 14.
31. 百尺竿頭 (HYAKU-SHAKU-KAN-TO). From Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 10 (section on
Master Chosa Keishin): “On the top [lit. “head”] of a hundred-foot pole a person is not mov-
ing./But the ability to enter this state [i.e. a fixed position] is not called true./On top of a hundred-
foot pole, we should step forward./The Universe in ten directions is the whole body.”
32 . Diamond Sutra: “All the buddhas, and the buddhas’ state of anuttara-samyak-
sa¸bodhi, appear relying entirely on this Sutra.” 此経 (SHIKYO), “this Sutra,” means the Uni-
verse itself as a sutra.
33. 恁麼事 (INMOJI), or “matters which are ineffable,” are the words of Master Ungo
Doyo. See chap. 29, Inmo, para. [85].
34. 恁麼人 (INMONIN), or “people who are the ineffable.” Ibid.
 MUCHU-SETSUMU 291

not it,35 and there is preaching of a dream in a dream as people who are not
it.36 The truth that is being recognized here is conspicuously evident: it is
that preaching of a dream in a dream, all day long, is just preaching of a
dream in a dream. For this reason, an eternal Buddha said, “I now, for you,
am preaching a dream in a dream, as the buddhas of the three times also preach a
dream in a dream, and as the six ancestral masters also preached a dream in a
dream.”37 We should clearly study these words. The picking up of a flower
and the wink of an eye are just the preaching of a dream in a dream. Do-
ing prostrations and getting the marrow are just the preaching of a dream
in a dream. In general, expressing the truth in a single phrase, and not un-
derstanding38 and not knowing,39 are all the preaching of a dream in a
dream. Because [preaching a dream in a dream] is the thousand hands and
thousand eyes which use limitlessly abundant doings of what,40 the virtues of
seeing forms, seeing sounds, hearing forms, and hearing sounds, are eve-
rywhere fulfilled. There is preaching a dream in a dream as manifestation
of the body. There is preaching a dream in a dream as aggregates of
dream-preaching and Dharma-preaching. It is preaching a dream in a
dream in holding back and letting go.41 Direct direction is the preaching of a
dream, and hitting the target is the preaching of a dream. [In everyday
life] whether holding back or letting go, we should learn [the function of]
an ordinary weighing scale. When we have learned this, then in all cir-

35. 不恁麼事 (FU-INMOJI). In chap. 29, Inmo, para. [106], Master Sekito Kisen uses the
term 不恁麼 (FU-INMO) which means “not it,” “not like that,” or “beyond ineffability.”
36. 不恁麼人 (FU-INMONIN).
37. Seccho-Myokaku-zenji-goroku (Record of the Words of Master Seccho Juken), chap. 4,
contains the following: “The buddhas of the three times are preaching a dream, and the six
ancestral masters are preaching a dream.” The six ancestral masters means the six patriarchs
in China from Master Bodhidharma to Master Daikan Eno.
38. 不会 (FU-E), “not understanding [intellectually],” generally alludes to the words
of Master Daikan Eno, “I do not understand the Buddha-Dharma” (我不会仏法). See
Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 59.
39. 不識 (FUSHIKI), “not knowing [intellectually],” alludes to the words of Master Bo-
dhidharma. See chap. 30, Gyoji [188], and chap. 20, Kokyo [162].
40. Alludes to Master Ungan Donjo’s question to Master Dogo Enchi: “What does the
Bodhisattva of Great Compassion do by using his limitlessly abundant hands and eyes?” In Mas-
ter Dogen’s interpretation 作麼 (SOMO), “doings of what,” means ineffable functions. See
chap. 33, Kannon.
41. 把定放行 (HAJO-HOGYO), “holding back and letting go,” or “exercising restraint
and behaving freely,” expresses the two fundamental attitudes in everyday life, and by
extension everyday life itself. The expression comes from Master Tendo’s preaching
quoted in para. [175].
 292 MUCHU-SETSUMU

cumstances the weight of things is apparent to our eyes, and preaching of

a dream in a dream emerges. We need not discuss pounds and ounces,42
but unless we reach the point of balance, balance does not actually exist.
When we achieve balance, we see balance. At the point where balance has
been achieved, it is not resting upon the object [being weighed], nor upon
the scale, nor upon chance circumstances:43 it is hanging in space44—but if
balance is not achieved, balance cannot be seen. We should investigate
this in practice. When we ourselves are as if hanging in space, letting the
objects we touch float freely in space, this is preaching a dream in a
dream, and inside space we are bodily manifesting balance. Balance is a
weighing scale’s great truth, on which hangs space and on which hang
objects. To experience balance—whether it is immaterial45 or material—is
to be preaching a dream in a dream. There is nothing that is not the liber-
ated state of preaching a dream in a dream. The dream is the whole Earth,
and the whole Earth is balance. Therefore, [even] endless cerebral revolu-
tions are nothing other than the belief, and the devout conduct, which
experience the dream from inside the dream.
[187] ¯‡kyamuni Buddha said:

42. 銖Z (SHURYO), translated in the previous sentence as “weight of things,” are con-
crete units of weight. There are 24 銖 (SHU) in a Z (RYO), but the weight to which they
correspond has changed from age to age.
43. In other words, balance, being dynamic, does not rest on any one thing. We can-
not maintain balance by relying upon drugs, for example, or upon a fixed one-sided
viewpoint.
44. 空 (KU) means 1) three-dimensional space; 2) emptiness—the circumstances of
the state without emotional thought or feeling; and 3) the immaterial—the abstract as
opposed to the material or the concrete.
45. 空 (KU). See previous note.
 MUCHU-SETSUMU 293

The buddhas, bodies golden colored

And adorned with a hundred signs of happiness,
Hearing Dharma and preaching it for others:46
Their constant existence is a pleasant dream.47
Further, in dream-action, as kings of nations48
They have forsaken palaces, followers,
And the five desires for the superior and fine,
To go to a place of the truth.
At the foot of a Bodhi tree,
They have sat upon the lion-seat,
Pursued the truth for seven days,
And attained the wisdom of the buddhas.
Having realized the supreme truth
They arise and turn the wheel of Dharma,
Preaching the Dharma to the four groups49
For thousands of myriads of koÒis of kalpas.
They preach the faultless wonderful Dharma
And save countless living beings,
After which they naturally enter nirv‡ıa
Like a lamp going out when its smoke is spent.
If [anyone] in future corrupt ages

46. In the preceding section of the Lotus Sutra the subject is “someone who reads
this Sutra.” This line is therefore easily interpreted as indicating the same subject (who
not only reads the Sutra but also hears it and preaches it to others). Thus LSW has: “[he
who reads this sutra is]... deep in meditation,/Seeing the universal buddhas./Golden colored are
those buddhas, Adorned with a hundred blessed signs;/[He who] hears and preaches to others/
Ever has good dreams like these./Again he will dream he is a king...” (LSW pp. 235-236). Master
Dogen’s commentary, however, indicates that the subject of this section is the buddhas
themselves.
47. 常有是好夢 (JO-U-ZE-KOMU, or ko[no] komu tsune [ni] ari) is conventionally inter-
preted to mean “constantly have this pleasant dream”—thus LSW: “Ever has good dreams
like these.” However, 有 (U) means both “to have” and “existence,” and 是 (ZE), can means
“this,” can mean “concrete,” and can also function as a copula. Therefore this line can be
interpreted “[The buddhas] are the constant existence of the concrete pleasant dream-
state,” or “[The buddhas’] constant existence is itself a pleasant dream.”
48. 又夢作国王 (YU-MUSA-KOKU-O), as usually read in Japanese (mata yume(muraku]
koku-o to na[rite]) means, “Again, [the dreamer] dreams of becoming the king of a na-
tion”—thus LSW: “Again he will dream he is a king...” However, 作 (SA) means both “to
become” and “to act,” and Master Dogen in his commentary emphasizes that, even in the
Sutra, 夢作 (MUSA) means not “to dream of becoming...” but rather “dream-action.”
49. Monks, nuns, lay men, and lay women.
 294 MUCHU-SETSUMU

Preaches this paramount Dharma,

That person will obtain great benefit
Such as the virtues [described] above.50

[189] Learning in practice the present preaching of the Buddha, we should

perfectly realize the Buddhist order of the buddhas. This [preaching] is
not a metaphor.51 Because the wonderful Dharma of the buddhas is of
buddhas alone, together with buddhas, in dreaming and waking alike all
dharmas are real form.52 There is establishment of the mind, training, bodhi,
and nirv‡ıa in the waking state, and there is establishment of the mind,
training, bodhi, and nirv‡ıa inside the dream state. The dream state and
the waking state are each real form; they are beyond greater and smaller
and beyond superior and inferior. Nevertheless, seeing and hearing words
such as “Further, dreaming of becoming the king of a nation…”53 people of the
past and present have misunderstood that, due to the influence of the
preaching of this paramount Dharma, dreams at night come true. To have
understood like this is never to have clarified the Buddha’s preaching. The
dream state and the waking state originally are oneness, and are real form.
Buddha-Dharma may be a metaphor and at the same time real form.54
[But this dream-action] in the first place is not a metaphor: dream-action is
the reality of the Buddha-Dharma. ¯‡kyamuni Buddha, along with all the
buddhas and patriarchs, establishes the mind and undergoes training, and
realizes the balanced and right state of awakening, in the dream-state.
That being so, the lifetime teaching of the Buddha’s truth to the present
sah‡ world,55 is just dream-action. “Seven days” expresses a length of time
for attaining the Buddha-wisdom. Turning the wheel of Dharma, and saving

50.Lotus Sutra, Anraku-gyo (Peaceful and Joyful Practice). LS 2.282.

51.That is to say, the Buddha is not giving a metaphorical account of a dream, but is
describing actual behavior of buddhas in the state of dream-action.
52. Alludes to Lotus Sutra, Hoben (Expedient Means): “Buddhas alone, together with
buddhas, are directly able to perfectly realize that all dharmas are real form.” (LS 1.68)
53. 又夢作国王 (YU-MUSA-KOKU-O). See note 48.
54. The Lotus Sutra (the Sutra of the Flower of Dharma), for example, contains many
parables or metaphors. In fact the word for parable or metaphor, 比喩 (HIYU), or 喩 (YU)
for short, appears in the title of three of the first seven chapters of the Lotus Sutra. But in
Shobogenzo, chap. 88, Kie-sanbo, Master Dogen praises the Lotus Sutra as follows: “Other
sutras and other Dharma are all the subjects and the retinue of the Sutra of the Flower of Dharma.
What is preached in the Sutra of the Flower of Dharma is just the truth; what is preached in other
sutras always includes an expedient means, which is not the Buddha’s fundamental intention.”
55. The world of human beings; the mundane world.
 MUCHU-SETSUMU 295

living beings, [however,] have been called “for thousands of myriads of koÒis of
kalpas”—because the situation in the dream-state is indefinable.

The buddhas, bodies golden colored

And adorned with a hundred signs of happiness,
Hearing Dharma and preaching it for others:
Their constant existence is a pleasant dream.
Clearly, here it is verified that the pleasant dream is the buddhas. The
Tath‡gata's truth is present as constant existence,56 not only a hundred-year
dream. To preach it for others is to manifest the body. To hear Dharma is for
the eyes to hear sound; it is for the mind to hear sound; it is for one’s old
nests57 to hear sound; it is, prior to the kalpa of emptiness, to hear sound.
The body of the buddhas is golden colored
And adorned with a hundred signs of happiness.
The pleasant dream being the body of buddhas is “Arriving directly at the
present and doubting no more.”58 While the principle remains that the Bud-
dha’s instruction is unceasing in the waking state, the principle of the
actual realization of Buddhist patriarchs is always dream-action in the
dream-state. We should learn it in practice through no insulting of the Bud-
dha-Dharma.59 When we are learning in practice no insulting of the Buddha-
Dharma, the truth now spoken by the Tath‡gata is instantly realized.

56. 常有 (JO-U) means “constant existence” or “eternal existence.”

57. 旧巣処聞声 (KYUSOJO-MONSHO), “to hear sound through the organ of old nests,”
means to let sound penetrate consciousness that has been conditioned by past habits and
experience.
58. 直至如今更不疑 (jiki [ni] nyokon [ni] itari [te] sara [ni] utaga [wa] zu). This is the last
line of a poem by Master Reiun Shigon. See chap. 9, Keisei-sanshiki, and Shinji-shobogenzo,
pt. 2, no. 55.
59. 莫謗仏法 (buppo o bo [suru] koto na[shi]). 謗 (BO, bo [suru]), “to insult,” suggests not
only verbal abuse of the Buddha-Dharma but also intellectual or sentimental doubts and
explanations. The tenth of the ten pure precepts is 不謗三宝 (FUBO-SANBO), “Do not insult
the Three Treasures.” See chap. 94, Jukai.
296 MUCHU-SETSUMU

Shobogenzo Muchu-setsumu

Preached to the assembly at Kan-

non-dori-kosho-horin-ji temple in
the Uji district of Yoshu,60 on the
21st day of the 9th lunar month in
the autumn of the 3rd year of
Ninji.61

60. Corresponds to present-day Kyoto prefecture.

61. 1242.
 [39]
道得

DOTOKU
Expressing the Truth
Do means “to speak” and toku means “to be able,” so do-toku literally
means “being able to say something.” But over time the meaning of do-toku
changed to “expressing the truth” or “an expression of the truth.” In this
chapter, Master Dogen explained the meaning of do-toku, or expressing the
truth, from his standpoint.

[193] The buddhas and the patriarchs are the expression of the truth.1
Therefore, when Buddhist patriarchs are deciding who is a Buddhist patri-
arch, they always ask “Do you express the truth or not?” They ask this ques-
tion with the mind, they ask with the body, they ask with a staff and a
whisk, and they ask with outdoor pillars and stone lanterns. In others than
Buddhist patriarchs the question is lacking and the expression of the truth
is lacking—because the state is lacking. Such expression of the truth is not
accomplished by following other people, and it is not a faculty of our own
ability. It is simply that where there is the Buddhist patriarchs’ pursuit of
the ultimate there is the Buddhist patriarchs’ expression of the truth. In
the past they have trained inside that very state of expressing the truth
and have experienced it to the end, and now they are still making effort,
and pursuing the truth, inside that state. When Buddhist patriarchs,
through making effort to be Buddhist patriarchs, intuit and affirm a Bud-
dhist patriarch’s expression of the truth, this expression of the truth

1. 道得 (DOTOKU). Two meanings of 道 (DO) are relevant in this compound: 1) to

speak, or to express something, with or without words; and 2) the way, or the truth, that
is, bodhi, the state of wisdom, the state of truth. 得 (TOKU) also has two meanings: 1) to be
able to do something, or to be possible; and 2) to grasp, to get, to attain, attainment, and
(by extension) attainment of the truth itself. As an expression in Buddhism 道得
(DOTOKU) means “expressing the truth,” “saying what one has got,” or “speaking attain-
ment.”

297
298 DOTOKU

naturally becomes three years, eight years, thirty years, or forty years of
effort, in which it expresses the truth with all its energy.2 During this
time—however many tens of years it is—there is no discontinuation of
expressing the truth. Then, when [the truth] is experienced to the end,
insight at that time must be true; and, because it confirms as true the in-
sights of former times, the fact is beyond doubt that the present state is the
expression of the truth. So the present expression of the truth is furnished
with the insights of former times, and the insights of former times were
furnished with the present expression of the truth. It is for this reason that
expression of the truth exists now and insight exists now. Expression of
the truth now and insights of former times are a single track, and they are
ten thousand miles [apart].3 Effort now continues to be directed4 by the ex-
pression of the truth itself and by insight itself. Having accumulated long
months and long years of holding onto this effort, we then get free of the
past years and months of effort. While we are endeavoring to get free, the
skin, flesh, bones, and marrow are all equally intuiting and affirming
freedom. National lands, mountains and rivers, are all intuiting and af-
firming freedom together. At this time, while we continue aiming to arrive
at freedom, as the ultimate treasure-object, this intention to arrive is itself
real manifestation—and so, right in the moment of getting free there is
expression of the truth, which is realized without expectation. It is beyond
the power of the mind and beyond the power of the body, but there is

2. An additional sentence is inserted here in small characters in the source text: “A

note on the back says, ‘Thirty or twenty years is the time taken for expression of the truth to be
realized. These years and months, with all their energy, cause the truth to be expressed.’” Pre-
sumably someone (either a commentator or Master Dogen himself) added a note on the
back of an original draft of this chapter and this note was retained in the original text by
later editors.
3. Alludes to the phrase 万里一条鉄 (BANRI-ICHIJOTETSU), “a single track of iron for
ten thousand miles.” “A single track” represents unity, “ten thousand miles” represents
separation. The phrase appears, for example, in chap. 23, Gyobutsu-yuigi para. [103].
4. In this clause the Chinese characters 功夫 (KUFU), are used both as a noun, (“ef-
fort”) and, inflected by Japanese phonetic characters, as a passive verb (“to be directed”).
The meaning of 功夫 (KUFU) is important. Master Dogen often uses this compound in
connection with Zazen, as, for example in his verse in chap. 24, Zazenshin. Indeed, Master
Dogen often uses the phrase 功夫弁道 (KUFU-BENDO), or “striving in pursuit of the truth,”
to represent Zazen itself. The Kenkyusha dictionary defines the verb 功夫する (KUFU suru)
as “devise; contrive; design; invent; plan; think out.” In the usage of 功夫 (KUFU) in Sho-
bogenzo, this cerebral emphasis is sometimes retained, so that 功夫 (KUFU) means
consideration or thinking. More often, however, 功夫 (KUFU) has a wider meaning, de-
scribing effort, or the direction of one’s energy, through the whole body and mind.
 DOTOKU 299

naturally expression of the truth. When expression of the truth is already

happening to us, it does not feel unusual or strange. At the same time,
when we are able to express this expression of the truth, we leave unex-
pressed the non-expression of the truth.5 Even if we have recognized ex-
pressing the truth as expressing the truth, if we have not experienced to
the end the state of not expressing the truth as the state of not expressing
the truth, ours are never the real features of a Buddhist patriarch nor the
bones and marrow of a Buddhist patriarch. So how could the state which
[Master Taiso Eka] was able to express by doing three prostrations and
standing at his place, be equal to the state which is able to be expressed by
the “skin, flesh, bones, and marrow” brigade?6 The state which is able to
be expressed by the “skin, flesh, bones, and marrow” brigade never
touches, and is never furnished with, the expression of the truth which is
to do three prostrations and to stand in place. Our meeting now with that
lot, as if we are going among alien beings, is his [Master Taiso Eka’s]
meeting now with that lot, as if he is going among alien beings. In us there
is the state of expressing the truth and there is the state of not expressing
the truth. In him there is the state of expressing the truth and there is the
state of not expressing the truth. In the state expressed by speaking there
is us and them, and in the state expressed by not speaking there is us and
them.7
[198] Great Master Shinsai8 of Joshu preaches to the assembly, “If you spend
a lifetime not leaving the monastery, sitting in stillness without speaking for ten

5. 不道得 (FUDOTOKU), can be interpreted literally as “beyond-expression attain-

ment,” i.e. attainment which is beyond verbal expression. At the same time, 道得
(DOTOKU) as a compound has evolved the meaning of “expressing the truth,” independ-
ently of its component characters. 不道得 (FUDOTOKU), or “not expressing the truth,” may
therefore simply be seen as the dialectical opposite of 道得 (DOTOKU), “expressing the
truth.” In other words, the two expressions describe the same state.
6. “The skin, flesh, bones, and marrow brigade” means those who say that Master
Bodhidharma’s affirmation to Master Taiso Eka “You have got my marrow,” indicates
more profundity than his affirmation to his other disciples, “You have got my skin,”
“You have got my flesh,” and “You have got my bones.” See chap. 46, Katto.
7. 自佗 (JITA), “us and them” or “self and others,” means people who have real abil-
ity (e.g. Master Taiso Eka) and people who do not (e.g. the skin, flesh, bones, and
marrow brigade).
8. Master Joshu Jushin (778–897), successor of Master Nansen Fugan. Great Master
Shinsai is his posthumous title.
300 DOTOKU

years or for five years, no-one will be able to call you a mute. Afterwards, you
might be beyond even the buddhas.” 9,10
So when we are ten years or five years in a monastery, passing through
the frosts and flowers again and again, and when we consider the effort in
pursuit of the truth11 which is a lifetime not leaving the monastery; the sitting
in stillness, which has cut [all interference] by sitting, has been innu-
merable instances of expressing the truth. Walking,12 sitting, and lying
down without leaving the monastery may be countless instances of no-one
being able to call you a mute. Though we do not know where a lifetime comes
from, if we cause it not to leave the monastery, it will be not leaving the
monastery. [But] what kind of path through the sky13 is there between a life-
time and a monastery?14 We should solely intuit and affirm sitting in still-
ness. Do not hate not speaking. Not speaking is the expression of the truth
being right from head to tail. Sitting in stillness is a lifetime, or two life-
times: it is not for one or two periods of time. If you experience ten years
or five years of sitting in stillness without speaking, even the buddhas will
be unable to think light of you. Truly, even the eyes of Buddha will not be
able to glimpse, and even the power of Buddha will not be able to sway,
this sitting in stillness without speaking—because you will be beyond even
the buddhas.15 Joshu is saying that it is beyond even the buddhas to de-
scribe as “mute,” or to describe as “non-mute,” that which sitting in
stillness without speaking expresses. So a lifetime without leaving the monas-
tery is a lifetime without leaving the expression of the truth. Sitting in
stillness without speaking for ten years or for five years is expression of

9. 諸仏也不及b哉 (shobutsu mo mata nanji ni oyoba zaru ka), or “might even the
buddhas be unable to come up to you?” A slightly different version of Master Joshu’s
words, quoted in chap. 30, Gyoji, says: 諸仏也不奈b何 (shobutsu mo mata nanji o ikantomo
se zu), or “even the buddhas will not be able to do anything to you.”
10. Kosonshuku-goroku, chap. 13; Rento-eyo, chap. 6.
11. 功夫弁道 (KUFU-BENDO) means Zazen itself. See note 4.
12. 経行 (KINHIN), walking done in between Zazen sittings. In China and Japan, the
criteria for kinhin is 一息半歩 (ISSOKU-HANPO), half a step per breath.
13. 通霄路 (TSUSHORO), “path through the sky,” here suggests a self-evident or nec-
essary connection. The expression also appears in chap. 38, Muchu-setsumu para. [175].
14. In other words, whether or not our life is spent in the Buddhist state depends on
us.
15. 諸仏也不奈b何 (shobutsu mo mata nanji o ikantomo se zu), lit. “even the buddhas
will not be able to do anything to you,” as quoted in chap. 30, Gyoji. This expression may
be seen as more emphatic, or the use of the two versions may be seen as purely inciden-
tal.
 DOTOKU 301

the truth for ten years or for five years; it is a lifetime without leaving non-
expression of the truth; and it is being unable to say anything16 for ten
years or for five years. It is sitting away17 hundred thousands of buddhas,
and it is hundred thousands of buddhas sitting away you. In summary, the
Buddhist patriarchs’ state of expressing the truth is a lifetime without
leaving the monastery. Even mutes can have the state of expressing the
truth. Do not learn that mutes must lack expression of the truth. Those
who have expressions of the truth are sometimes no different from
mutes.18 In mutes, on the other hand, there is expression of the truth.19
Their mute voices can be heard. We can listen to their mute words. How
can one who is not mute hope to meet with the mute, or hope to converse
with the mute? Given that they are mutes, how are we to meet with them,
and how are we to converse with them?20 Learning in practice like this, we
should intuit and master the state of a mute.
[201] In the order of Great Master Shinkaku of Seppo21 there was a monk
who went to the edge of the mountain22 and, tying together thatch, built a
hut. Years went by, but he did not shave his head. Who can know what
vitality there was inside the hut?—though circumstances in the mountains
were desolate indeed. He made himself a wooden dipper and he would
go to the edge of a ravine to scoop water and drink. Truly, he must have
been the sort who drinks the ravines.23 As the days and months came and
went like this, rumors of his customs secretly leaked out. Consequently,
on one occasion a monk came to ask the master of the hut, “What is the
ancestral Master’s intention in coming from the west?” The hut-master said,
“The ravine is deep so the dipper’s handle is long.” The monk was staggered.

16. 道不得 (DOFUTOKU), “being unable to say anything,” here suggests being totally
absorbed in one’s activity.
17. 坐断 (ZADAN), lit. “to sit-cut,” means to eradicate a troublesome concept by just
sitting.
18. People who emptily quote from sutras are not saying anything.
19. People who sit in silence are saying something.
20. Master Dogen’s questions suggests the need, in the transmission of Zazen, for in-
tuitional communication.
21. Master Seppo Gison (822–908). Great Master Shinkaku is his posthumous title.
22. “The mountain” means the temple on Mt. Seppo.
23. The story which Master Dogen is retelling here in Japanese is recorded in Chi-
nese in Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 2, no. 83 (and also in Rento-eyo, chap. 21). The style of the
Chinese version is very direct, making no mention of water. It says: 去渓 辺a 之 飲, lit.
“going to the edge of a ravine, he scooped it and drank.” Master Dogen was likely struck
by the directness of the expression in the version he recorded in Shinji-shobogenzo.
 302 DOTOKU

Without doing prostrations or requesting the benefit [of further teaching],

he climbed back up the mountain and told Seppo what had happened.
When Seppo heard the report he said, “Wondrous! Even so, this old monk
will have to go and see for himself. By testing [the hut-master] I will grasp [his
situation] at once.” Seppo’s words mean that the excellence [of the hut-
master’s expression] is so excellent as to be wondrous, but the Old Monk
himself had better go and investigate.24
[203] So it is that one day Seppo suddenly sets off, telling an attendant
monk to bring a razor. They go directly to the hut. As soon as he sees the
hut-master, [Seppo] requests, “Express the truth and I will not shave your
head.” We must understand this request. “Express the truth and I will not
shave your head” seems to say that not to have the head shaved would be to
have expressed the truth—What do you think? If this expression of the
truth is an expression of the truth, [the hut-master] might finally go un-
shaved.25 Those who have the power to hear this expression of the truth
should listen, and should proclaim it to others who have the power to
hear. Then the hut-master washes his head and comes before Seppo. Has
he come as the expression of the truth, or has he come as the non-
expression of the truth? Seppo shaves the head of the hut-master at once.
[204] This episode is truly like an appearance of the uÛumbara.26 It is not
only difficult to meet; it may be difficult even to hear. It is beyond the
scope of [bodhisattvas in] the seven sacred stages or ten sacred stages and
is not glimpsed by [bodhisattvas in] the three clever stages or seven clever
stages. Sutra teachers and commentary teachers, and adherents of mysti-
cal powers and apparitions, cannot fathom it at all. “To meet the Buddha’s
appearance in the world” means to hear a story like this. Now, what
might be the meaning of Seppo’s “Express the truth and I will not shave your
head.” When people who have never expressed the truth hear this, those
with ability may be startled and doubting and those without ability will
be dumbfounded. [Seppo] does not ask about “buddha,” he does not dis-
cuss “the Way,” he does not ask about “sam‡dhi,” and he does not discuss

24. Master Dogen is here simply explaining in Japanese the meaning of Master
Seppo’s words, which he has first quoted directly from the Chinese.
25. Master Seppo’s words were not only a tactic, but they expressed his state of free-
dom: he was prepared to shave the hut-master’s head but he was also prepared not to
shave it, and he was not attached to gaining either outcome.
26. A flower said to bloom only once in an age. See chap. 68, Udonge, and LS 1.88.
 DOTOKU 303

“dh‡raı„.”27 Inquiry like his, while seeming to be a request, also seems to

be an assertion. We should research this in detail. The hut-master, though,
because of his genuineness is aided and abetted by the expression of the
truth itself and is not dumbfounded. Showing the traditional style, he
washes his head and comes forward. This is a Dharma-standard at which
not even the Buddha’s own wisdom can arrive. It may be described as
manifestation of the body, as preaching of the Dharma, as saving of the living,
and as washing the head and coming forward. Then, if Seppo were not the
real person he is, he might throw down the razor and roar with laughter.
But because Seppo has real power and is a real person, he just shaves the
hut-master’s head at once. Truly, if Seppo and the hut-master were not
buddhas alone, together with buddhas, it could not be like this. If they were
not one buddha and two buddhas,28 it could not be like this. If they were
not a dragon and a dragon, it could not be like this. The black-dragon’s
pearl is tirelessly guarded by the black dragon, but it rolls naturally into
the hand of a person who knows how to take it. Let us remember: Seppo
testing the hut-master, the hut-master seeing Seppo, expression of the
truth, non-expression of the truth, [the hut-master] having his head
shaved, and [Seppo] shaving his head. So, in conclusion, there are ways
for good friends in the expression of the truth to pay unexpected visits.
And between friends who are unable to say anything,29 although they do
not expect [recognition], the means are already present for their selves to
be known. When there is learning in practice of knowing the self, there is
the reality of expressing the truth.

27. Master Seppo’s words are not at all abstract, but very direct. The translation “Say
what you have got!” might better capture the tone of the characters 道得 (DOTOKU) in
Master Seppo’s words.
28. 一仏二仏 (ICHIBUTSU-NIBUTSU), “one buddha, two buddhas,” means real indi-
viduals in the momentary state of buddha.
29. 道不得 (DOFUTOKU), here suggests the situation in a Zazen Hall. See note 16.
304 DOTOKU

Shobogenzo Dotoku

Written and preached to the as-

sembly at Kannon-dori-kosho-
horin-ji temple on the 5th day of
the 10th lunar month in the 3rd
year of Ninji.30

30. 1242.
 [40]
画餅

GABYO
A Picture of Rice Cake
Ga means a picture, a painting, or a drawing, and byo means rice cake.
Therefore gabyo means a rice cake painted in a picture. Needless to say, a
picture of rice cake cannot satisfy an appetite. Therefore, in Buddhism,
painted rice cakes have frequently been used as a symbol of something serving
no useful purpose. Notably, they were used as a symbol for abstract theories
and concepts, which are useless to realize Buddhism. But Master Dogen’s in-
terpretation about painted rice cakes differed from this usual interpretation.
He felt that a painted rice cake represents one half of the Universe—the con-
ceptual or mental side of Reality. Therefore we can say that even though
abstract theories and words have sometimes misled people who are studying
Buddhism, if there were no theories or words it would be impossible to under-
stand Buddhism systematically or to explain Buddhist philosophy to others.
In this chapter Master Dogen explained the real meaning of painted rice
cakes in Buddhism: painted rice cakes—theories and concepts—cannot sat-
isfy hunger, but they can be utilized to understand and explain the Truth.
Further, Master Dogen insists that all existence has both a physical, material
side and a conceptual, mental side, and that these two aspects are inseparable
in Reality. Thus without a picture of rice cake—that is, the concept “rice
cake”—we can never find the real existence of rice cakes.

[209] Buddhas are the state of experience itself, and so things are the
state of experience itself. But [buddhas and things] are beyond a single
essence and beyond a single state of mind. Although [buddhas and
things] are beyond a single essence and beyond a single state of mind, in
the moment of experience the experience of each—without hindering the
other—is realized. And in the moment of realization, the real manifesta-
tion of each—without impinging on the other—is realized. This is the very
state of the ancestral founders. We must not confuse intellectual specula-

305
 306 GABYO

tion about unity and diversity with their power of learning in practice.
Therefore they say that “Barely to penetrate one dharma is to penetrate myriad
dharmas.” The penetration of one dharma which they describe is not to rip
away the features which one dharma has so far retained, is not to make
one dharma relative to another, and is not to make one dharma absolute—
to make [something] absolute is to hinder it and be hindered by it. When
penetration is freed from the hindrance of “penetration,” one instance of
penetration is myriad instances of penetration. One instance of penetra-
tion is one dharma, and penetration of one dharma is penetration of
myriad dharmas.
[211] An eternal buddha 1 says, “A picture of a rice cake does not satisfy
hunger.”
The patch-robed mountain monks from the present ten directions
who study this expression do not form uniform ranks of bodhisattvas and
˜r‡vakas. Beings with heads of gods and faces of demons, from other
[worlds in] ten directions, have skin and flesh which are [in some cases]
thick and [in other cases] thin. This [expression] is past buddhas’ and pre-
sent buddhas’ learning of the truth. At the same time, it is a vigorous
livelihood under a tree or in a thatched hut. For this reason, in order to
transmit the authentic traditions of practice, some say that the practice of
studying sutras and commentaries does not instill2 true wisdom, and so
[eternal buddhas] speak like this; and some have understood that [eternal
buddhas] speak like this to assert that philosophical study of the three
vehicles and the one vehicle3 is never the way of sa¸bodhi. In general,
those who understand that an expression like this exists to assert that ab-
stract teaching is utterly useless, are making a great mistake. They have
not received the authentic transmission of the ancestral founders’ virtuous
conduct, and they are blind to the Buddhist patriarchs’ words. If they have
not clarified this one saying, who could affirm that they have mastered the

1. For example, Master Kyogen Chikan, whose story is quoted in chap. 9, Keisei-
sanshiki and in Keitoku-dento-roku, chap. 11.
2. 薫修 (KUNJU). 薫 (KUN) means to send forth fragrance and 修 (SHU) means to culti-
vate or to train. This phrase alludes to the fact that when incense is burnt over and over
again at the same place, the place gradually takes on the fragrance of the incense—a
metaphor for the gradually accumulated effect of a teacher’s influence.
3. 三乗 (SANJO), “the three vehicles,” means the vehicles of the ˜r‡vaka, pratyeka-
buddha, and bodhisattva. 一乗 (ICHIJO), “the one vehicle,” means 一仏乗 (ICHI-BUTSU-JO),
“the one buddha-vehicle,” as preached by the Buddha in the Hoben (Expedient Means)
chapter of the Lotus Sutra. See LS 1.90.
 GABYO 307

words of other buddhas? Saying “A picture of rice cake does not satisfy hun-
ger” is like saying “The non-doing of wrong, the practice of the many kinds of
right…”4 or like saying “This is something having come like this,”5 or like say-
ing “I am always keen at this concrete place.”6 For the present, let us learn [the
expression] in practice, like this. Few people have ever repeatedly looked
at the words “a picture of rice cake,” and no-one at all has recognized their
full extent. How do I know it? In the past, when I tested one or two stink-
ing skin-bags, they were incapable of doubt and incapable of close
association. They simply seemed uninterested, as if refusing to lend an ear
to a neighbor’s chatter.
[214] As to the meaning of “picture-cake,” 7 remember, it includes the
features that are born of parents and it includes the features that exist be-
fore the parents are born.8 The very moment of the present in which
[picture-cake] is made into reality, using rice-flour, is the moment in
which the reality is realized and the word is realized, though [this realiza-
tion] is not necessarily a matter of appearance and non-appearance—we
should not study it as being constrained by perceptions of leaving and
coming.9 The reds and purples that form a picture of rice cake may be
identical to the reds and purples that form a picture of mountains and
water. In other words, in forming a picture of mountains and water, we
use blue and red, and in forming a picture of picture-cake, we use rice and
flour. Thus, [in both cases] the objects used are the same and the fore-
thought exerted is equal. Therefore the meaning of the word “picture-cake”
which I am speaking now, is that pastry cakes, vegetable cakes, dairy
cakes, baked cakes, and millet cakes are all realized from the painting of a

4. Master Dogen explains these words in detail in chap. 10, Shoaku-makusa. He ex-
plains them not only as simple admonitions (“Don’t do wrong, do right...”) but as
expressions of reality.
5. Master Daikan Eno’s words to Master Nangaku Ejo. See, for example, chap. 29,
Inmo.
6. Master Tozan’s words. See Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 55, and Keitoku-dento-roku,
chap. 15.
7. 画餅 (GABYO), previously translated as “a picture of rice cake.”
8. 画餅 (GABYO), has two sides: the mental or abstract side (the picture) and the
physical or concrete side (the cake). 父母未生の面目 (FUBOMISHO no MENMOKU), “the
features that existed before our parents were born” is a traditional expression of eternal
reality. Master Dogen opposed this with his own expression of concrete reality.
9. In other words, realization is not a process in a line of time, but it happens in mo-
ments which are separated from the past and future. And this real time (because it is the
stage of action) cannot be totally grasped by perception.
 308 GABYO

picture. Remember, pictures are in equilibrium, cakes are in equilibrium,

and the Dharma is in equilibrium. For this reason, the many and various
cakes that are being realized in the present are all picture-cake. If we hope
to find a picture of rice cake aside from this [oneness of picture and cake],
we will never encounter one at last; one has never exhibited itself. [Pic-
ture-cake] at one time is manifest and at one time is not manifest.
Nevertheless, it is beyond the appearance of being old or young and it is
beyond the traces of leaving and coming.10 At such a concrete place here and
now,11 national lands of picture-cake appear and are established.
[216] As to the meaning of “do not satisfy hunger,” hunger is not something
operating through the twelve hours;12 at the same time, it is not predis-
posed to meeting with pictures of rice cake. [Even] when we taste a
picture of rice cake, it has no effect of stopping hunger in the end. There is
no rice cake that is dependent upon hunger. It is because there are no rice
cakes that are dependent upon rice cakes that the vigorous livelihood fails
to be transmitted and the traditional ways fail to be transmitted. Hunger is
one staff; it is borne horizontally and borne vertically in a thousand forms
and ten thousand transformations. A rice cake, also, is one manifestation of
the body-and-mind; it is blues, yellows, reds, and whites, and length and
shortness and squareness and roundness. When we now picture moun-
tains and water, we picture them with blues, greens, reds, and purples,
with oddly-shaped crags and mysterious rocks, and with the seven treas-
ures13 and the four treasures.14 The work of picturing a rice cake is also
like that. When we picture a human being, we use the four elements and
five aggregates. When we picture the state of buddha, not only do we use
earthen niches and clods of soil;15 we also use the thirty-two signs,16 we

10. In other words, the manifestation and the non-manifestation of the oneness
which Master Dogen is describing are momentary.
11. 這頭 (SHATO). 這 (SHA) means “this” or “this...here and now.” 頭 (TO), lit. “head,”
indicates a concrete thing or concrete place. 這頭 (SHATO) therefore means “this one” or
“this concrete place here and now.” The word also appears, for example, in a verse
quoted in chap. 23, Gyobutsu-yuigi, para. [107], and in chap. 50, Shoho-jisso para. [210].
12. It is a state in real time.
13. 七宝 (SHIPPO), from the Sanskrit sapta ratn‡ni. One of several variations can be
found in the Introductory chapter of the Lotus Sutra. “There are some who give alms/Of
gold, silver, and coral,/Pearls and jewels,/Moonstones and agates…” (LS 1.26–28.)
14. 四宝 (SHIHO): brush, ink, inkstone, and paper.
15. Suggests the building of a stÂpa, in which, according to the Lotus Sutra “already
there is the whole body of the Tath‡gata.” See LS 2.154, and Shobogenzo, chap. 71, Nyorai-
zenshin.
 GABYO 309

use a stalk of grass,17 and we use countless hundreds of kalpas of instilled

discipline.18 Because a picture19 of buddha has [always] been drawn like
this, all the buddhas are picture-buddhas, 20 and all picture-buddhas are
buddhas. We should examine picture-buddha and picture-cake. We should
painstakingly consider and investigate which side is a stony black turtle
and which side an iron staff,21 which is the material reality and which is
the mental reality. When considered like this, living-and-dying and going-
and-coming is totally the painting of a picture. The supreme truth of bodhi
is just the painting of a picture. In summary, neither the Dharma-world
nor empty space is anything other than the painting of a picture.
[219] An eternal buddha22 says:
When the truth is realized, the white snow, in a thousand sheets, departs;
And the blue mountains, on numerous canvases,23 come painted in a pic-
ture.
This is the talk of great realization; it is the state of truth which has been
realized through effort in pursuit of the truth.24 So in the very moment of
attaining the truth, the blue mountains and the white snow are called
“numerous canvases”; they have been painted in a picture. Every movement
and every moment of stillness is nothing but the painting of a picture. Our
effort in the present is solely derived from pictures. The ten epithets25 and
the three kinds of knowledge26 are a picture. The [five] faculties,27 [five]

16. That is, the thirty-two distinguishing features of a buddha.

17. In chap. 69, Hotsu-mujoshin, Master Dogen says: To pick up the bodhi-mind means to
take a stalk of grass and to make a Buddha.
18. 薫修 (KUNJU); see note 2.
19. 一軸の画 (ICHIJIKU no GA), lit. “one scroll of a picture.” 軸 (JIKU) is here used as a
counter; at the same time, the image is of a concrete hanging scroll.
20. 画仏 (GABUTSU), “picture-buddha,” represents oneness of the mental picture of
buddha and the physical state of buddha.
21. The stony black turtle symbolizes something difficult to perceive or grasp, and
the iron staff symbolizes the opposite.
22. The source has not been traced.
23. 数軸 (SUJIKU), lit. “numerous scrolls.”
24. 弁道功夫 (BENDO-KUFU) means Zazen.
25. 十号 (JUGO), the ten epithets of the Buddha, are listed in chap. 87, Kuyo-shobutsu.
26. 三明 (SANMYO), from the Sanskrit tisro vidy‡h: 1) knowing past lives; 2) knowing
with supernatural vision; 3) knowing how to exhaust the superfluous. See Book 1, Glos-
sary.
 310 GABYO

powers,28 [seven parts of] the state of truth,29 and [eight right] paths,30 are
a picture. If one says that pictures are unreal, then all the myriad dharmas
are unreal. If all the myriad dharmas are unreal, then even the Buddha-
Dharma is unreal. If the Buddha-Dharma is real, pictures of rice cakes
must just be real.
[220] Great Master Kyoshin of Unmon,31 the story goes, is asked by a monk,
“How are discussions that transcend the buddhas and transcend the patriarchs?”
The Master says, “Rice-dumplings.”32
We should quietly consider these words. In the state where rice-dump-
lings are already being realized, there is an ancestral master holding
discussion that transcends the buddhas and transcends the patriarchs;
there are men of iron who do not listen to it; and there should be students
who grasp it in experience. And there is speech which is being realized.
The present rice-dumplings, exhibiting the facts and throwing themselves
into the moment, are inevitably two or three pieces of picture-cake. In
them there is discussion that transcends the buddhas and transcends the
patriarchs, and there is the means to enter the state of buddha and to enter
the state of demons.
[222] My late Master said, “The long bamboos and the banana plants have
entered a picture.”33
This expression is an expression in which a person who has tran-
scended long and short is, in every instance, experiencing the study of

27. 根 (KON), short for 五根 (GOKON), “five faculties” or “five roots,” from the San-
skrit pa§cendriy‡ıi: 1) belief; 2) effort; 3) mindfulness; 4) balance; 5) wisdom. See chap. 73,
Sanjushichibon-bodai-bunbo. See also Book 1, Glossary, indriya.
28. 力 (RIKI), short for 五力 (GORIKI), from the Sanskrit pa§ca-bal‡ni: 1) belief; 2) effort;
3) mindfulness; 4) balance; 5) wisdom. See Glossary.
29. 覚 (KAKU), short for 七等覚支 (SHICHI-TO-KAKUSHI) or 七覚分 (SHICHI-KAKUBUN),
from the Sanskrit sapta-bodhyang‡ni: 1) examination of the Dharma; 2) effort; 3) enjoy-
ment;
4) entrustment; 5) abandonment; 6) balance; 7) mindfulness. Ibid.
30. 道 (DO), short for 八正道支 (HACHI-SHO-DOSHI): 1) right view; 2) right thinking; 3)
right speech; 4) right action; 5) right livelihood; 6) right effort; 7) right mind; 8) right
balance.
31. Master Unmon Bun-en (864–949), successor of Master Seppo Gison.
32. Unmon-Kyoshin-zenji-goroku, vol. 1.
33. Nyojo-osho-goroku, vol. 1.
 GABYO 311

painting a picture. The long bamboos means long-stemmed bamboos.34 They

are the workings of yin and yang35 and at the same time they make yin
and yang work, wherein they experience years and months as the long
bamboos. Those years and months of yin and yang are unfathomable. The
great saints glimpse yin and yang, but the great saints cannot fathom yin
and yang. Because yin-and-yang36 together is the Dharma in equilibrium,
fathoming in equilibrium, and the state of truth in equilibrium, it is be-
yond the yin and the yang which concern the minds and eyes of non-
Buddhists and the two vehicles today. It is the yin-and-yang of the long
bamboos, it is steps in the history of the long bamboos, and it is the world of
the long bamboos. Buddhas in the ten directions exist as the retinue of the
long bamboos. Remember, the heavens, the earth, and the cosmos are the
roots, stems, twigs, and leaves of the long bamboos. Therefore, [the long
bamboos] cause the heavens, the earth, and the cosmos to be everlasting;
they cause the great ocean, Sumeru, and the whole Universe in ten direc-
tions to be substantial; and they cause staffs and bamboo rods37 to be at
once old and not old. The banana plants have earth, water, fire, wind, and
air, and mind, will, consciousness, and wisdom as their roots and stems,
twigs and leaves, flowers and fruits, and light and color; and so when they
wear the autumn wind and are broken by the autumn wind, not a single
speck of dust remains, and they can be called pure and clean. There being
no muscle and bone inside the eyes and no glue or paste inside colors,
liberation exists at this very place. It is not constrained by fleetingness and
so is beyond discussion of muhÂrtas,38 k˘‡ıas, and so on. Through this
power [of liberation], earth, water, fire, and wind are made into a vigorous
livelihood, and mind, will, consciousness, and wisdom are made into the
great death. Thus, in this lineage of practice, we have received the practice

34. Master Dogen explained the uncommon character in Master Tendo’s words, 修
(SHU), “long,” with the common character 長 (CHO), “long.”
35. 陰陽 (ONYO). In acupuncture and other forms of eastern medicine, the concepts
“yin” and “yang” are explained as the negative and positive poles, respectively, within
the flow of energy. The Chinese Classic of Internal Medicine called Nei Ching, which is
ascribed to the legendary Yellow Emperor (2697–2596 B.C.), states: “The Universe is an
oscillation of the forces of yin and yang and their changes.”
36. Here “yin-and-yang” is used as an expression of the Universe itself.
37. 竹箆 (SHIPPEI), a bamboo rod about 40 to 50 cm long and shaped like a bow, used
by the leader of practitioners in a Buddhist training hall.
38. 須臾 (SHUYU), representing the Sanskrit muhÂrta, is sometimes identified with a
k˘‡ıa or a moment, and is sometimes described as a particular division of time, such as
the 30th part of a day (48 minutes). See Glossary.
312 GABYO

by using spring and autumn and winter and summer as tools. The total
situation now of long bamboos and banana plants is a picture. Therefore,
those who realize the great realization on hearing the voice of the bam-
boo,39 whether they are dragons or snakes, may be in the picture—which
we should not doubtingly discuss with the sentimental consideration of
the common and the sacred.
That stalk is long like that,
This stalk is short like this,
This stalk is long like this,
That stalk is short like that.40

Because these [stalks] are all in the picture, they always match their long
or short representations. Where the long picture is present, short pictures
are not lacking.41 We should clearly investigate this truth. Truly, because
the whole Universe and the whole of Dharma is the painting of a picture,
human reality is realized from a picture, and Buddhist patriarchs are real-
ized from a picture. In conclusion then, there is no medicine to satisfy
hunger other than picture-cake. There is no [hunger] that comes upon hu-
man beings other than picture-hunger.42 And there is no power in any
[fulfillment] other than picture-fulfillment.43 In general, fulfillment in hun-
ger, fulfillment in non-hunger, non-fulfillment of hunger, and non-ful-
fillment of non-hunger, are [all] impossible and are [all] inexpressible
without the existence of picture-hunger.44 For the present, let us learn in
experience that this concrete reality here and now is picture-cake. When we
learn this principle in experience, we begin to master, throughout the
body-and-mind, the virtue of changing things and being changed by

39. Alludes to the story of Master Kyogen Chikan who realized the truth on hearing
a pebble strike against a bamboo (see chap. 9, Keisei-sanshiki).
40. From the words of Master Suibi Mugaku. See Shinji-shobogenzo, pt. 1, no. 71.
41. In other words, if we get the big picture, we can see details clearly. Because in
ancient China and Japan pictures were commonly painted on vertically hanging scrolls,
it was natural to describe what we call in English “the big picture” as 長画 (CHOGA), “the
long picture.”
42. Real hunger includes both the mental recognition of hunger and the concrete fact
of hunger (e.g., an empty stomach).
43. 画充 (GAJU). 充 (JU), previously translated as “to satisfy [hunger],” lit. means “to
fill.” It is therefore suggestive of action. 画充 (GAJU), or “picture-filling,” suggests the
realization of images in action.
44. In short, without the existence of “hunger” as a mental construct, real hunger
cannot be experienced at all.
 GABYO 313

things. Before this virtue manifests itself, the power of learning the truth
has not been realized. Causing this virtue to be realized is the realization
of experiencing a picture.

Shobogenzo Gabyo

Preached to the assembly at Kan-

non-dori-kosho-horin-ji temple,
on the 5th day of the 11th lunar
month in the 3rd year of Ninji.45

45. 1242.
 [41]
全機

ZENKI
All Functions
Zen means “all” or “total” and ki means “functions,” so zenki means “all
functions” or “the total function.” From the Buddhist standpoint, we can say
that this world is the realization of all functions. Master Dogen explained
this state of the world, quoting the words of Master Engo Kokugon that life is
the realization of all functions and death is the realization of all functions.

[229] The buddhas’ great truth, when perfectly mastered, is liberation1 and
is realization. This “liberation” describes that—for some—life liberates life
and death liberates death. Therefore, there is getting out of life-and-death
and there is entering into life-and-death, both of which are the perfectly
mastered great truth. And there is abandoning of life-and-death and there
is salvaging of life-and-death, both of which are the perfectly mastered
great truth. Realization is life, and life is realization. At the moment of this
realization, there is nothing which is not the total2 realization of life, and
there is nothing which is not the total realization of death. This momentary
pivot-state3 can cause life to be and can cause death to be. The very mo-
ment of the present in which this pivot-state is realized is not necessarily
great and not necessarily small, is neither the whole world nor a limited

1. 透脱 (TODATSU) stands for 透体脱落 (TOTAI-DATSURAKU), or “penetrating through

to the substance and dropping free.” 透 (TO) includes the meanings of penetration, clari-
fication, and transparency. 脱落 (DATSURAKU), “dropping off,” most commonly appears
in the phrase 身心脱落 (SHINJIN-DATSURAKU), “dropping off body and mind.”
2. 全 (ZEN), as in the chapter title.
3. 機関 (KIKAN). As a compound, 機関 (KIKAN) means a mechanism, especially the
central mechanism of a machine: a mainspring, a hinge, or a pivot. At the same time, 機
(KI) carries the meaning of a momentary opportunity for action. So here 機関 (KIKAN),
“the momentary pivot-state,” suggests the state that is the total realization of life and
death in each moment.

315
 316 ZENKI

area, and is neither long lasting nor short and pressed. Life in the present
exists in this pivot-state, and this pivot-state exists in life in the present.
Life is not [a process of] appearance; life is not [a process of] disappear-
ance; life is not a manifestation in the present; and life is not a realization.
Rather, life is the manifestation of all functions,4 and death is the manifestation
of all functions. Remember, among the countless dharmas that are present
in the self, there is life and there is death. Let us quietly consider whether
our own present life, and the miscellaneous real dharmas which are co-
existing with this life, are part of life or not part of life… There is nothing,
not a single moment nor a single dharma, that is not part of life. There is
nothing, not a single matter nor a single state of mind, that is not part of
life.
[232] Life can be likened to a time when a person is sailing in a boat. On this
boat, I am operating the sail, I have taken the rudder, I am pushing the
pole; at the same time, the boat is carrying me, and there is no I beyond
the boat. Through my sailing of the boat, this boat is being caused to be a
boat—let us consider, and learn in practice, just this moment of the pre-
sent. At this very moment, there is nothing other than the world of the
boat: the sky, the water, the shore, have all become the moment of the
boat, which is utterly different from moments not on the boat. So life is
what I am making it, and I am what life is making me. While I am sailing
in the boat, my body and mind and circumstances and self are all essential
parts5 of the boat; and the whole Earth and the whole of space are all es-
sential parts of the boat. What has been described like this is that life is the
self, and the self is life.
[233] Master Kokugon, [titled] Zen Master Engo,6 said:
Life is the manifestation of all functions,
Death is the manifestation of all functions.7
We should clarify these words and master them. To master them means as
follows: The truth that life is the manifestation of all functions—regardless of
beginning and end, and although it is the whole Earth and the whole of

4. 全機現 (ZENKI [no] GEN), from the words of Master Engo Kokugon quoted in para.
[233]. The character 機 (KI), which is explained in the previous note, here means “func-
tion,” as in the compound 機能 (KINO), “function.”
5. 機関 (KIKAN). See note 3.
6. Master Engo Kokugon (1063–1135).
7. Engo-bukka-zenji-goroku, chap. 17. See also Shobogenzo, chap. 37, Shinjin-gakudo.
 ZENKI 317

space—not only does not stop life being the manifestation of all functions but
also does not stop death being the manifestation of all functions. The moment
that death is the manifestation of all functions—although it too is the whole
Earth and the whole of space—not only does not stop death being the mani-
festation of all functions but also does not stop life being the manifestation of
all functions. Thus, life does not get in the way of death and death does not
get in the way of life. The whole Earth and the whole of space are both
present in life and are both present in death. But it is not that, through the
whole Earth as one entity and the whole of space as another entity, all
functions operate in life on the one hand and all functions operate in death
on the other hand. It is not a matter of unity, but neither is it a matter of
variance; it is not variance, but neither is it identity; it is not identity, but
neither is it multiplicity. Therefore, in life there are miscellaneous real
dharmas which are the manifestation of all functions, and in death there are
miscellaneous real dharmas which are the manifestation of all functions. And
in the state beyond “life” and beyond “death,” there is the manifestation of
all functions. In the manifestation of all functions there is life and there is
death. For this reason, all functions as life-and-death may be present in a
situation like a strong man flexing and extending an arm. Or they may be
present in a situation like a person in the night reaching back with a hand to
grope for a pillow.8 They are realized where there is limitlessly abundant
mystical power and brightness. In the very moment of realization, because
we are being totally activated9 by realization itself, we feel that before
[this] realization there was no realization. Nevertheless, the state before
this realization was the previous manifestation of all functions. Although
there has been previous manifestation of all functions, it does not get in
the way of the present manifestation of all functions. Thus, views such as
these vie to be realized.

8. Master Dogo Enchi’s words to Master Ungan Donjo. See chap. 33, Kannon.
9. 全機 (ZENKI), “all functions,” is here used as a passive verb 全機せらるる (ZENKI
seraruru), “to be totally activated.”
318 ZENKI

Shobogenzo Zenki

Preached to the assembly at the

Office of the Governor of Unshu10
near Rokuharamitsu-ji temple in
Yoshu,11 on the 17th day of the
12th lunar month in the 3rd year
of Ninji.12

This was copied on the 19th day

of the 1st lunar month in the 4th
year of the same era—Ejo

雲州 (UNSHU) stands for 出雲の国 (Izumo-no-kuni). The Governor of this district

10.
was Yoshishige Hatano, Master Dogen’s principal sponsor. His office was the Kamakura
government’s center of administration in what is now Kyoto prefecture.
11. Corresponds to present-day Kyoto prefecture.
12. 1242.
Appendices
Chinese Masters
Japanese Pinyin
Banzan Hoshaku Panshan Baoji
Baso Do-itsu Mazu Daoyi
Bokushu Domyo Muzhou Daoming
Bussho Tokko Fozhao Deguang
Chimon Koso Zhimen Guangzu
Chokei Eryo Changqing Huileng
Chosa Keishin Changsha Jingcen
Dai-i Doshin Dayi Daoxin
Daibai Hojo Damei Fachang
Daiji Kanchu Daci Huanzhong
Daikan Eno Dajian Huineng
Daiman Konin Daman Hongren
Daiten Hotsu Dadian Baotong
Dogen Risshi Daoxuan Lushi
Dogo Enchi Daowu Yuanjie
Enchi Dai-an Yuanzhi Daan
Engo Kokugon Yuanwu Keqin
Enkan Sai-an Yanguan Qian
Fuyo Dokai Furong Daokai
Fuyo Reikun Furong Lingxun
Gako Chifu Ehu Zhifu
Ganto Zenkatsu Yantou Quanhuo
Gensa Shibi Xuansha Shibei
Goso Ho-en Wuzu Fayan
Gozu Hoyu Niutou Fayong
Gutei Juzhi
Haryo Kokan Baling Jingjian
Hentan Gyoryo Biandan Xiaoliao
Ho-on (layman) Pangyun
Hofuku Juten Baofu Congzhan
Hogen Bun-eki Fayan Wenyi
Hyakujo Ekai Baizhang Huaihai
Isan Reiyu Guishan Lingyou
Joshu Jushin Zhaozhou Congshen
Kakuhan Eko Jiaofan Huihong
Kanchi Sosan Jianzhi Sengcan
Kankei Shikan Guanxi Zhixian

321
322 CHINESE MASTERS

Japanese Pinyin
Kegon Kyujo Huayan Xiujing
Keicho Beiko Jingzhao Mihu
Koan Daigu Gaoan Daiyu
Koboku Hojo Kumu Facheng
Koshu Tafuku Hangzhou Duofu
Kozan Hojo Xiangshan Baojing
Kyogen Chikan Xiangyan Zhixian
Kyosei Dofu Jingqing Daofu
Kyozan Ejaku Yangshan Huiji
Mayoku Hotetsu Magu Baoche
Nan-yo Echu Nanyang Huizhong
Nangaku Ejo Nanyue Huairang
Nangaku Gentai Nanyue Xuantai
Nansen Fugan Nanquan Puyuan
Obaku Ki-un Huangbo Xiyun
Rakan Keichin Luohan Guichen
Rinzai Gigen Linji Yixuan
Ryuge Koton Longya Judun
Sanpei Gichu Sanping Yizhong
Seigen Gyoshi Qingyuan Xingsi
Sekiso Keisho Shishuang Qingzhu
Sekito Kisen Shitou Xiqian
Seppo Gison Xuefeng Yicun
Sozan Honjaku Caoshan Benji
Taiso Eka Dazu Huike
Takushu Shi-e Zhuozhou Zhiyi
Tanshu Inzan Tanzhou Yinshan
Tendo Nyojo Tiantong Rujing
Tenno Dogo Tianhuang Daowu
Tenryu Tianlong
Tokuzan Senkan Deshan Xuanjian
Tosu Daido Touzi Datong
Tozan Ryokai Dongshan Liangjie
Ungan Donjo Yunyan Tansheng
Ungo Doyo Yunju Daoying
Unmon Bun-en Yunmen Wenyan
Wanshi Shokaku Hongzhi Zhengjue
Yakusan Igen Yueshan Weiyan
Yogi Ho-e Yangqi Fanghui
Yoka Genkaku Yongjia Xuanjue
Glossary of Sanskrit Terms
This Glossary contains Sanskrit terms appearing in Book 2 which are
not already covered in the Sanskrit Glossary of Book 1. Definitions are
drawn in general from A Sanskrit-English Dictionary by Sir Monier
Monier-Williams [MW], (Oxford University Press, 1333 pp.).
Chapter references, unless otherwise stated, refer to chapters of
Shobogenzo. Arrangement is according to the English alphabet.

ahi¸s‡ (not injuring, non-violence) [MW] coming into existence, birth,

Represented by 不害 (FUGAI), “not production, origin; becoming,
harming.” turning into; being, state of
[MW] not injuring anything, being, existence, life; (with
harmlessness (one of the Buddhists) continuity of
cardinal virtues of most Hindu becoming (a link in the
sects, but particularly of the twelvefold chain of causation).
Buddhists and the Jains). Ref: ch. 24 [163]; Lotus Sutra ch. 7.
hi¸s‡: injuring, injurious,
mischevious, hostile. catv‡ro-dv„p‡˛ (the four continents)
Ref: ch. 25; ch. 89. Represented by 四洲 (SHISHU), “four
continents.”
antagr‡ha-dÁ˘Òi (‘the extreme-seizing [MW] catur: four.
view,’ extremism) dv„pa: a division of the terrestial
Represented by 偏見 (HENKEN), “the world (either 7 or 4 or 13 or 18;
extreme views; extremism.” situated around the mountain
[MW] anta: end, limit, boundary. Meru, and separated from each
gr‡ha: seizure, grasping, laying other by oceans).
hold of; morbid affection, Ref: ch. 23 [107].
disease.
dÁ˘Òi: view (see Book 1, pa§ca dak˘iıa (donation)
dÁ˘Òayah). Represented phonetically.
Ref: ch. 25; ch. 89. [MW] able, clever, dexterous; right
(not left); south, southern (as
Apara-god‡na (the western continent) being on the right side of a
[MW] (in Buddhist cosmogony) a person looking eastward);
country west of the Mah‡-meru straightforward, candid,
[Mt. Sumeru]. sincere; the right (hand or arm);
apara: posterior, later; western. ‘able to calve and give milk,’ a
god‡na: gift of a cow. prolific cow; a fee or present to
god‡n„ya: name of a Dv„pa. the officiating priest (consisting
Ref: ch. 23 [107]. originally of a cow); donation to
bhava (existence, coming into the priest; reward; a gift,
existence; tenth in the twelvefold chain donation.
Ref: ch. 30 [264].
of dependent origination)
Represented by 有 (U), “existence.” dharmat‡ (Dharma-nature)

323
324 SANSKRIT GLOSSARY

Represented by 法性 (HOSSHO), Represented by 錫杖 (SHAKUJO),

“Dharma-nature.” “tin and staff.”
dharma: law, reality (see Book 1) [MW] a beggar’s staff.
-t‡: (suffix) -nature. Ref: ch. 30 [136].
Ref: ch. 23 [99].
ku˜ala-mÂla (roots of good)
icchantika (one who pursues desires to Represented by 善根 (ZENKON),
the end) “good roots.”
Represented phonetically and by [MW] ku˜ala: right, proper, suitable,
断善根 (DAN-ZENKON), “one who good; fit for, competent, able,
cuts off good roots,” or by 信不具足 skilful; welfare, well-being,
(SHIN-FUGUSOKU), “one who does not prosperous condition,
possess belief.” happiness; benevolence; virtue.
[MW] icch‡: wish, desire, inclination. mÂla [q.v.]: root
antika: reaching to the end, Ref: ch. 24 [173].
until, reaching to, lasting to. lak˘aıa (good signs, distinguishing
Ref: ch. 28 [63]; ch. 37 [143]; ch. 86
[117]; ch.88 [181]. features)
Represented by 相好 (SOGO),
jar‡maraıa (aging and death; twelth “pleasing features.”
of the twelve links in the chain of [MW] indicating, expressing
dependent origination) indirectly; a mark, sign, symbol,
Represented by 老死 (ROSHI), “aging token, characteristic, attribute,
and death.” quality; a lucky mark,
[MW] jar‡: old age. favourable sign; accurate
maraıa: the act of dying, death. description, definition,
Ref: ch. 24 [163]; Lotus Sutra ch. 7. illustration; a designation,
appellation, name.
j‡ti (birth; eleventh in the twelvefold Ref: ch. 32 [45].
chain of dependent origination)
Represented by 生 (SHO), “life, birth.” mah‡bhÂta (great element)
[MW] birth, production; re-birth; the Represented by 大 (DAI), “great.”
form of existence (as man, [MW] a great creature or being; a
animal, etc.) fixed by birth. great element (of which 5 are
Ref: ch. 24 [163]; Lotus Sutra ch. 7. reckoned, viz. ether, air, fire,
water, earth).
karma-d‡na (title of supervisor of Ref: ch. 25 [198].
monks in training)
muhÂrta (moment)
Represented by 維那 (INO), and by
堂司 (DOSU), “Hall Chief.”
Represented by 須臾 (SHUYU),
[MW] karma: [in compounds for
“moment, instant.”
[MW] a moment, instant, any short
karman] business; occupation;
work, labour, activity (see space of time; a particular
Book1). division of time, the 30th part of
d‡na: giving; communicating, a day, a period of 48 minutes.
imparting (see Book1). Ref: ch. 40 [222].
Ref: ch. 35 [101]. n‡ma-rÂpa (name and form;
khakkhara (staff) fourth in the twelvefold chain
of dependent origination)
 SANSKRIT GLOSSARY 325

Represented by 名色 (MYOSHIKI), [MW] a Rakshas or demon in general,

“name and form.” an evil or malignant demon.
[MW] name and form; = individual Ref: ch. 30 [220].
being.
˜aÛ-‡yatana (the six senses; fifth in
n‡man: a characteristic mark or
sign, form, nature, kind, the twelvefold chain of dependent
manner; name, appellation. origination)
rÂpa: [q.v.]: any outward Represented by 六入 (ROKUNYU),
appearance or phenomenon or “the six entrances.”
colour (often plural), form, [MW] ˜aÛ: six.
shape, figure. ‡yatana: [q.v.]: seat, abode;
Ref: ch. 24 [163]; Lotus Sutra ch. 7. senses.
Ref: ch. 24 [163]; Lotus Sutra ch. 7.
pa§ca-bal‡ni (five powers)
Represented by 五力 (GORIKI), “five saindhava (product of the Indus
powers.” valley)
[MW] pa§ca: five. Represented phonetically.
bala: power, strength, might, [MW] belonging to or produced in or
vigour, force. coming from the Indus or
Ref: ch. 40 [219]; ch. 73 [31]. Sindh;
a horse (particularly one bred in
Puru˘a-damya-s‡rathi (‘Controller of Sindh); name of a kind of
Men;’ ‘Controller of Human Beings’ rock-salt (found in Sindh).
[an epithet of the Buddha]) Ref: ch. 28 [63]; ch. 81.
Represented by 調御丈夫 (CHOGO-
sa¸bhoga-k‡ya (enjoyment body)
JOBU), “Controller of Men, Trainer of
Men.” Represented by 報身 (HOJIN),
[MW] puru˘a: a man, male, human
“resultant body,” “reward body.”
[MW] sa¸: (in compounds for sam) a
being.
damya: tamable; a young prefix expressing conjunction,
bullock that has to be tamed. union, thoroughness, intensity,
s‡rathi: a charioteer, driver of a completeness.
car, coachman; any leader or bhoga: enjoyment, eating,
guide. feeding on; use, application;
damya-s‡rathi: ‘guide of those fruition; sexual enjoyment;
who have to be restrained,’ experiencing, feeling,
name of a Buddha. perception (of pleasure or pain);
Ref: ch. 26 [217]; ch. 85; ch. 87. profit, utility, advantage,
pleasure, delight; any object of
PÂrva-videha (the eastern continent) enjoyment (as food, a festival
[MW] the country of the eastern etc.); possession, property,
Videhas (with Buddhists, one of wealth, revenue.
the 4 continents). k‡ya: body.
pÂrva: eastern. Ref: ch. 23 [99].
videha: bodiless, incorporeal;
deceased, dead; name of a sapta-bodhyang‡ni (seven branches of
country (= the modern Tirhut). the state of truth)
Ref: ch. 23 [107]. Represented by 七等覚支 (SHICHI-TO-
KAKUSHI), “seven branches of the
r‡k˘asa (evil demon) balanced truth,” or by 七覚分
Represented phonetically.
326 SANSKRIT GLOSSARY

(SHICHI-KAKUBUN), “seven divisions Represented by 愛 (AI), “love.”

of the state of truth.” [MW] thirst; desire, avidity.
[MW] sapta: seven. Ref: ch. 24 [163]; Lotus Sutra ch. 7.
bodhy-anga: a requisite for
attaining perfect knowledge uccheda-dÁ˘Òi (‘the cutting-off view,’
(7 in number). nihilism, materialism )
bodhi: perfect knowledge or Represented by 断見 (DANKEN), “the
wisdom (see Book 1). cutting-off view.”
anga: division (see Book 1). [MW] uccheda: cutting off or out;
Ref: ch. 40 [219]; ch. 73 [37]. extirpation, destruction, cutting
short, putting an end to;
sarvaj§‡ (all-knowing, ominscient) excision.
Represented by 一切知 (ISSAI-CHI). dÁ˘Òi: view (see Book 1,
[MW] all-knowing, ominscient. pa§ca dÁ˘Òayah).
Ref: ch. 25 [198]. Ref: ch. 25; ch. 89.
˜‡˜vata-dÁ˘Òi (‘the eternity view,’ up‡d‡na (taking, clinging to existence;
idealism) ninth in the twelvefold chain of
Represented by 常見 (JOKEN), “the dependent origination)
eternity view.” Represented by 取 (SHU), “taking,
[MW] ˜‡˜vata: eternal, constant, attachment.”
perpetual, all. [MW] the act of taking for one’s self,
dÁ˘Òi: view (see Book 1, appropriating to one’s self;
pa§ca dÁ˘Òayah). (with Buddhists) grasping at
Ref: ch. 25; ch. 89. or clinging to existence.
siddha¸ (accomplishment, Ref: ch. 24 [163]; Lotus Sutra ch. 7.
fulfillment, realization) utpala (blue lotus)
Represented phonetically. Represented phonetically.
[MW] siddha: accomplished, fulfilled, [MW] the blossom of the blue lotus
effected, gained, acquired; one (Nympaea Caerulea); any
who has attained the highest water-lily; any flower.
object, thoroughly skilled or Ref: ch. 12 [90]; ch. 43.
versed in; perfected; healed,
cured; admitted to be true or Uttara-kuru (the northern continent)
right, established, settled. [MW] one of the nine [or four]
Ref: ch. 24 [168]. divisions of the world (the
country of the northern Kurus,
Sukh‡vat„-k˘etra (name of the realm of situated in the north of India,
Amit‡bha Buddha) Represented by 浄 and described as the country of
土 (JODO), “Pure Land.” eternal beatitude).
[MW] sukh‡vat„: name of the paradise uttara: upper, higher, superior;
or heaven of Amit‡bha northern (because the northern
(situated in the western sky). part of India is high).
k˘etra: land, place region kuru: name of a people of India
(see Book 1). and of their country (the uttara-
Ref: ch. 23 [122]. kurava˛ are the northern
tÁ˘ı‡ (desire, love; eighth in the Kurus, the most northerly of
twelvefold chain of dependent the four Mah‡-dv„pas or
origination) principal divisions of the
 SANSKRIT GLOSSARY 327

known world; probably a Represented by 相 (SO),

country beyond the most “manifestation,” or by 相好 (SOGO),
northern range of the “pleasing features.”
Him‡laya, often described as a [MW] manifesting, indicating; a
country of everlasting figurative expression;
happiness, and considered by decoration, ornament;
some to be the ancient home of manifestation, indication;
the ‚ryan race). allusion, suggestion; a mark,
Ref: ch. 23 [107]; ch. 37 [148]. badge, spot, sign, token.
Ref: ch. 32 [45].
vidy‡-caraıa-sampanna (‘perfect in
knowledge and action;’ an epithet of
the Buddha)
Represented by 明行足
(MYOGYOSOKU), “sufficiency in
clarity and conduct.”
[MW] perfect in knowledge and of
good moral conduct.
vidy‡: knowledge (see Book 1,
tisro vidy‡h).
caraıa: a foot; going round or
about, motion, course; acting,
dealing, managing, (liturgical)
performance, observance;
behavior, conduct of life;
good or moral conduct.
sampanna: fallen or turned out
well, accomplished, effected,
perfect, excellent (at the end of
a compound or with locative
= ‘perfectly acquainted or
conversant with’).
Ref: ch. 23 [101].
vimok˜a (liberation)
Represented by 解脱 (GEDATSU).
[MW] the being loosened or undone;
release, deliverance from;
liberation of the soul, i.e. final
emancipation (sometimes 8,
sometimes 3 kinds are
enumerated); letting loose,
setting at liberty (a thief); giving
up; letting flow, shedding (of
tears).
Ref: ch. 30 [124].
vya§jana (signs)
Bibliographies
Bibliography One:
Main Chinese Sources Quoted by Master Dogen in Shobogenzo
A. SUTRAS
Attempts at English translations of sutra titles are provisional, and
provided only for reference.

Agon-kyo 阿含経 (‚gama Sutras).

In Chinese translation, there are four:
Cho-agon-kyo 長阿含経 (Long ‚gama Sutra—in Pali, Digha-nik‡ya);
Chu-agon-kyo 中阿含経 (Middle ‚gama Sutra—in Sanskrit,
Madhyam‡gama; in Pali, Majjhima-nik‡ya);
Zo-agon-kyo 雑阿含経 (Miscellaneous ‚gama Sutra—in Sanskrit,
Sa¸yukt‡gama; in Pali, Samyutta-nik‡ya);
Zo-itsu-agon-gyo 増一阿含経 (‚gama Sutras Increased by One—in
Sanskrit, Ekottar‡gama; in Pali, AÔguttara-nik‡ya)
These are supplemented by the Sho-agon-kyo 小阿含経 (Small ‚gama
Sutras—in Sanskrit, K˘udrak‡gama; in Pali, Khuddaka-nik‡ya), a
collection of all the ‡gamas beside the four ‡gamas. In the Pali canon,
Khuddaka-nik‡ya is the fifth of the five nik‡yas and comprises fifteen
short books.
Aiku-o-kyo 阿育王経 (A˜oka Sutra)
Butsu-hongyo-jikkyo 佛本行集経 (Sutra of Collected Past Deeds of the
Buddha)
Daibonten-o-monbutsu-ketsugi-kyo 大梵天王問佛決疑経 (Sutra of
Questions and Answers between Mah‡brahman and the Buddha)
Dai-hannya-kyo 大般若波羅密多経 (Great Praj§‡ Sutra), short for
Dai-hannya-haramitta-kyo (Sutra of the Great Praj§‡-p‡ramit‡—in
Sanskrit, Mah‡-praj§‡-p‡ramit‡-sÂtra)
Daihatsu-nehan-kyo 大般涅槃経 (Sutra of the Great Demise—in Sanskrit,
Mah‡parinirv‡ıa-sÂtra)
Dai-hoko-hokyo-gyo 大方廣寳篋経 (The Mah‡vaipulya Treasure Chest
Sutra)
Dai-ho-shak-kyo 大寶積経 (Great Treasure Accumulation Sutra—in
Sanskrit, Mah‡ratnakÂta-sÂtra)

329
330 BIBLIOGRAPHIES

Daijo-honsho-shinchi-kan-kyo 大乗本生心地観経 (The Mah‡y‡na Sutra

of Reflection on the Mental State in Past Lives)
Daishu-kyo 大集経 (Great Collection Sutra—in Sanskrit, Mah‡-
sa¸nip‡ta-sÂtra)
Engaku-kyo 円覚経 (Sutra of Round Realization)
Fuyo-kyo 普曜経 (Sutra of Diffusion of Shining Artlessness—in Sanskrit,
Lalita-vistara-sÂtra)
Hige-kyo 悲華経 (Flower of Compassion Sutra—in Sanskrit, Karuı‡-
puıÛar„ka-sÂtra)
Hokke-kyo 法華経 (Lotus Sutra, Sutra of the Flower of Dharma), short for
Myoho-renge-kyo (Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful
Dharma—in Sanskrit, Saddharma-puıÛarika-sÂtra)
Hoku-kyo 法句経 (Sutra of Dharma-phrases—in Pali, Dhammapada)
Honsho-kyo 本生経 (Past Lives Sutra—in Sanskrit, J‡taka)
Ju-o-kyo 十王経 (Ten Kings Sutra).
Kan-fugen-bosatsu-gyobo-kyo 観普賢菩薩行法経 (Sutra of Reflection on
the Practice of Dharma by Bodhisattva Universal Virtue)
Kegon-kyo 華厳経 (Garland Sutra—in Sanskrit, Avataısaka-sÂtra)
Kengu-kyo 賢愚経 (Sutra of the Wise and the Stupid)
Ke-u-koryo-kudoku-kyo 希有校量功徳経 (Sutra of Comparison of the
Merits of Rare Occurrences)
Konkomyo-kyo 金光明経 (Golden Light Sutra), short for Konkomyo-
saisho-o-kyo (Golden Light Sutra of the Supreme King—in Sanskrit,
Suvarıa-prabh‡sottama-r‡ja-sÂtra)
Kongo-kyo 金剛般若波羅密経 (Diamond Sutra), short for Kongo-hannya-
haramitsu-kyo (Sutra of the Diamond-Praj§‡-P‡ramit‡—in Sanskrit,
Vajraccedik‡-praj§‡-p‡ramit‡-sÂtra)
Miroku-josho-kyo 弥勒上生経 (Sutra of Maitreya's Ascent and Birth [in
Tu˘ita Heaven])
Mizo-u-innen-kyo 未曾有因縁経 (Sutra of Unprecedented Episodes)
Ninno-gyo 仁王般若波羅密経 (Benevolent King Sutra), short for Ninno-
hannya-haramitsu-gyo (Praj§‡-p‡ramit‡ Sutra of the Benevolent King)
Senju-hyaku-en-kyo 撰集百縁経 (Sutra of a Hundred Collected Stories)
Shobutsu-yoshu-kyo 諸佛要集経 (Sutra of the Collected Essentials of the
Buddhas)
Shuryogon-kyo 首楞厳経 (¯Âra¸gama Sutra—in Sanskrit, ¯Âra¸gama-
 BIBLIOGRAPHIES 331

sam‡dhi-nirde˜a)
Shakubuku-rakan-kyo 折伏羅漢経 (Sutra of the Defeat of the Arhat)
Shugyo-hongi-kyo 修行本起経 (Sutra of Past Occurences of Practice)
Yoraku-hongyo-kyo 瓔珞本起経 (Sutra of Past Deeds as a String of Pearls)
Yuima-gyo 維摩経 (Vimalak„rti Sutra—in Sanskrit, Vimalak„rti-n„rde˜a)
Zuio-hongi-kyo 瑞應本起経 (Sutra of Auspicious Past Occurrences)

B. PRECEPTS
Bonmo-kyo 梵網経 (Pure Net Sutra)
Daibiku-sanzen-yuigi-kyo 大比丘三千威儀経 (Sutra of Three Thousand
Dignified Forms for Ordained Monks)
Juju-ritsu 十誦律 (Precepts in Ten Parts), a 61-fascicle translation of the
vinaya of the Sarv‡stiv‡din School
Konpon-issai-u-bu-hyaku-ichi-katsuma 根本説一切有部百一羯磨
(101 Customs of the MÂla-sarv‡stiv‡din School)
Makasogi-ritsu 摩訶僧祇律 (Precepts for the Great Sa¸gha), a 40-fascicle
translation of the vinaya of the Mah‡sa¸ghika School of H„nay‡na
Buddhism
Shibun-ritsu 四分律 (Precepts in Four Divisions), a 60-fascicle translation
of the vinaya of the Dharmagupta School
Zen-en-shingi 禪苑清規 (Pure Criteria for Zen Monasteries)

C. COMMENTARIES
Bosatsuchi-ji-kyo 菩薩地持経 (Sutra of Maintaining the Bodhisattva-State)
Daibibasha-ron 大毘婆沙論 (Abhidharma-mah‡vibh‡˘a-˜‡stra)
Daichido-ron 大智度論 (Commentary on the Accomplishment which is
Great Wisdom—in Sanskrit, Mah‡-praj§‡-p‡ramitopade˜a)
Daijogi-sho 大乗義章 (Writings on the Mah‡y‡na Teachings)
Hokke-zanmai-sengi 法華三昧懺儀 (A Humble Expression of the Form of
the Sam‡dhi of the Flower of Dharma)
Kusha-ron 倶舎論 (Abhidharma-ko˜a-˜‡stra)
Maka-shikan 摩訶止観 (Great Quietness and Reflection), a record of the
lectures of Master Tendai Chigi, founder of the Tendai Sect
Maka-shikan-hogyo-den-guketsu 摩訶止観輔行伝弘決 (Extensive
Decisions Transmitted in Support of Great Quietness and Reflection), a
Chinese commentary on Maka-shikan by Master Keikei Tannen
332 BIBLIOGRAPHIES

D. GENERAL CHINESE BUDDHIST RECORDS

Daito-sai-iki-ki 大唐西域記 (Great Tang Records of Western Lands)
Go-to-roku 五燈録 (The Five Records of the Torch), five independent but
complimentary collections compiled during the Sung era (960–1279). They
are represented in summary form in Go-to-egen 五燈会元 (Collection of
the Fundamentals of the Five Torches). Namely, the five records are:
Keitoku-dento-roku 景徳伝燈録 (Keitoku Era Record of the Transmission
of the Torch)
Tensho-koto-roku 天聖廣燈録 (Tensho Era Record of the Widely
Extending Torch)
Zokuto-roku 続燈録 (Supplementary Record of the Torch)
Rento-eyo 聯燈會要 (Collection of Essentials for Continuation of the
Torch)
Katai-futo-roku 嘉泰普燈録 (Katai Era Record of the Universal Torch )
Hekigan-roku 碧厳録 (Blue Cliff Record)
Ho-en-shu-rin 法苑珠林 (A Forest of Pearls in the Garden of Dharma), a
kind of Buddhist encyclopedia in 100 volumes
Kaigen-shakkyo-roku 開元釈教録 (Kaigen-era Records of ¯‡kyamuni's
Teaching)
Kosonshuku-goroku 古尊宿語録 (Record of the Words of the Venerable
Patriarchs of the Past)
Rinkan-roku 石門林間録 (Forest Record), or Sekimon-rinkan-roku
(Sekimon's Forest Record)
So-koso-den 宋高僧伝 (Biographies of Noble Monks of the Sung-era)
Zenmon-shososhi-geju 禪門諸祖師偈頌 (Verses and Eulogies of Ancestral
Masters of the Zen Lineages)
Zenrin-hokun 禪林寳訓 (Treasure-Instruction from the Zen Forest)
Zenshu-juko-renju-tsushu 禪宗頌古聯珠通集 (Complete String-of-Pearls
Collection of Eulogies to Past Masters of the Zen Sect)
Zoku-dento-roku 続伝燈録 (Continuation of the Record of the
Transmission of the Torch), published in China in 1635; sequel to
Keitoku-dento-roku
Zokukan-kosonshuku-goyo 続刊古尊宿語要 (Summarized Collection of
the Words of the Venerable Patriarchs of the Past)

E. RECORDS OF, AND INDEPENDENT WORKS BY, CHINESE

MASTERS
Baso-Do-itsu-zenji-goroku 馬祖道一禪師語録 (Record of the Words of
 BIBLIOGRAPHIES 333

Zen Master Baso Do-itsu)

Bukka-geki-setsu-roku 佛果撃節録 (Record of Bukka's Attacks on Knotty
Problems); Bukka is an alias of Master Seccho Juken
Chorei-Shutaku-zenji-goroku 長霊守卓禪師語録 (Record of the Words of
Zen Master Chorei Shutaku)
Dai-e-Fugaku-zenji-shumon-buko 大慧普覚禪師宗門武庫 (The War
Chest of the School of Zen Master Dai-e Fugaku [Dai-e Soko])
Dai-e-goroku 大慧語録 (Record of the Words of Dai-e [Soko])
Dai-e-zenji-tomei 大慧禪師塔銘 (Inscriptions on the StÂpa of Zen Master
Dai-e [Soko])
Engo-zenji-goroku 圜悟禪師語録 (Record of the Words of Zen Master
Engo [Kokugon])
Joshu-roku 趙州録 (Records of Joshu [Jushin])
Jugendan 十玄談 (Discussion of the Ten Kinds of Profundity), by Master
Do-an Josatsu
Ho-en-zenji-goroku 法演禪師語録 (Record of the Words of Zen Master
[Yogi] Ho-en)
Hokyo-zanmai 寳鏡三昧 (Samadhi, the State of a Jewel-Mirror), by Master
Tozan Ryokai
Honei-Nin-yu-zenji-goroku 法寧仁勇禪師語録 (Record of the Words of
Zen Master Honei Nin-yu)
Hyakujo-roku 百丈録・百丈懐海禪師語録 (Record of Hyakujo [Ekai])
Koke-zenji-goroku 興化禪師語録 (Record of the Words of Zen Master
Koke [Sonsho])
Kido-shu 虚堂集 (The Kido Collection), a collection of the words of
Master Tanka Shijun, compiled by Rinsen Jurin
Nyojo-osho-goroku 如浄和尚語録 (Record of the Words of Master
[Tendo] Nyojo)
O-an-Donge-zenji-goroku 応菴曇華禪師語録 (Record of the Words of Zen
Master O-an Donge)
Rinzai-zenji-goroku 臨済禪師語録 (Record of the Words of Zen Master
Rinzai [Gigen])
Rokuso-dankyo 六祖壇経 (The Sixth Patriarch's Platform Sutra),
attributed to Master Daikan Eno
Sandokai 参同契 (Experiencing the State), by Master Sekito Kisen
Seccho-Myokaku-zenji-goroku 雪竇明覚禪師語録 (Record of the Words
334 BIBLIOGRAPHIES

of Zen Master Seccho Myokaku [Seccho Juken])

Sekito-so-an no Uta 石頭草庵歌 (Songs from Sekito's Thatched Hut), by
Master Sekito Kisen
Shodoka 証道歌 (Song of Experiencing the Truth), by Master Yoka
Genkaku
Shinjinmei 信心銘 (Inscription on Believing Mind), by Master Kanchi
Sosan
Sotai-roku 奏対録 (Record of Answers to an Emperor), by Master Bussho
Tokko
Tozan-goroku 洞山語録 (Record of the Words of Tozan [Ryokai])
Unmon-koroku 雲門語録 (Broad Record of Unmon [Bun-en])
Wanshi-zenji-goroku 宏智禅師語録 (Record of the Words of Wanshi
[Shokaku])
Wanshi-koroku 宏智廣録 (Broad Record of Wanshi [Shokaku])
Wanshi-juko 宏智頌古 (Wanshi's Eulogies to Past Masters), also known as
Shoyo-roku 従容録 (The Relaxation Record)
Yafu-Dosen-kongo-kyo 冶父道川金剛経 (Yafu Dosen's Diamond Sutra)

F. CHINESE SECULAR BOOKS ETC.

Confucianist:
Kokyo 孝経 (The Book of Filial Piety)
Rongo 論語 (The Discourses [of Confucius])
Taoist:
Bunshi 文子 from the Chinese Wen-tzu, the name of the author to whom
the text is ascribed
Kanshi 管子 from the Chinese Guan-tzu, the name of the supposed author
Shishi 尸子 from the Chinese Shi-tzu, the name of the supposed author
Soji 荘子 from the Chinese Chang-tzu, the name of a disciple of Lao-tzu
(the ancient Chinese philosopher regarded as the founder of Taoism)
Inzui 韻瑞 (Rhymes of Good Fortune)
Rikuto 六韜 (Six Strategies)
Sango-ryaku-ki 三五暦記 (History of the Three [Elements] and Five
[Elements])
Miscellaneous
Jirui-senshu 事類撰集 (Collection of Matters and Examples)
 BIBLIOGRAPHIES 335

Jibutsu-gen-ki 事物原記 (Record of the Origin of Things)

Jokan-seiyo 貞観政要 (Jokan Era {Treatise] on the Essence of Government)
Mei-hoki 冥報記 (Chronicles of the Underworld)
Taihei-koki 太平弘記 (Widely Extending Record of the Taihei Era)

Bibliography Two:
Other Works by Master Dogen
Fukan-zazengi 普勧坐禅儀 (Universal Guide to the Standard Method of
Zazen)
Gakudo-yojin-shu 學道用心集 (Collection of Concerns in Learning the
Truth)
Hogyo-ki 寳慶記 (Hogyo Era Record)
Shinji-shobogenzo 真字正法眼蔵 (Right-Dharma-Eye Treasury, in
Original [Chinese] Characters)
Eihei-koroku 永平廣録 (Broad Record of Eihei)
Eihei-shingi 永平清規 (Pure Criteria of Eihei), including:
Tenzo-kyokun 典座教訓 (Instructions for the Cook)
Bendo-ho 辨道法 (Methods of Pursuing the Truth)
Fu-shuku-han-ho 赴粥飯法 (The Method of Taking Meals)
et cetera

Bibliography Three:
Main Japanese References
Bukkyo-jiten: edited by Ui Hakuju
Bukkyogo-daijiten: 3 volumes edited by Hajime Nakamura
Dai-kanwa-jiten: 13 volumes by Tetsuji Morohashi
Dogen-no-kenkyu: by Hanji Akiyama
Dogen-zenji-den-no-kenkyu: by Doshu Ohkubo
Dogen-zenji-no-hanashi: by Ton Satomi
Hokke-kyo: published by Iwanami Shoten
Jikai: edited by Kyosuke Kinta-ichi
Sawaki-Kodo-zenshu: 19 volumes by Master Kodo Sawaki
Shin-bukkyo-jiten: edited by Hajime Nakamura
Shinshu-kanwa-daijiten: by Shikita Koyanagi
Shinshu-taisho-daizokyo: by Daizo Shuppansha
336 BIBLIOGRAPHIES

Shobogenzo-chukai-zensho: 10 volumes by Nyoten Jinbo & Bun-ei

Ando
Shobogenzo-ji-i: by Soku-o Eto
Shobogenzo-keiteki: by Bokuzan Nishi-ari
Shobogenzo-shaku-i: 4 volumes by Kunihiko Hashida
Shobogenzo: published by Iwanami Shoten,
commentary by Nishi-o, Kagamishima,
Sakai, and Mizuno
Shoten-zoku-cho: by Master Osen Mujaku
Sogo-rekishi-nenpyo: edited by Kenzo Nakajima
Tetsugaku-jiten: published by Heibon Sha
Tetsugaku-shojiten: published by Iwanami Shoten
Watsuji-tetsuro-zenshu
(vols. 4,5): by Tetsuro Watsuji
Zengaku-daijiten: edited by scholars of Komazawa
University
Zengaku-jiten: by Nyoten Jinbo & Bun-ei Ando

(Texts printed in Taiwan)

Keitoku-dento-roku: Shin Zen Bi Shuppansha
Zoku-zokyo: Collection of Buddhist Sutras not
included in Shinshu-taisho-daizokyo

Shobogenzo in Modern Japanese:

Gendaigo-yaku-shobogenzo 現代語訳正法眼蔵 (Shobogenzo in Modern
Japanese) by Nishijima Roshi, twelve volumes plus a one-volume
appendix
Shobogenzo-teisho-roku 正法眼蔵提唱録 (Record of Lectures on
Shobogenzo), by Nishijima Roshi, thirty-four volumes
These volumes are obtainable from the publishers, whose name and
address is as follows:
Kanazawa Bunko Co. Ltd., Sumitomo Ichigaya Bldg., Honmura-cho 1-
1, Ichigaya, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Tel: (03) 3235-7060
Fax: (03) 3235-7135
 BIBLIOGRAPHIES 337

Bibliography Four:
Main English References:
Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary:
editor in chief, Koh Masuda
Japanese Character Dictionary: Andrew Nelson, published by Charles
Tuttle
Japanese Character Dictionary: Mark Spahn/Wolfgang Hadamitzky,
published by Nichigai Asssociates
Japanese English Buddhist Dictionary [JEBD]:
published by Daito Shuppansha
A Sanskrit-English Dictionary [MW]:
Sir Monier Monier-Williams, Oxford
University Press
The Threefold Lotus Sutra [LSW]:
Kato and Soothill, published by
Weatherhill
The Historical Buddha [HB]: H.W. Schumann, published by Arkana