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.