[123] What all the buddhas and all the patriarchs have received and retained,
and transmitted one-to-one, is the eternal mirror.
and transmitted one-to-one, is the eternal mirror.
Shobogenzo
�
Sanzo takes a while, but knows nothing and sees nothing. Then the
National Master scolds him, saying, �You ghost of a wild fox,18 where is
your power to know others' minds? �
Sanzo has no further answer. 19
[101] If we did not know of such an episode, that would be bad, and if
we were not informed about it, we might have doubts. Buddhist patriarchs
and scholars of the Tripi? aka20 can never be equal; they are as far apart as
heaven and earth. Buddhist patriarchs have clarified the Buddha-Dharma,
scholars of the Tripi? aka have never clarified it at all. With regard to [the
title] �scholar of the Tripi? aka,� indeed, there are cases of even secular peo-
ple being �a scholar of the Tripi? aka. � It represents, for example, the acqui-
sition of a place in literary culture. This being so, even if [Sanzo] has not
only understood all the languages of India and China but has also accom-
plished the power to know others' minds as well, he has never seen the body
and mind of the Buddhist truth, even in a dream. For this reason, in his audi-
ence with the National Master, who has experienced the state of the Buddhist
patriarchs, [Sanzo] is seen through at once. When we learn mind in Buddhism,
the myriad dharmas are mind itself,21 and the triple world is mind alone. 22
It may be that mind alone is just mind alone,23 and that concrete buddha is
mind here and now. 24 Whether it is self, or whether it is the external world,
we must not be mistaken about the mind of the Buddha's truth. It could never
idly ? ow down to the West River or wander over to Tianjin Bridge. If we
want to maintain and to rely upon the body and mind of the Buddha's truth,
we must learn the power which is the wisdom of the Buddha's truth. That is
to say, in the Buddha's truth the whole earth is mind, which does not change
through arising and vanishing, and the whole Dharma is mind. We should
also learn the whole of mind as the power of wisdom. Sanzo, not having seen
this already, is nothing but the ghost of a wild fox. So, even the first two times,
[Sanzo] never sees the mind of the National Master, and never penetrates25
the mind of the National Master at all. He is a wild fox cub idly playing with
no more than the West River, Tianjin Bridge, a boat race, and a monkey�
how could he hope to see the National Master? Again, the fact is evident that
[Sanzo] cannot see the place where the National Master is. He is asked three
times, �Tell me where the old monk is now,� but he does not listen to these
words. If he could listen, he might be able to investigate [further], [but] because
he does not listen, he blunders heedlessly onward. If Sanzo had learned the
Buddha-Dharma, he would listen to the words of the National Master, and
he might be able to see the body and mind of the National Master. Because
he does not learn the Buddha-Dharma in his everyday life, even though he
was born to meet a guiding teacher of the human world and the heavens above,
he has passed [the opportunity] in vain. It is pitiful and it is deplorable. In
general, how could a scholar of the Tripi? aka attain to the conduct of a Buddhist
patriarch and know the limits of the National Master? Needless to say, teach-
ers of commentaries from the Western Heavens, and Indian scholars of the
Tripi? aka, could never know the conduct of the National Master at all. Kings
of gods can know, and teachers of commentaries can know, what scholars of
the Tripi? aka know. How could what commentary-teachers and gods know
be beyond the wisdom of [bodhisattvas at] the place of assignment; or beyond
[bodhisattvas at] the ten sacred stages and the three clever stages? Gods can-
not know, and [bodhisattvas at] the place of assignment26 have never clar-
ified, the body and mind of the National Master. Discussion of body and mind
among Buddhists is like this. We should know it and believe it.
[105] The Dharma of our great teacher Sakyamuni is never akin to the
ghosts of wild foxes�the two vehicles, non-Buddhists, and the like. Still,
venerable patriarchs through the ages have each studied this story, and their
discussions have survived:
27A monk asks Joshu,28 �Why does Sanzo not see where the National
Master is the third time? � Joshu says, �He does not see because the National
Master is right on Sanzo's nostrils. �
Another monk asks Gensha,29 �If [the National Master] is already on
[Sanzo's] nostrils, why does [Sanzo] not see him? � Gensha says, �Simply
because of being enormously close. �
Kaie Tan30 says, �If the National Master is right on Sanzo's nostrils,
what difficulty could [Sanzo] have in seeing him? Above all, it has not been
recognized that the National Master is inside Sanzo's eyeballs. �
On another occasion, Gensha challenges31 Sanzo with these words: �You!
Say! Have you seen at all, even the first two times? � Setcho Ken32 says, �I
am defeated, I am defeated. �
On still another occasion, a monk asks Kyozan,33 �Why is it that the
third time, though Sanzo takes a while, he does not see where the National
Master is? � Kyozan says, �The first two times [the master's] mind is wan-
dering in external circumstances; then he enters the samadhi of receiving
and using the self,34 and so [Sanzo] does not see him. �
These five venerable patriarchs are all precise, but they have passed over
the National Master's conduct: by only discussing [Sanzo's] failure to know
the third time, they seem to permit that he knew the first two times. This is
the ancestors' oversight, and students of later ages should know it.
[108] Kosho's (Dogen)35 present doubts about the five venerable patri-
archs are twofold. First, they do not know the National Master's intention
in examining Sanzo. Second, they do not know the National Master's body
and mind.
[109] Now the reason I say that they do not know the National Master's
intention in examining Sanzo is as follows: First the National Master says,
�Tell me where the old monk is just now. � The intention expressed [here] is
to test whether or not Sanzo has ever known the Buddha-Dharma. At this
time, if Sanzo has heard the Buddha-Dharma, he would study according to
the Buddha-Dharma the question �Where is the old monk just now? � Stud-
ied according to the Buddha-Dharma, the National Master's �Where is the
old monk now� asks �Am I at this place? � �Am I at that place? � �Am I in
the supreme state of bodhi? � �Am I in the praj�aparamita? � �Am I sus-
pended in space? � �Am I standing on the earth? � �Am I in a thatched hut? �
and �Am I in the place of treasure? � Sanzo does not recognize this inten-
tion, and so he vainly offers views and opinions of the common person, the
two vehicles, and the like. The National Master asks again, �Tell me where
this old monk is just now. � Here again Sanzo offers useless words. The
National Master asks yet again, �Tell me where this old monk is just now,�
whereupon Sanzo takes a while but says nothing, his mind baf? ed. Then the
National Master scolds Sanzo, saying, �You ghost of a wild fox, where is
your power to know others' minds? � Thus chided, Sanzo still has nothing
to say [for himself]. Having considered this episode carefully, the ancestors
all think that the National Master is now scolding Sanzo because, even if
[Sanzo] knows where the National Master was the first two times, he does
not know the third time. That is not so. The National Master is scolding
Sanzo outright for being nothing but the ghost of a wild fox and never hav-
ing seen the Buddha-Dharma even in a dream. [The National Master] has
never said that [Sanzo] knew the first two times but not the third time. His
criticism is outright criticism of Sanzo. The National Master's idea is, first,
to consider whether or not it is possible to call the Buddha-Dharma �the
power to know others' minds. � Further, he thinks �If we speak of �the power
to know others' minds' we must take �others' in accordance with the Buddha's
truth, we must take �mind' in accordance with the Buddha's truth, and we
must take �the power to know' in accordance with the Buddha's truth, but
what this Sanzo is saying now does not accord with the Buddha's truth at
all. How could it be called the Buddha-Dharma? � These are the thoughts of
the National Master. The meaning of his testing is as follows: Even if [Sanzo]
says something the third time, if it is like the first two times�contrary to the
principles of the Buddha-Dharma and contrary to the fundamental intention
of the National Master�it must be criticized. When [the National Master]
asks three times, he is asking again and again whether Sanzo has been able
to understand the National Master's words.
[112] The second [doubt]�that [the five venerable patriarchs] do not
know the body and mind of the National Master�is namely that the body
and mind of the National Master cannot be known, and cannot be pene-
trated,36 by scholars of the Tripi? aka. It is beyond the attainment of [bodhi-
sattvas at] the ten sacred stages and the three clever stages, and it is beyond
clarification by [bodhisattvas at] the place of assignment or [in] the state of
balanced awareness,37 so how could the common person Sanzo know it? We
must clearly determine [the truth of] this principle. If [people] purport that
even Sanzo might know, or might attain to, the body and mind of the National
Master, it is because they themselves do not know the body and mind of the
National Master. If we say that people who have got the power to know oth-
ers' minds can know the National Master, then can the two vehicles also know
the National Master? That is impossible: people of the two vehicles can never
arrive at the periphery of the National Master. Nowadays many people of the
two vehicles have read the sutras of the Great Vehicle, [but] even they can-
not know the body and mind of the National Master. Further, they cannot see
the body and mind of the Buddha-Dharma, even in a dream. Even if they
seem to read and recite the sutras of the Great Vehicle, we should clearly
know that they are totally people of the Small Vehicles. In sum, the body and
mind of the National Master cannot be known by people who are acquiring
mystical powers or getting practice and experience. It might be difficult even
for the National Master to fathom the body and mind of the National Master.
Why? [Because] his conduct has long been free of the aim of becoming buddha;
and so even the Buddha's eye could not glimpse it. His leaving-and-coming
has far transcended the nest and cannot be restrained by nets and cages.
[114] Now I would like to examine and defeat each of the five venera-
ble patriarchs. Joshu says that because the National Master is right on Sanzo's
nostrils, [Sanzo] does not see. What does this comment mean? Such mis-
takes happen when we discuss details without clarifying the substance. How
could the National Master be right on Sanzo's nostrils? Sanzo has no nos-
trils. Moreover, although it does appear that the means are present for the
National Master and Sanzo to look at each other, there is no way for them
to get close to each other. Clear eyes will surely affirm [that this is so].
38Gensha says, �Simply because of being enormously close. � Certainly,
his �enormously close� can be left as it is, [but] he misses the point. What
state does he describe as �enormously close�? What object does he take to
be �enormously close�? Gensha has not recognized �enormous closeness,�
and has not experienced �enormous closeness. � In regard to the Buddha-
Dharma he is the farthest of the far.
Kyozan says, �The first two times [the master's] mind is wandering in
external circumstances; then he enters the samadhi of receiving and using
the self, and so [Sanzo] does not see him. � Though [Kyozan's] acclaim as a
little Sakyamuni echoes on high [even] in the Western Heavens, he is not
without such wrongness. If he is saying that when [people] see each other
[they] are inevitably wandering in external circumstances, then there would
seem to be no instance of Buddhist patriarchs seeing each other, and he would
appear not to have studied the virtues of affirmation and becoming buddha.
If he is saying that Sanzo, the first two times, was really able to know the
place where the National Master was, I must say that [Kyozan] does not
know the virtue of a single bristle of the National Master's hair.
Gensha demands, �Have you seen at all, even the first two times? � This
one utterance �Have you seen at all? � seems to say what needs to be said, but
it is not right because it suggests that [Sanzo's] seeing is like not seeing. 39
Hearing the above, Zen Master Setcho Myokaku40 says, �I am defeated.
I am defeated. � When we see Gensha's words as the truth, we should speak
like that; when we do not see them as the truth, we should not speak like that.
Kaie Tan says, �If the National Master is right on Sanzo's nostrils, what
difficulty could [Sanzo] have in seeing him? Above all, it has not been rec-
ognized that the National Master is inside Sanzo's eyeballs. � This again dis-
cusses [only] the third time. It does not criticize [Sanzo] as he should be crit-
icized, for not seeing the first two times as well. How could [Kaie] know
that the National Master is on [Sanzo's] nostrils or inside [Sanzo's] eyeballs?
[117] Every one of the five venerable patriarchs is blind to the virtue of
the National Master; it is as if they have no power to discern the truth of the
Buddha-Dharma. Remember, the National Master is just a buddha through
all the ages. He has definitely received the authentic transmission of the
Buddha's right Dharma-eye treasury. Scholars of the Tripi? aka, teachers of
commentaries, and others of the Small Vehicles, do not know the limits of
the National Master at all; and the proof of that is here. �The power to know
others' minds,� as it is discussed in the Small Vehicles, should be called �the
power to know others' ideas. � To have thought that a Small Vehicle scholar
of the Tripi? aka, with the power to know others' minds, might be able to
know a single bristle or half a bristle of the National Master's hair, is a mis-
take. We must solely learn that a Small Vehicle scholar of the Tripi? aka is
totally unable to see the situation of the virtue of the National Master. If
[Sanzo] knew where the National Master was the first two times but did not
know a third time, he would possess ability which is two-thirds of the whole
and he would not deserve to be criticized. If he were criticized, it would not
be for a total lack [of ability]. If [the National Master] denounced such a per-
son, who could believe in the National Master? [The National Master's]
intention is to criticize Sanzo for completely lacking the body and mind of
the Buddha-Dharma. The five venerable patriarchs have such incorrectness
because they completely fail to recognize the conduct of the National Mas-
ter. For this reason, I have now let the Buddha's teaching of �mind cannot
be grasped� be heard. It is hard to believe that people who are not able to
penetrate this one dharma could have penetrated other dharmas. Neverthe-
less, we should know that even the ancestors have [made] such mistakes that
are to be seen as mistakes.
[118] On one occasion a monk asks the National Master, �What is the
mind of eternal buddhas? � The National Master says, �Fences, walls, tiles,
and pebbles. �41 This also is �mind cannot be grasped. � On another occasion
a monk asks the National Master, �What is the constant and abiding mind of
the buddhas? � The National Master says, �Fortunately you have met an old
monk's palace visit. �42 This also is mastery of the state of mind which �can-
not be grasped. � The god Indra, on another occasion, asks the National Mas-
ter, �How can we be free from becoming? �43 The National Master says, �Celes-
tial One! You can be free from becoming by practicing the truth. � The god
Indra asks further, �What is the truth? � The National Master says, �Mind in
the moment is the truth. � The god Indra says, �What is mind in the moment? �
Pointing with his finger, the National Master says, �This place is the stage of
praj�a. That place is the net of pearls. � The god Indra does prostrations.
[120] In conclusion, in the orders of the buddhas and the patriarchs,
there is often discussion of the body and of the mind in the Buddha's truth.
When we learn them both together in practice, the state is beyond the think-
ing and the perception of the common person and sages and saints. [So] we
must master in practice �mind cannot be grasped. �
Shobogenzo Shin-fukatoku
Written at Koshohorinji on a day of the
sum mer retreat in the second year of Ninji. 44
---
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 20
[Chapter Twenty]
Kokyo
The Eternal Mirror
Translator 's Note: Ko means �ancient� or �eternal� and kyo means �mir-
ror,� so kokyo means �the eternal mirror. � And what �the eternal mirror�
means is the question. In this chapter Master Dogen quoted Master Seppo
Gison's words �When a foreigner comes in front of the mirror, the mirror
re? ects the foreigner. � From these words we can understand the eternal mir-
ror as a symbol of some human mental faculty. The eternal mirror suggests
the importance of re? ection, so we can suppose that the eternal mirror is a
symbol of the intuitional faculty. In Buddhist philosophy, the intuitional fac-
ulty is called praj�a, or real wisdom. Real wisdom in Buddhism means our
human intuitional faculty on which all our decisions are based. Buddhism
esteems this real wisdom more than reason or sense perception. Our real
wisdom is the basis for our decisions, and our decisions decide our life, so
we can say that our real wisdom decides the course of our life. For this rea-
son, it is very natural for Master Dogen to explain the eternal mirror. At the
same time, we must find another meaning of the eternal mirror, because Mas-
ter Dogen also quoted other words of Master Seppo Gison, �Every monkey
has the eternal mirror on its back. � Therefore we can think that the eternal
mirror means not only human real wisdom but also some intuitional faculty
of animals. So we must widen the meaning of the eternal mirror, and under-
stand it as a symbol of the intuitional faculty that both human beings and
animals have. Furthermore Master Seppo Gison said, �When the world is
ten feet wide, the eternal mirror is ten feet wide. When the world is one foot
wide, the eternal mirror is one foot wide. � These words suggest the eternal
mirror is the world itself. So we can say that the eternal mirror is not only
a symbol of an individual faculty but is also something universal. From
ancient times Buddhists have discussed the eternal mirror. In this chapter
Master Dogen explains the meaning of the eternal mirror in Buddhism, quot-
ing the words of ancient Buddhist masters.
[123] What all the buddhas and all the patriarchs have received and retained,
and transmitted one-to-one, is the eternal mirror. They1 have the same view
and the same face, the same image2 and the same cast;3 they share the same
state and realize the same experience. A foreigner appears, a foreigner is
re? ected�one hundred and eight thousand of them. A Chinese person appears,
a Chinese person is re? ected�for a moment and for ten thousand years. The
past appears, the past is re? ected; the present appears, the present is re? ected;
a buddha appears, a buddha is re? ected; a patriarch appears, a patriarch is
re? ected.
[125] The eighteenth patriarch, Venerable Geyasata, is a man from the
kingdom of Magadha in the western regions. His family name is Uzuran, his
father's name is Tengai, and his mother's name is Hosho. 4 His mother once
has a dream in which she sees a great god approaching her and holding a big
mirror. Then she becomes pregnant. Seven days later she gives birth to the
master. Even when he is newborn, the skin of the master's body is like pol-
ished lapis lazuli, and even before he is bathed, he is naturally fragrant and
clean. From his childhood, he loves quietness. His words are different from
those of ordinary children; since his birth, a clear and bright round mirror
has naturally been living with him. �A round mirror� means a round mir-
ror. 5 It is a matter rare through the ages. That it has lived with him does not
mean that the round mirror was also born from his mother's womb. 6 The
master was born from the womb, and as the master appeared from the womb
the round mirror came and naturally manifested itself before the master, and
became like an everyday tool. The form of this round mirror is not ordinary:
when the child approaches, he seems to be holding up the round mirror before
him with both hands, yet the child's face is not hidden. When the child goes
away, he seems to be going with the round mirror on his back, yet the child's
body is not hidden. When the child sleeps, the round mirror covers him like
a ? owery canopy. Whenever the child sits up straight, the round mirror is
there in front of him. In sum, it follows [all his] movements and demeanors,
active and passive. What is more, he is able to see all Buddhist facts of the
past, future, and present by looking into the round mirror. At the same time,
all problems and issues of the heavens above and the human world come
cloudlessly to the surface of the round mirror. For example, to see by look-
ing in this round mirror is even more clear than to attain illumination of the
past and illumination of the present by reading sutras and texts. Neverthe-
less, once the child has left home and received the precepts, the round mir-
ror never appears before him again. 7 Therefore [people of] neighboring vil-
lages and distant regions unanimously praise this as rare and wonderful. In
truth, though there are few similar examples in this saha world, we should
not be suspicious but should be broadminded with regard to the fact that, in
other worlds, families may produce such progeny. Remember, there are sutras
which have changed into trees and rocks,8 and there are [good] counselors
who are spreading [the Lotus Sutra] in fields and in villages;9 they too may
be a round mirror. Yellow paper on a red rod10 here and now is a round mir-
ror. Who could think that only the master was prodigious?
[129] On an outing one day, encountering Venerable Sa? gha nandi,11
[Master Geyasata] directly proceeds before Venerable [Sa? gha]nandi. The
Venerable One asks, �[That which] you have in your hands is expressing
what? �12 We should hear �is expressing What? � not as a question,13 and we
should learn it as such in practice.
The master says:
The great round mirror of the buddhas
Has no ? aws or blurs, within or without.
[We] two people are able to see the same.
[Our] minds, and [our] eyes, are completely alike.
So how could the great round mirror of the buddhas have been born
together with the master? The birth of the master was the brightness of the
great round mirror. Buddhas [experience] the same state and the same view
in this round mirror. Buddhas are the cast image of the great round mirror.
The great round mirror is neither wisdom nor reason, neither essence nor
form. Though the concept of a great round mirror appears in the teachings
of [bodhisattvas at] the ten sacred stages, the three clever stages, and so on,
it is not the present �great round mirror of the buddhas. � Because �the bud-
dhas� may be beyond wisdom, buddhas have real wisdom, [but] we do not
see real wisdom as buddhas. Practitioners should remember that to preach
about wisdom is never the ultimate preaching of the Buddha's truth. Even
if we feel that the great round mirror of the buddhas is already living with
us, it is still a fact that we can neither touch the great round mirror in this
life nor touch it in another life; it is neither a jewel mirror nor a copper mir-
ror, neither a mirror of ? esh nor a mirror of marrow. Is [the verse] a verse
spoken by the round mirror itself or a verse recited by the child? Even if it
is the child who preaches this four-line verse, he has not learned it from
[other] people, either by �following the sutras� or by �following [good] coun-
selors. � He holds up the round mirror and preaches like this, simply [because]
to face the mirror has been the master's usual behavior since his earliest
childhood. He seems to possess inherent eloquence and wisdom. Was the
great round mirror born with the child, or was the child born with the great
round mirror? It may also be possible that the births took place before or
after [each other]. �The great round mirror� is just a virtue of �the buddhas. �
Saying that this mirror �has no blurs on the inside or the outside� neither
describes an inside that depends on an outside, nor an outside blurred by an
inside. There being no face or back, �two individuals14 are able to see the
same. � Minds, and eyes, are alike. �Likeness� describes �a human being�
meeting �a human being. � In regard to images within, they have mind and
eyes, and they are able to see the same. In regard to images without, they
have mind and eyes, and they are able to see the same. Object and subject
which are manifest before us now are like each other within and like each
other without�they are neither I nor anyone else. Such is the meeting of
�two human beings,� and the likeness of �two human beings. � That person
is called �I,� and I am that person. �Minds, and eyes, are totally alike� means
mind and mind are alike, eyes and eyes are alike. The likeness is of minds
and of eyes; this means, for example, that the mind and the eyes of each are
alike. What does it mean for mind and mind to be alike? The Third Patri-
arch and the Sixth Patriarch. 15 What does it mean for eyes and eyes to be
alike? The eye of the truth being restricted by the eye itself. 16 The principle
that the master is expressing now is like this. This is how [Master Geyasata]
first pays his respects to Venerable Sa? ghanandi. Taking up his principle,
we should experience in practice the faces of buddhas and the faces of patri-
archs in the great round mirror, which is akin to the eternal mirror.
[134] The thirty-third patriarch, Zen Master Daikan, in former days
when toiling in the Dharma order on Obaizan, presented the following verse
to the ancestral master,17 by writing it on the wall:18
In the state of bodhi there is originally no tree,
Neither does the clear mirror need a stand.
Originally we do not have a single thing,
Where could dust and dirt exist?
[134] So then, we must study these words. People in the world call the
Founding Patriarch Daikan �the eternal buddha. � Zen Master Engo19 says,
�I bow my head to the ground before Sokei,20 the true eternal buddha. �21 So
remember [the words] with which the Founding Patriarch Daikan displays
the clear mirror: �Originally we do not have a single thing, At what place
could dust and dirt exist? � �The clear mirror needs no stand�: this contains
the lifeblood; we should strive [to understand it]. All [things in] the clear-
clear state22 are the clear mirror itself, and so we say, �When a clear head
comes, a clear head will do. �23 Because [the clear mirror] is beyond �any
place,� it does not have �any place. �24 Still more, throughout the universe in
the ten directions, does there remain one speck of dust that is not the mir-
ror? On the mirror itself, does there remain one speck of dust that is not the
mirror? Remember, the whole universe is not lands of dust;25 and so it is the
face of the eternal mirror.
[136] In the order of Zen Master Nangaku Daie26 a monk asks, �If a mir-
ror is cast into an image,27 to what place does its luster return? �
The master says, �Venerable monk, to what place have the features you
had before you became a monk departed? �
The monk says, �After the transformation, why does it not shine like a
mirror? �
The master says, �Even though it is not shining like a mirror, it cannot
delude others one bit. �28
[137] We are not sure of what these myriad images29 of the present are
made. But if we seek to know, the evidence that they are cast from a mirror
is just [here] in the words of the master. A mirror is neither of gold nor of
precious stone, neither of brightness nor of an image, but that it can be
instantly cast into an image is truly the ultimate investigation of a mirror. 30
�To what place does the luster return? � is the assertion that �the possibility31
of a mirror being cast into an image� is just �the possibility of a mirror being
cast into an image�; [it says,] for example, [that] an image returns to the
place of an image, and [that] casting can cast a mirror. 32 The words �Ven-
erable monk, to what place have the features you had before you became a
monk departed? � hold up a mirror to re? ect [the monk's] face. 33 At this time,
which momentary face34 might be �my own face�? The master says, �Even
though it is not shining like a mirror, it cannot delude others one bit. � This
means that it cannot shine like a mirror; and it cannot mislead others. Learn
in practice that the ocean's drying can never disclose the seabed! 35 Do not
break out, and do not move! At the same time, learn further in practice: there
is a principle of taking an image and casting a mirror. Just this moment is
miscellaneous bits of utter delusion,36 in hundred thousand myriads of shin-
ing mirror re? ections. 37
[139] Great Master Seppo Shinkaku38 on one occasion preaches to the
assembly, �If you want to understand this matter,39 my concrete state is like
one face of the eternal mirror. [When] a foreigner comes, a foreigner appears.
[When] a Chinese person comes, a Chinese person appears. �
Then Gensha40 steps out and asks, �If suddenly a clear mirror comes
along, what then? �
The master says, �The foreigner and the Chinese person both become
invisible. �
Gensha says, �I am not like that. �
Seppo says, �How is it in your case? �
Gensha says, �Please, master, you ask. �
Seppo says, �If suddenly a clear mirror comes along, how will it be then? �
Gensha says, �Smashed into hundreds of bits and pieces! �
[141] Now the meaning of Seppo's words �this matter� should be learned
in practice as �this is something ineffable. �41 Let us now try to learn Seppo's
eternal mirror. In the words �Like one face of the eternal mirror. . . ,� �one
face� means [the mirror's] borders have been eliminated forever and it is utterly
beyond inside and outside; it is the self as a pearl spinning in a bowl. 42 The
present �[when] a foreigner comes, the foreigner appears� is about one indi-
vidual redbeard. 43 �[When] a Chinese person comes, a Chinese person appears�:
although it has been said since the primordial chaos,44 since [the reign of]
Banko (Ch. Panku),45 that this �Chinese person� was created from the three
elements and five elements,46 in Seppo's words now a Chinese person whose
virtue is the eternal mirror has appeared. Because the present Chinese person
is not �a Chinese person,� �the Chinese person appears. � To Seppo's pres-
ent words �The foreigner and the Chinese person both become invisible,�
he might add, �and the mirror itself also becomes invisible. � Gensha's words
�Smashed into hundreds of bits and pieces� mean �the truth should be
expressed like that, but why, when I have just asked you to give me back a
concrete fragment, did you give me back a clear mirror? �
[142] In the age of the Yellow Emperor there are twelve mirrors. 47
According to the family legend, they are gifts from the heavens. Alternately,
they are said to have been given by [the sage] Kosei of Kodozan. 48 The rule
for using49 the twelve mirrors is to use one mirror every hour through the
twelve hours, and to use each mirror for a month through the twelve months,
[and again] to use the mirrors one by one, year by year through twelve years.
They say that the mirrors are Kosei's sutras. When he transmits them to the
Yellow Emperor, the twelve hours and so on are mirrors with which to illu-
minate the past and to illuminate the present. If the twelve hours were not
mirrors, how would it be possible to illuminate the past? If the twelve hours
were not mirrors, how would it be possible to illuminate the present? The
twelve hours, in other words, are twelve concrete sheets [of mirror], and the
twelve concrete sheets [of time] are twelve mirrors. The past and present are
what the twelve hours use. 50 [The legend] suggests this principle. Even though
it is a secular saying, it is in [the reality of] the twelve hours during which
�the Chinese person� appears.
[144] Kenen (Ch. Xuanyuan),51 the Yellow Emperor, crawls forward
on Kodo [Mountain] and asks Kosei about the Way. Thereupon, Kosei says,
�Mirrors are the origin of yin and yang; they regulate the body eternally.
There are naturally three mirrors: namely, the heavens, the earth, and human
beings. 52 These mirrors are without sight and without hearing. 53 They will
make your spirit quiet, so that your body will naturally become right. Assured
of quietness and of purity, your body will not be taxed and your spirit will
not be agitated. You will thus be able to live long. �54
[145] In former times, these three mirrors are used to regulate the whole
country, and to regulate the great order. One who is clear about this great
order is called the ruler of the heavens and the earth. A secular [book]55 says,
�The Emperor Taiso56 has treated human beings as a mirror, and thus he fully
illuminates [all problems of] peace and danger, reason and disorder. � He
uses one of the three mirrors. When we hear that he treats human beings as
a mirror, we think that by asking people of wide knowledge about the past
and present, he has been able to know when to employ and to discharge saints
and sages�as, for example, when he got Gicho (Ch. Weizheng) and got
Bogenrei (Ch. Fang Xuanling). 57 To understand it like this is not [truly to
understand] the principle which asserts that Emperor Taiso sees human beings
as a mirror. Seeing human beings as a mirror means seeing a mirror as a mir-
ror, seeing oneself as a mirror, seeing the five elements58 as a mirror, or see-
ing the five constant virtues59 as a mirror. When we watch the coming and
going of human beings, the coming has no traces and the going has no direc-
tion: we call this the principle of human beings as a mirror. 60 The myriad
diversity of sagacity and ineptitude is akin to astrological phenomena. Truly,
it may be as latitude and longitude. 61 It is the faces of people, the faces of
mirrors, the faces of the sun, and the faces of the moon. The vitality of the
five peaks and the vitality of the four great rivers passes through the world
on the way to purifying the four oceans, and this is the customary practice
of the mirror itself. 62 They say that Taiso's way is to fathom the universal
grid by understanding human beings. [But this] does not refer [only] to peo-
ple of wide knowledge.
[147] �Japan, since the age of the gods, has had three mirrors; together
with the sacred jewels and the sword they have been transmitted to the pres-
ent. 63 One mirror is in the Grand Shrines of Ise,64 one is in the Hinokuma
Shrine in Kii-no-kuni,65 and one is in the depository of the Imperial Court. �66
[148] Thus it is clear that every nation transmits and retains a mirror.
To possess the mirror is to possess the nation. People relate the legend that
these three mirrors were transmitted together with the divine throne and were
transmitted by the gods. Even so, the perfectly refined copper [of these mir-
rors] is also the transformation of yin and yang. 67 It may be that [when] the
present comes, the present appears [in them], and [when] the past comes,
the past appears [in them]. [Mirrors] that thus illuminate the past and pres-
ent may be eternal mirrors. Seppo's point might also be expressed, �[When]
a Korean comes, a Korean appears; [when] a Japanese comes, a Japanese
appears. � Or, �[When] a god comes, a god appears; [when] a human being
comes, a human being appears. � We learn appearance-and-coming like this,
in practice, but we have not now recognized the substance and details of this
appearance: we only meet directly with appearance itself. We should not
always learn that coming-and-appearance is [a matter of] recognition or [a
matter of] understanding. Is the point here that a foreigner coming is a for-
eigner appearing? [No,] a foreigner coming should be an instance of a for-
eigner coming. A foreigner appearing should be an instance of a foreigner
appearing. The coming is not for the sake of appearing. Although the eternal
mirror is [just] the eternal mirror, there should be such learning in practice.
[149] Gensha steps out and asks, �What if suddenly it meets the com-
ing of a clear mirror? �68 We should study and clarify these words. What
might be the scale of the expression of this word �clear�? In these words,
the �coming� is not necessarily that of �a foreigner� or of �a Chinese per-
son. � This is the clear mirror, which [Gensha] says can never be realized as
�a foreigner� or as �a Chinese person. � Though �a clear mirror coming� is
a �clear mirror coming,� it never makes a duality. 69 Though there is no dual-
ity, the eternal mirror is still the eternal mirror, and the clear mirror is still
the clear mirror. Testimony to the existence of [both] the eternal mirror and
the clear mirror has been expressed directly in the words of Seppo and Gen-
sha. We should see this as the Buddha's truth of essence-and-form. We should
recognize that Gensha's present talk of the clear mirror coming is totally
penetrating,70 and we should recognize that it is brilliant in all aspects.
Sanzo takes a while, but knows nothing and sees nothing. Then the
National Master scolds him, saying, �You ghost of a wild fox,18 where is
your power to know others' minds? �
Sanzo has no further answer. 19
[101] If we did not know of such an episode, that would be bad, and if
we were not informed about it, we might have doubts. Buddhist patriarchs
and scholars of the Tripi? aka20 can never be equal; they are as far apart as
heaven and earth. Buddhist patriarchs have clarified the Buddha-Dharma,
scholars of the Tripi? aka have never clarified it at all. With regard to [the
title] �scholar of the Tripi? aka,� indeed, there are cases of even secular peo-
ple being �a scholar of the Tripi? aka. � It represents, for example, the acqui-
sition of a place in literary culture. This being so, even if [Sanzo] has not
only understood all the languages of India and China but has also accom-
plished the power to know others' minds as well, he has never seen the body
and mind of the Buddhist truth, even in a dream. For this reason, in his audi-
ence with the National Master, who has experienced the state of the Buddhist
patriarchs, [Sanzo] is seen through at once. When we learn mind in Buddhism,
the myriad dharmas are mind itself,21 and the triple world is mind alone. 22
It may be that mind alone is just mind alone,23 and that concrete buddha is
mind here and now. 24 Whether it is self, or whether it is the external world,
we must not be mistaken about the mind of the Buddha's truth. It could never
idly ? ow down to the West River or wander over to Tianjin Bridge. If we
want to maintain and to rely upon the body and mind of the Buddha's truth,
we must learn the power which is the wisdom of the Buddha's truth. That is
to say, in the Buddha's truth the whole earth is mind, which does not change
through arising and vanishing, and the whole Dharma is mind. We should
also learn the whole of mind as the power of wisdom. Sanzo, not having seen
this already, is nothing but the ghost of a wild fox. So, even the first two times,
[Sanzo] never sees the mind of the National Master, and never penetrates25
the mind of the National Master at all. He is a wild fox cub idly playing with
no more than the West River, Tianjin Bridge, a boat race, and a monkey�
how could he hope to see the National Master? Again, the fact is evident that
[Sanzo] cannot see the place where the National Master is. He is asked three
times, �Tell me where the old monk is now,� but he does not listen to these
words. If he could listen, he might be able to investigate [further], [but] because
he does not listen, he blunders heedlessly onward. If Sanzo had learned the
Buddha-Dharma, he would listen to the words of the National Master, and
he might be able to see the body and mind of the National Master. Because
he does not learn the Buddha-Dharma in his everyday life, even though he
was born to meet a guiding teacher of the human world and the heavens above,
he has passed [the opportunity] in vain. It is pitiful and it is deplorable. In
general, how could a scholar of the Tripi? aka attain to the conduct of a Buddhist
patriarch and know the limits of the National Master? Needless to say, teach-
ers of commentaries from the Western Heavens, and Indian scholars of the
Tripi? aka, could never know the conduct of the National Master at all. Kings
of gods can know, and teachers of commentaries can know, what scholars of
the Tripi? aka know. How could what commentary-teachers and gods know
be beyond the wisdom of [bodhisattvas at] the place of assignment; or beyond
[bodhisattvas at] the ten sacred stages and the three clever stages? Gods can-
not know, and [bodhisattvas at] the place of assignment26 have never clar-
ified, the body and mind of the National Master. Discussion of body and mind
among Buddhists is like this. We should know it and believe it.
[105] The Dharma of our great teacher Sakyamuni is never akin to the
ghosts of wild foxes�the two vehicles, non-Buddhists, and the like. Still,
venerable patriarchs through the ages have each studied this story, and their
discussions have survived:
27A monk asks Joshu,28 �Why does Sanzo not see where the National
Master is the third time? � Joshu says, �He does not see because the National
Master is right on Sanzo's nostrils. �
Another monk asks Gensha,29 �If [the National Master] is already on
[Sanzo's] nostrils, why does [Sanzo] not see him? � Gensha says, �Simply
because of being enormously close. �
Kaie Tan30 says, �If the National Master is right on Sanzo's nostrils,
what difficulty could [Sanzo] have in seeing him? Above all, it has not been
recognized that the National Master is inside Sanzo's eyeballs. �
On another occasion, Gensha challenges31 Sanzo with these words: �You!
Say! Have you seen at all, even the first two times? � Setcho Ken32 says, �I
am defeated, I am defeated. �
On still another occasion, a monk asks Kyozan,33 �Why is it that the
third time, though Sanzo takes a while, he does not see where the National
Master is? � Kyozan says, �The first two times [the master's] mind is wan-
dering in external circumstances; then he enters the samadhi of receiving
and using the self,34 and so [Sanzo] does not see him. �
These five venerable patriarchs are all precise, but they have passed over
the National Master's conduct: by only discussing [Sanzo's] failure to know
the third time, they seem to permit that he knew the first two times. This is
the ancestors' oversight, and students of later ages should know it.
[108] Kosho's (Dogen)35 present doubts about the five venerable patri-
archs are twofold. First, they do not know the National Master's intention
in examining Sanzo. Second, they do not know the National Master's body
and mind.
[109] Now the reason I say that they do not know the National Master's
intention in examining Sanzo is as follows: First the National Master says,
�Tell me where the old monk is just now. � The intention expressed [here] is
to test whether or not Sanzo has ever known the Buddha-Dharma. At this
time, if Sanzo has heard the Buddha-Dharma, he would study according to
the Buddha-Dharma the question �Where is the old monk just now? � Stud-
ied according to the Buddha-Dharma, the National Master's �Where is the
old monk now� asks �Am I at this place? � �Am I at that place? � �Am I in
the supreme state of bodhi? � �Am I in the praj�aparamita? � �Am I sus-
pended in space? � �Am I standing on the earth? � �Am I in a thatched hut? �
and �Am I in the place of treasure? � Sanzo does not recognize this inten-
tion, and so he vainly offers views and opinions of the common person, the
two vehicles, and the like. The National Master asks again, �Tell me where
this old monk is just now. � Here again Sanzo offers useless words. The
National Master asks yet again, �Tell me where this old monk is just now,�
whereupon Sanzo takes a while but says nothing, his mind baf? ed. Then the
National Master scolds Sanzo, saying, �You ghost of a wild fox, where is
your power to know others' minds? � Thus chided, Sanzo still has nothing
to say [for himself]. Having considered this episode carefully, the ancestors
all think that the National Master is now scolding Sanzo because, even if
[Sanzo] knows where the National Master was the first two times, he does
not know the third time. That is not so. The National Master is scolding
Sanzo outright for being nothing but the ghost of a wild fox and never hav-
ing seen the Buddha-Dharma even in a dream. [The National Master] has
never said that [Sanzo] knew the first two times but not the third time. His
criticism is outright criticism of Sanzo. The National Master's idea is, first,
to consider whether or not it is possible to call the Buddha-Dharma �the
power to know others' minds. � Further, he thinks �If we speak of �the power
to know others' minds' we must take �others' in accordance with the Buddha's
truth, we must take �mind' in accordance with the Buddha's truth, and we
must take �the power to know' in accordance with the Buddha's truth, but
what this Sanzo is saying now does not accord with the Buddha's truth at
all. How could it be called the Buddha-Dharma? � These are the thoughts of
the National Master. The meaning of his testing is as follows: Even if [Sanzo]
says something the third time, if it is like the first two times�contrary to the
principles of the Buddha-Dharma and contrary to the fundamental intention
of the National Master�it must be criticized. When [the National Master]
asks three times, he is asking again and again whether Sanzo has been able
to understand the National Master's words.
[112] The second [doubt]�that [the five venerable patriarchs] do not
know the body and mind of the National Master�is namely that the body
and mind of the National Master cannot be known, and cannot be pene-
trated,36 by scholars of the Tripi? aka. It is beyond the attainment of [bodhi-
sattvas at] the ten sacred stages and the three clever stages, and it is beyond
clarification by [bodhisattvas at] the place of assignment or [in] the state of
balanced awareness,37 so how could the common person Sanzo know it? We
must clearly determine [the truth of] this principle. If [people] purport that
even Sanzo might know, or might attain to, the body and mind of the National
Master, it is because they themselves do not know the body and mind of the
National Master. If we say that people who have got the power to know oth-
ers' minds can know the National Master, then can the two vehicles also know
the National Master? That is impossible: people of the two vehicles can never
arrive at the periphery of the National Master. Nowadays many people of the
two vehicles have read the sutras of the Great Vehicle, [but] even they can-
not know the body and mind of the National Master. Further, they cannot see
the body and mind of the Buddha-Dharma, even in a dream. Even if they
seem to read and recite the sutras of the Great Vehicle, we should clearly
know that they are totally people of the Small Vehicles. In sum, the body and
mind of the National Master cannot be known by people who are acquiring
mystical powers or getting practice and experience. It might be difficult even
for the National Master to fathom the body and mind of the National Master.
Why? [Because] his conduct has long been free of the aim of becoming buddha;
and so even the Buddha's eye could not glimpse it. His leaving-and-coming
has far transcended the nest and cannot be restrained by nets and cages.
[114] Now I would like to examine and defeat each of the five venera-
ble patriarchs. Joshu says that because the National Master is right on Sanzo's
nostrils, [Sanzo] does not see. What does this comment mean? Such mis-
takes happen when we discuss details without clarifying the substance. How
could the National Master be right on Sanzo's nostrils? Sanzo has no nos-
trils. Moreover, although it does appear that the means are present for the
National Master and Sanzo to look at each other, there is no way for them
to get close to each other. Clear eyes will surely affirm [that this is so].
38Gensha says, �Simply because of being enormously close. � Certainly,
his �enormously close� can be left as it is, [but] he misses the point. What
state does he describe as �enormously close�? What object does he take to
be �enormously close�? Gensha has not recognized �enormous closeness,�
and has not experienced �enormous closeness. � In regard to the Buddha-
Dharma he is the farthest of the far.
Kyozan says, �The first two times [the master's] mind is wandering in
external circumstances; then he enters the samadhi of receiving and using
the self, and so [Sanzo] does not see him. � Though [Kyozan's] acclaim as a
little Sakyamuni echoes on high [even] in the Western Heavens, he is not
without such wrongness. If he is saying that when [people] see each other
[they] are inevitably wandering in external circumstances, then there would
seem to be no instance of Buddhist patriarchs seeing each other, and he would
appear not to have studied the virtues of affirmation and becoming buddha.
If he is saying that Sanzo, the first two times, was really able to know the
place where the National Master was, I must say that [Kyozan] does not
know the virtue of a single bristle of the National Master's hair.
Gensha demands, �Have you seen at all, even the first two times? � This
one utterance �Have you seen at all? � seems to say what needs to be said, but
it is not right because it suggests that [Sanzo's] seeing is like not seeing. 39
Hearing the above, Zen Master Setcho Myokaku40 says, �I am defeated.
I am defeated. � When we see Gensha's words as the truth, we should speak
like that; when we do not see them as the truth, we should not speak like that.
Kaie Tan says, �If the National Master is right on Sanzo's nostrils, what
difficulty could [Sanzo] have in seeing him? Above all, it has not been rec-
ognized that the National Master is inside Sanzo's eyeballs. � This again dis-
cusses [only] the third time. It does not criticize [Sanzo] as he should be crit-
icized, for not seeing the first two times as well. How could [Kaie] know
that the National Master is on [Sanzo's] nostrils or inside [Sanzo's] eyeballs?
[117] Every one of the five venerable patriarchs is blind to the virtue of
the National Master; it is as if they have no power to discern the truth of the
Buddha-Dharma. Remember, the National Master is just a buddha through
all the ages. He has definitely received the authentic transmission of the
Buddha's right Dharma-eye treasury. Scholars of the Tripi? aka, teachers of
commentaries, and others of the Small Vehicles, do not know the limits of
the National Master at all; and the proof of that is here. �The power to know
others' minds,� as it is discussed in the Small Vehicles, should be called �the
power to know others' ideas. � To have thought that a Small Vehicle scholar
of the Tripi? aka, with the power to know others' minds, might be able to
know a single bristle or half a bristle of the National Master's hair, is a mis-
take. We must solely learn that a Small Vehicle scholar of the Tripi? aka is
totally unable to see the situation of the virtue of the National Master. If
[Sanzo] knew where the National Master was the first two times but did not
know a third time, he would possess ability which is two-thirds of the whole
and he would not deserve to be criticized. If he were criticized, it would not
be for a total lack [of ability]. If [the National Master] denounced such a per-
son, who could believe in the National Master? [The National Master's]
intention is to criticize Sanzo for completely lacking the body and mind of
the Buddha-Dharma. The five venerable patriarchs have such incorrectness
because they completely fail to recognize the conduct of the National Mas-
ter. For this reason, I have now let the Buddha's teaching of �mind cannot
be grasped� be heard. It is hard to believe that people who are not able to
penetrate this one dharma could have penetrated other dharmas. Neverthe-
less, we should know that even the ancestors have [made] such mistakes that
are to be seen as mistakes.
[118] On one occasion a monk asks the National Master, �What is the
mind of eternal buddhas? � The National Master says, �Fences, walls, tiles,
and pebbles. �41 This also is �mind cannot be grasped. � On another occasion
a monk asks the National Master, �What is the constant and abiding mind of
the buddhas? � The National Master says, �Fortunately you have met an old
monk's palace visit. �42 This also is mastery of the state of mind which �can-
not be grasped. � The god Indra, on another occasion, asks the National Mas-
ter, �How can we be free from becoming? �43 The National Master says, �Celes-
tial One! You can be free from becoming by practicing the truth. � The god
Indra asks further, �What is the truth? � The National Master says, �Mind in
the moment is the truth. � The god Indra says, �What is mind in the moment? �
Pointing with his finger, the National Master says, �This place is the stage of
praj�a. That place is the net of pearls. � The god Indra does prostrations.
[120] In conclusion, in the orders of the buddhas and the patriarchs,
there is often discussion of the body and of the mind in the Buddha's truth.
When we learn them both together in practice, the state is beyond the think-
ing and the perception of the common person and sages and saints. [So] we
must master in practice �mind cannot be grasped. �
Shobogenzo Shin-fukatoku
Written at Koshohorinji on a day of the
sum mer retreat in the second year of Ninji. 44
---
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 20
[Chapter Twenty]
Kokyo
The Eternal Mirror
Translator 's Note: Ko means �ancient� or �eternal� and kyo means �mir-
ror,� so kokyo means �the eternal mirror. � And what �the eternal mirror�
means is the question. In this chapter Master Dogen quoted Master Seppo
Gison's words �When a foreigner comes in front of the mirror, the mirror
re? ects the foreigner. � From these words we can understand the eternal mir-
ror as a symbol of some human mental faculty. The eternal mirror suggests
the importance of re? ection, so we can suppose that the eternal mirror is a
symbol of the intuitional faculty. In Buddhist philosophy, the intuitional fac-
ulty is called praj�a, or real wisdom. Real wisdom in Buddhism means our
human intuitional faculty on which all our decisions are based. Buddhism
esteems this real wisdom more than reason or sense perception. Our real
wisdom is the basis for our decisions, and our decisions decide our life, so
we can say that our real wisdom decides the course of our life. For this rea-
son, it is very natural for Master Dogen to explain the eternal mirror. At the
same time, we must find another meaning of the eternal mirror, because Mas-
ter Dogen also quoted other words of Master Seppo Gison, �Every monkey
has the eternal mirror on its back. � Therefore we can think that the eternal
mirror means not only human real wisdom but also some intuitional faculty
of animals. So we must widen the meaning of the eternal mirror, and under-
stand it as a symbol of the intuitional faculty that both human beings and
animals have. Furthermore Master Seppo Gison said, �When the world is
ten feet wide, the eternal mirror is ten feet wide. When the world is one foot
wide, the eternal mirror is one foot wide. � These words suggest the eternal
mirror is the world itself. So we can say that the eternal mirror is not only
a symbol of an individual faculty but is also something universal. From
ancient times Buddhists have discussed the eternal mirror. In this chapter
Master Dogen explains the meaning of the eternal mirror in Buddhism, quot-
ing the words of ancient Buddhist masters.
[123] What all the buddhas and all the patriarchs have received and retained,
and transmitted one-to-one, is the eternal mirror. They1 have the same view
and the same face, the same image2 and the same cast;3 they share the same
state and realize the same experience. A foreigner appears, a foreigner is
re? ected�one hundred and eight thousand of them. A Chinese person appears,
a Chinese person is re? ected�for a moment and for ten thousand years. The
past appears, the past is re? ected; the present appears, the present is re? ected;
a buddha appears, a buddha is re? ected; a patriarch appears, a patriarch is
re? ected.
[125] The eighteenth patriarch, Venerable Geyasata, is a man from the
kingdom of Magadha in the western regions. His family name is Uzuran, his
father's name is Tengai, and his mother's name is Hosho. 4 His mother once
has a dream in which she sees a great god approaching her and holding a big
mirror. Then she becomes pregnant. Seven days later she gives birth to the
master. Even when he is newborn, the skin of the master's body is like pol-
ished lapis lazuli, and even before he is bathed, he is naturally fragrant and
clean. From his childhood, he loves quietness. His words are different from
those of ordinary children; since his birth, a clear and bright round mirror
has naturally been living with him. �A round mirror� means a round mir-
ror. 5 It is a matter rare through the ages. That it has lived with him does not
mean that the round mirror was also born from his mother's womb. 6 The
master was born from the womb, and as the master appeared from the womb
the round mirror came and naturally manifested itself before the master, and
became like an everyday tool. The form of this round mirror is not ordinary:
when the child approaches, he seems to be holding up the round mirror before
him with both hands, yet the child's face is not hidden. When the child goes
away, he seems to be going with the round mirror on his back, yet the child's
body is not hidden. When the child sleeps, the round mirror covers him like
a ? owery canopy. Whenever the child sits up straight, the round mirror is
there in front of him. In sum, it follows [all his] movements and demeanors,
active and passive. What is more, he is able to see all Buddhist facts of the
past, future, and present by looking into the round mirror. At the same time,
all problems and issues of the heavens above and the human world come
cloudlessly to the surface of the round mirror. For example, to see by look-
ing in this round mirror is even more clear than to attain illumination of the
past and illumination of the present by reading sutras and texts. Neverthe-
less, once the child has left home and received the precepts, the round mir-
ror never appears before him again. 7 Therefore [people of] neighboring vil-
lages and distant regions unanimously praise this as rare and wonderful. In
truth, though there are few similar examples in this saha world, we should
not be suspicious but should be broadminded with regard to the fact that, in
other worlds, families may produce such progeny. Remember, there are sutras
which have changed into trees and rocks,8 and there are [good] counselors
who are spreading [the Lotus Sutra] in fields and in villages;9 they too may
be a round mirror. Yellow paper on a red rod10 here and now is a round mir-
ror. Who could think that only the master was prodigious?
[129] On an outing one day, encountering Venerable Sa? gha nandi,11
[Master Geyasata] directly proceeds before Venerable [Sa? gha]nandi. The
Venerable One asks, �[That which] you have in your hands is expressing
what? �12 We should hear �is expressing What? � not as a question,13 and we
should learn it as such in practice.
The master says:
The great round mirror of the buddhas
Has no ? aws or blurs, within or without.
[We] two people are able to see the same.
[Our] minds, and [our] eyes, are completely alike.
So how could the great round mirror of the buddhas have been born
together with the master? The birth of the master was the brightness of the
great round mirror. Buddhas [experience] the same state and the same view
in this round mirror. Buddhas are the cast image of the great round mirror.
The great round mirror is neither wisdom nor reason, neither essence nor
form. Though the concept of a great round mirror appears in the teachings
of [bodhisattvas at] the ten sacred stages, the three clever stages, and so on,
it is not the present �great round mirror of the buddhas. � Because �the bud-
dhas� may be beyond wisdom, buddhas have real wisdom, [but] we do not
see real wisdom as buddhas. Practitioners should remember that to preach
about wisdom is never the ultimate preaching of the Buddha's truth. Even
if we feel that the great round mirror of the buddhas is already living with
us, it is still a fact that we can neither touch the great round mirror in this
life nor touch it in another life; it is neither a jewel mirror nor a copper mir-
ror, neither a mirror of ? esh nor a mirror of marrow. Is [the verse] a verse
spoken by the round mirror itself or a verse recited by the child? Even if it
is the child who preaches this four-line verse, he has not learned it from
[other] people, either by �following the sutras� or by �following [good] coun-
selors. � He holds up the round mirror and preaches like this, simply [because]
to face the mirror has been the master's usual behavior since his earliest
childhood. He seems to possess inherent eloquence and wisdom. Was the
great round mirror born with the child, or was the child born with the great
round mirror? It may also be possible that the births took place before or
after [each other]. �The great round mirror� is just a virtue of �the buddhas. �
Saying that this mirror �has no blurs on the inside or the outside� neither
describes an inside that depends on an outside, nor an outside blurred by an
inside. There being no face or back, �two individuals14 are able to see the
same. � Minds, and eyes, are alike. �Likeness� describes �a human being�
meeting �a human being. � In regard to images within, they have mind and
eyes, and they are able to see the same. In regard to images without, they
have mind and eyes, and they are able to see the same. Object and subject
which are manifest before us now are like each other within and like each
other without�they are neither I nor anyone else. Such is the meeting of
�two human beings,� and the likeness of �two human beings. � That person
is called �I,� and I am that person. �Minds, and eyes, are totally alike� means
mind and mind are alike, eyes and eyes are alike. The likeness is of minds
and of eyes; this means, for example, that the mind and the eyes of each are
alike. What does it mean for mind and mind to be alike? The Third Patri-
arch and the Sixth Patriarch. 15 What does it mean for eyes and eyes to be
alike? The eye of the truth being restricted by the eye itself. 16 The principle
that the master is expressing now is like this. This is how [Master Geyasata]
first pays his respects to Venerable Sa? ghanandi. Taking up his principle,
we should experience in practice the faces of buddhas and the faces of patri-
archs in the great round mirror, which is akin to the eternal mirror.
[134] The thirty-third patriarch, Zen Master Daikan, in former days
when toiling in the Dharma order on Obaizan, presented the following verse
to the ancestral master,17 by writing it on the wall:18
In the state of bodhi there is originally no tree,
Neither does the clear mirror need a stand.
Originally we do not have a single thing,
Where could dust and dirt exist?
[134] So then, we must study these words. People in the world call the
Founding Patriarch Daikan �the eternal buddha. � Zen Master Engo19 says,
�I bow my head to the ground before Sokei,20 the true eternal buddha. �21 So
remember [the words] with which the Founding Patriarch Daikan displays
the clear mirror: �Originally we do not have a single thing, At what place
could dust and dirt exist? � �The clear mirror needs no stand�: this contains
the lifeblood; we should strive [to understand it]. All [things in] the clear-
clear state22 are the clear mirror itself, and so we say, �When a clear head
comes, a clear head will do. �23 Because [the clear mirror] is beyond �any
place,� it does not have �any place. �24 Still more, throughout the universe in
the ten directions, does there remain one speck of dust that is not the mir-
ror? On the mirror itself, does there remain one speck of dust that is not the
mirror? Remember, the whole universe is not lands of dust;25 and so it is the
face of the eternal mirror.
[136] In the order of Zen Master Nangaku Daie26 a monk asks, �If a mir-
ror is cast into an image,27 to what place does its luster return? �
The master says, �Venerable monk, to what place have the features you
had before you became a monk departed? �
The monk says, �After the transformation, why does it not shine like a
mirror? �
The master says, �Even though it is not shining like a mirror, it cannot
delude others one bit. �28
[137] We are not sure of what these myriad images29 of the present are
made. But if we seek to know, the evidence that they are cast from a mirror
is just [here] in the words of the master. A mirror is neither of gold nor of
precious stone, neither of brightness nor of an image, but that it can be
instantly cast into an image is truly the ultimate investigation of a mirror. 30
�To what place does the luster return? � is the assertion that �the possibility31
of a mirror being cast into an image� is just �the possibility of a mirror being
cast into an image�; [it says,] for example, [that] an image returns to the
place of an image, and [that] casting can cast a mirror. 32 The words �Ven-
erable monk, to what place have the features you had before you became a
monk departed? � hold up a mirror to re? ect [the monk's] face. 33 At this time,
which momentary face34 might be �my own face�? The master says, �Even
though it is not shining like a mirror, it cannot delude others one bit. � This
means that it cannot shine like a mirror; and it cannot mislead others. Learn
in practice that the ocean's drying can never disclose the seabed! 35 Do not
break out, and do not move! At the same time, learn further in practice: there
is a principle of taking an image and casting a mirror. Just this moment is
miscellaneous bits of utter delusion,36 in hundred thousand myriads of shin-
ing mirror re? ections. 37
[139] Great Master Seppo Shinkaku38 on one occasion preaches to the
assembly, �If you want to understand this matter,39 my concrete state is like
one face of the eternal mirror. [When] a foreigner comes, a foreigner appears.
[When] a Chinese person comes, a Chinese person appears. �
Then Gensha40 steps out and asks, �If suddenly a clear mirror comes
along, what then? �
The master says, �The foreigner and the Chinese person both become
invisible. �
Gensha says, �I am not like that. �
Seppo says, �How is it in your case? �
Gensha says, �Please, master, you ask. �
Seppo says, �If suddenly a clear mirror comes along, how will it be then? �
Gensha says, �Smashed into hundreds of bits and pieces! �
[141] Now the meaning of Seppo's words �this matter� should be learned
in practice as �this is something ineffable. �41 Let us now try to learn Seppo's
eternal mirror. In the words �Like one face of the eternal mirror. . . ,� �one
face� means [the mirror's] borders have been eliminated forever and it is utterly
beyond inside and outside; it is the self as a pearl spinning in a bowl. 42 The
present �[when] a foreigner comes, the foreigner appears� is about one indi-
vidual redbeard. 43 �[When] a Chinese person comes, a Chinese person appears�:
although it has been said since the primordial chaos,44 since [the reign of]
Banko (Ch. Panku),45 that this �Chinese person� was created from the three
elements and five elements,46 in Seppo's words now a Chinese person whose
virtue is the eternal mirror has appeared. Because the present Chinese person
is not �a Chinese person,� �the Chinese person appears. � To Seppo's pres-
ent words �The foreigner and the Chinese person both become invisible,�
he might add, �and the mirror itself also becomes invisible. � Gensha's words
�Smashed into hundreds of bits and pieces� mean �the truth should be
expressed like that, but why, when I have just asked you to give me back a
concrete fragment, did you give me back a clear mirror? �
[142] In the age of the Yellow Emperor there are twelve mirrors. 47
According to the family legend, they are gifts from the heavens. Alternately,
they are said to have been given by [the sage] Kosei of Kodozan. 48 The rule
for using49 the twelve mirrors is to use one mirror every hour through the
twelve hours, and to use each mirror for a month through the twelve months,
[and again] to use the mirrors one by one, year by year through twelve years.
They say that the mirrors are Kosei's sutras. When he transmits them to the
Yellow Emperor, the twelve hours and so on are mirrors with which to illu-
minate the past and to illuminate the present. If the twelve hours were not
mirrors, how would it be possible to illuminate the past? If the twelve hours
were not mirrors, how would it be possible to illuminate the present? The
twelve hours, in other words, are twelve concrete sheets [of mirror], and the
twelve concrete sheets [of time] are twelve mirrors. The past and present are
what the twelve hours use. 50 [The legend] suggests this principle. Even though
it is a secular saying, it is in [the reality of] the twelve hours during which
�the Chinese person� appears.
[144] Kenen (Ch. Xuanyuan),51 the Yellow Emperor, crawls forward
on Kodo [Mountain] and asks Kosei about the Way. Thereupon, Kosei says,
�Mirrors are the origin of yin and yang; they regulate the body eternally.
There are naturally three mirrors: namely, the heavens, the earth, and human
beings. 52 These mirrors are without sight and without hearing. 53 They will
make your spirit quiet, so that your body will naturally become right. Assured
of quietness and of purity, your body will not be taxed and your spirit will
not be agitated. You will thus be able to live long. �54
[145] In former times, these three mirrors are used to regulate the whole
country, and to regulate the great order. One who is clear about this great
order is called the ruler of the heavens and the earth. A secular [book]55 says,
�The Emperor Taiso56 has treated human beings as a mirror, and thus he fully
illuminates [all problems of] peace and danger, reason and disorder. � He
uses one of the three mirrors. When we hear that he treats human beings as
a mirror, we think that by asking people of wide knowledge about the past
and present, he has been able to know when to employ and to discharge saints
and sages�as, for example, when he got Gicho (Ch. Weizheng) and got
Bogenrei (Ch. Fang Xuanling). 57 To understand it like this is not [truly to
understand] the principle which asserts that Emperor Taiso sees human beings
as a mirror. Seeing human beings as a mirror means seeing a mirror as a mir-
ror, seeing oneself as a mirror, seeing the five elements58 as a mirror, or see-
ing the five constant virtues59 as a mirror. When we watch the coming and
going of human beings, the coming has no traces and the going has no direc-
tion: we call this the principle of human beings as a mirror. 60 The myriad
diversity of sagacity and ineptitude is akin to astrological phenomena. Truly,
it may be as latitude and longitude. 61 It is the faces of people, the faces of
mirrors, the faces of the sun, and the faces of the moon. The vitality of the
five peaks and the vitality of the four great rivers passes through the world
on the way to purifying the four oceans, and this is the customary practice
of the mirror itself. 62 They say that Taiso's way is to fathom the universal
grid by understanding human beings. [But this] does not refer [only] to peo-
ple of wide knowledge.
[147] �Japan, since the age of the gods, has had three mirrors; together
with the sacred jewels and the sword they have been transmitted to the pres-
ent. 63 One mirror is in the Grand Shrines of Ise,64 one is in the Hinokuma
Shrine in Kii-no-kuni,65 and one is in the depository of the Imperial Court. �66
[148] Thus it is clear that every nation transmits and retains a mirror.
To possess the mirror is to possess the nation. People relate the legend that
these three mirrors were transmitted together with the divine throne and were
transmitted by the gods. Even so, the perfectly refined copper [of these mir-
rors] is also the transformation of yin and yang. 67 It may be that [when] the
present comes, the present appears [in them], and [when] the past comes,
the past appears [in them]. [Mirrors] that thus illuminate the past and pres-
ent may be eternal mirrors. Seppo's point might also be expressed, �[When]
a Korean comes, a Korean appears; [when] a Japanese comes, a Japanese
appears. � Or, �[When] a god comes, a god appears; [when] a human being
comes, a human being appears. � We learn appearance-and-coming like this,
in practice, but we have not now recognized the substance and details of this
appearance: we only meet directly with appearance itself. We should not
always learn that coming-and-appearance is [a matter of] recognition or [a
matter of] understanding. Is the point here that a foreigner coming is a for-
eigner appearing? [No,] a foreigner coming should be an instance of a for-
eigner coming. A foreigner appearing should be an instance of a foreigner
appearing. The coming is not for the sake of appearing. Although the eternal
mirror is [just] the eternal mirror, there should be such learning in practice.
[149] Gensha steps out and asks, �What if suddenly it meets the com-
ing of a clear mirror? �68 We should study and clarify these words. What
might be the scale of the expression of this word �clear�? In these words,
the �coming� is not necessarily that of �a foreigner� or of �a Chinese per-
son. � This is the clear mirror, which [Gensha] says can never be realized as
�a foreigner� or as �a Chinese person. � Though �a clear mirror coming� is
a �clear mirror coming,� it never makes a duality. 69 Though there is no dual-
ity, the eternal mirror is still the eternal mirror, and the clear mirror is still
the clear mirror. Testimony to the existence of [both] the eternal mirror and
the clear mirror has been expressed directly in the words of Seppo and Gen-
sha. We should see this as the Buddha's truth of essence-and-form. We should
recognize that Gensha's present talk of the clear mirror coming is totally
penetrating,70 and we should recognize that it is brilliant in all aspects.
