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正法眼藏第五十五 十方 NOTES 1. “The ten directions” (jippō 十方): I.e., the four cardinal and four ordinal directions, plus the zenith and nadir; a standard Buddhist term for "in all directions," “everywhere.” “A single fist” (kentō isseki 拳頭一隻): The “fist” appears often in Chan texts, and in Dōgen’s writings, as a synecdoche for the true self or a true master. “A single bare mind” (sekishin ippen 赤心一片): More literally, “a single piece of bare mind.” A “bare (or “red”) mind” (chixin 赤心) is a common Chinese idiom for a sincere, or straightforward, mind (or heart). Chan texts often speak of “a bare mind in pieces” (chixin pianpian 赤心片片) — i.e., sincerity in each instance. In his Shōbōgenzō nyorai zenshin 正法眼藏如來全身 (DZZ.2:176), Dōgen remarks,
“The ten directions crystal clear” (reirō jippō 玲瓏十方): The sound of a crystal (reirō) is a common metaphor for perfect clarity, as in the more familiar expression “eight sides [i.e., the eight compass points] crystal clear” (hachimen reirō 八面玲瓏). 2. From the Miaofa lianhua jing 妙法蓮華經 (Saddharma-puṇḍarika-sūtra), T.9(262):8a17. The “one vehicle” is the form of Buddhism leading to the complete enlightenment of a buddha, a central teaching of the Lotus Sūtra. 3. “Eight tael and a half catty” (hachi ryō han kin 八兩半斤): A tael (Chinese liang 兩) is a unit of weight (varying throughout history) equal to 1/16 catty (Chinese jin 斤); hence, eight tael equal a half catty. The implication seems to be that the one buddha land of Śākyamuni is equivalent to the buddha lands of the ten directions. “Seven feet or eight feet” (shichi shaku hachi shaku 七尺八尺): The Shōbōgenzō monge 正法眼藏聞解 (Shōbōgenzō chūkai zensho [CKZS] 正法眼藏注解全書 7:297) takes this to mean “measureless” (sūryō naki 数量無き). The expression may reflect the words of the Chan Master Xuansha Shibei 玄沙師備 (835-908); see Supplemental Note 1. 4. “Enter one direction, enter one buddha” (ippō ni iri ichibutsu ni iru 一方にいり一佛にいる): The Shōbōgenzō monge (CKZS.7:300) identifies “one direction” with both “one’s own mind” (jishin 自心) and the Sahā world, and “one buddha” with both “the single buddha of the self” (jiko no yuiitsu butsu 自己の唯一佛) and the Buddha Śākyamuni. “They have manifested the ten directions” (gen jippō seri 現十方せり): Or “they have appeared as (or in) the ten directions.” “Because the ten directions are one direction, this direction, one’s own direction, the present direction” (jippō ippō zehō jihō konpō naru ga yue ni 十方一方是方自方今方なるがゆゑに): It is unclear just how to parse this passage, which offers no clues to the grammatical relationships among the five “directions” given. Taken together, the implication seems to be that “the ten directions” are this one direction where one is now. “The direction of the eye, the direction of the fist, the direction of the exposed column, the direction of the lantern” (ganzei hō nari kentō hō nari rochū nari tōrō nari 眼睛方なり拳頭方なり露柱方なり燈篭方なり): In Chan usage, the former pair of directions suggests the self (or the Chan practitioner); the latter pair, the objective world (or the monastery). “Are not large or small, are not pure or dirty” (daishō arazu jōe arazu 大小あらず淨穢あらず): Probably indicating attributes of the buddha lands, rather than of the buddhas themselves. The land of the Buddha Amitābha is known as the “pure land,” as opposed to this “dirty” Sahā world of the Buddha Śākyamuni. “Only a buddha and a buddha” (yui butsu yo butsu 唯佛與佛): Probably to be understood simply as “the buddhas”; Dōgen uses here a famous phrase from the Miaofa lianhua jing (T.9[262]:5c10-11):
“Talking of their strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes” (その長短好悪をとく): Probably reflecting a line in the Miaofa lianhua jing (T.9[262]:38a3): “[Those who wish to preach this sūtra] do not talk of the likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses of others” (bushuo taren haoe changduan 不説他人好惡長短). “Assist and inquire” (johotsu monjin 助發問訊): Probably meaning they “instruct and question” each other. It may be recalled that a buddha is expected to have studied under many buddhas in his career as a bodhisattva. The somewhat troubling term johotsu 助發, appearing several times in the Shōbōgenzō, seems to carry the sense “helps to develop, or promote”; monjin 問訊 often denotes the act of bowing with hands together (gasshō 合掌) when addressing someone. 5. “Alien ways and minions of Māra” (gedō matō 外道魔黨): Common perjoratives in Dōgen’s writing. The former expression, the “outsiders” or “other paths,” refers to members of non-Buddhist traditions (Sanskrit tīrthika); the latter expression indicates the followers of Māra the Evil One (papīyām), lord of the sixth heaven of the realm of desire (kāma-loka), who seeks to obstruct Buddhist enlightenment. “The country of Cīnasthāna” (Shintan koku 眞丹國): Dōgen here uses a common Chinese transliteration, zhendan 眞丹, of the Sanskrit term for China. “The buddhas of other directions are not buddhas” (tahō no shobutsu wa shobutsu ni arazu 佗方の諸佛は諸佛にあらず): Supplying wa shobutsu は諸佛, missing in the Kawamura text — which, if unamended, would yield, “nor did he preach that [they] are not buddhas of other directions.” 6. From the Miaofa lianhua jing 妙法蓮華經 (Saddharma-puṇḍarika-sūtra), T.9(262):6a18-20.
7. “Making a circular mark” (da ensō 打圓相): Or simply “making a circle.” The translation struggles to retain Dōgen’s play with the graph sō 相, rendered here as “mark,” from the Lotus Sūtra passage. Chan texts regularly depict a monk’s making or drawing a circle (yi yuanxiang 一圓相) with his hand or some object. “This bamboo is long like this; that bamboo is short like that” (sha kan toku inmo chō na kan toku inmo tan 遮竿得恁麼長那竿得恁麼短): From a saying of Cuiwei Wuxue 翠微無學; see Supplemental Note 2. “In the words of the buddhas in the ten directions” (jippō butsu dō 十方佛道): Dōgen is here imagining the perspective of these buddhas. “I alone verify their marks” (yui ga shō ze sō 唯我證是相): The translation assumes that this sentence represents a continuation of the words of the buddhas in the ten directions; it is unclear whether the following list of “marks” is also to be treated as such. 8. “Not formation, not continuation, not destruction, not emptiness” (jō ni arazu jū ni arazu e ni arazu kū ni arazu 成にあらず住にあらず壞にあらず空にあらず): Dōgen gives here a standard list of the four phases in the life of a world system, from its appearance to its disappearance in emptiness. “Not themselves” (ji ni arazu 自にあらず): Or “not the self.” The Honzan edition of the text follows this with the phrase “not the other” (ta ni arazu 佗にあらず). “They are free from the four propositions; they have cut off the hundred negations” (ri shiku nari zetsu hyappi nari 離四句なり絶百非なり): From the common Chan expression, “free from the four propositions and cutting off the hundred negations” (li suju jue baifei 離四句絶百非). The “four propositions” (Sanskrit catuskoṭi) refers to the classical technique in Buddhist rhetoric that discusses a topic from four perspectives: true, not true, both true and not true, neither true nor not true. “The hundred negations” refers to the refutation of all of an opponent’s claims. Together, the two terms suggest the practice of reasoning and argumentation. “A fellow with a head and without a tail” (u tō mu bi kan有頭無尾漢): This expression, appearing with some frequency in Chan texts, is generally interpreted to indicate a person beyond distinctions. 9. “The Chan Master Changsha Jingcen” (Chōsha Keishin zenji 長沙景岑禪師): Dates unknown; a disciple of Nanquan Puyuan 南泉普願 (748-834). His words cited here, and continuing below, are also quoted in Shōbōgenzō kōmyō (DZZ.1:138). Variant versions appear in several Chan sources; see, e.g., Jingde chuandeng lu, T.51:274a12-15. “Śramaṇa” (shamon 沙門): A term meaning “ascetic,” used both generically for religious renunciates and specifically for Buddhist monks. 10. “The śramaṇa Gautama” (shamon Kudon 瞿曇): Dōgen here uses a Chinese transliteration, Qutan 瞿曇, for the family name of the Buddha Śākyamuni. “I have the treasury of the eye of the true dharma” (go u shōbōgenzō 吾有正法眼藏): The famous statement of the Buddha in the founding legend of the Chan tradition of transmission from master to disciple:
“Each horn and each point” (kaku kaku sen sen 角角尖尖): Usually taken to mean “each and every thing.” Likely reflecting the Chan saying, “each leaf of the lotus is round, round like a mirror; each horn of the water caltrop is pointed, pointed like an awl” (he ye tuantuan tuan si jing ling jiao jianjian jian si zhui 荷葉團團團似鏡菱角尖尖尖似錐). 11. “The everyday words of the śramaṇa” (shamon kajō go 沙門家常語): This sentence also appears in Dōgen’s quotation of Changsha’s saying in Shōbōgenzō kōmyō (DZZ.1:138), but extant Chinese sources of the saying do not seem to include it. For the expression “everyday words,” see Supplemental Note 3. 12. “The common” (yonotsueよのつね): Often written 世の常; “the way of the world,” “what is commonly or usually done.” “The common speech in the house of the śramaṇa” (shamon ke no yonotsune no gongo 沙門家のよのつねの言語): Dōgen seems here to be playing with the term kajō 家常, taking the first graph in its primary sense of “house.” “The speech is straightforward; the words are straightforward” (gontan gotan 言端語端): Also read gentan gotan. An expression perhaps best known from its use in the Biyan lu 碧巖録 (T.50:142a5): “The ultimate path is without difficulties. The speech is straightforward; the words are straightforward” (zhidao wu nan yan duan wu duan 至道無難言端語端). “Because the everyday words are all the worlds in the ten directions” (kajō go wa jin jippō kai naru ga yue ni 家常語は盡十方界なるがゆゑに): The translation follows the punctuation in Kawamura. This passage might also be parsed, “The speech is straightforward; the words are straightforward, because the everyday words are all the worlds in the ten directions. We should clearly study the principle that all the worlds in the ten directions are everyday words.” “Because these “ten directions” are inexhaustible, they exhaust the ten directions” (kono jippō mujin naru ga yue ni jin jippō nari この十方無盡なるゆゑに盡十方なり): The translation of the expression jin jippō kai 盡十方界 as “all worlds in the ten directions” has obscured the play here with the initial graph jin 盡, “to exhaust,” “exhaustive.” Dōgen is here reading the expression as if jin governed “the ten directions,” rather than “the worlds” — i.e., “the worlds in all the ten directions.” “We use these words in everyday speech” (kajō ni kono go wo mochiiru nari 家常にこの語をもちゐるなり): The grammatical antecedent of “these” here is unclear; a likely sense might be, “we use words in everyday speech that are “inexhaustible,” or “exhaust the ten directions.” “Requesting a horse, requesting salt, requesting water, and requesting a bowl” (saku ba saku en saku sui saku ki 索馬索鹽索水索器): Allusion to a classic simile ofthe multivalent referentsthat must be discerned in the Buddha’s “cryptic words” (mitsugo 密語); see Supplemental Note 4. “The immeasurably great person turns his body and turns his brain within this flow of words” (motsuryō dainin kono gomyaku ri ni tenshin [or tenjin] tennō suru 没量大人この語脈裏に轉身轉脳する): Perhaps after the saying (e.g., in the Biyan lu (case 29, T.48:169a19): “The immeasurably great person turns round [or is turned round] within the flow of words” (meiliang daren yumo li zhuanque 没量大人語脈裏轉却); see also below, Supplemental Note 6 . “The mouth of the ocean and the tongue of the mountain” (kaiku sanzetsu 海口山舌): I.e., the “speech” of nature. “Covering the mouth” and “covering the ears” (en ku shi en ni suru 掩口し掩耳する): I.e., stopping talk. The Chan masters are often depicted covering their ears (yan er 掩耳) in response to a student; the master Shitou 石頭 famously covered the mouth (yan kou 掩口) of the Layman Pang 龐居士 when the latter inquired about “the one who doesn’t keep company with the ten thousand things” (bu yu wanfa wei lu zhe 不與萬法爲侶者) (see, e.g., Zongmen tongyao ji 宗門統要集, Zengaku tenseki sōkan 禅学典籍叢刊 1:70a6-7). “What the ten directions truly are” (jippō no shinko ze 十方の眞箇是): Taking shinko as an adverb modifying the copula ze. 13. Continuing the quotation of Changsha’s saying, Note 9. 14. “One hand pointing to the heavens is heaven” (isshū shi ten ze ten 一手指天是天): Dōgen is here evoking the well-known legend of the first acts of the infant Siddhārtha; see Supplemental Note 5. “Although they are such” (sui nen nyo ze 雖然如是): The subject is unexpressed; hence the antecedent of the interpolated “they” is ambiguous (most likely, “heaven and earth”). “Such” (nyo ze 如是) may be taken either simply as “like this” or as the more technical Buddhist term “suchness.” The translation masks what seems to be play here with the term ze 是, introduced in the last line of the preceding section, “what the ten directions truly are (ze),” and recurring in the lines “one hand pointing to the heavens is (ze) heaven” and “one hand pointing to the earth is (ze) the earth.” Presumably, the repetition is intended to reinforce the identification of the buddha with heaven and earth. “The head, eye, nose, skin and flesh, bones and marrow” (chōnei ganzei bikū hinikukotsuzui 頂[寧+頭]眼睛鼻孔皮肉骨髄): All these body parts figure frequently in Chan texts as synecdoches for the (true) person. The expression “skin, flesh, bones, and marrow,” appearing very commonly in Dōgen’s writings, is associated especially with the famous legend of Bodhidharma’s test of four disciples, to whom he said in turn, “You have got my skin”; “You have got my flesh”; “You have got my bones”; “You have got my marrow.” (See shinji Shōbōgenzō, case 201 [DZZ.5:230]; Jingde chuandeng lu [T.51:219c4-5].) “Considering and thinking” (gigi ryō 擬議量): Taking ryō 量 here as shiryō 思量; a somewhat unusual combination with gigi 擬議, a common term with the sense “to consider saying [something],” “to be on the verge of speaking.” “Taking up the body of the śramaṇa of all worlds in the ten directions” (jin jippō kai shamon shin wo nenrai shite 盡十方界沙門身を拈來して): The grammatical subject being unexpressed, the agent here is ambiguous. The translation follows the punctuation in Kawamura’s text, but the passage could be parsed differently: “It is like this without moving all the ten directions. Without depending on considering and thinking, taking up the body of the śramaṇa of all worlds in the ten directions, we see the body of the śramaṇa of all worlds in the ten directions.” The expression “taking up” (nenrai shite 拈來して), typically meaning “to take up for consideration,” harks back to the line near the beginning of our text, “if we did not take up (nenrai sezareba 拈來せざれば) the buddha lands, there would be no ten directions.” 15. Continuing the quotation of Changsha’s saying, Note 9. “The radiance of the self” (kiko kōmyō 自己光明): A somewhat unusual expression, likely derived from the more common “radiance of the buddha” (butsu kōmyō 佛光明), used for the nimbus surrounding a buddha’s body and, by extension, his wisdom. 16. “The nose “before your father and mother were born” (bumo [also read fubo] mishō izen no bikū 父母未生以前の鼻孔): The expression “before your father and mother were born” (some would read this, “before your father and mother gave birth”) is a classic Chan expression for the true self. The “nose” (or “nostril”), in a similar sense, has already appeared just above; see Note 14. “The nose inadvertantly in the hand of the self” (bikū ayamarite jiko no shūri ni aru 鼻孔あやまりて自己の手裏にある): A decidedly odd expression, presumably meaning something like “the person being by nature (or finding itself) in the self.” Perhaps playing with combinations of sayings in Chan texts such as “the nose is in another person’s hand” (bikong zai taren shouli 鼻孔在他人手裏) (Congrong lu 從容録, T.48[2004]:262b14), or “the entire great earth is at once in my hand” (jin dadi yishi zai wo shouli 盡大地一時在我手裏) (Piyan lu, case 5, T:48:145b12). “Still, when the self is realized” (shika aru ni jiko genjō shite しかあるに自己現成して): Or “when the self appears.” The adverbial “still” here reads shika aru ni in an adversative sense; it might also be taken to mean “thus.” “The realized kōan” (genjō kōan 現成公案): Or “the kōan of realization.” One of Dōgen’s favorite expressions and the eponymous theme of one of his earliest, most celebrated, essays. In its original Chinese setting, the term carries the juridical connotation of a “settled, or closed, legal case.” Its use in Chan likely derives from a highly popular saying attributed to the Tang figure Daoming 道明 (dates unknown): “It’s a closed case, but I spare you the thirty blows” (xiancheng gong’an fang ru sanshi bang 現成公案放汝三十棒). (Jingde chuandeng lu, T.51:291b17.) “Opening the hall and seeing the buddha” (kaiten kenbutsu 開殿見佛): Likely from the Rujing yulu 如淨語録 (T.48[2002A]:121c10). A similar expression appears in Shōbōgenzō hensan 正法眼藏徧參 (DZZ.2:113): “Opening the hall and seeing the buddhas and ancestors” (shobutsu shoso wo kaiten sanken suru 諸佛諸祖を開殿參見する). “The eye has been switched by another for a soapberry seed” (ganzei hi betsunin kankyaku mokukansu ryō ya 眼睛被別人換却木槵子了也): Generally taken to mean that one has come to see with authentically Buddhist eyes. The soapberry seed is used for Buddhist prayer beads (juzu 珠數). Dōgen has a similar line in his Shōbōgenzō bukkōjōji 正法眼藏佛向上事 (DZZ.1:289), probably after a saying of the Chan Master Yunmen Wenyan 雲門文偃 (864-949) (Yunmen yulu 雲門語録, ZZ.118:353a4-5):
“Coming at it head on, one should be able to encounter the great ones” (hekimen [also read hitsumen] rai daike shōken suru koto wo u beshi 劈面來大家相見することをうべし): A passage largely in Chinese syntax, for which no source has been identified. The second clause might also be read, “the great ones should be able to encounter each other.” “Great ones” (daike 大家) may refer either to leading individuals or, as often in Chan texts, to the community of monks. “Coming at it head on” renders the Chinese colloquialism pimian lai 劈面來, meaning something like “to come right from the front.” The binomial pimian has a literal sense “to split the face,” and some interpreters, beginning with the Shōbōgenzō goshō 正法眼藏御抄 (CKZS.7:313) suggest that Dōgen has this sense in mind here. “Summoning him is easy; sending him off is hard, having been called, he turns his head. What is the use of his turning his head? Make this fellow turn his head” (ko soku i ken soku nan to iedomo kan toku kai tō ji kai tō kan sa ka yō ben chaku sha kan kai tō nari 呼則易遣則難なりといへども喚得廻頭自廻頭堪作何用便著者漢廻頭なり): A tentative translation; interpretations of this passage vary: some would read the second sentence, “What is the use of turning one’s head by oneself [rather than at the call of another]?”; depending on the sense of the predicate chaku 著 here, the third sentence might be read “one’s head is turned by ‘this fellow.’” “This fellow” translates the Chinese term zhe han 者漢 (“this Han”), sometimes used for “the (true) person.” The passage is given almost entirely in Chinese syntax, as if quoting a text; for what seems the likely source, see Supplemental Note 6. “The food waits for person to eat it, and the clothes wait for the person to wear them” (han tai kitsu nin e tai jaku nin 飯待喫人衣待著人): Seemingly a proverb (though the source is unidentified), in Chinese syntax, meaning something like “it is the eater that makes the food and the wearer that makes the clothes.” The Shōbōgenzō monge (CKZS.7:311) takes “the person” (nin 人) here as “this fellow.” The translation masks what may be play with the predicate chaku 著, translated as “wears” here, as “make” in the phrase “make this fellow turn the head” in the preceding sentence, and as “touching” in the phrase just following. “Groping for it without touching it” (mo saku fu jaku 摸索不著): I.e., “being unable to find it”; a fairly common idiom in Chan texts, used as we might say one “doesn’t get it.” The presumed antecedent for the interpolated “it” here is “the person” who eats the food and wears the clothes. “How sad that I have already given you the thirty blows” (kashakuko zō yo ni sanjū bō 可惜許曾與爾三十棒): Again, in Chinese syntax. The Chinese kexi xu 可惜許 (“how sad”) is a common lament in Chan texts; “the thirty blows” (sanshi bang 三十棒) is a Chan master’s standard punishment. 17. Continuing the quotation of Changsha’s saying, Note 9. 18. “The dependence of seeing on what is in the eye” (ken yu zai gen 見由在眼): Perhaps reflecting the common Chan saying, “what’s in the eye is called ‘seeing’; what’s in the ear is called ‘hearing’” (zai yan yue jian zai er yue wen 在眼曰見在耳曰聞). “When you sleep on the same bench, you know the holes in the quilt” (dō sho min chi he sen 同牀眠知被穿): Generally taken to mean that one knows the reality of the self and the worlds when they are one. The same metaphor can be found in the Biyan lu (T48:178b21):
19. Continuing the quotation of Changsha’s saying, Note 9. 20. “Every maestro, every fist” (ko ko no saka ko ko no kentō 箇箇の作家箇箇の拳頭): “Maestro” attempts to render the Chinese zuojia 作家, regularlyused of an author or poet and, in Chan usage, of an accomplished master; for the “fist” used in reference to such a master, see above Note 1. “Each and every self” (ji ji ko ko 自自己己): Loose translation of a playful expression that doubles each of the two elements in the term jiko 自己 (“self”); as if one were to say something like, “itself, itself, myself, myself.” “Themselves obstruct the ten directions” (shitashiku jippō wo keige suru したしく十方を罣礙する): The use of keige su (“to obstruct,” “to hinder”) here follows a familiar pattern in the Dōgen’s writings, in which the term seems to mean “to define,” “to identify as.” “Return his original lot of feed” (gen ta honbun sōryō 還佗本分草料): Reflecting a fairly common expression in Chan texts, which treats the person as a domestic animal to be fed; see, e.g., the comment in the Biyan lu, case 18 (T.48:157c24): “Why doesn’t he give him his original lot of feed?” (he bu yu ta benfen caoliao 何不與他本分草料). The term “original lot” (honbun 本分) appears very often in Chan texts, in the sense of what is “fundamental” or “authentic” — as, e.g., “authentic person” (benfen ren 本分人) or “fundamental matters” (benfen shi 本分事). The sense of gen 還 (“return”) here may parallel an idiosyncratic usage found elsewhere in the Shōbōgenzō, in such expressions as “return my concentrated effort” (gen go kufū rai 還吾功夫來) (Hakujishi 柏樹子, DZZ.440), or “return my buddha nature’” (gen ga busshō rai 還我佛性來) (Busshō 佛性 (DZZ.1:18); in these cases, what follows gen seems to represent a predicate nominative, rather than a direct object. “In the womb of the exposed pillar” (rōchū no tai ri 露柱の胎裏): For this use of “eye,” “nose,” and “exposed pillar,” see above, Note 4. The question would seem to be, in what sense is the self in the world? “Going in and out are left entirely to the ten directions, the ten sides” (shutsu nyū ya jippō jūmen ichinin 出入也十方十面一任): The “ten sides” are synonymous with the “ten directions.” Perhaps somewhat as we might say, “let the four winds blow,” Chan texts often speak of “leaving [things] to” (yiren 一任) the directions — as in such locutions as, “leave it entirely to the four directions and eight sides” (yiren sifang bamian 一任四方八面); “leave it entirely to east and west (yiren tongxi 一任東西); or simply “leave it entirely to the directions” (yiren zhufang 一任諸方). 21. “The Great Master Zongyi of Xuansha Cloister” (Gensha in Shūitsu daishi 玄沙院宗一大師): I.e., the Chan Master Xuansha Shibei 玄沙師備 (835-908). His saying, found in the Jingde chuandeng lu (T.51:346c17), appears in Dōgen’s shingi Shōbōgenzō, case 15 (DZZ.5:132); it is treated in the eponymous fascicle Shōbōgenzō ikka myōju 一顆明珠, DZZ.1:76-81. 22. “Spirits and demons” (jinzu kimen 神頭鬼面): More literally, perhaps, “spirit heads and demon faces”; a fixed phrase appearing in a number of Dōgen’s texts. “Beginners and latecomers” (shoshin bangaku 初心晩學): A casual translation of an expression quite common in Dōgen’s writings: “Beginners” (shoshin 初心; literally, “beginning mind”) in this context refers to one at an early stage of Buddhist practice; “latecomers” (bangaku 晩學; literally, “late student”) can refer either to one who is junior or to one who comes to study later in life. “My former master” (senshi 先師): I.e., Dōgen’s teacher ,Tiantong Rujing 天童如淨 (1163-1228). What follows here reflects a remark found in the Rujing yulu 如淨語録 (T.48[2002A]:121c12):
“One move directly presented” (tantei no ichijakusu 單提の一著子): “One move” (ichijakusu; also read itchakusu) is used in reference to moving a piece in a board game; in Chan texts, often a “move” in a dialogue; “directly presented” is a fairly literal rendering of a term referring to a Chan master’s direct teaching style. For the Chinese equivalent of this phrase, danti yizhuo 單提一著, see, e.g., Rujing yulu, T.48:123c16. “Each put out a hand” (tomo ni isseki shu wo idasu ともに一隻手をいだす): Perhaps reflecting a phrase from a story recorded in Dōgen’s shinji Shōbōgenzō, case 97 (DZZ.5:175-176): A monk asked Luoshan Daoxian 羅山道閑 how much he should pay to have a stūpa built. Luoshan said,
“From their eyes just shines a light” (ganzei ri hōkō suru nomi nari 眼睛裏放光するのみなり): Perhaps from the words of Rujing: “From the eyes shines a light; from the nose issues a breath” (yanjing li fang guang bikong li chu qi 眼睛裡放光鼻孔裡出氣) (Rujing yulu, T.48[2002A]:123b17.) 23. “The Venerable Qianfeng” (Kenpō oshō 乾峰和尚): Dates unknown; a follower of Dongshan Liangjie (807-869). This incident appears in Dōgen’s shinji Shōbōgenzō, case 37 (DZZ.5:136); see also Zongmen tongyao ji 宗門統要集, 8 (Zengaku tenseki sōkan 禅学典籍叢刊:175b7-8). “Bhagavat” (bagyabon 薄伽梵): “Revered one”; a common epithet of the buddhas. Rendered here in the Chinese transliteration, bojiafan, it is typically translated as shizun 世尊 (“world honored one”). 24. “Old man Qianfenghas managed the bhagavats in the ten directions or the road to the gate of nirvāṇa”(Kenpō rōkan sude ni jippō bagyabon ichiro nehan mon wo ryōri suru 乾峰老漢すでに十方薄伽梵一路涅槃門を料理する): The translation follows Kawamura’s punctuation in taking “the bhagavats in the ten directions” and “the road to the gate of nirvāṇa” as two topics; the passage could also be read, “old man Qianfenghas managed the bhagavats in the ten directions on the road to the gate of nirvāṇa.” “To manage” here translates the verb ryōri su 料理す, “to organize,” “to arrange.” 25. “First year of Kangen” (kangen gannen 寛元元年): I.e., 1243. Kippō shōja (or Kippōji 吉峰寺, is the monastery in Echizen province (here, “Etchū”) where Dōgen resided following his departure from Heian-kyō in the summer of 1243. 26. “Third year of Kangen” (kangen sannen 寛元三年): I.e., 1245. “The terminus of winter” (kyūtō 窮冬) corresponds to the twelfth month. Daibutsuji 大佛寺 is the monastery in Echizen that Dōgen founded in 1245. In 1247, it was refounded as Eiheiji 永平寺. “Ejō” 懐奘: I.e., Koun Ejō 孤雲懐奘 (1198-1280), Dōgen’s close disciple and successor to the abbacy of Eiheiji. Ejō was responsible for the copying of many of the manuscripts of the Shōbōgenzō. |