While we are
experiencing
one side, we are
blind to the other side.
blind to the other side.
Shobogenzo
u101 sitting in quietness.
This did not
derive from her wisdom, did not derive from writings, did not depend on
words, and did not depend on talk; she was aided only by her right belief.
Furthermore, Sakyamuni's teachings have been spreading through the three-
thousand-world only for around two thousand or so years. Countries are of
many kinds; not all are nations of benevolence and wisdom. How could all
people, moreover, possess only intelligence and wisdom, keenness [of ear]
and clarity [of eye]? But the right Dharma of the Tathagata is originally fur-
nished with unthinkably great virtue and power, and so when the time comes
it will spread through those countries. When people just practice with right
belief, the clever and the stupid alike will attain the truth. Just because our
country is not a nation of benevolence or wisdom and the people are dull-
witted, do not think that it is impossible for us to grasp the Buddha-Dharma.
Still more, all human beings have the right seeds of praj�a in abundance. It
may simply be that few of us have experienced the state directly, and so we
are immature in receiving and using it.
[65] The above questions and answers have come and gone, and the alter-
nation between audience and speaker has been untidy. How many times have
I caused ? owers to exist in ? owerless space? 102 On the other hand, the fun-
damental principle of pursuing the truth by sitting in zazen has never been
transmitted to this country; anyone who hoped to know it would have been
disappointed. This is why I intend to gather together the few experiences I
had abroad, and to record the secrets of an enlightened teacher,103 so that they
may be heard by any practitioner who desires to hear them. In addition, there
are standards and conventions for monasteries and temples but there is not
enough time to teach them now, and they must not be [taught] in haste.
[66] In general, it was very fortunate for the people of our country that,
even though we are situated east of the Dragon Sea and are far separated by
clouds and mist, from around the reigns of Kinmei104 and Yomei,105 the Buddha-
Dharma of the west spread to us in the east. However, confusion has multi-
plied over concepts and forms, and facts and circumstances, disturbing the
situation of practice. Now, because we make do with tattered robes and mended
bowls, tying thatch so that we can sit and train by the blue cliffs and white
rocks, the matter of the ascendant state of buddha becomes apparent at once,
and we swiftly master the great matter of a lifetime of practice. This is just
the decree of Ryuge [Mountain],106 and the legacy of Kukku? apada [Moun-
tain]. 107 The forms and standards for sitting in zazen may be practiced fol-
lowing the Fukanzazengi which I compiled in the Karoku era. 108
[68] Now, in spreading the Buddha's teaching throughout a nation, on
the one hand, we should wait for the king's decree, but on the other hand,
when we recall the bequest of Vulture Peak, the kings, nobles, ministers, and
generals now manifested in hundred myriad ko? is of realms all have grate-
fully accepted the Buddha's decree and, not forgetting the original aim of
earlier lives to guard and maintain the Buddha's teaching, they have been
born. [Within] the frontiers of the spread of that teaching, what place could
not be a buddha land? Therefore, when we want to disseminate the truth of
the Buddhist patriarchs, it is not always necessary to select a [particular]
place or to wait for [favorable] circumstances. Shall we just consider today
to be the starting point? So I have put this together and I will leave it for wise
masters who aspire to the Buddha-Dharma and for the true stream of prac-
titioners who wish, like wandering clouds or transient water weeds, to explore
the state of truth.
Mid-autumn day, [in the third year of] Kanki. 109
Written by the srama? a110 Dogen, who entered
Song [China] and received the transmission of
the Dharma.
Shobogenzo Bendowa
---
BDK English Tripitaka
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BDK English Tripitaka
A Biography of Sakyamuni
The Lotus Sutra (Second Revised Edition)
The Sutra of Queen Srimala of the Lion's Roar
The Larger Sutra on Amitayus
The Sutra on Contemplation of Amitayus
The Smaller Sutra on Amitayus
The Bequeathed Teaching Sutra
The Vimalakirti Sutra
The Ullambana Sutra
The Sutra of Forty-two Sections
The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment
The Vairocanabhisa? bodhi Sutra
The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch
The Baizhang Zen Monastic Regulations
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 1
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 2
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 3
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 4
Tannisho: Passages Deploring Deviations of Faith
Rennyo Shonin Ofumi: The Letters of Rennyo
The Sutra on the Profundity of Filial Love
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 1 (? ? ? ? (1))
Chapter/Section: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
B2582_1 (biblio info) Chapter/Section 2
[Chapter Two]
Maka-hannya-haramitsu
Mahapraj�aparamita
Translator's Note: Maka is a phonetic rendering of the Sanskrit word maha,
which means �great. � Hannya is a phonetic rendering of the Sanskrit word
praj�a, which can be translated as �real wisdom� or �intuitive re? ection. �
Haramitsu is a phonetic rendering of the Sanskrit word paramita, which lit-
erally means �to have arrived at the opposite shore,� that is, to have accom-
plished the truth. So maka-hannya-haramitsu means the accomplishment that
is great real wisdom. In this chapter, Master Dogen wrote his interpretation
of the Mahapraj�aparamitah? daya-sutra. H? daya means heart. This short
sutra, usually called the Heart Sutra, represents the heart of the six hundred
volumes of the Maha praj�a paramita-sutra. Even though it is very short, the
Heart Sutra contains the most fundamental principle of Buddhism. What is
the most fundamental principle? Praj�a. What is praj�a? Praj�a, or real wis-
dom, is a kind of intuitive ability that occurs in our body and mind, when
our body and mind are in the state of balance and harmony. We normally
think that wisdom is something based on the intellect, but Buddhists believe
that wisdom, on which our decisions are based, is not intellectual but intu-
itive. The right decision comes from the right state of body and mind, and
the right state of body and mind comes when our body and mind are bal-
anced and harmonized. So mahapraj�aparamita is wisdom that we have when
our body and mind are balanced and harmonized. And zazen is the practice
by which our body and mind enter the state of balance and harmony. Maha -
praj�a paramita, then, is the essence of zazen.
[71] �When Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara1 practices the profound praj�a -
paramita, the whole body2 re? ects that the five aggregates3 are totally empty. �4
The five aggregates are form, feeling, perception, volition, and conscious-
ness. They are five instances of praj�a. Re? ection is praj�a itself. When this
principle is preached and realized, it is said that �matter is just the immate-
rial�5 and the immaterial is just matter. Matter is matter, the immaterial is
the immaterial. 6 They are hundreds of things,7 and myriad phenomena. Twelve
instances of praj�a paramita are the twelve entrances [of sense perception]. 8
There are also eighteen instances of praj�a. 9 They are eyes, ears, nose, tongue,
body, and mind;10 sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations, and properties;11
plus the consciousnesses of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. There
are a further four instances of praj�a. They are suffering, accumulation, ces-
sation, and the Way. 12 There are a further six instances of praj�a. They are
giving, pure [observance of] precepts, patience, diligence, meditation, and
praj�a [itself]. 13 One further instance of praj�aparamita is realized as the
present moment. It is the state of anuttara samyaksa? bodhi. 14 There are three
further instances of praj�aparamita. They are past, present, and future. 15
There are six further instances of praj�a. They are earth, water, fire, wind,
space, and consciousness. 16 And there are a further four instances of praj�a
that are constantly practiced in everyday life: they are walking, standing, sit-
ting, and lying down. 17
[74] In the order of Sakyamuni Tathagata there is a bhik? u18 who secretly
thinks, �I shall bow in veneration of the profound praj�aparamita. Although
in this state there is no appearance and disappearance of real dharmas,19 there
are still understandable explanations of all precepts, all balanced states, all
kinds of wisdom, all kinds of liberation, and all views. There are also under-
standable explanations of the fruit of one who has entered the stream, the
fruit of [being subject to] one return, the fruit of [not being subject to] return-
ing, and the fruit of the arhat. 20 There are also understandable explanations
of [people of] independent awakening,21 and [people of] bodhi. 22 There are
also understandable explanations of the supreme right and balanced state of
bodhi. There are also understandable explanations of the treasures of Buddha,
Dharma, and Sangha. There are also understandable explanations of turning
the wonderful Dharma wheel23 to save sentient beings. � The Buddha, know-
ing the bhik? u's mind, tells him, �This is how it is. This is how it is. The pro-
found praj�apara mita is too subtle and fine to fathom. �24
The bhik? u's �secretly working concrete mind�25 at this moment is, in the
state of bowing in veneration of real dharmas, praj�a itself�whether or not
[real dharmas] are without appearance and disappearance�and this is a �ven-
erative bow� itself. Just at this moment of bowing in veneration, praj�a is real-
ized as explanations that can be understood: [explanations] from �precepts,
balance, and wisdom,�26 to �saving sentient beings,� and so on. This state is
described as being without. 27 Explanations of the state of �being without� can
thus be understood. Such is the profound, subtle, unfathomable praj�a paramita.
[76] The god Indra28 asks the venerable monk Subhuti,29 �Virtuous One!
When bodhisattva mahasattvas30 want to study31 the profound praj�a paramita,
how should they study it? �
Subhuti replies, �Kausika! 32 When bodhisattva mahasattvas want to
study the profound praj�aparamita, they should study it as space. �33
So studying praj�a is space itself. Space is the study of praj�a.
[77] The god Indra subsequently addresses the Buddha, �World-hon-
ored One! When good sons and daughters receive and retain, read and recite,
think reasonably about, and expound to others this profound praj�aparamita
that you have preached, how should I guard it? My only desire, World-hon-
ored One, is that you will show me compassion and teach me. �
Then the venerable monk Subhuti says to the god Indra, �Kausika! Do
you see something that you must guard, or not? �
The god Indra says, �No, Virtuous One, I do not see anything here that
I must guard. �
Subhuti says, �Kausika! When good sons and daughters abide in the
profound praj�aparamita as thus preached, they are just guarding it. When
good sons and daughters abide in the profound praj�aparamita as thus
preached, they never stray. Remember, even if all human and nonhuman
beings were looking for an opportunity to harm them, in the end it would be
impossible. Kausika! If you want to guard the bodhisattvas who abide in the
profound praj�aparamita as thus preached, it is no different from wanting
to guard space. �34
Remember, to receive and retain, to read and recite, and to think rea-
sonably about [praj�a] are just to guard praj�a. And to want to guard it is
to receive and retain it, to read and recite it, and so on.
[78] My late master, the eternal buddha, says:
Whole body like a mouth, hanging in space;
Not asking if the wind is east, west, south, or north,
For all others equally, it speaks praj�a.
Chin ten ton ryan chin ten ton. 35
This is the speech of praj�a [transmitted] by Buddhist patriarchs from
rightful successor to rightful successor. It is praj�a as the whole body, it is
praj�a as the whole of others,36 it is praj�a as the whole self, and it is praj�a
as the whole east, west, south, and north.
[79] Sakyamuni Buddha says, �Sariputra! 37 These many sentient beings
should abide in this praj�aparamita as buddhas. When they serve offerings
to, bow in veneration of, and consider the praj�aparamita, they should be
as if serving offerings to and bowing in veneration of the buddha-bhaga-
vats. 38 Why? [Because] the praj�aparamita is no different from the buddha-
bhagavats, and the buddha-bhagavats are no different from the praj�a -
paramita. The praj�aparamita is just the buddha-bhagavats themselves, and
the buddha-bhagavats are just the praj�aparamita itself. Wherefore? Because,
Sariputra, the apt, right, and balanced state of truth, which all the tathagatas
have, is always realized by virtue of the praj�aparamita. Because, Saripu-
tra, all bodhisattva mahasattvas, the independently awakened, arhats, those
beyond returning, those who will return once, those received into the stream,
and so on, always attain realization by virtue of praj�aparamita. And because,
Sari putra, all of the ten virtuous paths of action39 in the world, the four states
of meditation,40 the four immaterial balanced states,41 and the five mystical
powers42 are always realized by virtue of the praj�aparamita. �
[80] So buddha-bhagavats are the praj�aparamita, and the praj�a paramita
is �these real dharmas. � These �real dharmas� are �bare manifestations�: they
are �neither appearing nor disappearing, neither dirty nor pure, neither increas-
ing nor decreasing. � The realization of this praj�aparamita is the realization
of buddha-bhagavats. We should inquire into it, and we should experience it.
To serve offerings to it and to bow in veneration is just to serve and to attend
buddha-bhagavats, and it is buddha-bhagavats in service and attendance.
Shobogenzo Maka-hannya-haramitsu
Preached to the assembly at Kannondori-in
Temple on a day of the summer retreat in the
first year of Tenpuku. 43
Copied in the attendant monks' quarters at
Kippo Temple in Etsu44 on the twenty-first day
of the third lunar month in spring of the second
year of Kangen. 45
The Heart Sutra of Mahapraj�aparamita
Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, when practicing the profound praj�aparamita,
re? ects that the five aggregates are totally empty, and overcomes all pain
and wrongdoing. Sariputra, matter is no different from the immaterial, and
the immaterial is no different from matter. Matter is just the immaterial, and
the immaterial is just matter. Feeling, perception, volition, and conscious-
ness are also like this. Sariputra, these real dharmas are bare manifestations.
They are neither appearing nor disappearing, neither tainted nor pure, nei-
ther increasing nor decreasing. Therefore, in the state of emptiness, there is
no form, no feeling, no perception, no volition, no consciousness. There are
no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind; no sights, sounds, smells, tastes,
sensations, properties. There is no realm of eyes, nor any other [elementary
realm]: there is no realm of mind-consciousness. There is no ignorance, and
no ending of ignorance, nor any other [causal process]: there is no old age
and death, and no ending of old age and death. There is no suffering, accu-
mulation, cessation, or path. There is no wisdom, and no attaining�because
[the state] is nonattainment. Bodhisattvas rely upon praj�aparamita, and
therefore their minds have no hindrance. They have no hindrance, and there-
fore they are without fear. They leave all confused dream-images far behind,
and realize the ultimate state of nirvana. Buddhas of the three times rely upon
praj�aparamita, and therefore they attain anuttara samyaksa? bodhi. So
remember: praj�aparamita is a great and mystical mantra; it is a great and
luminous mantra; it is the supreme mantra; it is a mantra in the unequaled
state of equilibrium. It can clear away all suffering. It is real, not empty.
Therefore we invoke the mantra of praj�aparamita. We invoke the mantra
as follows:
Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate. Bodhi, svaha.
The Heart Sutra of Praj�a
---
BDK English Tripitaka
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A Biography of Sakyamuni
The Lotus Sutra (Second Revised Edition)
The Sutra of Queen Srimala of the Lion's Roar
The Larger Sutra on Amitayus
The Sutra on Contemplation of Amitayus
The Smaller Sutra on Amitayus
The Bequeathed Teaching Sutra
The Vimalakirti Sutra
The Ullambana Sutra
The Sutra of Forty-two Sections
The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment
The Vairocanabhisa? bodhi Sutra
The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch
The Baizhang Zen Monastic Regulations
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 1
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 2
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 3
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 4
Tannisho: Passages Deploring Deviations of Faith
Rennyo Shonin Ofumi: The Letters of Rennyo
The Sutra on the Profundity of Filial Love
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 1 (? ? ? ? (1))
Chapter/Section: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
B2582_1 (biblio info) Chapter/Section 3
[Chapter Three]
Genjo-koan
The Realized Universe
Translator 's Note: Genjo means �realized,� and koan is an abbreviation of
kofu-no-antoku, which was a notice board on which a new law was announced
to the public in ancient China. So koan expresses a law, or a universal prin-
ciple. In the Shobogenzo, genjo-koan means the realized law of the universe,
that is, Dharma or the real universe itself. The fundamental basis of Buddhism
is belief in this real universe, and in Genjo-koan Master Dogen preaches to
us the realized Dharma, or the real universe itself. When the seventy-five�chap-
ter edition of the Shobogenzo was compiled, this chapter was placed first,
and from this fact we can recognize its importance.
[83] When all dharmas are [seen as] the Buddha-Dharma, then there is delu-
sion and realization, there is practice, there is life and there is death, there
are buddhas and there are ordinary beings. When the myriad dharmas are
each not of the self, there is no delusion and no realization, no buddhas and
no ordinary beings, no life and no death. The Buddha's truth is originally
transcendent over abundance and scarcity, and so there is life and death, there
is delusion and realization, there are beings and buddhas. And though it is
like this, it is only that ? owers, while loved, fall; and weeds while hated,
? ourish.
[84] Driving ourselves to practice and experience the myriad dharmas
is delusion. When the myriad dharmas actively practice and experience our-
selves, that is the state of realization. Those who greatly realize1 delusion
are buddhas. Those who are greatly deluded about realization are ordinary
beings. There are people who further attain realization on the basis of real-
ization. There are people who increase their delusion in the midst of delu-
sion. When buddhas are really buddhas, they do not need to recognize them-
selves as buddhas. Nevertheless, they are buddhas in the state of experience,
and they go on experiencing the state of buddha.
[85] When we use the whole body and mind to look at forms, and when
we use the whole body and mind to listen to sounds, even though we are
sensing them directly, it is not like a mirror's re? ection2 of an image, and
not like water and the moon.
While we are experiencing one side, we are
blind to the other side.
[86] To learn the Buddha's truth is to learn ourselves. To learn our-
selves is to forget ourselves. To forget ourselves is to be experienced by the
myriad dharmas. To be experienced by the myriad dharmas is to let our own
body and mind, and the body and mind of the external world, fall away.
There is a state in which the traces of realization are forgotten; and it man-
ifests the traces of forgotten realization for a long, long time.
[87] When people first seek the Dharma, we are far removed from the
borders of Dharma. [But] as soon as the Dharma is authentically transmit-
ted to us, we are a human being in [our] original element. When a man is
sailing along in a boat and he moves his eyes to the shore, he misapprehends
that the shore is moving. If he keeps his eyes fixed on the boat, he knows
that it is the boat that is moving forward. Similarly, when we try to under-
stand the myriad dharmas on the basis of confused assumptions about body
and mind, we misapprehend that our own mind or our own essence may be
permanent. If we become familiar with action and come back to this con-
crete place, the truth is evident that the myriad dharmas are not self. Fire-
wood becomes ash; it can never go back to being firewood. Nevertheless,
we should not take the view that ash is its future and firewood is its past.
Remember, firewood abides in the place of firewood in the Dharma. It has
a past and it has a future. Although it has a past and a future, the past and
the future are cut off. Ash exists in the place of ash in the Dharma. It has a
past and it has a future. The firewood, after becoming ash, does not again
become firewood. Similarly, human beings, after death, do not live again.
At the same time, it is an established custom in the Buddha-Dharma not to
say that life turns into death. This is why we speak of �no appearance. � And
it is the Buddha's preaching established in [the turning of] the Dharma wheel
that death does not turn into life. This is why we speak of �no disappear-
ance. �3 Life is an instantaneous situation, and death is also an instantaneous
situation. It is the same, for example, with winter and spring. We do not think
that winter becomes spring, and we do not say that spring becomes summer.
[89] A person getting realization is like the moon being re? ected4 in
water: the moon does not get wet, and the water is not broken. Though the
light [of the moon] is wide and great, it is re? ected in a foot or an inch of
water. The whole moon and the whole sky are re? ected in a dewdrop on a
blade of grass and are re? ected in a single drop of water. Realization does
not break the individual, just as the moon does not pierce the water. The indi-
vidual does not hinder the state of realization, just as a dewdrop does not
hinder the sky and moon. The depth [of realization] may be as the concrete
height [of the moon]. The length of its moment should be investigated in
large [bodies of] water and small [bodies of] water, and observed in the
breadth of the sky and the moon. 5
[90] When the Dharma has not yet satisfied the body and mind we feel
already replete with Dharma. When the Dharma fills the body and mind we
feel one side to be lacking. For example, sailing out beyond the mountains
and into the ocean, when we look around in the four directions, [the ocean]
appears only to be round; it does not appear to have any other form at all.
Nevertheless, this great ocean is not round, and it is not square. Other qual-
ities of the ocean are inexhaustibly many: [to fishes] it is like a palace and
[to gods] it is like a string of pearls. 6 But as far as our eyes can see, it just
seems to be round. As it is for [the ocean], so it is for the myriad dharmas.
In dust and out of the frame,7 [the myriad dharmas] encompass numerous
situations, but we see and understand only as far as our eyes of learning in
practice are able to reach. If we wish to hear how the myriad dharmas nat-
urally are,8 we should remember that besides their appearance of squareness
or roundness, the qualities of the oceans and qualities of the mountains are
numerous and endless; and that there are worlds in the four directions. Not
only the periphery is like this: remember, the immediate present, and a sin-
gle drop [of water] are also like this.
[91] When fish move through water, however they move, there is no
end to the water. When birds ? y through the sky, however they ? y, there is
no end to the sky. At the same time, fish and birds have never, since antiq-
uity, left the water or the sky. Simply, when activity is great, usage is great,
and when necessity is small, usage is small. Acting in this state, none fails
to realize its limitations at every moment, and none fails to somersault freely
at every place; but if a bird leaves the sky it will die at once, and if a fish
leaves the water it will die at once. So we can understand that water is life
and can understand that sky is life. Birds are life, and fish are life. It may be
that life is birds and that life is fish. And beyond this, there may still be fur-
ther progress. The existence of [their] practice-and-experience, and the exis-
tence of their lifetime and their life, are like this. This being so, a bird or fish
that aimed to move through the water or the sky [only] after getting to the
bottom of water or utterly penetrating the sky, could never find its way or
find its place in the water or in the sky. When we find this place, this action
is inevitably realized as the universe. When we find this way, this action is
inevitably the realized universe [itself]. 9 This way and this place are neither
great nor small; they are neither subjective nor objective; neither have they
existed since the past nor do they appear in the present; and so they are pres-
ent like this. When a human being is practicing and experiencing the Buddha's
truth in this state, to get one dharma is to penetrate one dharma, and to meet
one act is to perform one act. In this state the place exists and the way is
mastered, and therefore the area to be known is not conspicuous. The rea-
son it is so is that this knowing and the perfect realization of the Buddha-
Dharma appear together and are experienced together. Do not assume that
what is attained will inevitably become self-conscious and be recognized by
the intellect. The experience of the ultimate state is realized at once. At the
same time, its mysterious existence is not necessarily a manifest realiza-
tion. 10 Realization is the state of ambiguity itself. 11
[94] Zen Master Hotetsu12 of Mayokuzan is using a fan. A monk comes
by and asks, �The nature of air is to be ever -present, and there is no place
that [air] cannot reach. Why then does the master use a fan? �
The master says, �You have only understood that the nature of air is to
be ever-present, but you do not yet know the truth13 that there is no place
[air] cannot reach. �
The monk says, �What is the truth of there being no place [air] cannot
reach? �
At this, the master just [carries on] using the fan. The monk does pros-
trations. 14 The real experience of the Buddha-Dharma, the vigorous road of
the authentic transmission, is like this. Someone who says that because [the
air] is ever-present we need not use a fan, or that even when we do not use
[a fan] we can still feel the air, does not know ever-presence, and does not
know the nature of air. Because the nature of air is to be ever-present, the
behavior15 of Buddhists has made the earth manifest itself as gold and has
ripened the Long River into curds and whey. 16
Shobogenzo Genjo-koan
This was written in mid-autumn17 in the first
year of Tenpuku,18 and was presented to the lay
disciple Yo Koshu of Chinzei. 19
Edited in [the fourth] year of Kencho. 20
---
BDK English Tripitaka
Keyword
C/W Length Limit
Books
Tools
BDK English Tripitaka
A Biography of Sakyamuni
The Lotus Sutra (Second Revised Edition)
The Sutra of Queen Srimala of the Lion's Roar
The Larger Sutra on Amitayus
The Sutra on Contemplation of Amitayus
The Smaller Sutra on Amitayus
The Bequeathed Teaching Sutra
The Vimalakirti Sutra
The Ullambana Sutra
The Sutra of Forty-two Sections
The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment
The Vairocanabhisa? bodhi Sutra
The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch
The Baizhang Zen Monastic Regulations
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 1
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 2
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 3
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 4
Tannisho: Passages Deploring Deviations of Faith
Rennyo Shonin Ofumi: The Letters of Rennyo
The Sutra on the Profundity of Filial Love
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 1 (? ? ? ? (1))
Chapter/Section: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
B2582_1 (biblio info) Chapter/Section 4
[Chapter Four]
Ikka-no-myoju
One Bright Pearl
Translator's Note: Ikka means �one,� myo means �bright� or �clear,� and
ju means �pearl. � So ikka-no-myoju means one bright pearl. This chapter
is a commentary on Master Gensha Shibi's words that the whole universe in
all directions is as splendid as a bright pearl. Master Dogen loved these
words, so he wrote about them in this chapter.
[97] In [this] saha world,1 in the great kingdom of Song, in Fuzhou province,
at Genshazan, [there lived] Great Master Shuitsu, whose Dharma name [as
a monk] was Shibi and whose secular surname was Sha. 2 While still a lay-
man he loved fishing, and he would ? oat down the Nantai River on his boat,
following the other fishermen. It may have been that he was not waiting even
for the fish with golden scales that lands itself without being fished. 3 At the
beginning of the Kantsu4 era of the Tang dynasty, suddenly he desires to
leave secular society; he leaves his boat and enters the mountains. He is
already thirty years old, [but] he has realized the precariousness of the ? oat-
ing world and has recognized the nobility of the Buddha's Way. At last he
climbs Seppozan, enters the order of Great Master Shinkaku,5 and pursues
the truth6 day and night. One day, in order to explore widely the surround-
ing districts, he leaves the mountain, carrying a [traveling] bag. But as he
does so, he stubs his toe on a stone. Bleeding and in great pain, [Master Gen-
sha] all at once seriously re? ects as follows: �[They say] this body is not real
existence. Where does the pain come from? � He thereupon returns to Seppo.
Seppo asks him, �What is it, Bi of the dhuta? �7 Gensha says, �In the end I
just cannot be deceived by others. �8 Seppo, loving these words very much,
says, �Is there anyone who does not have these words [inside them]? [But]
is there anyone who can speak these words? � Seppo asks further, �Bi of the
dhuta, why do you not go exploring? �9 Master [Gensha] says, �Bodhi dharma
did not come to the Eastern Lands; the Second Patriarch did not go to the
Western Heavens. �10 Seppo praised this very much. In his usual life as a fish-
erman [Master Gensha] had never seen sutras and texts even in a dream.
Nevertheless, profundity of will being foremost, his outstanding resolve
made itself apparent. Seppo himself considered [Gensha] to be outstanding
among the sangha; he praised [Gensha] as the preeminent member of the
order. [Gensha] used vegetable cloth for his one robe, which he never replaced,
but patched hundreds of times. Next to his skin he wore clothes of paper, or
wore moxa. 11 Apart from serving in Seppo's order, he never visited another
[good] counselor. Nevertheless, he definitely realized the power to succeed
to the master's Dharma. After he had attained the truth at last, he taught peo-
ple with the words that the whole universe in ten directions is one bright
pearl. One day a monk asks him, �I have heard the master's words that the
whole universe in ten directions is one bright pearl. How should the student
understand [this]? � The master says, �The whole universe in ten directions
is one bright pearl. What use is understanding? � On a later day the master
asks the question back to the monk, �The whole universe in ten directions
is one bright pearl. How do you understand [this]? � The monk says, �The
whole universe in ten directions is one bright pearl. What use is under-
standing? � The master says, �I see that you are struggling to get inside a
demon's cave in a black mountain. �12
[101] The present expression �the whole universe in ten directions is
one bright pearl� originates with Gensha. The point is that the whole uni-
verse in ten directions is not vast and great, not meager and small, not square
or round, not centered or straight, not in a state of vigorous activity, and not
disclosed in perfect clarity. Because it is utterly beyond living-and-dying,
going-and-coming,13 it is living-and-dying, going-and-coming. And because
it is like this, the past has gone from this place, and the present comes from
this place. When we are pursuing the ultimate, who can see it utterly as sep-
arate moments? And who can hold it up for examination as a state of total
stillness? �The whole of the ten directions� describes the ceaseless [process]
of pursuing things to make them into self, and of pursuing self to make it
into something. The arising of emotion and the distinctions of the intellect,
which we describe as separation, are themselves [as real as] turning the head
and changing the face, or developing things and throwing [oneself] into the
moment. Because we pursue self to make it into something, the whole of the
ten directions is in the ceaseless state. And because [the whole of the ten direc-
tions] is a fact before the moment, it sometimes over? ows beyond [our] reg-
ulating ability which is the pivot of the moment. 14 �The one pearl� is not yet
famous, but it is an expression of the truth. It will be famously recognized.
�The one pearl� goes directly through ten thousand years: the eternal past has
not ended, but the eternal present has arrived. The body exists now, and the
mind exists now. Even so, [the whole universe] is a bright pearl. It is not grass
and trees there and here, it is not mountains and rivers at all points of the com-
pass; it is a bright pearl. �How should the student understand it? � Even though
it seems that the monk is playing with his conditioned intellect15 in speaking
these words, they are the clear manifestation of the great activity, which is
just the great standard itself. Progressing further, we should make it strikingly
obvious that a foot of water is a one-foot wave: in other words, a yard of the
pearl is a yard of brightness. To voice this expression of the truth, Gensha
says, �The whole universe in ten directions is one bright pearl. What use is
understanding? � This expression is the expression of truth to which buddha
succeeds buddha, patriarch succeeds patriarch, and Gensha succeeds Gen-
sha. If he wants to avoid this succession�while it is not true that no oppor-
tunity for avoidance exists�just when he is ardently trying to avoid it, [the
moment] in which he speaks and lives is the total moment, conspicuously
manifest before him. Gensha, on a subsequent day asks the monk, �The whole
universe in ten directions is one bright pearl. How do you understand [this]? �
This says that yesterday [Master Gensha] was preaching the established rule,
but his exhalations today rely upon the second phase: today he is preaching
an exception to the established rule. Having pushed yesterday aside, he is
nodding and laughing. The monk says, �The whole universe in ten directions
is one bright pearl. What use is understanding? � We might tell him: �You are
riding your adversary's horse to chase your adversary. When the eternal
buddha preaches for you, he is going among different kinds of beings. �16 We
should turn [back] light and re? ect17 for a while: How many cases and exam-
ples of �What use is understanding? � are there? We can tentatively say that
while teaching and practice are seven dairy cakes and five vegetable cakes,
they are also �south of the Sho [River]� and �north of the Tan [River]. �18
[105] Gensha says, �I see that you are struggling to get inside a demon's
cave in a black mountain. � Remember, the face of the sun and the face of
the moon have never changed places since the eternal past. The sun's face
appears together with the sun's face, and the moon's face appears together
with the moon's face. For this reason, [Master Yakusan Igen said,] �Even if
I say that the sixth moon19 is a very nice time of year, I should not say that
my surname is Hot. �20 Thus, this bright pearl's possession of reality and lack
of beginning are limitless, and the whole universe in ten directions is one
bright pearl. Without being discussed as two pearls or three pearls, the whole
body21 is one right Dharma-eye, the whole body is real substance, the whole
body is one phrase, the whole body is brightness, and the whole body is the
whole body itself. When it is the whole body it is free of the hindrance of
the whole body; it is perfect roundness,22 and roundly it rolls along. 23 Because
the virtue of the bright pearl exists in realization like this, there are Avalo -
kitesvaras24 and Maitreyas25 in the present, seeing sights and hearing sounds;
and there are old buddhas and new buddhas manifesting their bodies and
preaching the Dharma. 26 Just at the moment of the present, whether sus-
pended in space or hanging inside a garment,27 whether kept under a [dragon's]
chin28 or kept in a topknot,29 [the one bright pearl,] in all cases, is one bright
pearl throughout the whole universe in ten directions. To hang inside a gar-
ment is its situation, so do not say that it will be dangling on the surface. To
hang inside a topknot or under a chin is its situation, so do not expect to play
with it on the surface of the topknot or on the surface of the chin. When we
are intoxicated, there are close friends30 who give us a pearl; and we should
always give a pearl to a close friend. When the pearl is hung upon us we are
always intoxicated. That which �already is like this�31 is the one bright pearl
which is the universe in ten directions. So even though it seems to be con-
tinually changing the outward appearance of its turning and not turning, it
is just the bright pearl. The very recognition that the pearl has been existing
like this is just the bright pearl itself. The bright pearl has sounds and forms
that can be heard like this. Already �having got the state like this,�32 those
who surmise that �I cannot be the bright pearl,� should not doubt that they
are the pearl. Artificial and nonartificial states of surmising and doubting,
attaching and rejecting, are just the small view. They are nothing more than
trying to make [the bright pearl] match the narrow intellect. How could we
not love the bright pearl? Its colors and light, as they are, are endless. Each
color and every ray of light at each moment and in every situation is the
virtue of the whole universe in ten directions; who would want to plunder
it? 33 No one would throw a tile into a street market. Do not worry about
falling or not falling34 into the six states of cause and effect. 35 They are the
original state of being right from head to tail, which is never unclear, and
the bright pearl is its features and the bright pearl is its eyes. Still, neither I
nor you know what the bright pearl is or what the bright pearl is not. Hun-
dreds of thoughts and hundreds of negations of thought have combined to
form a very clear idea. 36 At the same time, by virtue of Gensha's words of
Dharma, we have heard, recognized, and clarified the situation of a body and
mind which has already become the bright pearl.
derive from her wisdom, did not derive from writings, did not depend on
words, and did not depend on talk; she was aided only by her right belief.
Furthermore, Sakyamuni's teachings have been spreading through the three-
thousand-world only for around two thousand or so years. Countries are of
many kinds; not all are nations of benevolence and wisdom. How could all
people, moreover, possess only intelligence and wisdom, keenness [of ear]
and clarity [of eye]? But the right Dharma of the Tathagata is originally fur-
nished with unthinkably great virtue and power, and so when the time comes
it will spread through those countries. When people just practice with right
belief, the clever and the stupid alike will attain the truth. Just because our
country is not a nation of benevolence or wisdom and the people are dull-
witted, do not think that it is impossible for us to grasp the Buddha-Dharma.
Still more, all human beings have the right seeds of praj�a in abundance. It
may simply be that few of us have experienced the state directly, and so we
are immature in receiving and using it.
[65] The above questions and answers have come and gone, and the alter-
nation between audience and speaker has been untidy. How many times have
I caused ? owers to exist in ? owerless space? 102 On the other hand, the fun-
damental principle of pursuing the truth by sitting in zazen has never been
transmitted to this country; anyone who hoped to know it would have been
disappointed. This is why I intend to gather together the few experiences I
had abroad, and to record the secrets of an enlightened teacher,103 so that they
may be heard by any practitioner who desires to hear them. In addition, there
are standards and conventions for monasteries and temples but there is not
enough time to teach them now, and they must not be [taught] in haste.
[66] In general, it was very fortunate for the people of our country that,
even though we are situated east of the Dragon Sea and are far separated by
clouds and mist, from around the reigns of Kinmei104 and Yomei,105 the Buddha-
Dharma of the west spread to us in the east. However, confusion has multi-
plied over concepts and forms, and facts and circumstances, disturbing the
situation of practice. Now, because we make do with tattered robes and mended
bowls, tying thatch so that we can sit and train by the blue cliffs and white
rocks, the matter of the ascendant state of buddha becomes apparent at once,
and we swiftly master the great matter of a lifetime of practice. This is just
the decree of Ryuge [Mountain],106 and the legacy of Kukku? apada [Moun-
tain]. 107 The forms and standards for sitting in zazen may be practiced fol-
lowing the Fukanzazengi which I compiled in the Karoku era. 108
[68] Now, in spreading the Buddha's teaching throughout a nation, on
the one hand, we should wait for the king's decree, but on the other hand,
when we recall the bequest of Vulture Peak, the kings, nobles, ministers, and
generals now manifested in hundred myriad ko? is of realms all have grate-
fully accepted the Buddha's decree and, not forgetting the original aim of
earlier lives to guard and maintain the Buddha's teaching, they have been
born. [Within] the frontiers of the spread of that teaching, what place could
not be a buddha land? Therefore, when we want to disseminate the truth of
the Buddhist patriarchs, it is not always necessary to select a [particular]
place or to wait for [favorable] circumstances. Shall we just consider today
to be the starting point? So I have put this together and I will leave it for wise
masters who aspire to the Buddha-Dharma and for the true stream of prac-
titioners who wish, like wandering clouds or transient water weeds, to explore
the state of truth.
Mid-autumn day, [in the third year of] Kanki. 109
Written by the srama? a110 Dogen, who entered
Song [China] and received the transmission of
the Dharma.
Shobogenzo Bendowa
---
BDK English Tripitaka
Keyword
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Books
Tools
BDK English Tripitaka
A Biography of Sakyamuni
The Lotus Sutra (Second Revised Edition)
The Sutra of Queen Srimala of the Lion's Roar
The Larger Sutra on Amitayus
The Sutra on Contemplation of Amitayus
The Smaller Sutra on Amitayus
The Bequeathed Teaching Sutra
The Vimalakirti Sutra
The Ullambana Sutra
The Sutra of Forty-two Sections
The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment
The Vairocanabhisa? bodhi Sutra
The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch
The Baizhang Zen Monastic Regulations
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 1
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 2
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 3
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 4
Tannisho: Passages Deploring Deviations of Faith
Rennyo Shonin Ofumi: The Letters of Rennyo
The Sutra on the Profundity of Filial Love
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 1 (? ? ? ? (1))
Chapter/Section: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
B2582_1 (biblio info) Chapter/Section 2
[Chapter Two]
Maka-hannya-haramitsu
Mahapraj�aparamita
Translator's Note: Maka is a phonetic rendering of the Sanskrit word maha,
which means �great. � Hannya is a phonetic rendering of the Sanskrit word
praj�a, which can be translated as �real wisdom� or �intuitive re? ection. �
Haramitsu is a phonetic rendering of the Sanskrit word paramita, which lit-
erally means �to have arrived at the opposite shore,� that is, to have accom-
plished the truth. So maka-hannya-haramitsu means the accomplishment that
is great real wisdom. In this chapter, Master Dogen wrote his interpretation
of the Mahapraj�aparamitah? daya-sutra. H? daya means heart. This short
sutra, usually called the Heart Sutra, represents the heart of the six hundred
volumes of the Maha praj�a paramita-sutra. Even though it is very short, the
Heart Sutra contains the most fundamental principle of Buddhism. What is
the most fundamental principle? Praj�a. What is praj�a? Praj�a, or real wis-
dom, is a kind of intuitive ability that occurs in our body and mind, when
our body and mind are in the state of balance and harmony. We normally
think that wisdom is something based on the intellect, but Buddhists believe
that wisdom, on which our decisions are based, is not intellectual but intu-
itive. The right decision comes from the right state of body and mind, and
the right state of body and mind comes when our body and mind are bal-
anced and harmonized. So mahapraj�aparamita is wisdom that we have when
our body and mind are balanced and harmonized. And zazen is the practice
by which our body and mind enter the state of balance and harmony. Maha -
praj�a paramita, then, is the essence of zazen.
[71] �When Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara1 practices the profound praj�a -
paramita, the whole body2 re? ects that the five aggregates3 are totally empty. �4
The five aggregates are form, feeling, perception, volition, and conscious-
ness. They are five instances of praj�a. Re? ection is praj�a itself. When this
principle is preached and realized, it is said that �matter is just the immate-
rial�5 and the immaterial is just matter. Matter is matter, the immaterial is
the immaterial. 6 They are hundreds of things,7 and myriad phenomena. Twelve
instances of praj�a paramita are the twelve entrances [of sense perception]. 8
There are also eighteen instances of praj�a. 9 They are eyes, ears, nose, tongue,
body, and mind;10 sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations, and properties;11
plus the consciousnesses of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. There
are a further four instances of praj�a. They are suffering, accumulation, ces-
sation, and the Way. 12 There are a further six instances of praj�a. They are
giving, pure [observance of] precepts, patience, diligence, meditation, and
praj�a [itself]. 13 One further instance of praj�aparamita is realized as the
present moment. It is the state of anuttara samyaksa? bodhi. 14 There are three
further instances of praj�aparamita. They are past, present, and future. 15
There are six further instances of praj�a. They are earth, water, fire, wind,
space, and consciousness. 16 And there are a further four instances of praj�a
that are constantly practiced in everyday life: they are walking, standing, sit-
ting, and lying down. 17
[74] In the order of Sakyamuni Tathagata there is a bhik? u18 who secretly
thinks, �I shall bow in veneration of the profound praj�aparamita. Although
in this state there is no appearance and disappearance of real dharmas,19 there
are still understandable explanations of all precepts, all balanced states, all
kinds of wisdom, all kinds of liberation, and all views. There are also under-
standable explanations of the fruit of one who has entered the stream, the
fruit of [being subject to] one return, the fruit of [not being subject to] return-
ing, and the fruit of the arhat. 20 There are also understandable explanations
of [people of] independent awakening,21 and [people of] bodhi. 22 There are
also understandable explanations of the supreme right and balanced state of
bodhi. There are also understandable explanations of the treasures of Buddha,
Dharma, and Sangha. There are also understandable explanations of turning
the wonderful Dharma wheel23 to save sentient beings. � The Buddha, know-
ing the bhik? u's mind, tells him, �This is how it is. This is how it is. The pro-
found praj�apara mita is too subtle and fine to fathom. �24
The bhik? u's �secretly working concrete mind�25 at this moment is, in the
state of bowing in veneration of real dharmas, praj�a itself�whether or not
[real dharmas] are without appearance and disappearance�and this is a �ven-
erative bow� itself. Just at this moment of bowing in veneration, praj�a is real-
ized as explanations that can be understood: [explanations] from �precepts,
balance, and wisdom,�26 to �saving sentient beings,� and so on. This state is
described as being without. 27 Explanations of the state of �being without� can
thus be understood. Such is the profound, subtle, unfathomable praj�a paramita.
[76] The god Indra28 asks the venerable monk Subhuti,29 �Virtuous One!
When bodhisattva mahasattvas30 want to study31 the profound praj�a paramita,
how should they study it? �
Subhuti replies, �Kausika! 32 When bodhisattva mahasattvas want to
study the profound praj�aparamita, they should study it as space. �33
So studying praj�a is space itself. Space is the study of praj�a.
[77] The god Indra subsequently addresses the Buddha, �World-hon-
ored One! When good sons and daughters receive and retain, read and recite,
think reasonably about, and expound to others this profound praj�aparamita
that you have preached, how should I guard it? My only desire, World-hon-
ored One, is that you will show me compassion and teach me. �
Then the venerable monk Subhuti says to the god Indra, �Kausika! Do
you see something that you must guard, or not? �
The god Indra says, �No, Virtuous One, I do not see anything here that
I must guard. �
Subhuti says, �Kausika! When good sons and daughters abide in the
profound praj�aparamita as thus preached, they are just guarding it. When
good sons and daughters abide in the profound praj�aparamita as thus
preached, they never stray. Remember, even if all human and nonhuman
beings were looking for an opportunity to harm them, in the end it would be
impossible. Kausika! If you want to guard the bodhisattvas who abide in the
profound praj�aparamita as thus preached, it is no different from wanting
to guard space. �34
Remember, to receive and retain, to read and recite, and to think rea-
sonably about [praj�a] are just to guard praj�a. And to want to guard it is
to receive and retain it, to read and recite it, and so on.
[78] My late master, the eternal buddha, says:
Whole body like a mouth, hanging in space;
Not asking if the wind is east, west, south, or north,
For all others equally, it speaks praj�a.
Chin ten ton ryan chin ten ton. 35
This is the speech of praj�a [transmitted] by Buddhist patriarchs from
rightful successor to rightful successor. It is praj�a as the whole body, it is
praj�a as the whole of others,36 it is praj�a as the whole self, and it is praj�a
as the whole east, west, south, and north.
[79] Sakyamuni Buddha says, �Sariputra! 37 These many sentient beings
should abide in this praj�aparamita as buddhas. When they serve offerings
to, bow in veneration of, and consider the praj�aparamita, they should be
as if serving offerings to and bowing in veneration of the buddha-bhaga-
vats. 38 Why? [Because] the praj�aparamita is no different from the buddha-
bhagavats, and the buddha-bhagavats are no different from the praj�a -
paramita. The praj�aparamita is just the buddha-bhagavats themselves, and
the buddha-bhagavats are just the praj�aparamita itself. Wherefore? Because,
Sariputra, the apt, right, and balanced state of truth, which all the tathagatas
have, is always realized by virtue of the praj�aparamita. Because, Saripu-
tra, all bodhisattva mahasattvas, the independently awakened, arhats, those
beyond returning, those who will return once, those received into the stream,
and so on, always attain realization by virtue of praj�aparamita. And because,
Sari putra, all of the ten virtuous paths of action39 in the world, the four states
of meditation,40 the four immaterial balanced states,41 and the five mystical
powers42 are always realized by virtue of the praj�aparamita. �
[80] So buddha-bhagavats are the praj�aparamita, and the praj�a paramita
is �these real dharmas. � These �real dharmas� are �bare manifestations�: they
are �neither appearing nor disappearing, neither dirty nor pure, neither increas-
ing nor decreasing. � The realization of this praj�aparamita is the realization
of buddha-bhagavats. We should inquire into it, and we should experience it.
To serve offerings to it and to bow in veneration is just to serve and to attend
buddha-bhagavats, and it is buddha-bhagavats in service and attendance.
Shobogenzo Maka-hannya-haramitsu
Preached to the assembly at Kannondori-in
Temple on a day of the summer retreat in the
first year of Tenpuku. 43
Copied in the attendant monks' quarters at
Kippo Temple in Etsu44 on the twenty-first day
of the third lunar month in spring of the second
year of Kangen. 45
The Heart Sutra of Mahapraj�aparamita
Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, when practicing the profound praj�aparamita,
re? ects that the five aggregates are totally empty, and overcomes all pain
and wrongdoing. Sariputra, matter is no different from the immaterial, and
the immaterial is no different from matter. Matter is just the immaterial, and
the immaterial is just matter. Feeling, perception, volition, and conscious-
ness are also like this. Sariputra, these real dharmas are bare manifestations.
They are neither appearing nor disappearing, neither tainted nor pure, nei-
ther increasing nor decreasing. Therefore, in the state of emptiness, there is
no form, no feeling, no perception, no volition, no consciousness. There are
no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind; no sights, sounds, smells, tastes,
sensations, properties. There is no realm of eyes, nor any other [elementary
realm]: there is no realm of mind-consciousness. There is no ignorance, and
no ending of ignorance, nor any other [causal process]: there is no old age
and death, and no ending of old age and death. There is no suffering, accu-
mulation, cessation, or path. There is no wisdom, and no attaining�because
[the state] is nonattainment. Bodhisattvas rely upon praj�aparamita, and
therefore their minds have no hindrance. They have no hindrance, and there-
fore they are without fear. They leave all confused dream-images far behind,
and realize the ultimate state of nirvana. Buddhas of the three times rely upon
praj�aparamita, and therefore they attain anuttara samyaksa? bodhi. So
remember: praj�aparamita is a great and mystical mantra; it is a great and
luminous mantra; it is the supreme mantra; it is a mantra in the unequaled
state of equilibrium. It can clear away all suffering. It is real, not empty.
Therefore we invoke the mantra of praj�aparamita. We invoke the mantra
as follows:
Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate. Bodhi, svaha.
The Heart Sutra of Praj�a
---
BDK English Tripitaka
Keyword
C/W Length Limit
Books
Tools
BDK English Tripitaka
A Biography of Sakyamuni
The Lotus Sutra (Second Revised Edition)
The Sutra of Queen Srimala of the Lion's Roar
The Larger Sutra on Amitayus
The Sutra on Contemplation of Amitayus
The Smaller Sutra on Amitayus
The Bequeathed Teaching Sutra
The Vimalakirti Sutra
The Ullambana Sutra
The Sutra of Forty-two Sections
The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment
The Vairocanabhisa? bodhi Sutra
The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch
The Baizhang Zen Monastic Regulations
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 1
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 2
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 3
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 4
Tannisho: Passages Deploring Deviations of Faith
Rennyo Shonin Ofumi: The Letters of Rennyo
The Sutra on the Profundity of Filial Love
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 1 (? ? ? ? (1))
Chapter/Section: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
B2582_1 (biblio info) Chapter/Section 3
[Chapter Three]
Genjo-koan
The Realized Universe
Translator 's Note: Genjo means �realized,� and koan is an abbreviation of
kofu-no-antoku, which was a notice board on which a new law was announced
to the public in ancient China. So koan expresses a law, or a universal prin-
ciple. In the Shobogenzo, genjo-koan means the realized law of the universe,
that is, Dharma or the real universe itself. The fundamental basis of Buddhism
is belief in this real universe, and in Genjo-koan Master Dogen preaches to
us the realized Dharma, or the real universe itself. When the seventy-five�chap-
ter edition of the Shobogenzo was compiled, this chapter was placed first,
and from this fact we can recognize its importance.
[83] When all dharmas are [seen as] the Buddha-Dharma, then there is delu-
sion and realization, there is practice, there is life and there is death, there
are buddhas and there are ordinary beings. When the myriad dharmas are
each not of the self, there is no delusion and no realization, no buddhas and
no ordinary beings, no life and no death. The Buddha's truth is originally
transcendent over abundance and scarcity, and so there is life and death, there
is delusion and realization, there are beings and buddhas. And though it is
like this, it is only that ? owers, while loved, fall; and weeds while hated,
? ourish.
[84] Driving ourselves to practice and experience the myriad dharmas
is delusion. When the myriad dharmas actively practice and experience our-
selves, that is the state of realization. Those who greatly realize1 delusion
are buddhas. Those who are greatly deluded about realization are ordinary
beings. There are people who further attain realization on the basis of real-
ization. There are people who increase their delusion in the midst of delu-
sion. When buddhas are really buddhas, they do not need to recognize them-
selves as buddhas. Nevertheless, they are buddhas in the state of experience,
and they go on experiencing the state of buddha.
[85] When we use the whole body and mind to look at forms, and when
we use the whole body and mind to listen to sounds, even though we are
sensing them directly, it is not like a mirror's re? ection2 of an image, and
not like water and the moon.
While we are experiencing one side, we are
blind to the other side.
[86] To learn the Buddha's truth is to learn ourselves. To learn our-
selves is to forget ourselves. To forget ourselves is to be experienced by the
myriad dharmas. To be experienced by the myriad dharmas is to let our own
body and mind, and the body and mind of the external world, fall away.
There is a state in which the traces of realization are forgotten; and it man-
ifests the traces of forgotten realization for a long, long time.
[87] When people first seek the Dharma, we are far removed from the
borders of Dharma. [But] as soon as the Dharma is authentically transmit-
ted to us, we are a human being in [our] original element. When a man is
sailing along in a boat and he moves his eyes to the shore, he misapprehends
that the shore is moving. If he keeps his eyes fixed on the boat, he knows
that it is the boat that is moving forward. Similarly, when we try to under-
stand the myriad dharmas on the basis of confused assumptions about body
and mind, we misapprehend that our own mind or our own essence may be
permanent. If we become familiar with action and come back to this con-
crete place, the truth is evident that the myriad dharmas are not self. Fire-
wood becomes ash; it can never go back to being firewood. Nevertheless,
we should not take the view that ash is its future and firewood is its past.
Remember, firewood abides in the place of firewood in the Dharma. It has
a past and it has a future. Although it has a past and a future, the past and
the future are cut off. Ash exists in the place of ash in the Dharma. It has a
past and it has a future. The firewood, after becoming ash, does not again
become firewood. Similarly, human beings, after death, do not live again.
At the same time, it is an established custom in the Buddha-Dharma not to
say that life turns into death. This is why we speak of �no appearance. � And
it is the Buddha's preaching established in [the turning of] the Dharma wheel
that death does not turn into life. This is why we speak of �no disappear-
ance. �3 Life is an instantaneous situation, and death is also an instantaneous
situation. It is the same, for example, with winter and spring. We do not think
that winter becomes spring, and we do not say that spring becomes summer.
[89] A person getting realization is like the moon being re? ected4 in
water: the moon does not get wet, and the water is not broken. Though the
light [of the moon] is wide and great, it is re? ected in a foot or an inch of
water. The whole moon and the whole sky are re? ected in a dewdrop on a
blade of grass and are re? ected in a single drop of water. Realization does
not break the individual, just as the moon does not pierce the water. The indi-
vidual does not hinder the state of realization, just as a dewdrop does not
hinder the sky and moon. The depth [of realization] may be as the concrete
height [of the moon]. The length of its moment should be investigated in
large [bodies of] water and small [bodies of] water, and observed in the
breadth of the sky and the moon. 5
[90] When the Dharma has not yet satisfied the body and mind we feel
already replete with Dharma. When the Dharma fills the body and mind we
feel one side to be lacking. For example, sailing out beyond the mountains
and into the ocean, when we look around in the four directions, [the ocean]
appears only to be round; it does not appear to have any other form at all.
Nevertheless, this great ocean is not round, and it is not square. Other qual-
ities of the ocean are inexhaustibly many: [to fishes] it is like a palace and
[to gods] it is like a string of pearls. 6 But as far as our eyes can see, it just
seems to be round. As it is for [the ocean], so it is for the myriad dharmas.
In dust and out of the frame,7 [the myriad dharmas] encompass numerous
situations, but we see and understand only as far as our eyes of learning in
practice are able to reach. If we wish to hear how the myriad dharmas nat-
urally are,8 we should remember that besides their appearance of squareness
or roundness, the qualities of the oceans and qualities of the mountains are
numerous and endless; and that there are worlds in the four directions. Not
only the periphery is like this: remember, the immediate present, and a sin-
gle drop [of water] are also like this.
[91] When fish move through water, however they move, there is no
end to the water. When birds ? y through the sky, however they ? y, there is
no end to the sky. At the same time, fish and birds have never, since antiq-
uity, left the water or the sky. Simply, when activity is great, usage is great,
and when necessity is small, usage is small. Acting in this state, none fails
to realize its limitations at every moment, and none fails to somersault freely
at every place; but if a bird leaves the sky it will die at once, and if a fish
leaves the water it will die at once. So we can understand that water is life
and can understand that sky is life. Birds are life, and fish are life. It may be
that life is birds and that life is fish. And beyond this, there may still be fur-
ther progress. The existence of [their] practice-and-experience, and the exis-
tence of their lifetime and their life, are like this. This being so, a bird or fish
that aimed to move through the water or the sky [only] after getting to the
bottom of water or utterly penetrating the sky, could never find its way or
find its place in the water or in the sky. When we find this place, this action
is inevitably realized as the universe. When we find this way, this action is
inevitably the realized universe [itself]. 9 This way and this place are neither
great nor small; they are neither subjective nor objective; neither have they
existed since the past nor do they appear in the present; and so they are pres-
ent like this. When a human being is practicing and experiencing the Buddha's
truth in this state, to get one dharma is to penetrate one dharma, and to meet
one act is to perform one act. In this state the place exists and the way is
mastered, and therefore the area to be known is not conspicuous. The rea-
son it is so is that this knowing and the perfect realization of the Buddha-
Dharma appear together and are experienced together. Do not assume that
what is attained will inevitably become self-conscious and be recognized by
the intellect. The experience of the ultimate state is realized at once. At the
same time, its mysterious existence is not necessarily a manifest realiza-
tion. 10 Realization is the state of ambiguity itself. 11
[94] Zen Master Hotetsu12 of Mayokuzan is using a fan. A monk comes
by and asks, �The nature of air is to be ever -present, and there is no place
that [air] cannot reach. Why then does the master use a fan? �
The master says, �You have only understood that the nature of air is to
be ever-present, but you do not yet know the truth13 that there is no place
[air] cannot reach. �
The monk says, �What is the truth of there being no place [air] cannot
reach? �
At this, the master just [carries on] using the fan. The monk does pros-
trations. 14 The real experience of the Buddha-Dharma, the vigorous road of
the authentic transmission, is like this. Someone who says that because [the
air] is ever-present we need not use a fan, or that even when we do not use
[a fan] we can still feel the air, does not know ever-presence, and does not
know the nature of air. Because the nature of air is to be ever-present, the
behavior15 of Buddhists has made the earth manifest itself as gold and has
ripened the Long River into curds and whey. 16
Shobogenzo Genjo-koan
This was written in mid-autumn17 in the first
year of Tenpuku,18 and was presented to the lay
disciple Yo Koshu of Chinzei. 19
Edited in [the fourth] year of Kencho. 20
---
BDK English Tripitaka
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BDK English Tripitaka
A Biography of Sakyamuni
The Lotus Sutra (Second Revised Edition)
The Sutra of Queen Srimala of the Lion's Roar
The Larger Sutra on Amitayus
The Sutra on Contemplation of Amitayus
The Smaller Sutra on Amitayus
The Bequeathed Teaching Sutra
The Vimalakirti Sutra
The Ullambana Sutra
The Sutra of Forty-two Sections
The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment
The Vairocanabhisa? bodhi Sutra
The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch
The Baizhang Zen Monastic Regulations
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 1
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 2
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 3
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 4
Tannisho: Passages Deploring Deviations of Faith
Rennyo Shonin Ofumi: The Letters of Rennyo
The Sutra on the Profundity of Filial Love
Shobogenzo: The True Dharma-Eye Treasury vol. 1 (? ? ? ? (1))
Chapter/Section: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
B2582_1 (biblio info) Chapter/Section 4
[Chapter Four]
Ikka-no-myoju
One Bright Pearl
Translator's Note: Ikka means �one,� myo means �bright� or �clear,� and
ju means �pearl. � So ikka-no-myoju means one bright pearl. This chapter
is a commentary on Master Gensha Shibi's words that the whole universe in
all directions is as splendid as a bright pearl. Master Dogen loved these
words, so he wrote about them in this chapter.
[97] In [this] saha world,1 in the great kingdom of Song, in Fuzhou province,
at Genshazan, [there lived] Great Master Shuitsu, whose Dharma name [as
a monk] was Shibi and whose secular surname was Sha. 2 While still a lay-
man he loved fishing, and he would ? oat down the Nantai River on his boat,
following the other fishermen. It may have been that he was not waiting even
for the fish with golden scales that lands itself without being fished. 3 At the
beginning of the Kantsu4 era of the Tang dynasty, suddenly he desires to
leave secular society; he leaves his boat and enters the mountains. He is
already thirty years old, [but] he has realized the precariousness of the ? oat-
ing world and has recognized the nobility of the Buddha's Way. At last he
climbs Seppozan, enters the order of Great Master Shinkaku,5 and pursues
the truth6 day and night. One day, in order to explore widely the surround-
ing districts, he leaves the mountain, carrying a [traveling] bag. But as he
does so, he stubs his toe on a stone. Bleeding and in great pain, [Master Gen-
sha] all at once seriously re? ects as follows: �[They say] this body is not real
existence. Where does the pain come from? � He thereupon returns to Seppo.
Seppo asks him, �What is it, Bi of the dhuta? �7 Gensha says, �In the end I
just cannot be deceived by others. �8 Seppo, loving these words very much,
says, �Is there anyone who does not have these words [inside them]? [But]
is there anyone who can speak these words? � Seppo asks further, �Bi of the
dhuta, why do you not go exploring? �9 Master [Gensha] says, �Bodhi dharma
did not come to the Eastern Lands; the Second Patriarch did not go to the
Western Heavens. �10 Seppo praised this very much. In his usual life as a fish-
erman [Master Gensha] had never seen sutras and texts even in a dream.
Nevertheless, profundity of will being foremost, his outstanding resolve
made itself apparent. Seppo himself considered [Gensha] to be outstanding
among the sangha; he praised [Gensha] as the preeminent member of the
order. [Gensha] used vegetable cloth for his one robe, which he never replaced,
but patched hundreds of times. Next to his skin he wore clothes of paper, or
wore moxa. 11 Apart from serving in Seppo's order, he never visited another
[good] counselor. Nevertheless, he definitely realized the power to succeed
to the master's Dharma. After he had attained the truth at last, he taught peo-
ple with the words that the whole universe in ten directions is one bright
pearl. One day a monk asks him, �I have heard the master's words that the
whole universe in ten directions is one bright pearl. How should the student
understand [this]? � The master says, �The whole universe in ten directions
is one bright pearl. What use is understanding? � On a later day the master
asks the question back to the monk, �The whole universe in ten directions
is one bright pearl. How do you understand [this]? � The monk says, �The
whole universe in ten directions is one bright pearl. What use is under-
standing? � The master says, �I see that you are struggling to get inside a
demon's cave in a black mountain. �12
[101] The present expression �the whole universe in ten directions is
one bright pearl� originates with Gensha. The point is that the whole uni-
verse in ten directions is not vast and great, not meager and small, not square
or round, not centered or straight, not in a state of vigorous activity, and not
disclosed in perfect clarity. Because it is utterly beyond living-and-dying,
going-and-coming,13 it is living-and-dying, going-and-coming. And because
it is like this, the past has gone from this place, and the present comes from
this place. When we are pursuing the ultimate, who can see it utterly as sep-
arate moments? And who can hold it up for examination as a state of total
stillness? �The whole of the ten directions� describes the ceaseless [process]
of pursuing things to make them into self, and of pursuing self to make it
into something. The arising of emotion and the distinctions of the intellect,
which we describe as separation, are themselves [as real as] turning the head
and changing the face, or developing things and throwing [oneself] into the
moment. Because we pursue self to make it into something, the whole of the
ten directions is in the ceaseless state. And because [the whole of the ten direc-
tions] is a fact before the moment, it sometimes over? ows beyond [our] reg-
ulating ability which is the pivot of the moment. 14 �The one pearl� is not yet
famous, but it is an expression of the truth. It will be famously recognized.
�The one pearl� goes directly through ten thousand years: the eternal past has
not ended, but the eternal present has arrived. The body exists now, and the
mind exists now. Even so, [the whole universe] is a bright pearl. It is not grass
and trees there and here, it is not mountains and rivers at all points of the com-
pass; it is a bright pearl. �How should the student understand it? � Even though
it seems that the monk is playing with his conditioned intellect15 in speaking
these words, they are the clear manifestation of the great activity, which is
just the great standard itself. Progressing further, we should make it strikingly
obvious that a foot of water is a one-foot wave: in other words, a yard of the
pearl is a yard of brightness. To voice this expression of the truth, Gensha
says, �The whole universe in ten directions is one bright pearl. What use is
understanding? � This expression is the expression of truth to which buddha
succeeds buddha, patriarch succeeds patriarch, and Gensha succeeds Gen-
sha. If he wants to avoid this succession�while it is not true that no oppor-
tunity for avoidance exists�just when he is ardently trying to avoid it, [the
moment] in which he speaks and lives is the total moment, conspicuously
manifest before him. Gensha, on a subsequent day asks the monk, �The whole
universe in ten directions is one bright pearl. How do you understand [this]? �
This says that yesterday [Master Gensha] was preaching the established rule,
but his exhalations today rely upon the second phase: today he is preaching
an exception to the established rule. Having pushed yesterday aside, he is
nodding and laughing. The monk says, �The whole universe in ten directions
is one bright pearl. What use is understanding? � We might tell him: �You are
riding your adversary's horse to chase your adversary. When the eternal
buddha preaches for you, he is going among different kinds of beings. �16 We
should turn [back] light and re? ect17 for a while: How many cases and exam-
ples of �What use is understanding? � are there? We can tentatively say that
while teaching and practice are seven dairy cakes and five vegetable cakes,
they are also �south of the Sho [River]� and �north of the Tan [River]. �18
[105] Gensha says, �I see that you are struggling to get inside a demon's
cave in a black mountain. � Remember, the face of the sun and the face of
the moon have never changed places since the eternal past. The sun's face
appears together with the sun's face, and the moon's face appears together
with the moon's face. For this reason, [Master Yakusan Igen said,] �Even if
I say that the sixth moon19 is a very nice time of year, I should not say that
my surname is Hot. �20 Thus, this bright pearl's possession of reality and lack
of beginning are limitless, and the whole universe in ten directions is one
bright pearl. Without being discussed as two pearls or three pearls, the whole
body21 is one right Dharma-eye, the whole body is real substance, the whole
body is one phrase, the whole body is brightness, and the whole body is the
whole body itself. When it is the whole body it is free of the hindrance of
the whole body; it is perfect roundness,22 and roundly it rolls along. 23 Because
the virtue of the bright pearl exists in realization like this, there are Avalo -
kitesvaras24 and Maitreyas25 in the present, seeing sights and hearing sounds;
and there are old buddhas and new buddhas manifesting their bodies and
preaching the Dharma. 26 Just at the moment of the present, whether sus-
pended in space or hanging inside a garment,27 whether kept under a [dragon's]
chin28 or kept in a topknot,29 [the one bright pearl,] in all cases, is one bright
pearl throughout the whole universe in ten directions. To hang inside a gar-
ment is its situation, so do not say that it will be dangling on the surface. To
hang inside a topknot or under a chin is its situation, so do not expect to play
with it on the surface of the topknot or on the surface of the chin. When we
are intoxicated, there are close friends30 who give us a pearl; and we should
always give a pearl to a close friend. When the pearl is hung upon us we are
always intoxicated. That which �already is like this�31 is the one bright pearl
which is the universe in ten directions. So even though it seems to be con-
tinually changing the outward appearance of its turning and not turning, it
is just the bright pearl. The very recognition that the pearl has been existing
like this is just the bright pearl itself. The bright pearl has sounds and forms
that can be heard like this. Already �having got the state like this,�32 those
who surmise that �I cannot be the bright pearl,� should not doubt that they
are the pearl. Artificial and nonartificial states of surmising and doubting,
attaching and rejecting, are just the small view. They are nothing more than
trying to make [the bright pearl] match the narrow intellect. How could we
not love the bright pearl? Its colors and light, as they are, are endless. Each
color and every ray of light at each moment and in every situation is the
virtue of the whole universe in ten directions; who would want to plunder
it? 33 No one would throw a tile into a street market. Do not worry about
falling or not falling34 into the six states of cause and effect. 35 They are the
original state of being right from head to tail, which is never unclear, and
the bright pearl is its features and the bright pearl is its eyes. Still, neither I
nor you know what the bright pearl is or what the bright pearl is not. Hun-
dreds of thoughts and hundreds of negations of thought have combined to
form a very clear idea. 36 At the same time, by virtue of Gensha's words of
Dharma, we have heard, recognized, and clarified the situation of a body and
mind which has already become the bright pearl.
