http://www.wwzc.org/translations/jippo.htm
by
Eihei Dogen zenji
translated by Yasuda Joshu Dainen roshi
and Anzan Hoshin roshi
(excerpted
from the forthcoming book Dogen: Zen Writings on the Practice of
Realization)
One
fist is the ten directions. Naked Awareness2 contains and illuminates the ten directions of the universe
because the
luminosity of Experiencing is its very bone and marrow.
Once, the Awakened One Sakyamuni said to the great assembly, “Throughout
the Fields of Awakening of the ten directions there is only this
single
Path of Reality.”3
These “ten directions” are the Field of Awake
Awareness. There is no
universe that we can know that is not a Field of Awakening. This
universe
of Saha is the Field of Awake Awareness and Sakyamuni is its
Teacher. The
world of events you see about you is exactly the same as the Field
of
Sakyamuni the Awakened One; they are like six of one, half a dozen
of the
other. The ten directions are all each in each direction and each
is Awake
Awareness. Each direction and each Awakened One contains all
others. This
universe has many facets such as the ten directions, one
direction, this
direction, directionality, and the direction of this present
moment. There
is the direction of the eye, the direction of a fist, the
direction of a
post, the direction of a stone lantern. The Awakened Ones within
the
Fields of the ten directions transcend vast or normal, pure or
stained.
And so all the Buddhas throughout the ten directions proclaim each
other.
When they criticize each other it is only to turn the cycle of the
Teachings further and should not be understood as if it were the
arguments
of usual people. All Awakened Ones are intimate with each other as
Teachers and students and question each other4 to clarify practice. This is how we must approach practice if we
are to
inherit the Transmission of the Awakened Ones and Ancestors.
Awakened Ones never engage in slander, even of the truly evil or
those
outside of the Vast Path. If we look through all of the Discourses
that
tell of the life of Sakyamuni that have been transmitted to China
we never
find an instance in which he says of other Awakened Ones that this
one is
better than that one or that they are not truly Awakened Ones.
Throughout
his life we cannot find any words of envy or libel. As well, we
never hear
of any other Awakened Ones finding fault with him.
The Awakened One Sakyamuni said, “I
alone know the true form of all experiences5 and this can be said of all the
Awakened Ones throughout the ten
directions.”6 You should understand that this form is something like a circle.7 It means that, “a long bamboo staff is long and a short one is
short.”8 That’s it and that’s all. All of the Awakened Ones throughout the
ten
directions know this “form” and therefore
Sakyamuni knows it also. “I know true form” is the same
for all Awakened Ones throughout the
universe. It is my form, the form of Knowing, the form of Reality,
the
form of the ten directions, the form of this realm of Saha, the
form of
Sakyamuni.
This is the essential point of all of the Discourses: an Awakened
One and
a Field of Awakening are not two separate things. They are beyond
sentient
and insentient; they are neither “deluded” nor “enlightened;” not
good, bad, or indifferent; not pure or impure; beyond arising,
dwelling,
destruction, and nothingness;9 permanent or impermanent; existent or non-existent; self or other.
They
cannot be understood through the fourfold analysis of same,
different,
existent, or non-existent, nor are they just nothing. The Field of
Awake
Awareness is the universe of ten directions. The whole world is
the whole
world. That’s all.
Zen master Changsha Zhaoxian10 said, “The whole world of ten
directions is reflected in this monk’s eye.”11This eye is the eye of that monk
Gautama; it is “I have the Eye of
Utter Reality”. It can be transmitted to anyone,12 but it is still the eye of that monk Gautama. All the ragged
presencing of
experiences of the ten directions are contained within this Eye.
It is all
points of view and contains all eyes.13
[Changsha said,] “The whole world
of ten directions is contained in everyday
talk.” Everyday14 means used daily as well as customary or ordinary.15 The “ten directions” is
everyday kind of talk for monks. Even every word contains the ten
directions. This is correct speech and correct word. Learn through
practice that because everyday talk is the universe of ten
directions, the
universe of ten directions is everyday talk. The ten directions
are
without limit16 and so are wholly17 the ten directions.
This is why the “ten directions”
are used in our everyday lives. For example, an Indian emperor
used to ask
for “sendaba” which can mean a horse, salt, or a drink of water
and a
true servant knows by the context exactly what to bring.18 What can we call someone who steps past the confines of the
conditioned
attention of the mass of people and is transformed in body and
mind in the
midst of this stream of speech? Even in mid-speech, speech can be
turned
around.
The correct word and straightforward speech of the tongues of
mountains
and rivers are this everyday talk. You do not have to use the
tongue and
teeth to speak such sounds. Even if the mouth is stopped up and
everyone
plugs their ears, these words are always already spoken and heard.
If you
can speak and hear these words then you understand intimately the
ten
directions.
[Changsha said,] “The ten directions are the body of this monk.”
[When
Sakyamuni was born he] pointed one hand to the sky as sky and one
hand to
the earth as earth and said, “Beneath
the heavens and above the earth I alone am the Generous One.”19 This is the ten directions presencing as the body of a single
monk. His
head, eyes, nose, skin, flesh, bones, and marrow are the body of a
monk
liberated into the ten directions. There is nowhere outside of the
universe for the universe to move. Independent of ideas about it,
realize
this monk’s body as the ten directions, the ten directions as the
body
of this monk.
“This whole world is your own luminosity.” This
luminosity is your
nostrils before your father and mother were ever born. Who you are20 is right in the palm of your hand—it is the ten directions. Who
you are
is actualized in your very presencing. This is where we must
establish the
Hall of the Awakened Ones and find the Awake Awareness which we
are.
At that moment, our eyes have become black beads. Further, the
face splits
open and we are able to meet the great masters. To go further,
calling
someone to come to us is easy but getting them to leave is
difficult. And
when you are called, the head turns. What need is there for
someone to do
the turning of the head? My head is just turned, relying on the
fact of
actuality. A meal is there for someone to eat it, a robe is there
for
someone to wear it; but if you naively grope for a “someone”, you
have
already deserved thirty blows from the staff. It’s too bad, but
it’s
true.
“The whole world of ten directions fills your body.”
An eyelid is
actually luminosity. When the eyelid opens, there is this
“filling”.
The filling of the eyes with seeing is the whole world of ten
directions.
Since we sleep together on the same floor, we know the holes in
each
other’s quilts.
“The whole world of ten directions is your own
luminosity.”
Whenever a teacher raises their hand, there is no situation of ten
directions that is not who they are. The ten directions are who I
am; they
are me as myself, you as me, me as you. I as you and you as I and
these
ten directions are seamless. The life of each person and all
people is
found right in the palm of your hand. Each returns to the others
the cost
of their straw sandals. Can you see that the entire lives of the
Awakened
One and of Bodhidharma are there in that stone pillar? You must
understand
that the stone pillar’s coming and going is the coming and going
of the
total universe of ten directions.
Great master Zongyi21 of Xuansha said, “This world of ten directions is a
single bright jewel.” You must
understand intimately that this “single
bright jewel” is everywhere throughout the ten directions.
States
high and low22 all arise within this “single bright jewel.”
Awakened Ones and Ancestors teach that this
is the essential point of the Way of Awake Awareness. Men and
women live
their lives through its richness and it is the practice of those
just
beginning and those maturing within the Way. Our everyday
activities of
wearing the robes and eating rice arise within this “single
bright jewel.”
My late master Rujing once held up a ball of mud to show his
students the
“single bright jewel.” Although it is as simple as placing a stone on a go board, it
scoops out
the eyes of the Ancestors. Each of the Ancestors helps with this
scooping
out. The insides of their eyes shine with radiance.
Once a monk asked Qianfeng,23 “I have heard that there is only
one gate to the end of all conditions which is used by all
Generous Ones
throughout the ten directions.” Qianfeng drew a circle with his
staff in
the air and said, “Here it is.”24
“Here it is” is the
ten directions. All of the Awakened Ones are within the staff and
the
staff is right here. This is the single gate of the ten
directions. But
don’t lose the staff in Gautama’s nostrils or lose the staff in
the
nostrils of the staff. Don’t worry about what Qianfeng might know
about
the Awakened Ones of the ten directions and the single gate to
nirvana.
Just take his saying of “Here it is!” You can’t deny that.
Old Man Qianfeng’s “Here it
is” was quite good but I hope that he didn’t miss anything
with
that circle he drew with his staff in the air. The ten directions
are the
breath of the Awakened One. This is the point of our practice.
Presented to the monks at Kippo-ji in Echizen province, Japan, on November 13, 1243. Transcribed by Ejo at the head monk’s quarters in Daibutsu-ji,25 Echigo, on December 24, 1246.