36. Gudo Toshoku (1577–1661) succeeded Yozan. The reference to the “twenty-four schools” is an allusion to a famous verse by Gudo himself, on taking up the abbacy of Myoshinji, suggesting that his was the only one of twenty-four original Zen lineages in Japan to survive.
37. Munan (1603–76), one of Gudo’s many successors, was a samurai and in his teaching often used metaphors of the sword, killing, and annihilating the body to represent Zen transcendence; he studied Zen as a layman for thirty years, then left home and became a monk at the age of fifty-two. “Shoju” means “accurate perception” and is a Buddhist technical term for correct samadhi, commonly translated as “concentration” or “absorption”; this was the name of the hermitage where Munan’s spiritual successor Dokyo Etan (1642–1721) lived, and it is also the epithet by which he is commonly called, Shoju Rojin, the latter component meaning “old man.”
38. Kokurin is Zen Master Hakuin (1685–1768), regarded as the reviver of Rinzai Zen, from whom all modern Rinzai lineages claim descent. Hakuin recounts harsh treatment at the hands of Shoju, and he made himself seriously ill by overexertion, as also did the author of this treatise, himself one of Hakuin’s disciples. The “you” in what follows refers to Hakuin.
39. “Propagation” means emphasis on doctrine rather than enlightenment.
40. Here “your” refers to an interlocutor, thus to the reader. The recitation of lineage was a ritual that developed in Confucian cultures, but the esoteric meaning is to focus awareness on the continuum of consciousness underlying successive mental states.
41. “The three states of misery” represent embodiments of the so-called three poisons of greed, aggression, and folly.
42. “The five periods” refer to five phases of Buddha’s teaching as reckoned in the Tendai school: First is the Avatamsaka period, when Buddha supposedly expounded everything at once in the Flower Ornament Scripture; virtually no one understood, so the second period, called the Deer Park period, represents remedial teachings, the so-called Lesser Vehicle leading to nirvana; in the third period, called the Universal period, Buddha rebukes the narrowness of those who cling to nirvana and turns attention to the Greater Vehicle of universal enlightenment; the fourth period, named for the Perfection of Insight scriptures, focuses on the teaching of emptiness, eliminating attachments to dogma; the fifth period is named for the Lotus and Mahaparinirvana Scriptures, in which Buddha reveals the Dharma as an eternal reality. The eight doctrines is also a Tendai construction: The first is called the canonical doctrine, focusing on attainment of nirvana; the second is called the common doctrine, focusing on emptiness; the third is called the separate doctrine, addressed only to bodhisattvas; the fourth is called the complete doctrine, addressed to bodhisattvas of the highest faculties; the next four refer to modes of teaching—first is sudden, second gradual, third secret, and fourth indefinite. The three vehicles refer to teachings for listeners, individual illuminates, and bodhisattvas. The One Vehicle refers to the comprehensive teachings, such as found in the Flower Ornament and Lotus sutras.
43. The “seven branches (or limbs) of enlightenment” are discernment, energy, joy, relief, relinquishment, stability, and mindfulness.
44. That is, after realizing intrinsic nature.
45. “The mind with secret (or esoteric) adornments” is the term used for the crowning experience of Shingon Buddhism.
46. Referring to the reduction of these doctrinal schools to academic and ritual formalities.
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FAITH AND PRACTICE
In the book on “Appearance of the Realized” in the Flower Ornament Scripture it says,
The knowledge of those who arrive at reality reaches everywhere. Why? Because there is not a single being but has knowledge of those who arrive at reality; it’s just that they cannot actually realize it because of the delusions and fixations of false ideas. If they would detach from false ideas, all knowledge, spontaneous knowledge, and unhindered knowledge could come to the fore. It is as if there were a scripture the size of the universe, recording everything in the universe, completely contained in an atom, and as in one atom so in all atoms. Now there is someone with clear and accurate insight who has fully developed pure clairvoyance and sees this scripture inside atoms, where it is of no benefit to people, and reflects, “I should make the effort to break open the atoms, one and all, to release this scripture and enable all people everywhere to gain benefit from it.” The knowledge of those who arrive at reality is also like this, infinite, pervasive, with the potential to benefit people everywhere.
Then the Realized One observed all living beings in the cosmos with the eye of unobstructed pure knowledge and uttered these words:
How wonderful! How strange! How is it that these beings have the knowledge of those who arrive at reality, yet in ignorance and folly they do not know or see? I should teach them the Way of the wise, to enable them to be free of the fixations of false ideas forever and actually perceive in themselves the vast knowledge of those who arrive at reality, no different from Buddhas.
Then he taught people to practice the noble path to get them to detach from false ideas, and they realized the infinite knowledge of those who arrive at reality, which benefits and comforts all living beings.
The Comprehensive Scripture of Complete Awareness says,
All living beings experience complete awareness. When they meet teachers, depending on the principles and practices they make basic, then their practice may be immediate or gradual, but if they find the right route of practicing the unsurpassed enlightenment of those who arrive at reality, then they all attain buddhahood regardless of whether their faculties are great or small.
If you want to master this path, first you need the faculty of great faith. What is the faculty of faith? It means faith in the inherence of the nature of mind and the immeasurable knowledge of all Buddhas; faith that those who cultivate it will realize it, regardless of the magnitude of their potential or the degree of their intelligence; faith that as the power of concentration develops various states will occur and if you mistake them for enlightenment you’ll fall into the categories of the two vehicles or outsiders; faith that when the time comes and effort has been sufficient, the enlightened nature will suddenly appear, without making use of intellectual discrimination; faith that even if the enlightened nature suddenly appears, if you don’t see a teacher and don’t pass through multiple barriers, you will have wasted your life; faith that even if you pass through multiple barriers and attain the essence of Zen, our school’s last bit of progressive transcendence has a distinct life; faith that even if you attain that bit of experience beyond, power and function are not equal, depending on individual application, involving a lot of detail; faith that the succession of teachers has a reason, and efforts to continue true Zen should not be neglected; faith that every lifetime from here on is one thing, cultivation of the Way; faith in upholding the experience of progressive transcendence and communicating it to the future, not letting it die out.
When you have developed a resolute mind in this way, you can make great vows, vowing never to give up until you attain penetrating insight into essential nature; vowing to remain sunk forever rather than entertain a single thought of retreat; vowing to go to hell rather than be deluded by popular teachings and rather than accept visionary states and thus fall into the views of the two vehicles or outsiders; vowing to carry out the acts of bodhisattvas forever once insight into essential nature is penetrating; vowing not to give up without understanding each and every one of the verbal teachings of Buddhas and Masters; vowing not to give up without penetrating progressive transcendence; vowing not to give up without equaling the Buddhas and Masters in power and application; vowing not to develop a lowly mentality and disgrace the way of the school; vowing not to be insincere and crave human sentiment; vowing to produce one or two genuine successors to perpetuate the way of the school to thank the Buddhas and Masters, to practice the acts of bodhisattvas lifetime after lifetime, gene
ration to generation, ultimately to liberate all living beings.
When you have made great vows like this, and made the vows of all Buddhas your own vows, made the will and conduct of the Zen masters your own will and conduct, general vows and particular vows may be activated at will. Pray sincerely every day; think about them all the time. Just as the atmosphere sustains the earth, the atmosphere of great vows sustains buddhahood. Just as a favorable wind drives a boat, for the ocean of the essence of reality there is the boat of insight, which cannot move but for the wind of knowledge from great vows. Those of you who tarry along the way in the mentalities of the three vehicles and the views of outsiders, the reason you cannot plumb the profound wellspring of the Buddhas and Masters is that the strength of your vows is inadequate.
The Combined Treatise on the Flower Ornament says,1 “To fulfill the teachings employed by all Buddhas alike with the first inspiration is called riding the vehicle of all knowledge. If compassion, knowledge, vows, and conduct are at all unlike the Buddhas, even faith won’t be possible, much less abiding in the abode of Buddhas.” It also says, “If one’s aspiration is at all unlike the compassion, knowledge, vows, and conduct of the spiritual personality cultivated by those who arrive at reality, one cannot be called a newly inspired bodhisattva.” So I ask people who study the path to develop this attitude first.
If you are greathearted, even if you don’t work on it, it will still be a field of blessings and ultimately will become an excellent condition for the future. How much the more so if you go on to cultivate and enhance it, mastering the path as best you can.
The correct course for cultivating practice is based on vows. If the strength of your vows is deep and weighty, demons and outsiders cannot disturb you; if the strength of your vows is slight and superficial, you will encounter many obstacles.
Now then, the strength of vows is rooted in compassion. Those who seek their own benefit all remain within a small perspective. They are like merchants: those who plan for their own success take pride in a little wealth first; those who want to be charitable to everyone else never think a little is enough.
For this reason, the practice of the four universal vows first makes liberation of others the number one pledge, along with clarifying your own nature, cutting off the root of afflictions, studying all teachings, and carrying out the activities of bodhisattvas, so compassion and knowledge are completely fulfilled. This is called the way of Buddhas.2
You should realize that great compassion is the foundation for actual attainment of buddhahood. Observe all people thoroughly, how they ignore basics and pursue trivia, greedily fixated on avaricious occupations, dying here and born there, compulsively repeating all sorts of futile routines. In the heavens there are five deteriorations;3 in the human realm there are eight difficulties;4 the conditions of hungry ghosts, animals, and hells are extremely painful. Try to compare their states of mind with your own state of mind.
Furthermore, all living beings are your parents and siblings over lifetimes and generations, to whom your gratitude and love ought to be as toward your present parents and siblings. Considering this, you certainly must develop an attitude of great compassion.
The section on the practical vows of Universal Good in the Flower Ornament Scripture says,
If you make sentient beings happy, you make all Buddhas happy. Why? Because the heart of great compassion is the substance of the Buddhas. Therefore they develop great compassion on account of sentient beings, develop the will for enlightenment based on great compassion, and attain true awakening on the basis of the will for enlightenment. It is like a giant tree in a desert; if the roots find water, then the branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits all flourish. The giant tree of enlightenment in the desert of birth and death is also like this. All living beings are the root of the tree; the Buddhas and bodhisattvas are the flowers. Benefit living beings with the water of great compassion and you can obtain the flowers and fruits of knowledge and wisdom of Buddhas and bodhisattvas.
So great compassion is like the sky, because it covers all living beings; great compassion is like the earth, because it produces all the teachings; great compassion makes it possible to see buddha-nature, by first clarifying real knowledge for the sake of others. Great compassion makes it possible to pass through unyielding barriers, by plumbing the profound teachings more and more for the sake of others. Great compassion makes it possible to penetrate the transcendental, by seeking a life beyond for others. Great compassion can develop powerful application, by striving on this path for the sake of others. Great compassion can activate intrepidness, by keeping a vigorous will alive for the sake of others. Great compassion makes it possible to get beyond regression, because the mind is settled for the sake of others. Great compassion can produce broad learning, by studying everything for the sake of others. Great compassion can produce erudition, by deep deduction of the principles of things for the sake of others. Great compassion can produce blessings, by always coming up with expedients for others. Great compassion can annihilate afflictions, by sacrificing body, life, and goods for others. Great compassion can extirpate conceit, by acting benevolently for others. Great compassion enables detachment from fame and profit, by basing everything on truth for the sake of others. Great compassion enables entry into the realm of reality, because there is nowhere it does not go for the sake of others.
The virtues of great compassion are infinite; they could be expounded upon forever without exhausting them, but it boils down to this: Whoever has great compassion can extinguish all obstructions caused by past actions and can fulfill all virtues; no principle cannot be understood, no path cannot be practiced, no knowledge not attained, no virtue not developed. Just as when you want to win people’s hearts you first love their children, the Buddhas and bodhisattvas consider all living beings their children, so if you love all living beings equally, all the Buddhas will be moved to respond.
Just propitiating the Buddhas only benefits one individual; Buddhas have complete virtue and knowledge, so they never seek offerings of support from others. Now, if you serve them by means of great compassion, the Buddhas will be deeply pleased and the benefits will extend to the entire universe. It’s like the difference between addressing an individual and addressing a crowd when teaching the Dharma. The Dharma itself is no more or less, and neither is its efficacy. The effort to enable everyone else to attain enlightenment first actually collects their virtues and makes them into your own vows. The former and the latter assist each other, back and forth endlessly.
And this principle applies even to material charity. If you pick out someone to give things to, you only please one person, whereas if you give to everyone, even those who don’t get any themselves will feel sincere gratitude and be psychologically satisfied by virtue. Therefore all your achievements, virtues, and their results and rewards should always be dedicated to supreme enlightenment for all living beings.
You should think in these terms: “May all living beings gain access to the knowledge and vision of Buddhas; may all living beings be cleared of obstructions caused by past actions; may all living beings attain acceptance of truth; may all living beings concentrate intensely on the path; may all living beings actually experience samadhi; may all living beings’ knowledge and insight be clear; may all living beings master expedients; may all living beings’ vows of compassion be universal; may all living beings’ spiritual powers be uninhibited; may all living beings be ultimately fulfilled.”
Also, according to what you hear or see, always take this attitude: “How sad that all living beings have fallen into the bottomless pit of birth and death! How can I contrive to rescue them quickly and enable them to rest on the ground of all knowledge?”
The Scripture Spoken by Vimalakirti says, “If you yourself are in bondage, you cannot release others from bondage.” So if you want to liberate all living beings, it is urgent to seek all knowledge. To seek all knowledge, first you must see essential nature. It is not that you attain
buddhahood yourself and then liberate living beings; it is in order to liberate living beings that you yourself seek to become a Buddha. And it is not to attain buddhahood yourself that you liberate living beings; it is for the sake of living beings that you practice the way of Buddhas everywhere.
Therefore students should first give up selfishness and not fixate on their own benefit. The Nirvana Scripture says, “Inspiration and consummation are ultimately not different. Of these two states of mind, the first is more difficult: ‘Not having attained salvation myself, I save others first.’ Therefore I honor the initial inspiration.” So students should first relinquish selfishness and not be focused on their own benefit. Those who act for their own sake only profit one individual and haven’t the heart to liberate others, so they don’t clarify the infinite doctrines and they don’t save anyone, so they don’t amass infinite spiritual wealth.
This is why disciples and solitary illuminates appear inferior, to illustrate the meaning of bias and sterility in aspiration and action, while Buddhas and bodhisattvas provisionally show signs of greatness and marks of distinction to represent the principle of completeness of virtue and knowledge. Later people mistakenly thought that the two vehicles and outsiders have different natures and don’t exist in the present; what they don’t realize is that these are different names for students’ knowledge and practice.
If you seek Buddha outside of mind, this is called being an outsider. If you abandon the way of your own mind and seek the ways of others and therefore mistakenly stick to various views, this is called being a devil; when you hear the true teaching, you will repudiate it. Therefore to first realize the principle of emptiness on initiation into Buddhas is called discipleship. Everything being reduced to emptiness, when one does not seek any doctrine but awakens on one’s own through conditions, not developing compassionate knowledge, this is called conditional or solitary illumination, roaming spontaneously, enjoying the path alone. Thus gradually developing compassionate knowledge, beneficial to both self and others, is called the Vehicle of Bodhisattvas and is also called the Temporary Great Vehicle—though one has realization of enlightenment, one is not yet free and so has fear of the ocean of birth and death. Therefore some like nirvana; some seek the Pure Land. They cannot fully attain power and fearlessness.
The Undying Lamp of Zen Page 4