Because it is difficult to fathom and grasp both sides of reality at once using concepts and intellect, as the Lotus Sutra says, we need the power of faith. Through our practice based on faith, we can experience the true reality even though we cannot see and measure it as an object.
The faith of power derives from taking refuge in the Triple Treasure. We take refuge, we take the precepts, and we take the four bodhisattva vows and continue to practice, wearing a buddha’s robe and receiving offerings with gratitude from the network of interdependent origination, gifts such as air, water, food, and many more things. We keep up our effort to hear, understand, and uphold the teachings of the sutras—through texts, talks, and instructions from teachers and others—and of reality itself.
Our practice includes all activities of this body and mind—including our thoughts, which are one way to understand this wondrous Dharma. We don’t need to cut off our thoughts. Thinking is, in fact, a function of the Dharma. But we should understand that thought cannot grasp reality. So we have to open our hands and work with the reality we encounter daily. When we think about each part in isolation it’s really difficult to see reality as a whole and explain it. But the Buddha’s teaching is really simple. It is the reality we always experience, not something mysterious or mystical beyond the phenomenal world. It’s not something esoteric. Even so, it is difficult to fathom the ways all beings exist in this phenomenal world in which we live. The way we live is actually mysterious. The truth is not hidden but always here, always manifested. The goal of our practice is not to experience something different from our day-to-day lives. It is to see deep into the reality of each being, including this one. This is really wondrous and difficult to grasp. To appreciate this is to meet with the Dharma. When we really see, listen to, accept, and maintain that Dharma, we can’t help but vow to understand it more deeply. That’s the meaning of the last line of this verse, “I vow to understand the true meaning of the Tathāgata.” We vow to deeply understand the dharmakāya into which we are born; the reality that is itself the Buddha’s body, in which we live and die together with all beings.
NOTES
1. “The ancestral way come from the west I transmit east.
Fishing the moon, cultivating clouds,
I long for the ancient wind.
How could red dusts from the mundane world fly up to here?
Snowy night in the deep mountains in my grass hut.”
Dōgen, Dōgen’s Extensive Record: A Translation of Eihei Koroku, trans. Leighton and Okumura (Wisdom Publications, 1995), p. 638.
2. Buddhadharma, Spring 2011, p. 25.
3. Dainin Katagiri, Each Moment Is the Universe: Zen and the Way of Being Time (Boston: Shambhala, 2007), p. 216.
4. I found this poem in the draft of Ceaseless Effort: The Life of Dainin Katagiri, by Andrea Martin (Minnesota Zen Meditation Center).
5. The story is based on the translation by Thomas William Rhys Davids, Buddhist Birth-Stories: Jataka Tales (1880) (repr., Calcutta: Srishti Publishers, 1998). Another version is found in Rafe Martin, The Hungry Tigress: Buddhist Legends and Jataka Tales (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1990).
6. Martin, Hungry Tigress.
7. This is the translation of the verse of four bodhisattva vows in the sutra book used at Minnesota Zen Meditation Center. The translation in Sōtō School Scriptures for Daily Services and Practice published by Sōtōshū Shūmuchō is as follows: “Beings are numberless; I vow to free them. / Delusions are inexhaustible; I vow to end them. / Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to enter them. / The Buddha way is unsurpassable; I vow to realize it.” In Japanese: “Shujō mu hen sei gan do, / Bonnō mu jin sei gan dan, / Hō mon mu ryō sei gan gaku, / Butsu dō mujō seigan gan jō.”
8. This does not mean Buddhists do not pray. Originally Buddhism did not have sacred beings to pray to; but later, in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna Buddhism, buddhas, bodhisattvas, and some guardian gods came to be considered objects of prayer.
9. Augustine Ichirō Okumura, Awakening to Prayer, trans. Theresa Kazue Hiraki and Albert Masaru Yamato (Washington, D.C.: ICS, 1994).
10. This is the translation of the verse from Bosatsu-yōraku-hongōkyō (Bodhisattva Jewel Necklace Sutra), Taisho, vol. 24, p. 1013.
11. This verse appears in the Mahavāgga of the Pāli Vinaya. This English translation is from Hajime Nakamura, Gotama Buddha: A Biography Based on the Most Reliable Texts, trans. Gaynor Sekimori (Tokyo: Kosei, 2000), p. 228.
12. This poem was published in the MZMC newsletter, Spring 1991, on the occasion of the first anniversary of Katagiri Roshi’s death.
13. D. T. Suzuki, Living by Zen: A Synthesis of the Historical and Practical Aspects of Zen Buddhism (London: Samuel Weiser, 1972).
14. D. T. Suzuki, Zen ni yoru Seikatu, trans. Kobori Sōhaku, Suzuki Daisetsu Zen senshu, vol. 3 (Tokyo: Shunjūsha, 1975), p. 173.
15. D. T. Suzuki, Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism (New York: Schocken Books, 1963), p. 307.
16. Kōshō Uchiyama, Opening the Hand of Thought (Boston: Wisdom, 2004), p. 157.
17. Shohaku Okumura, Shikantaza: An Introduction to Zazen (Kyoto: Kyoto Sōtō Zen Center, 1985), p. 63.
18. Shohaku Okumura and Taigen Dan Leighton, trans., The Wholehearted Way: A Translation of Eihei Dōgen’s Bendōwa with Commentary by Kōshō Uchiyama Roshi (Boston: Tuttle, 1997), p. 23.
19. This saying appears in the third chapter of the Lotus Sutra, “Simile and Parable.” Burton Watson, trans., The Lotus Sutra (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993), p. 69.
20. Taigen Dan Leighton and Shohaku Okumura, trans., Dōgen’s Pure Standards for the Zen Community: A Translation of Eihei Shingi (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996), pp. 47–49.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid. p. 48.
23. Ibid. p. 37.
24. Ibid. p. 48.
25. Ibid. pp. 48–49.
26. Guishan Lingyou (Isan Reiyū) lived from 771 to 853 CE during the golden age of Chinese Zen. He founded the Guiyang (Igyō) school, one of the five schools of Zen in China. Guishan was a dharma successor of Baizhang Huihai (Hyakujō Ekai). Baizhang is known for his Baizhang Qingguei (Hyakujō Shingi), a compilation of the regulations for a Zen monastery. With Baizhang’s regulations, Zen monastic practice was formally established.
27. This is my translation. Another can be found in Gudo Nishijima and Chodo Cross, trans., Master Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō, bk. 2 (BookSurge, 2006), p. 170. Zen Master Dayuan is the honorific title given by the emperor to Guishan.
28. This lecture at the Sōtōshu Kyōka Kenshūsho (Sōtō School Propagation and Research Institute) was translated by Rev. Rosan Yoshida and appeared in the MZMC newsletter in three parts: Fall 1990, Spring 1991, and Summer 1991.
29. Hōkyōji is a country practice center in Southeastern Minnesota established in 1978. In 2007 it became independent from the MZMC and is currently named Hōkyōji Zen Practice Community.
30. This is a part of a conversation between Hongzhi and his teacher Donxia Zichun (Tanka Shijun, 1074–1117), which appeared in Hongzhi’s biography in The Record of Hongzhi (Chi., Hongzhi-lu; Jap., Wanshi-roku). Originally this saying was by Baima Xingai (Hakuba Gyōai) and appeared in The Record of the Transmission of the Dharma Lamp (Chi., Jingde chuandeng lu; Jap., Keitoku Dentōroku), vol. 23.
31. This expression by Dōgen Zenji appears in Dharma discourse no. 2 in Eihei Kōroku. See Taigen Dan Leighton and Shohaku Okumura, trans., Dōgen’s Extensive Record: A Translation of the Eihei Kōroku (Boston: Wisdom, 2004), p. 76.
32. The translation in the Sōtō School Scriptures for Daily Services and Practice is “All my past and harmful karma, / born from beginningless greed, hate, and delusion, / through body, speech, and mind, / I now fully avow.”
33. This is based on the theory of the origin of Mahāyāna Buddhism held by Japanese scholars such as Akira Hirakawa. When I lectured on these matters in 1993 I did not know about Western scholars’ criticism of the hypothesis that Mahāyāna Buddhism was originally a la
y Buddhist movement. Today few scholars support this hypothesis.
34. Here “ego” is used as a translation of the Sanskrit ātman, which is usually translated as “self ” or “soul.” “Egolessness” is a translation of anātman, “no-self.” According to The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen (Boston: Shambhala, 1991), ātman means “the real immortal self of human beings, known in the West as the soul.” In Mahāyāna Buddhism, not only the “soul” of human beings, but also the substance of material things is negated.
35. This is my translation from Busso-shōden Zenkaishō (Essence of Buddha Ancestors’ Authentically Transmitted Zen Precepts), Taisho, vol. 82, no. 2601.
36. This is my translation from Sōtan Oka, Kaitei Busso-shōden Zenkaishō Kōwa (Lecture on the revised Busso-shōden Zenkaishō) (Tokyo: Kōmeisha, 1931), pp. 44–48.
37. The translation in Sōtō School Scriptures for Daily Services and Practice is “I take refuge in buddha. / May all beings / embody the great way, / resolving to awaken. / I take refuge in dharma. / May all living beings / deeply enter the sutras, wisdom like an ocean. / I take refuge in sangha. / May all beings / support harmony in the community, / free from hindrance.” This verse was originally a part of the longer verse in chapter 11 of the Avataṃsaka Sutra, titled “Purifying Practice.” The English translation is as follows. “Taking refuge in the Buddha, / They should wish that all beings / Continue the lineage of Buddhas, / Conceiving the unexcelled aspiration. / Taking refuge in the Teaching, / They should wish that all beings / Enter deeply into the scriptures / And their wisdom be deep as the sea. / Taking refuge in the Community, / They should wish that all beings / Order the masses, / All becoming free from obstruction.” Thomas Cleary, trans., The Flower Ornament Scripture: A Translation of The Avatamsaka Sutra (Boston: Shambhala, 1993), pp. 315–16.
38. This is my translation. Another translation is in Nishijima and Cross, Master Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō, bk. 4, p. 178.
39. Thanissaro Bhikkhu, trans., Dhammapada: A Translation (Barre, Mass.: Dhamma Dana, 1998), v. 160, p. 46.
40. H. Saddhatissa, trans., The Sutta-Nipata (London: Curzon, 1994), p. 88.
41. Dasheng-yi-zhang (Jap., Daijō-gi-shō, The meanings of Mahāyāna Teaching), written by Huiyuan (Eon) in the Sui dynasty (589–618), Taisho, vol. 44, no. 1851, p. 654.
42. This is the translation in the MZMC sutra book, p. 1. The translation in Sōtō School Scriptures for Daily Services and Practice is “How great, the robe of liberation, / a formless field of merit. / Wrapping ourselves in Buddha’s teaching, / We free all living beings.” This verse also appears in Chanyuan Qinggui (Rules of Purity for the Chan Monastery), vol. 8, in the section describing the precepts-receiving ceremony for novices (shami). There is one character different from the version we chant. The third line reads, “Wearing the Tathāgata’s precepts.”
43. This is my translation. Another translation appears in Nishijima and Cross, Master Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō, bk. 1, p. 146.
44. This story appears in Vinaya texts. See, for example, I. B. Horner, trans., The Book of the Discipline (Vinaya-piṭaka), vol. IV (London: Luzac, 1951), p. 407.
45. This is my translation. See also Nishijima and Cross, Master Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō, bk. 1, p. 127.
46. As far as I know, an English translation of Kyōjukaimon has not yet been published. In Shōbōgenzō Kie-sanbō (Taking Refuge in the Three Treasures), Dōgen introduces four kinds of Three Treasures, including the three mentioned here. See Nishijima and Cross, Master Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō, bk. 4, p. 177.
47. This is a free translation from Japanese. The English translation from Pāli is in H. Saddhatissa, The Sutta-Nipata, p. 8.
48. Leighton and Okumura, Dōgen’s Pure Standards, p. 36.
49. Ibid., pp. 83–84.
50. Robert A. F. Thurman, trans., The Holy Teaching of Vimalakīrti: A Mahāyāna Scripture (College Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1988), p. 27.
51. Leon Hurvitz, trans., Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma (New York: Columbia University Press, 1976), p. 22.
52. Ibid., p. 23.
53. The texts of meal chants in chapter 5 are from Sōtō School Scriptures for Daily Services and Practice, p. 75, not from the sutra book of the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center.
54. Maurice Walshe, trans., The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Dīgha Nikāya (Boston: Wisdom, 1987), p. 263.
55. Red Pine, trans., The Diamond Sutra: The Perfection of Wisdom: Text and Commentaries translated from Sanskrit and Chinese (Washington, D.C.: Counterpoint, 2001), p. 3.
56. Thomas Cleary, trans. The Blue Cliff Record (Boulder, Colo.: Shambhala, 1977), case 1, p. 3.
57. Fahuawengou, Taisho, vol. 34, #1718, p. 0128a16.
58. Translation by the Buddhist Text Translation Society with a few minor changes by Okumura. http://www.purifymind.com/BrahmaNetSutra.htm.
59. My translation. See also Nishijima and Cross, Master Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō, bk. 4, p. 178.
60. Menzan Zuihō (1683–1769), one of the greatest Sōtō Zen monk-scholars of the Tokugawa period, wrote a commentary on this “Verse of Five Contemplations” titled Jujikigokan-kunmo (Instruction on the Five Contemplations for Receiving Food) in 1720. He said that these five contemplations were first mentioned in a Vinaya text by Nanshan Daoxuan (Nanzan Dōsen), the founder of the Chinese Ritsu (Vinaya) School. Later the verse was rewritten by one of the famous Chinese literati of the Song dynasty who was also a Zen practitioner, Huang Tingjian (Kō Teiken, 1045–1105). It also appears in Chanyuan Qinggui (Zen’en Shingi, Rules of Purity for the Chan Monastery) by Changlu Zongze (Chōro Sōsaku, ?–1107). Dōgen Zenji took the verse from the Chinese Standards. However, modern scholars doubt Huang’s authorship because the same verse is found in a text that precedes his birth.
61. These are parts of my unpublished translation of Shōbōgenzō “Hachidainingaku” (Eight Points of Awakening of Great Beings). Another translation is found in Nishijima and Cross, Master Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō, bk. 4, pp. 233–34.
62. Rewata Dhamma, The First Discourse of The Buddha (Boston: Wisdom, 1997), p. 17.
63. Gene Reeves, trans.The Lotus Sutra: A Contemporary Translation of a Buddhist Classic (Boston, Wisdom Publications, 2008), pp. 93–94.
64. Nishijima and Cross, Master Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō, bk. 4, p. 173.
65. Leighton and Okumura, Dōgen’s Pure Standards, p. 98.
66. This is my translation. Another is in Kazuaki Tanahashi, ed., Enlightenment Unfolds: The Essential Teachings of Zen Master Dōgen (Boston: Shambhala, 1999), p. 23.
67. Bhikkhu Bodhi, trans., The Connected Discourses of the Buddha, vol. 1 (Boston: Wisdom, 2000), p. 233.
68. Ibid., p. 950.
69. Three vehicles are the Mahāyāna categorization of Buddhism. Śrāvaka means “hearer” and refers to the disciples of the Buddha. Pratyekabuddha means “solitary awakened one” and refers to the practitioners who attain awakening without a teacher and do not teach others. From the Mahāyāna point of view, both were Hīnayāna, “lesser vehicles.”
70. When I gave this talk in 1993, heart transplants were not yet legal in Japan. In 1997 the procedure was legalized, but it is still very rarely performed.
71. I live in America as a foreigner and need a great deal of patience. Katagiri Roshi’s name Dainin means Great Patience. I think it was a very suitable name for him as a teacher in the United States, where the spiritual and cultural backgrounds are very different from Japan. American Buddhist practitioners who practice with teachers from Japan or other Asian Buddhist countries must need the same sort of patience. Actually, any two people who live or work together will sometimes have conflicts and need to practice patience.
72. Edward Conze, trans., Perfect Wisdom: The Short Prajñāpāramitā Texts (Devon: Buddhist Publishing Group, 1973), p. 140.
73. Katagiri Roshi’s translation appeared in Zen no Kaze (Wind of Zen), a magazine published by Sōtōshū Shūmuchō. The translation of
this sentence in Sōtō School Scriptures for Daily Services and Practice is “Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, when deeply practicing prajñā pāramitā, clearly saw that all five aggregates are empty and thus relieved all suffering.”
74. Shōbōgenzō “Kannon” is included in Nishijima and Cross, Master Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō, bk. 2, p. 211.
75. Yunyan was the teacher of Dongshan (Tōzan), the founder of Chinese Caodon (Sōtō) Zen. He is mentioned below.
76. If you are interested in the discussion of this koan, study case 54 in the Book of Serenity and case 89 in the Blue Cliff Record. Thomas Cleary, trans., Book of Serenity: One Hundred Zen Dialogues (New York: Lindisfarne Press, 1990), p. 229. Cleary, Blue Cliff Record, p. 489.
77. Shohaku Okumura, trans., Realizing Genjōkōan: The Key to Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō (Boston: Wisdom, 2010), app. 2, p. 207.
78. Conze, Perfect Wisdom, p. 140.
79. Kenneth K. Inada, trans., Nāgārjuna: A Translation of His Mūlamadhyamakakārikā with an Introductory Essay (Tokyo: Hokuseidō Press, 1970), p. 146. (Chapter and verse numbers are cited in the text.)
80. This is my translation. Another translation is in Nishijima and Cross, Master Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō, bk. 4, p. 221.
81. Inada, Nāgārjuna, p. 39.
82. Ibid., p. 59.
83. This is my translation from the Chinese, which Kumārajīva translated with Pingala’s commentary, Taisho, vol. 30, no. 1564, p. 8a07.
84. Okumura, Realizing Genjōkōan, p. 1.
85. Ibid., p. 3.
86. Ibid.
87. Francis Cook, trans., The Record of Transmitting the Light: Zen Master Keizan’s Denkōroku (Boston: Wisdom, 1996), pp. 193–94.
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