The reason, if asked, is that in the ancient
past, when Sakyamuni Buddha was in the causal state81 as the bodhisattva
mahasattva Great Compassion, when he offered his five hundred great vows
before Buddha Jewel Treasury, he pointedly made the above vows in terms
of the merits of this ka?
past, when Sakyamuni Buddha was in the causal state81 as the bodhisattva
mahasattva Great Compassion, when he offered his five hundred great vows
before Buddha Jewel Treasury, he pointedly made the above vows in terms
of the merits of this ka?
Shobogenzo
[The Buddhist patriarchs] have received
and retained it, and succeeded to each other's Dharma, until today. The ances-
tral masters who have received and retained [the ka? aya] are all masters and
disciples who experienced the state30 and received the transmission of Dharma.
This being so, we should make [the ka? aya] properly, according to the method
for making the ka? aya that has been authentically transmitted by the Buddhist
patriarchs. This alone is the authentic tradition, and so it has long been expe-
rienced and recognized by all common and sacred beings, human beings and
gods, and dragons and spirits. Having been born to meet the spread of this
Dharma, if we cover our body with the ka? aya only once, receiving it and
retaining it for just a k? a? a or a muhurta,31 that [experience] will surely serve
as a talisman to protect us32 in the realization of the supreme state of bodhi.
When we dye the body and mind with a single phrase or a single verse, it
becomes a seed of everlasting brightness which finally leads us to the supreme
state of bodhi. When we dye the body and mind with one real dharma or one
good deed, it may be also like this. Mental images arise and vanish instanta-
neously; they are without an abode. The physical body also arises and van-
ishes instantaneously; it too is without an abode. Nevertheless, the merit that
we practice always has its time of ripening and shedding. The ka? aya, simi-
larly, is beyond elaboration and beyond non-elaboration, it is beyond having
an abode and beyond having no abode: it is that which �buddhas alone, together
with buddhas, perfectly realize. �33 Nevertheless, practitioners who receive
and retain [the ka? aya] always accomplish the merit that is thus to be gained,
and they always arrive at the ultimate. Those without past good conduct�
even if they pass through one life, two lives, or countless lives�can never
meet the ka? aya, can never wear the ka? aya, can never believe in the ka? aya,
and can never clearly know the ka? aya. In China and Japan today, we see that
there are those who have had the opportunity to clothe their body once in the
ka? aya, and there are those who have not. [The difference] depends neither
upon high or low status nor upon stupidity or wisdom: clearly it was deter-
mined by past good conduct. This being so, if we have received and retained
the ka? aya, we should feel glad about our past good conduct, and should not
doubt the accumulation of merit and the piling up of virtue. If we have not
got [the ka? aya] yet, we should hope to get it. We should strive, without delay,
to sow the first seeds [of receiving and retaining the ka? aya] in this life. Those
who are prevented by some hindrance from receiving and retaining [the ka? aya]
should repent and confess before the buddha-tathagatas and the Three Treas-
ures of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. How living beings in other countries
must wish, �If only the robe and the Dharma of the Tathagata had been authen-
tically transmitted and were intimately present in our country, as they are in
China! � Their shame must be deep, and their sadness tinged with resentment,
that the authentic tradition has not passed into their own country. Why are
we so fortunate as to have met the Dharma in which the robe and the Dharma
of the Tathagata, the World-honored One, have been authentically transmit-
ted? It is the in? uence of the great merit of praj �a nurtured in the past. In the
present corrupt age of the latter Dharma, [some] are not ashamed that they
themselves have no authentic transmission, and they envy others who pos-
sess the authentic transmission. I think they may be a band of demons. Their
present possessions and abodes which are in? uenced by their former conduct,
are not true and real. Just to devote themselves34 to and to venerate the authen-
tically transmitted Buddha-Dharma: this may be their real refuge in learning
[the state of] buddha. In sum, remember that the ka? aya is the object of the
buddhas' veneration and devotion. It is the body of the Buddha and the mind
of the Buddha. We call it �the clothing of liberation,�35 �the robe of a field of
happiness,�36 �the robe without form,�37 �the supreme robe,� �the robe of
endurance,�38 �the robe of the Tatha gata,� �the robe of great benevolence and
great compassion,� �the robe that is a banner of excellence,� and �the robe
of anuttara samyaksa? bodhi. � We should receive and retain it like this,
humbly receiving it upon the head. Because it is like this, we should never
change it according to [our own] mind.
[71] As material for the robe, we use silk or cotton, according to suit-
ability. It is not always the case that cotton is pure and silk is impure. There
is no viewpoint from which to hate cotton and to prefer silk; that would be
laughable. The usual method39 of the buddhas, in every case, is to see rags40
as the best material. There are ten sorts and four sorts of rags; namely, burned,
chewed by an ox, gnawed by rats, from clothes of dead people, and so forth. 41
�The people of the five areas of India42 discarded rags like these in streets
and fields, as if they were filth, and so they called them �filthy rags. '43 Prac-
titioners picked them up, washed them and sewed them, and used them to
cover the body. �44 Among those [rags] there are various kinds of silk and
various kinds of cotton. We should throw away the view [that discriminates
between] silk and cotton, and study rags in practice. When, in ancient times45
[the Buddha] was washing a robe of rags in Lake Anavatapta,46 the Dragon
King praised him with a rain of ? owers, and made prostrations of reverence.
Some teachers of the Small Vehicle have a theory about transformed thread,47
which also may be without foundation. People of the Great Vehicle might
laugh at it. What kind [of thread] is not transformed thread? When those
teachers hear of �transformation� they believe their ears, but when they see
the transformation itself they doubt their eyes. Remember, in picking up
rags, there may be cotton that looks like silk and there may be silk that looks
like cotton. There being myriad differences in local customs it is hard to
fathom [nature's] creation�eyes of ? esh cannot know it. Having obtained
such material, we should not discuss whether it is silk or cotton but should
call it rags. Even if there are human beings or gods in heaven who have sur-
vived as rags, they are never sentient beings, they are just rags. Even if there
are pine trees or chrysanthemums that have survived as rags, they are never
insentient beings, they are just rags. When we believe the principle that rags
are not silk or cotton, and not gold, silver, pearl, or jewel, rags are realized.
Before we have got rid of views and opinions about silk and cotton, we have
never seen rags even in a dream. On one occasion a monk asks the eternal
buddha,48 �Should we see the robe you received on Obai [Mountain] in the
middle of the night as cotton, or should we see it as silk? In short, as what
material should we see it? � The eternal buddha says, �It is not cotton and it
is not silk. � Remember, it is a profound teaching49 of the Buddha's truth that
the ka? aya is beyond silk and cotton.
[74] The Venerable Sa? avasa50 is third in the transmission of the Dharma
treasury. He has been endowed with a robe since birth. While he is a lay-
man this robe is a secular garment, but when he leaves home51 it turns into
a ka? aya. In another case, the bhik? u? i Sukra,52 after establishing the will
and being clothed in a cotton robe, has been born with a robe in every life
and middle existence. On the day that she meets Sakyamuni Buddha and
leaves home, the secular robe that she has had since birth changes instantly
into a ka? aya, as in the case of Venerable Sa? avasa. Clearly, the ka? aya is
beyond silk, cotton, and so forth. Moreover, the fact that the virtue of the
Buddha-Dharma can transform body and mind and all dharmas is as in those
examples. The truth is evident that when we leave home and receive the pre-
cepts, body and mind, object-and-subject, change at once; it is only because
we are stupid that we do not know. It is not true that the usual rule53 of the
buddhas applies only to Sa? avasa and to Sukra but not to us; we should not
doubt that benefit [accrues] in accordance with individual standing. We
should consider such truths in detail and learn them in practice. The ka? aya
that covers the body of [the monks whom the Buddha] welcomes54 to take
the precepts is not necessarily cotton or silk: the Buddha's in? uence is difficult
to consider. The precious pearl within the robe55 is beyond those who count
grains of sand. 56 We should clarify and should learn in practice that which
has quantity and that which is without quantity, that which has form and that
which is without form, in the material, color, and measurements of the ka? aya
of the buddhas. This is what all the ancestral masters of the Western Heav-
ens and the Eastern Lands, past and present, learned in practice and trans-
mitted as the authentic tradition. If someone is able to see and to hear [a mas-
ter] in whom there is nothing to doubt�the authentic transmission from
patriarch to patriarch being evident�but fails, without reason, to receive the
authentic transmission from this ancestral master, such smugness would be
hard to condone. The extent of [this] stupidity might be due to unbelief. It
would be to abandon the real and to pursue the false, to discard the root and
to seek after branches. It would be to slight the Tathagata. People who wish
to establish the bodhi-mind should always receive the authentic transmis-
sion of an ancestral master. Not only have we met the Buddha-Dharma
which is so difficult to meet: also, as Dharma descendants in the authentic
transmission of the Buddha's ka? aya, we have been able to see and to hear,
to learn and to practice, and to receive and to retain [the authentic trans-
mission of the Buddha's ka? aya]. This is just to see the Tathagata himself,
it is to hear the Buddha's preaching of Dharma, it is to be illuminated by
the Buddha's brightness, it is to receive and to use what the Buddha received
and used, it is to receive the one-to-one transmission of the Buddha's mind,
it is to have got the Buddha's marrow, it is to be covered directly by Sakya-
muni Buddha's ka? aya, and it is Sakyamuni Buddha himself directly bestow-
ing the ka? aya upon us. Because we follow the Buddha, we have devoutly57
received this ka? aya.
[78] The method of washing the ka? aya: Put the ka? aya, unfolded, into
a clean tub, then immerse the ka? aya in fragrant, fully boiled hot water, and
leave it to soak for about two hours. 58 Another method is to soak the ka? aya
in pure, fully boiled ash-water59 and to wait for the water to cool. Nowadays
we usually use [the] hot ash-water [method]. Hot ash-water is what we call
aku-no-yu here [in Japan]. 60 When the ash-water has cooled, rinse [the ka? aya]
again and again in clean and clear hot water. During the rinsing do not put in
both hands to scrub [the ka? aya] and do not tread on it. Continue until any
dirt or grease has been removed. After that, mix aloes, sandalwood,61 or other
incense into some cold water and rinse [the ka? aya]. Then hang it on a wash-
ing pole62 to dry. After it is thoroughly dry, fold it and put it in a high place,
burn incense and scatter petals, walk round it several times [with the ka? aya]
to the right,63 and perform prostrations. After making three prostrations, six
prostrations, or nine prostrations, kneel up and join the hands,64 then hold the
ka? aya up with both hands, and in the mouth recite the verse [in praise of the
ka? aya]. 65 After that stand up and put on [the ka? aya] according to the method.
[80] 66The World-honored One addresses the great assembly: �In the
ancient past when I was in the order of Buddha Jewel Treasury,67 I
was Bodhisattva Great Compassion. 68 At that time, the bodhisattva
mahasattva Great Compassion made the following vow before Buddha
Jewel Treasury:
�World-honored One! If, after I became a buddha, there were liv-
ing beings who had entered my Dharma and left home and who wore
the ka? aya�even if they were bhik? us , bhik? u? is , upasakas , and
upasikas69 who had accumulated heavy sins by violating the grave pro-
hibitions, by enacting false views, or by contemptuously disbelieving
the Three Treasures�and in a single moment of consciousness the
reverence arose in their mind to honor the sa? gha? i robe70 and the rev-
erence arose in their mind to honor the World-honored One (the
Buddha) or the Dharma and the Sangha but, World-honored One, even
one among those living beings could not, in [one of] the three vehi-
cles,71 receive affirmation,72 and as a result regressed or went astray,
it would mean that I had deceived the buddhas who are present now
in the worlds of the ten directions and in countless, infinite asa? kheya
kalpas, and I surely should not realize anuttara samyak sa? bodhi.
�World-honored One! After I have become a buddha, if gods, drag-
ons, and demons, and human and nonhuman beings are able to wear
this ka? aya, to venerate, to serve offerings to, to honor, and to praise
it, as long as those people are able to see a small part of this ka? aya,
they will be able not to regress while within the three vehicles.
�When living beings are af? icted by hunger or thirst�whether
they are wretched demons, miserable people, or living beings in the
state of hungry ghosts�if they are able to obtain a piece of the ka? aya
even as small as four inches,73 they will at once be able to eat and drink
their fill and to accomplish quickly whatever they wish.
�When living beings offend each other, causing ill will to arise
and a fight to develop�or when gods, dragons, demons, gandharvas,
asuras, garu? as, ki? naras, mahoragas, kum bha? ? as, pisacas, and
human and nonhuman beings are fighting each other�if they remem-
ber this ka? aya, in due course, by virtue of the power of the ka? aya,
they will beget the mind of compassion, soft and ? exible mind, mind
free of enmity, serene mind, the regulated mind of virtue, and they will
get back the state of purity.
�When people are in an armed con? ict, a civil lawsuit, or a crim-
inal action, if they retain a small piece of this ka? aya as they go among
these combatants, and if in order to protect themselves they serve offer-
ings to, venerate, and honor it, these [other] people will be unable to
injure, to disturb, or to make fools of them; they will always be able
to beat their opponents and to come through all such difficulties .
�World-honored One! If my ka? aya were unable to accomplish
these five sacred merits,75 it would mean that I had deceived the bud-
dhas who are present now in the worlds of the ten directions and in
countless, infinite asa? kheya kalpas, and in future I ought not to accom-
plish anuttara samyak sa? bodhi or to do Buddhist works. Having lost
the virtuous Dharma, I would surely be unable to destroy non-
Buddhism. '
Good sons! 76 At that time Tathagata Jewel Treasury extended his
golden right arm and patted the head of Bodhisattva Great Compas-
sion, praising him with these words:
�Very good! Very good! Stout fellow! What you have said is a
great and rare treasure, and is great wisdom and virtue. When you have
realized anuttara samyaksa? bodhi, this robe, the ka? aya, will be able
to accomplish these five sacred merits and to produce great benefit. �
Good sons! At that time, the bodhisattva mahasattva Great Com-
passion, after hearing the praise of that buddha, jumped endlessly for
joy. Then the Buddha [again] extended his golden arm, with its hand
of long, webbed fingers77 as soft as the robe of a goddess. When he
patted the [bodhisattva's] head, the [bodhisattva's] body changed at
once into the youthful figure of a man of twenty. Good sons! In that
order the great assembly of gods, dragons, deities, gandharvas, and
human and nonhuman beings, with folded hands78 venerated Bodhi-
sattva Great Compassion; they served him offerings of all kinds of
? owers; they even made music and offered that; and they also praised
him in all kinds of ways, after which they abode in silence. 79
[86] From the age when the Tathagata was in the world until today,
whenever the merits of the ka? aya are quoted from the Sutra and the Vinaya80
of bodhisattvas and sravakas, these five sacred merits are always considered
fundamental. Truly, ka? ayas are the buddha robes of the buddhas of the three
times. Their merits are measureless. At the same time, to get the ka? aya in
the Dharma of Sakyamuni Buddha may be even better than to get the ka? aya
in the Dharma of other buddhas.
The reason, if asked, is that in the ancient
past, when Sakyamuni Buddha was in the causal state81 as the bodhisattva
mahasattva Great Compassion, when he offered his five hundred great vows
before Buddha Jewel Treasury, he pointedly made the above vows in terms
of the merits of this ka? aya. Its merits may be utterly measureless and unthink-
able. This being so, the authentic transmission to the present of the skin,
? esh, bones, and marrow of the World-honored One, is the ka? aya robe. The
ancestral masters who have authentically transmitted the right Dharma-eye
treasury have, without exception, authentically transmitted the ka? aya. The
living beings who have received and retained this robe and humbly received
it upon their heads have, without exception, attained the truth within two or
three lives. Even when people have put [the ka? aya] on their body for a joke
or for gain, it has inevitably become the causes and conditions for their attain-
ing the truth.
[87] The ancestral master Nagarjuna82 says, �Further, in the Buddha-
Dharma, people who have left family life,83 even if they break the pre-
cepts and fall into sin, after they have expiated their sins, they can
attain liberation, as the bhik? u? i Utpalavar? a explains in the Jataka-
sutra:84 When the Buddha is in the world, this bhik? u? i attains the six
mystical powers85 and the state of an arhat. 86 She goes into the houses
of nobles and constantly praises the method of leaving family life, say-
ing to all the aristocratic ladies, �Sisters! You should leave family life. '
The noblewomen say, �We are young and our figures are full of
life and beauty. It would be difficult for us to keep the precepts. Some-
times we might break the precepts. '
The bhik? u? i says, �If you break the precepts, you break them.
Just leave family life! '
They ask, �If we break the precepts we will fall into hell. Why
should we want to break them? '
She answers, �If you fall into hell, you fall. '
The noblewomen all laugh at this, saying, �In hell we would have
to receive retribution for our sins. Why should we want to fall [into
hell]? '
The bhik? u? i says, �I remember in my own past life, once I became
a prostitute, wore all sorts of clothes, and spoke in old-fashioned lan-
guage. 87 One day I put on a bhik? u? i robe as a joke, and due to this as
a direct and indirect cause, at the time of Kasyapa Buddha88 I became
a bhik? u? i. I was still proud then of my noble pedigree and fine fea-
tures: vanity and arrogance arose in my mind, and I broke the precepts.
Because of the wrongness of breaking the precepts I fell into hell and
suffered for my various sins, but after I had suffered retribution I finally
met Sakyamuni Buddha, transcended family life, and attained the six
mystical powers and the truth of an arhat. Thus, I know that when we
leave family life and receive the precepts, even if we break the pre-
cepts, due to the precepts as direct and indirect causes we can attain
the truth of an arhat. If I had only done bad, without the precepts as
direct and indirect causes, I could not have attained the truth. In the
past I fell into hell in age after age. When I got out of hell I became a
bad person, and when the bad person died, I went back into hell, and
there was no gain at all. Now therefore I know from experience that
when we leave family life and receive the precepts, even if we break
the precepts, with this as a direct and indirect cause we can attain the
bodhi-effect. '�89
[90] The primary cause of this bhik? u? i Utpalavar? a90 attaining the truth
as an arhat is just the merit of her putting the ka? aya on her body for a joke;
because of this merit, and no other merit, she has now attained the truth. In
her second life she meets the Dharma of Kasyapa Buddha and becomes a
bhik? u? i. In her third life she meets Sakyamuni Buddha and becomes a great
arhat, equipped with the three kinds of knowledge and the six powers. The
three kinds of knowledge are supernatural insight, [knowing] past lives, and
ending the super? uous. The six powers are the power of mystical transmu-
tation, the power to know others' minds, the power of supernatural sight, the
power of supernatural hearing, the power to know past lives, and the power
to end the super? uous. 91 Truly, when she was only a wrongdoer she died and
entered hell to no avail, coming out of hell and becoming a wrongdoer again.
[But] when she has the precepts as direct and indirect causes, although she
has broken the precepts and fallen into hell, they are the direct and indirect
causes of her attaining the truth at last. Now, even someone who has worn
the ka? aya for a joke can attain the truth in her third life. How, then, could
someone who has established pure belief, and who wears the ka? aya for the
sake of the supreme state of bodhi, fail to accomplish that merit? Still fur-
ther, if we receive and retain [the ka? aya] throughout our life, humbly receiv-
ing it upon the head, the merit might be universal and great beyond measure.
Any human being who would like to establish the bodhi-mind should receive
and retain the ka? aya, and humbly receive it upon the head, without delay.
To have met this favorable age but not to have sown a Buddhist seed would
be deplorable. Having received a human body on the southern continent,92
having met the Dharma of Sakyamuni Buddha, and having been born to meet
an ancestral master who is a perfectly legitimate successor to the Buddha-
Dharma, if we idly passed up the chance to receive the ka? aya which has
been transmitted one-to-one and which is directly accessible, that would be
deplorable. Now, in regard to the authentic transmission of the ka? aya, the
one authentic transmission from the ancestral master is right and traditional;
other masters cannot stand shoulder to shoulder with him. Even to receive
and to retain the ka? aya following a master who has not received the trans-
mission is still of very profound merit. But much more than that, if we receive
and retain [the ka? aya] from a true master who has quite legitimately received
the face-to-face transmission, we may really be the Dharma children and the
Dharma grandchildren of the Tathagata himself, and we may actually have
received the authentic transmission of the Tathagata's skin, ? esh, bones, and
marrow. The ka? aya, in conclusion, has been authentically transmitted by
the buddhas of the three times and the ten directions, without interruption;
it is what the buddhas, bodhisattvas, sravakas, and pratyekabuddhas of the
three times and the ten directions have, in like manner, guarded and retained.
[93] Coarse cotton cloth is the standard [material] for making the ka? aya.
When there is no coarse cotton cloth, we use fine cotton cloth. When there
is neither coarse nor fine cotton cloth, we use plain silk. When there is nei-
ther [plain] silk nor cotton cloth, materials such as patterned cloth93 or sheer
silk may be used; [these are all] approved by the Tathagata. For countries
where there is no plain silk, cotton, patterned cloth, sheer silk, or anything
of the kind, the Tathagata also permits the leather ka? aya. Generally, we
should dye the ka? aya blue, yellow, red, black, or purple. Whichever color
it is, we should make it a secondary color. 94 The Tathagata always wore a
? esh-colored ka? aya; this was the color of the ka? aya. The Buddha's ka? aya
transmitted by the First Patriarch was blue-black, and made of the cotton
crepe of the Western Heavens. It is now on Sokeizan. It was transmitted
twenty-eight times in the Western Heavens and transmitted five times in
China. Now the surviving disciples of the eternal buddha of Sokei,95 who
have all received and retained the ancient customs of the Buddha's robe, are
beyond other monks. Broadly, there are three kinds of robe: 1) �the robe of
rags,� 2) �the robe of fur,� and 3) �the patched robe. � �Rags� are as explained
previously. In �the robe of fur,� the fine [down and] hair of birds and beasts
is called �fur. � �When practitioners cannot obtain rags, they pick up this
[fur] and make it into the robe. �The patched robe' describes our sewing and
patching, and wearing, [cloth] that has become ragged and worn with age;
we do not wear the fine clothes of the secular world. �96
[95] 97The venerable monk98 Upali99 asks the World-honored One,
�World-honored Bhadanta! 100 How many stripes does the sa? gha? i
robe have? �
The Buddha says, �There are nine kinds. What are the nine kinds?
They are [the sa? gha? i robe] of nine stripes, eleven stripes, thirteen
stripes, fifteen stripes, seventeen stripes, nineteen stripes, twenty-one
stripes, twenty-three stripes, and twenty-five stripes. The first three of
those kinds of sa? gha? i robe have two long segments and one short
segment [in each stripe], and we should keep [the standard] like this.
The next three kinds have three long [segments] and one short, and
the last three kinds have four long and one short. Anything with more
[segments per] stripe than this becomes an unorthodox robe. �101
Upali again addresses the World-honored One, �World-honored
Bhadanta! How many kinds of sa? gha? i robe are there? �
The Buddha says, �There are three kinds: larger, medium, and
smaller. 102 The larger is three cubits long by five cubits wide. 103 The
smaller is two and a half cubits long by four and a half cubits wide.
Anything between these two is called medium. �
Upali again addresses the World-honored One: �World-honored
Bhadanta! How many stripes does the uttarasa? gha? i104 robe have? �
The Buddha says, �It has only seven stripes, each with two long
segments and one short segment. �
Upali again addresses the World-honored One, �World-honored
Bhadanta! How many kinds of seven-striped [robe] are there? �
The Buddha says, �There are three kinds: larger, medium, and
smaller. The larger is three cubits by five, the smaller is a half cubit
shorter on each side, and anything between these two is called medium. �
Upali again addresses the World-honored One: �World-honored
Bhadanta! How many stripes does the antarvasa105 robe have? �
The Buddha says, �It has five stripes, each with one long segment
and one short segment. �
Upali again addresses the World-honored One, �How many kinds
of antarvasa robes are there? �
The Buddha says, �There are three kinds: larger, medium, and
smaller. The larger is three cubits by five. The medium and the smaller
are as before. �106 The Buddha says, �There are two further kinds of
antarvasa robes. What are those two? The first is two cubits long by
five cubits wide, and the second is two cubits long by four cubits wide. �
The sa? gha? i is translated as �the double-layered robe,� the
uttarasa? gha? i is translated as �the upper robe,� and the antarvasa is
translated as �the under robe� or as �the inner robe. � At the same time,
the sa? gha? i robe is called �the large robe,� and also called �the robe
for entering royal palaces� or �the robe for preaching the Dharma. �
The uttarasa? gha? i is called �the seven-striped robe,� or called �the
middle robe� or �the robe for going among the sangha. � The antarvasa
is called �the five-striped robe,� or called �the small robe� or �the robe
for practicing the truth and for doing work. �
[98] We should guard and retain these three robes without fail. Among
sa? gha? i robes is the ka? aya of sixty stripes, which also deserves to be
received and retained without fail. In general, the length of a [buddha's] body
depends on the span of its lifetime, which is between eighty thousand years107
and one hundred years. 108 Some say that there are differences between eighty
thousand years and one hundred years, while others say that they may be
equal. We esteem the insistence that they may be equal as the authentic tra-
dition. 109 The body measurements of buddhas and of human beings are very
different: the human body can be measured, but the buddha body ultimately
cannot be measured. 110 Therefore, in the present moment in which Sakya-
muni Buddha puts on the ka? aya of Kasyapa Buddha,111 [the ka? aya] is not
long and not wide. And in the present moment in which Maitreya Tathagata
puts on the ka? aya of Sakyamuni Buddha, it is not short and not narrow. We
should re? ect upon clearly, decide conclusively, understand completely, and
observe carefully that the buddha body is not long or short. King Brahma,112
though high in the world of matter, does not see the crown of the Buddha's
head. Maudgal yayana,113 having gone far into the World of the Bright Ban-
ner, does not discern the Buddha's voice: it is truly a mystery that [the
Buddha's form and voice] are the same whether seen and heard from far or
near. All the merits of the Tathagata are like this,114 and we should keep these
merits in mind.
[100] As regards [methods of] cutting out and sewing the ka? aya, there
is the robe of separate stripes,115 the robe of added stripes,116 the robe of
pleated stripes,117 and the single-sheet robe,118 each of which is a proper
method. We should receive and retain [the kind of robe] that accords with
the [material] obtained. The Buddha says, �The ka? aya of the buddhas of
the three times is invariably backstitched. � In obtaining the material, again,
we consider pure material to be good, and we consider so-called filthy rags
to be the purest of all. The buddhas of the three times all consider [rags] to
be pure. In addition, cloth offered by devout donors is also pure. There again,
[cloth] bought at a market with pure money is also pure. There are limits on
the [number of] days within which the robe should be made,119 but in the
present degenerate age of the latter Dharma, in a remote country, it may be
better for us to receive and to retain [the robe] by doing the cutting and sewing
whenever we are promoted by belief. It is an ultimate secret of the Great
Vehicle that laypeople, whether human beings or gods, receive and retain
the ka? aya. King Brahma and King Sakra120 have now both received and
retained the ka? aya, and these are excellent precedents in [the worlds of]
volition and matter. Excellent [precedents] in the human world are beyond
calculation. All lay bodhisattvas have received and retained [the ka? aya]. In
China, Emperor Bu121 of the Liang dynasty and Emperor Yang122 of the Sui
dynasty123 both received and retained the ka? aya. Emperors Taiso and Shukuso
both wore the ka? aya, learned in practice from monks, and received and
retained the bodhisattva precepts. Other people such as householders and their
wives who received the ka? aya and received the Buddhist precepts are excel-
lent examples in the past and present. In Japan, when Prince Shotoku124 received
and retained the ka?
and retained it, and succeeded to each other's Dharma, until today. The ances-
tral masters who have received and retained [the ka? aya] are all masters and
disciples who experienced the state30 and received the transmission of Dharma.
This being so, we should make [the ka? aya] properly, according to the method
for making the ka? aya that has been authentically transmitted by the Buddhist
patriarchs. This alone is the authentic tradition, and so it has long been expe-
rienced and recognized by all common and sacred beings, human beings and
gods, and dragons and spirits. Having been born to meet the spread of this
Dharma, if we cover our body with the ka? aya only once, receiving it and
retaining it for just a k? a? a or a muhurta,31 that [experience] will surely serve
as a talisman to protect us32 in the realization of the supreme state of bodhi.
When we dye the body and mind with a single phrase or a single verse, it
becomes a seed of everlasting brightness which finally leads us to the supreme
state of bodhi. When we dye the body and mind with one real dharma or one
good deed, it may be also like this. Mental images arise and vanish instanta-
neously; they are without an abode. The physical body also arises and van-
ishes instantaneously; it too is without an abode. Nevertheless, the merit that
we practice always has its time of ripening and shedding. The ka? aya, simi-
larly, is beyond elaboration and beyond non-elaboration, it is beyond having
an abode and beyond having no abode: it is that which �buddhas alone, together
with buddhas, perfectly realize. �33 Nevertheless, practitioners who receive
and retain [the ka? aya] always accomplish the merit that is thus to be gained,
and they always arrive at the ultimate. Those without past good conduct�
even if they pass through one life, two lives, or countless lives�can never
meet the ka? aya, can never wear the ka? aya, can never believe in the ka? aya,
and can never clearly know the ka? aya. In China and Japan today, we see that
there are those who have had the opportunity to clothe their body once in the
ka? aya, and there are those who have not. [The difference] depends neither
upon high or low status nor upon stupidity or wisdom: clearly it was deter-
mined by past good conduct. This being so, if we have received and retained
the ka? aya, we should feel glad about our past good conduct, and should not
doubt the accumulation of merit and the piling up of virtue. If we have not
got [the ka? aya] yet, we should hope to get it. We should strive, without delay,
to sow the first seeds [of receiving and retaining the ka? aya] in this life. Those
who are prevented by some hindrance from receiving and retaining [the ka? aya]
should repent and confess before the buddha-tathagatas and the Three Treas-
ures of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. How living beings in other countries
must wish, �If only the robe and the Dharma of the Tathagata had been authen-
tically transmitted and were intimately present in our country, as they are in
China! � Their shame must be deep, and their sadness tinged with resentment,
that the authentic tradition has not passed into their own country. Why are
we so fortunate as to have met the Dharma in which the robe and the Dharma
of the Tathagata, the World-honored One, have been authentically transmit-
ted? It is the in? uence of the great merit of praj �a nurtured in the past. In the
present corrupt age of the latter Dharma, [some] are not ashamed that they
themselves have no authentic transmission, and they envy others who pos-
sess the authentic transmission. I think they may be a band of demons. Their
present possessions and abodes which are in? uenced by their former conduct,
are not true and real. Just to devote themselves34 to and to venerate the authen-
tically transmitted Buddha-Dharma: this may be their real refuge in learning
[the state of] buddha. In sum, remember that the ka? aya is the object of the
buddhas' veneration and devotion. It is the body of the Buddha and the mind
of the Buddha. We call it �the clothing of liberation,�35 �the robe of a field of
happiness,�36 �the robe without form,�37 �the supreme robe,� �the robe of
endurance,�38 �the robe of the Tatha gata,� �the robe of great benevolence and
great compassion,� �the robe that is a banner of excellence,� and �the robe
of anuttara samyaksa? bodhi. � We should receive and retain it like this,
humbly receiving it upon the head. Because it is like this, we should never
change it according to [our own] mind.
[71] As material for the robe, we use silk or cotton, according to suit-
ability. It is not always the case that cotton is pure and silk is impure. There
is no viewpoint from which to hate cotton and to prefer silk; that would be
laughable. The usual method39 of the buddhas, in every case, is to see rags40
as the best material. There are ten sorts and four sorts of rags; namely, burned,
chewed by an ox, gnawed by rats, from clothes of dead people, and so forth. 41
�The people of the five areas of India42 discarded rags like these in streets
and fields, as if they were filth, and so they called them �filthy rags. '43 Prac-
titioners picked them up, washed them and sewed them, and used them to
cover the body. �44 Among those [rags] there are various kinds of silk and
various kinds of cotton. We should throw away the view [that discriminates
between] silk and cotton, and study rags in practice. When, in ancient times45
[the Buddha] was washing a robe of rags in Lake Anavatapta,46 the Dragon
King praised him with a rain of ? owers, and made prostrations of reverence.
Some teachers of the Small Vehicle have a theory about transformed thread,47
which also may be without foundation. People of the Great Vehicle might
laugh at it. What kind [of thread] is not transformed thread? When those
teachers hear of �transformation� they believe their ears, but when they see
the transformation itself they doubt their eyes. Remember, in picking up
rags, there may be cotton that looks like silk and there may be silk that looks
like cotton. There being myriad differences in local customs it is hard to
fathom [nature's] creation�eyes of ? esh cannot know it. Having obtained
such material, we should not discuss whether it is silk or cotton but should
call it rags. Even if there are human beings or gods in heaven who have sur-
vived as rags, they are never sentient beings, they are just rags. Even if there
are pine trees or chrysanthemums that have survived as rags, they are never
insentient beings, they are just rags. When we believe the principle that rags
are not silk or cotton, and not gold, silver, pearl, or jewel, rags are realized.
Before we have got rid of views and opinions about silk and cotton, we have
never seen rags even in a dream. On one occasion a monk asks the eternal
buddha,48 �Should we see the robe you received on Obai [Mountain] in the
middle of the night as cotton, or should we see it as silk? In short, as what
material should we see it? � The eternal buddha says, �It is not cotton and it
is not silk. � Remember, it is a profound teaching49 of the Buddha's truth that
the ka? aya is beyond silk and cotton.
[74] The Venerable Sa? avasa50 is third in the transmission of the Dharma
treasury. He has been endowed with a robe since birth. While he is a lay-
man this robe is a secular garment, but when he leaves home51 it turns into
a ka? aya. In another case, the bhik? u? i Sukra,52 after establishing the will
and being clothed in a cotton robe, has been born with a robe in every life
and middle existence. On the day that she meets Sakyamuni Buddha and
leaves home, the secular robe that she has had since birth changes instantly
into a ka? aya, as in the case of Venerable Sa? avasa. Clearly, the ka? aya is
beyond silk, cotton, and so forth. Moreover, the fact that the virtue of the
Buddha-Dharma can transform body and mind and all dharmas is as in those
examples. The truth is evident that when we leave home and receive the pre-
cepts, body and mind, object-and-subject, change at once; it is only because
we are stupid that we do not know. It is not true that the usual rule53 of the
buddhas applies only to Sa? avasa and to Sukra but not to us; we should not
doubt that benefit [accrues] in accordance with individual standing. We
should consider such truths in detail and learn them in practice. The ka? aya
that covers the body of [the monks whom the Buddha] welcomes54 to take
the precepts is not necessarily cotton or silk: the Buddha's in? uence is difficult
to consider. The precious pearl within the robe55 is beyond those who count
grains of sand. 56 We should clarify and should learn in practice that which
has quantity and that which is without quantity, that which has form and that
which is without form, in the material, color, and measurements of the ka? aya
of the buddhas. This is what all the ancestral masters of the Western Heav-
ens and the Eastern Lands, past and present, learned in practice and trans-
mitted as the authentic tradition. If someone is able to see and to hear [a mas-
ter] in whom there is nothing to doubt�the authentic transmission from
patriarch to patriarch being evident�but fails, without reason, to receive the
authentic transmission from this ancestral master, such smugness would be
hard to condone. The extent of [this] stupidity might be due to unbelief. It
would be to abandon the real and to pursue the false, to discard the root and
to seek after branches. It would be to slight the Tathagata. People who wish
to establish the bodhi-mind should always receive the authentic transmis-
sion of an ancestral master. Not only have we met the Buddha-Dharma
which is so difficult to meet: also, as Dharma descendants in the authentic
transmission of the Buddha's ka? aya, we have been able to see and to hear,
to learn and to practice, and to receive and to retain [the authentic trans-
mission of the Buddha's ka? aya]. This is just to see the Tathagata himself,
it is to hear the Buddha's preaching of Dharma, it is to be illuminated by
the Buddha's brightness, it is to receive and to use what the Buddha received
and used, it is to receive the one-to-one transmission of the Buddha's mind,
it is to have got the Buddha's marrow, it is to be covered directly by Sakya-
muni Buddha's ka? aya, and it is Sakyamuni Buddha himself directly bestow-
ing the ka? aya upon us. Because we follow the Buddha, we have devoutly57
received this ka? aya.
[78] The method of washing the ka? aya: Put the ka? aya, unfolded, into
a clean tub, then immerse the ka? aya in fragrant, fully boiled hot water, and
leave it to soak for about two hours. 58 Another method is to soak the ka? aya
in pure, fully boiled ash-water59 and to wait for the water to cool. Nowadays
we usually use [the] hot ash-water [method]. Hot ash-water is what we call
aku-no-yu here [in Japan]. 60 When the ash-water has cooled, rinse [the ka? aya]
again and again in clean and clear hot water. During the rinsing do not put in
both hands to scrub [the ka? aya] and do not tread on it. Continue until any
dirt or grease has been removed. After that, mix aloes, sandalwood,61 or other
incense into some cold water and rinse [the ka? aya]. Then hang it on a wash-
ing pole62 to dry. After it is thoroughly dry, fold it and put it in a high place,
burn incense and scatter petals, walk round it several times [with the ka? aya]
to the right,63 and perform prostrations. After making three prostrations, six
prostrations, or nine prostrations, kneel up and join the hands,64 then hold the
ka? aya up with both hands, and in the mouth recite the verse [in praise of the
ka? aya]. 65 After that stand up and put on [the ka? aya] according to the method.
[80] 66The World-honored One addresses the great assembly: �In the
ancient past when I was in the order of Buddha Jewel Treasury,67 I
was Bodhisattva Great Compassion. 68 At that time, the bodhisattva
mahasattva Great Compassion made the following vow before Buddha
Jewel Treasury:
�World-honored One! If, after I became a buddha, there were liv-
ing beings who had entered my Dharma and left home and who wore
the ka? aya�even if they were bhik? us , bhik? u? is , upasakas , and
upasikas69 who had accumulated heavy sins by violating the grave pro-
hibitions, by enacting false views, or by contemptuously disbelieving
the Three Treasures�and in a single moment of consciousness the
reverence arose in their mind to honor the sa? gha? i robe70 and the rev-
erence arose in their mind to honor the World-honored One (the
Buddha) or the Dharma and the Sangha but, World-honored One, even
one among those living beings could not, in [one of] the three vehi-
cles,71 receive affirmation,72 and as a result regressed or went astray,
it would mean that I had deceived the buddhas who are present now
in the worlds of the ten directions and in countless, infinite asa? kheya
kalpas, and I surely should not realize anuttara samyak sa? bodhi.
�World-honored One! After I have become a buddha, if gods, drag-
ons, and demons, and human and nonhuman beings are able to wear
this ka? aya, to venerate, to serve offerings to, to honor, and to praise
it, as long as those people are able to see a small part of this ka? aya,
they will be able not to regress while within the three vehicles.
�When living beings are af? icted by hunger or thirst�whether
they are wretched demons, miserable people, or living beings in the
state of hungry ghosts�if they are able to obtain a piece of the ka? aya
even as small as four inches,73 they will at once be able to eat and drink
their fill and to accomplish quickly whatever they wish.
�When living beings offend each other, causing ill will to arise
and a fight to develop�or when gods, dragons, demons, gandharvas,
asuras, garu? as, ki? naras, mahoragas, kum bha? ? as, pisacas, and
human and nonhuman beings are fighting each other�if they remem-
ber this ka? aya, in due course, by virtue of the power of the ka? aya,
they will beget the mind of compassion, soft and ? exible mind, mind
free of enmity, serene mind, the regulated mind of virtue, and they will
get back the state of purity.
�When people are in an armed con? ict, a civil lawsuit, or a crim-
inal action, if they retain a small piece of this ka? aya as they go among
these combatants, and if in order to protect themselves they serve offer-
ings to, venerate, and honor it, these [other] people will be unable to
injure, to disturb, or to make fools of them; they will always be able
to beat their opponents and to come through all such difficulties .
�World-honored One! If my ka? aya were unable to accomplish
these five sacred merits,75 it would mean that I had deceived the bud-
dhas who are present now in the worlds of the ten directions and in
countless, infinite asa? kheya kalpas, and in future I ought not to accom-
plish anuttara samyak sa? bodhi or to do Buddhist works. Having lost
the virtuous Dharma, I would surely be unable to destroy non-
Buddhism. '
Good sons! 76 At that time Tathagata Jewel Treasury extended his
golden right arm and patted the head of Bodhisattva Great Compas-
sion, praising him with these words:
�Very good! Very good! Stout fellow! What you have said is a
great and rare treasure, and is great wisdom and virtue. When you have
realized anuttara samyaksa? bodhi, this robe, the ka? aya, will be able
to accomplish these five sacred merits and to produce great benefit. �
Good sons! At that time, the bodhisattva mahasattva Great Com-
passion, after hearing the praise of that buddha, jumped endlessly for
joy. Then the Buddha [again] extended his golden arm, with its hand
of long, webbed fingers77 as soft as the robe of a goddess. When he
patted the [bodhisattva's] head, the [bodhisattva's] body changed at
once into the youthful figure of a man of twenty. Good sons! In that
order the great assembly of gods, dragons, deities, gandharvas, and
human and nonhuman beings, with folded hands78 venerated Bodhi-
sattva Great Compassion; they served him offerings of all kinds of
? owers; they even made music and offered that; and they also praised
him in all kinds of ways, after which they abode in silence. 79
[86] From the age when the Tathagata was in the world until today,
whenever the merits of the ka? aya are quoted from the Sutra and the Vinaya80
of bodhisattvas and sravakas, these five sacred merits are always considered
fundamental. Truly, ka? ayas are the buddha robes of the buddhas of the three
times. Their merits are measureless. At the same time, to get the ka? aya in
the Dharma of Sakyamuni Buddha may be even better than to get the ka? aya
in the Dharma of other buddhas.
The reason, if asked, is that in the ancient
past, when Sakyamuni Buddha was in the causal state81 as the bodhisattva
mahasattva Great Compassion, when he offered his five hundred great vows
before Buddha Jewel Treasury, he pointedly made the above vows in terms
of the merits of this ka? aya. Its merits may be utterly measureless and unthink-
able. This being so, the authentic transmission to the present of the skin,
? esh, bones, and marrow of the World-honored One, is the ka? aya robe. The
ancestral masters who have authentically transmitted the right Dharma-eye
treasury have, without exception, authentically transmitted the ka? aya. The
living beings who have received and retained this robe and humbly received
it upon their heads have, without exception, attained the truth within two or
three lives. Even when people have put [the ka? aya] on their body for a joke
or for gain, it has inevitably become the causes and conditions for their attain-
ing the truth.
[87] The ancestral master Nagarjuna82 says, �Further, in the Buddha-
Dharma, people who have left family life,83 even if they break the pre-
cepts and fall into sin, after they have expiated their sins, they can
attain liberation, as the bhik? u? i Utpalavar? a explains in the Jataka-
sutra:84 When the Buddha is in the world, this bhik? u? i attains the six
mystical powers85 and the state of an arhat. 86 She goes into the houses
of nobles and constantly praises the method of leaving family life, say-
ing to all the aristocratic ladies, �Sisters! You should leave family life. '
The noblewomen say, �We are young and our figures are full of
life and beauty. It would be difficult for us to keep the precepts. Some-
times we might break the precepts. '
The bhik? u? i says, �If you break the precepts, you break them.
Just leave family life! '
They ask, �If we break the precepts we will fall into hell. Why
should we want to break them? '
She answers, �If you fall into hell, you fall. '
The noblewomen all laugh at this, saying, �In hell we would have
to receive retribution for our sins. Why should we want to fall [into
hell]? '
The bhik? u? i says, �I remember in my own past life, once I became
a prostitute, wore all sorts of clothes, and spoke in old-fashioned lan-
guage. 87 One day I put on a bhik? u? i robe as a joke, and due to this as
a direct and indirect cause, at the time of Kasyapa Buddha88 I became
a bhik? u? i. I was still proud then of my noble pedigree and fine fea-
tures: vanity and arrogance arose in my mind, and I broke the precepts.
Because of the wrongness of breaking the precepts I fell into hell and
suffered for my various sins, but after I had suffered retribution I finally
met Sakyamuni Buddha, transcended family life, and attained the six
mystical powers and the truth of an arhat. Thus, I know that when we
leave family life and receive the precepts, even if we break the pre-
cepts, due to the precepts as direct and indirect causes we can attain
the truth of an arhat. If I had only done bad, without the precepts as
direct and indirect causes, I could not have attained the truth. In the
past I fell into hell in age after age. When I got out of hell I became a
bad person, and when the bad person died, I went back into hell, and
there was no gain at all. Now therefore I know from experience that
when we leave family life and receive the precepts, even if we break
the precepts, with this as a direct and indirect cause we can attain the
bodhi-effect. '�89
[90] The primary cause of this bhik? u? i Utpalavar? a90 attaining the truth
as an arhat is just the merit of her putting the ka? aya on her body for a joke;
because of this merit, and no other merit, she has now attained the truth. In
her second life she meets the Dharma of Kasyapa Buddha and becomes a
bhik? u? i. In her third life she meets Sakyamuni Buddha and becomes a great
arhat, equipped with the three kinds of knowledge and the six powers. The
three kinds of knowledge are supernatural insight, [knowing] past lives, and
ending the super? uous. The six powers are the power of mystical transmu-
tation, the power to know others' minds, the power of supernatural sight, the
power of supernatural hearing, the power to know past lives, and the power
to end the super? uous. 91 Truly, when she was only a wrongdoer she died and
entered hell to no avail, coming out of hell and becoming a wrongdoer again.
[But] when she has the precepts as direct and indirect causes, although she
has broken the precepts and fallen into hell, they are the direct and indirect
causes of her attaining the truth at last. Now, even someone who has worn
the ka? aya for a joke can attain the truth in her third life. How, then, could
someone who has established pure belief, and who wears the ka? aya for the
sake of the supreme state of bodhi, fail to accomplish that merit? Still fur-
ther, if we receive and retain [the ka? aya] throughout our life, humbly receiv-
ing it upon the head, the merit might be universal and great beyond measure.
Any human being who would like to establish the bodhi-mind should receive
and retain the ka? aya, and humbly receive it upon the head, without delay.
To have met this favorable age but not to have sown a Buddhist seed would
be deplorable. Having received a human body on the southern continent,92
having met the Dharma of Sakyamuni Buddha, and having been born to meet
an ancestral master who is a perfectly legitimate successor to the Buddha-
Dharma, if we idly passed up the chance to receive the ka? aya which has
been transmitted one-to-one and which is directly accessible, that would be
deplorable. Now, in regard to the authentic transmission of the ka? aya, the
one authentic transmission from the ancestral master is right and traditional;
other masters cannot stand shoulder to shoulder with him. Even to receive
and to retain the ka? aya following a master who has not received the trans-
mission is still of very profound merit. But much more than that, if we receive
and retain [the ka? aya] from a true master who has quite legitimately received
the face-to-face transmission, we may really be the Dharma children and the
Dharma grandchildren of the Tathagata himself, and we may actually have
received the authentic transmission of the Tathagata's skin, ? esh, bones, and
marrow. The ka? aya, in conclusion, has been authentically transmitted by
the buddhas of the three times and the ten directions, without interruption;
it is what the buddhas, bodhisattvas, sravakas, and pratyekabuddhas of the
three times and the ten directions have, in like manner, guarded and retained.
[93] Coarse cotton cloth is the standard [material] for making the ka? aya.
When there is no coarse cotton cloth, we use fine cotton cloth. When there
is neither coarse nor fine cotton cloth, we use plain silk. When there is nei-
ther [plain] silk nor cotton cloth, materials such as patterned cloth93 or sheer
silk may be used; [these are all] approved by the Tathagata. For countries
where there is no plain silk, cotton, patterned cloth, sheer silk, or anything
of the kind, the Tathagata also permits the leather ka? aya. Generally, we
should dye the ka? aya blue, yellow, red, black, or purple. Whichever color
it is, we should make it a secondary color. 94 The Tathagata always wore a
? esh-colored ka? aya; this was the color of the ka? aya. The Buddha's ka? aya
transmitted by the First Patriarch was blue-black, and made of the cotton
crepe of the Western Heavens. It is now on Sokeizan. It was transmitted
twenty-eight times in the Western Heavens and transmitted five times in
China. Now the surviving disciples of the eternal buddha of Sokei,95 who
have all received and retained the ancient customs of the Buddha's robe, are
beyond other monks. Broadly, there are three kinds of robe: 1) �the robe of
rags,� 2) �the robe of fur,� and 3) �the patched robe. � �Rags� are as explained
previously. In �the robe of fur,� the fine [down and] hair of birds and beasts
is called �fur. � �When practitioners cannot obtain rags, they pick up this
[fur] and make it into the robe. �The patched robe' describes our sewing and
patching, and wearing, [cloth] that has become ragged and worn with age;
we do not wear the fine clothes of the secular world. �96
[95] 97The venerable monk98 Upali99 asks the World-honored One,
�World-honored Bhadanta! 100 How many stripes does the sa? gha? i
robe have? �
The Buddha says, �There are nine kinds. What are the nine kinds?
They are [the sa? gha? i robe] of nine stripes, eleven stripes, thirteen
stripes, fifteen stripes, seventeen stripes, nineteen stripes, twenty-one
stripes, twenty-three stripes, and twenty-five stripes. The first three of
those kinds of sa? gha? i robe have two long segments and one short
segment [in each stripe], and we should keep [the standard] like this.
The next three kinds have three long [segments] and one short, and
the last three kinds have four long and one short. Anything with more
[segments per] stripe than this becomes an unorthodox robe. �101
Upali again addresses the World-honored One, �World-honored
Bhadanta! How many kinds of sa? gha? i robe are there? �
The Buddha says, �There are three kinds: larger, medium, and
smaller. 102 The larger is three cubits long by five cubits wide. 103 The
smaller is two and a half cubits long by four and a half cubits wide.
Anything between these two is called medium. �
Upali again addresses the World-honored One: �World-honored
Bhadanta! How many stripes does the uttarasa? gha? i104 robe have? �
The Buddha says, �It has only seven stripes, each with two long
segments and one short segment. �
Upali again addresses the World-honored One, �World-honored
Bhadanta! How many kinds of seven-striped [robe] are there? �
The Buddha says, �There are three kinds: larger, medium, and
smaller. The larger is three cubits by five, the smaller is a half cubit
shorter on each side, and anything between these two is called medium. �
Upali again addresses the World-honored One: �World-honored
Bhadanta! How many stripes does the antarvasa105 robe have? �
The Buddha says, �It has five stripes, each with one long segment
and one short segment. �
Upali again addresses the World-honored One, �How many kinds
of antarvasa robes are there? �
The Buddha says, �There are three kinds: larger, medium, and
smaller. The larger is three cubits by five. The medium and the smaller
are as before. �106 The Buddha says, �There are two further kinds of
antarvasa robes. What are those two? The first is two cubits long by
five cubits wide, and the second is two cubits long by four cubits wide. �
The sa? gha? i is translated as �the double-layered robe,� the
uttarasa? gha? i is translated as �the upper robe,� and the antarvasa is
translated as �the under robe� or as �the inner robe. � At the same time,
the sa? gha? i robe is called �the large robe,� and also called �the robe
for entering royal palaces� or �the robe for preaching the Dharma. �
The uttarasa? gha? i is called �the seven-striped robe,� or called �the
middle robe� or �the robe for going among the sangha. � The antarvasa
is called �the five-striped robe,� or called �the small robe� or �the robe
for practicing the truth and for doing work. �
[98] We should guard and retain these three robes without fail. Among
sa? gha? i robes is the ka? aya of sixty stripes, which also deserves to be
received and retained without fail. In general, the length of a [buddha's] body
depends on the span of its lifetime, which is between eighty thousand years107
and one hundred years. 108 Some say that there are differences between eighty
thousand years and one hundred years, while others say that they may be
equal. We esteem the insistence that they may be equal as the authentic tra-
dition. 109 The body measurements of buddhas and of human beings are very
different: the human body can be measured, but the buddha body ultimately
cannot be measured. 110 Therefore, in the present moment in which Sakya-
muni Buddha puts on the ka? aya of Kasyapa Buddha,111 [the ka? aya] is not
long and not wide. And in the present moment in which Maitreya Tathagata
puts on the ka? aya of Sakyamuni Buddha, it is not short and not narrow. We
should re? ect upon clearly, decide conclusively, understand completely, and
observe carefully that the buddha body is not long or short. King Brahma,112
though high in the world of matter, does not see the crown of the Buddha's
head. Maudgal yayana,113 having gone far into the World of the Bright Ban-
ner, does not discern the Buddha's voice: it is truly a mystery that [the
Buddha's form and voice] are the same whether seen and heard from far or
near. All the merits of the Tathagata are like this,114 and we should keep these
merits in mind.
[100] As regards [methods of] cutting out and sewing the ka? aya, there
is the robe of separate stripes,115 the robe of added stripes,116 the robe of
pleated stripes,117 and the single-sheet robe,118 each of which is a proper
method. We should receive and retain [the kind of robe] that accords with
the [material] obtained. The Buddha says, �The ka? aya of the buddhas of
the three times is invariably backstitched. � In obtaining the material, again,
we consider pure material to be good, and we consider so-called filthy rags
to be the purest of all. The buddhas of the three times all consider [rags] to
be pure. In addition, cloth offered by devout donors is also pure. There again,
[cloth] bought at a market with pure money is also pure. There are limits on
the [number of] days within which the robe should be made,119 but in the
present degenerate age of the latter Dharma, in a remote country, it may be
better for us to receive and to retain [the robe] by doing the cutting and sewing
whenever we are promoted by belief. It is an ultimate secret of the Great
Vehicle that laypeople, whether human beings or gods, receive and retain
the ka? aya. King Brahma and King Sakra120 have now both received and
retained the ka? aya, and these are excellent precedents in [the worlds of]
volition and matter. Excellent [precedents] in the human world are beyond
calculation. All lay bodhisattvas have received and retained [the ka? aya]. In
China, Emperor Bu121 of the Liang dynasty and Emperor Yang122 of the Sui
dynasty123 both received and retained the ka? aya. Emperors Taiso and Shukuso
both wore the ka? aya, learned in practice from monks, and received and
retained the bodhisattva precepts. Other people such as householders and their
wives who received the ka? aya and received the Buddhist precepts are excel-
lent examples in the past and present. In Japan, when Prince Shotoku124 received
and retained the ka?
