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A BUDDHA IS TRANSMITTED dharma only from a buddha, an ancestor only from an ancestor, through merging realization in direct transmission. In this way, it is the unsurpassable enlightenment. It is impossible to give the seal of realization without being a buddha, and it is impossible to become a buddha without receiving the seal of realization from a buddha. Who else, other than a buddha, can certify this realization as the most venerable, the most unsurpassable?
When you have the seal of realization from a buddha, you have realization without a teacher, realization without self. This being so, it is said, “A buddha receives realization from a buddha; an ancestor merges realization with an ancestor.” The meaning of this teaching cannot be understood by those who are not buddhas. How then can it be measured by bodhisattvas of the ten stages or even those in the stage of enlightenment equal to buddhas’?
Furthermore, how can it be discerned by masters of sutras or treatises? Even if they explain it, they still do not understand it.
Since a buddha receives dharma from a buddha, the buddha way is thoroughly experienced by a buddha and a buddha; there is no moment of the way without a buddha and a buddha. For example, rocks inherit from rocks, jewels inherit from jewels. When a chrysanthemum inherits from a chrysanthemum and a pine gives the seal of realization to a pine, the preceding chrysanthemum is one with the following chrysanthemum and the preceding pine is one with the following pine. Those who do not understand this, even when they hear the words “authentic transmission from buddha to buddha,” have no idea what it means; they do not know heritage from buddha to buddha in merged realization of ancestor and ancestor. What a pity! They appear to be a buddha family but they are not buddha heirs, nor are they heir-buddhas.
Huineng, the Sixth Ancestor of Caoxi, once gave a discourse to the assembly: “There are forty ancestors from the Seven Original Buddhas to myself, and there are forty ancestors from myself to the Seven Original Buddhas.”
This is clearly the meaning of the authentic heritage of buddha ancestors. The Seven Original Buddhas include those who appeared in the last eon and those who appeared in the present eon. Nevertheless, the continuation of face-to-face transmission of the forty ancestors is the buddha way and the buddha heritage.
Thus, proceeding from Huineng to the Seven Original Buddhas is the buddha heritage of forty ancestors. And going beyond from the Seven Original Buddhas to Huineng is the buddha heritage of forty buddhas.
The buddha way, the ancestor way, is like this. Without merging realization and without buddha ancestors, there is no buddha wisdom and there is no thorough ancestral experience. Without buddha wisdom, there is no accepting buddha; without thorough experience, there is no merging of realization between ancestors.
The forty ancestors here represent only recent buddhas. Furthermore, the mutual heritage between buddhas and buddhas is deep and vast, neither backing up nor turning away, neither cut off nor stopped.
This means that although Shakyamuni Buddha had realized the way before the Seven Original Buddhas, he finally received dharma from Kashyapa Buddha. Again, although he realized the way on the eighth day of the twelfth month in the thirtieth year since his birth, it is realization of the way before the Seven Original Buddhas. It is realization of the way simultaneously with all buddhas shoulder to shoulder, realization of the way before all buddhas, realization of the way after all buddhas.
Furthermore, there is an understanding that Kashyapa Buddha, in turn, received dharma from Shakyamuni Buddha. If you do not clarify this, you do not understand the buddha way. If you do not clarify the buddha way, you are not an heir of the buddha. The buddha’s heir means the buddha’s child.
Shakyamuni Buddha once caused Ananda to ask, “Whose disciples were all buddhas of the past?”
Shakyamuni Buddha answered, “All buddhas of the past are disciples of myself, Shakyamuni Buddha.”
The presence of all buddhas is like this. To see all buddhas, to succeed in all buddhas, to fulfill the way, is the buddha way of all buddhas. In this buddha way, the document of heritage is always given at the time of transmitting dharma. Those without dharma heritage are people outside the way who believe in spontaneous enlightenment. If the buddha way had not clearly established dharma heritage, how could it have come down to the present?
For this reason, when a buddha becomes a buddha, a document of heritage is given to a buddha’s heir buddha, and this document of heritage is given by a buddha’s heir buddha.
The meaning of the document of heritage is this: you understand the sun, the moon, and stars, and inherit dharma; you attain skin, flesh, bones, and marrow, and inherit dharma; you inherit a robe or staff, a pine branch or whisk, an udumbara blossom or a brocade robe; you receive straw sandals or an arched bamboo staff.
At the time of dharma heritage, the document is handwritten with the blood of the finger or the tongue. Or, it is handwritten with oil or milk. Every one of these is a document of heritage.
Those who entrust and those who receive this heritage are both the buddha’s heirs. Indeed, whenever buddha ancestors are actualized, dharma heritage is actualized. At the time of actualization, innumerable buddha ancestors arrive without expectation and receive dharma without seeking. Those who inherit dharma are all buddha ancestors.
In China, since the time Bodhidharma, the Twenty-eighth Ancestor, came from India, the principle that there is dharma heritage in the buddha way has been authentically understood. Before that time, it had never been spoken of. This is something that had never been known in India by teachers of scriptures or treatises. This is something that has never been reached by bodhisattvas or even by teachers of dharani who study the meaning of the Tripitaka. What a pity! Although they have received a human body as a vessel of the way, they are uselessly entangled by the net of scriptures; they do not understand the method of breaking through, and cannot realize the moment of leaping out. This being so, you must study the way in detail and wholeheartedly determine to thoroughly experience it.
When I was in China, I had the opportunity to bow to some documents of heritage. There were various kinds.
One of those who showed me documents of heritage was Visiting Abbot Weiyi at Mount Tiantong, a former abbot of the Guangfu Monastery. He was a man from Yue, like Rujing, my late master. So Rujing would say, “Ask Abbot Weiyi about the customs of my region.”
One day Weiyi said, “Old writings worth seeing are treasures of humankind. How many of them have you seen?”
I said, “I have seen a few.”
Then he said, “I have a scroll of old writing. I will show it to you at your convenience.” He brought it to me. It was a document of heritage of the Fayan lineage that he had obtained from the articles left behind by an old master. So it was not what Weiyi himself had received.
The document said, “The First Ancestor, Mahakashyapa, was awakened by Shakyamuni Buddha. Shakyamuni Buddha was awakened by Kashyapa Buddha.”
Upon seeing this, I was firmly convinced that there is dharma heritage between an authentic heir and an authentic heir. This was a teaching I had never seen before. At that moment the buddha ancestors had invisibly responded to my wish and helped me, a descendant of theirs. I had never been moved so much.
When elder Zongyue was filling the position of head monk at Mount Tiantong, he showed me a document of heritage of the Yunmen lineage. The name of the teacher giving the document of heritage and the names of some Indian and all Chinese ancestors were written side by side, and below that was the name of the person receiving the document. The name of this new ancestor was directly connected to those of the buddha ancestors. Therefore, all the names of the more than forty ancestors from the Tathagata are joined together with the name of the new heir. It was as though each of them had given heritage to the heir. Mahakashyapa, Ananda, and others were lined up just as in other lineages.
I asked Zongyue, the head monk, “Reverend, there is some difference among the Five Schools in the arrangement of names on the documents of heritage. Why is that so? If it came directly from India, why is there such a difference?”
Zongyue said, “Even if there is a vast difference, just understand that buddhas of Mount Yunmen are like this. For what reason is Venerable Shakyamuni revered? He is revered for his awakening of the way. For what reason is great master Yunmen revered? He is revered for his awakening of the way.”
Upon hearing these words, I had some understanding.
Those who are heads of the large monasteries in Jiangsu and Zhenjiang provinces now are mostly heirs of the Linji, Yunmen, and Dongshan lineages.
But among students, particularly among those who call themselves descendants of Linji, some intend wrongdoing. Usually those studying in the community of a master request a scroll of the master’s portrait and a scroll of his dharma words in order to prepare to meet the standard requirement of dharma heritage. But these fellows ask the attendants of masters for dharma words and portraits, and collect and hide many of them. When they are old they bribe public officials to get a temple and hold the abbot’s seat without having received dharma from the masters whose dharma words and portraits they obtained. Instead, they receive dharma from the famous masters of the time or from the masters who have given dharma heritage to retainers of the king. They covet fame without regard to attaining dharma.
What a pity that there are such crooked habits at this wicked time of decayed teaching! Not even one of those fellows has ever dreamed of the way of buddha ancestors.
Now, the masters’ dharma words or portraits are also given to lecturers of scripture schools as well as lay men and women. They are even given to workers in the monasteries or to merchants. This is evident by the records of various masters.
In many cases, monks who are not qualified eagerly desire proof of dharma heritage and ask for a scroll of calligraphy. Although their teachers are distressed by this, they reluctantly take up the brush. In such cases the teacher does not follow the traditional format, but writes only that the person has studied with him.
The recent way is that when students gain accomplishment under a master, they receive dharma from that master as their dharma teacher. Some monks sitting on a long platform, who have not received a seal from a master but have only received guidance in the abbot’s room or listened to the formal lectures, constantly refer to what was given by their master after they become abbots of temples. On the other hand, many students only accept those with whom they have broken open the great matter as their dharma teachers.
Also, there was a priest named Chuan, a descendant of Priest Qingyuan, Zen Master Fuyan of Longmen. This Chuan, a librarian, also had a document of heritage. At the beginning of the Jiading Era [1208–1224], when librarian Chuan was sick, senior monk Ryuzen, a Japanese, took good care of him. Because Ryuzen worked hard, librarian Chuan, grateful for help during his illness, took out his document of heritage and let Ryuzen see it, saying, “This is a thing not commonly shown, but I will let you pay homage to it.”
About eight years after that, in the autumn of the sixteenth year of the Jiading Era [1223], when I was first staying at Mount Tiantong, Ryuzen cordially requested that librarian Chuan show this document of heritage to me. In this document of heritage, the names of the forty-five ancestors from the Seven Original Buddhas through Linji were lined up, and the names and monograms of masters after Linji were written inside a drawn circle. The name of the new heir was written at the end under the date. In this way a difference was made between the masters before and after Linji.
Rujing, my late master, abbot of Mount Tiantong, strictly prohibited students from unjustifiably claiming to have received dharma heritage. His assembly was an ancient buddha’s assembly, restoring the monastic tradition. He himself did not wear a brocade robe. Although he had received the brocade robe of Zen Master Daokai of Mount Furong, he did not use it during formal or informal lectures. In fact, he never wore a brocade robe in his entire lifetime as an abbot. Those who were knowledgeable, as well as those who were not, admired him and respected him as a true master.
In his lectures, Rujing often admonished all practitioners of the way:
Recently, there are a number of monks who borrow the name of the ancestor way, wear robes unsuitably, grow their hair, and get by in the world by having their titles as Zen masters registered. What a pity! Who can help them? I only regret that so few elders in this world have way-seeking mind and practice the way. Those who have seen or heard of the significance of the document of heritage or dharma heritage are even rarer—not one person out of a hundred or a thousand. Thus, the ancestor way has declined.
When he said this, other elders in China did not contradict him.
Thus, when you make sincere effort in the way, you will know about the document of heritage. To know about this is the study of the way.
On the document of heritage of the Linji lineage, the student’s name is written, followed by the words “This person has studied with me,” “This person has joined my assembly,” “This person has entered my chamber,” or “This person has inherited dharma from me.” Then the names of the ancestors of the past are written in the traditional sequence.
Also, in the Linji School there is an oral instruction that the dharma succession is given not necessarily by the first teacher or the last teacher, but by the right teacher; this is the principle of direct heritage.
One of the Linji lineage’s documents of heritage, which I actually saw, is written as follows:
Librarian Liaopai, a courageous man, is my disciple. I have studied with Priest Zonggao of Mount Jing. Zonggao succeeded Keqin of Mount Jia. Keqin succeeded Fayan of Yangqi. Fayan succeeded Shouduan of Haihui. Shouduan succeeded Fanghui of Yangqi. Fanghui succeeded Chuyuan of Ciming. Chuyuan succeeded Shanzhao of Fenyang. Shanzhao succeeded Xingnian of Shoushan. Xingnian succeeded Yanzhao of Fengxue. Yanzhao succeeded Huiyong of Nanyuan. Huiyong succeeded Cunjiang of Xinghua. Cunjiang is senior heir of the High Ancestor Linji.
This document was given by Deguang, Zen Master Fuzhao of Mount Ayuwang, to Wuji Liaopai. When Wuji was the abbot of Mount Tiantong, Chiyu, a junior priest, privately brought it to Liaoran Hall and showed it to me. It was the twenty-first day of the first month, the seventeenth year of the Jiading Era [1224] of Great Song. What a joy it was! It was only possible by the invisible help of buddha ancestors. I saw it after offering incense and formally bowing to it.
The reason I requested to see this document of heritage was that Director Shiguang personally told me about it in Serene Light Hall around the seventh month of the previous year.
So I asked Shiguang, “Who keeps it?”
He said, “It is in the master abbot’s quarters. If you request cordially, you may be able to see it.” After I heard this, day and night I wanted to see it. Then later I rendered my wholehearted request to Junior Priest Chiyu.
The document was written on a mounted piece of white silk. The outside of the scroll was made of red brocade; the axis ends were of jade. It was about nine sun in height and over seven shaku long. Most people were not allowed to see it.
I thanked Chiyu. Also, I went to see Abbot Wuji immediately, offered incense, and thanked him. Then he said, “Few people know about this, and now you do, elder. This is a fulfillment of your practice of the way.” I was very pleased.
When I visited Mount Tiantai and Mount Yadang later in the Baoqing Era [1225–1228], I went to the Wannian Monastery of Pingtian [on Mount Tiantai]. The abbot there was priest Yuanzi of Fu Region, under whom the monastery had prospered. He had succeeded Abbot Zhongjian after his retirement.
Upon my first greeting him, Abbot Yuanzi talked about the teaching of the buddha ancestors. When he mentioned Yangshan’s dharma succession from Great Guishan, he said, “You haven’t seen the document of heritage here in my quarters, have you?”
I replied, “No, unfortunately I haven’t.”
Abbot Yuanzi got up, took out the document of heritage, and, holding it up, said:
Following the dharma admonition of buddha ancestors, I have not shown this even to a close disciple or an old attendant monk. But when I went to the city to see the governor and stayed there, as I do occasionally, I had a dream. In this dream a distinguished priest who seemed to be Zen Master Fachang of Mount Damei appeared, holding up a branch of plum blossoms. He said, “If a true person comes who has disembarked from a boat, do not withhold these flowers.” And he gave me the plum blossoms. Still in the dream, I exclaimed, “Why shouldn’t I give him thirty blows before he leaves the boat?” Then before five days had passed, you came to meet me, elder. Of course you have disembarked from a boat, and this document of heritage is written on brocade that has a design of plum blossoms. Since you must be the one Damei was referring to, in accordance with the dream I have taken this document out. Do you wish to inherit dharma from me? I would not withhold it if so.
I could not help being moved. Although I should have requested to receive a document of heritage from him, I only offered incense, bowed, and paid homage to him with deep respect. At that time there was present an incense attendant named Faning. He said that it was the first time he had ever seen the document of heritage.
I said to myself, “This event indeed could not have happened without the invisible help of buddha ancestors. As a foolish man from a remote country, by what fortune have I been able to see a document of heritage once again?” Tears wet my sleeves. At that time the Vimalakirti Hall and the Great Hall of Mount Tiantai were quiet, without anyone around.
This document of heritage was written on white brocade with a pattern of fallen plum blossoms. Its height was over nine sun and its length over one hiro [sixty sun]. Its axis ends were made of yellow jade. The outside of the scroll was brocade.
On my way back to Tiantong from Mount Tiantai, I stayed at the entry hall of the Husheng Monastery on Mount Damei. At that time I had an auspicious dream that the ancestor Damei came up to me and gave me a branch of plum blossoms in full bloom. This image of the ancestor was worthy of great respect. The branch was one shaku tall and one shaku wide. Aren’t these plum blossoms as rare as an udumbara blossom? This dream was just as real as being awake. I have never before told this story to anyone in China or Japan.
The document of heritage written in our lineage from Dongshan is different from that written in the Linji and other lineages.
Our document of heritage was originally written inside the robe [body and mind] of buddha ancestors. Qingyuan, High Ancestor, wrote it with the pure blood taken from his own finger in front of [his teacher] Huineng, the Sixth Ancestor of Caoxi, and then authentically received it. It has been said that his blood was mixed with Huineng’s blood when it was written. It has also been said that the ceremony of harmonizing blood was done by Bodhidharma, the First Ancestor, and Huike, the Second Ancestor. Such statements as “This is my heir” or “He has studied with me” are not written on our documents of heritage, but only the names of ancestors, including the Seven Original Buddhas, are written.
Thus, Huineng’s blood spirit is graciously harmonized with Qingyuan’s pure blood, and Qingyuan’s pure blood is intimately harmonized with Huineng’s own blood. Only great ancestor Qingyuan directly received the seal of realization in this way, and no other ancestors can be compared to him. Those who know this agree that buddha dharma has been transmitted only through Qingyuan.
POSTSCRIPT
Rujing said, “All buddhas have dharma heritage without fail. That is to say, Shakyamuni Buddha received dharma from Kashyapa Buddha. Kashyapa Buddha received it from Kanakamuni Buddha. Kanakamuni Buddha received it from Krakucchanda Buddha. Accept it with trust that buddhas have received dharma from buddhas in this way until now. This is the way of studying buddhas.”
Then I said, “Shakyamuni Buddha came out into the world and attained the way after the pari-nirvana of Kashyapa Buddha. Furthermore, how could the buddha of the present eon inherit from the buddha of the previous eon? What is the meaning of this?”
Rujing said:
What you mentioned is the view of scriptural schools or the way of bodhisattvas of the ten stages and three classes, which is different from the way of direct heritage of buddha ancestors. Our way of transmission between buddhas and buddhas is not like that.
We understand that Shakyamuni Buddha did inherit dharma from Kashyapa Buddha. And we learn that Kashyapa Buddha entered pari-nirvana after giving dharma heritage to Shakyamuni Buddha. If Shakyamuni Buddha had not received dharma from Kashyapa Buddha, it would be the same as the group of six bald-headed rascals [during the Buddha’s time] who believe in spontaneous enlightenment. Who, then, could believe in Shakyamuni Buddha?
Because of this heritage from buddha to buddha until now, each buddha is an heir. Buddhas are not lined up, nor are they gathered together, but they just inherit from each other. Thus, we understand.
It has nothing to do with measurements that are taught in various Agama Schools, such as eons or long lifetimes. If you say that dharma heritage started from Shakyamuni Buddha, it would be only about two thousand years old, which is not so old. And the heritage would range only over forty generations, which is rather new. But buddha heritage should not be understood in this way. We understand that Shakyamuni Buddha received dharma from Kashyapa Buddha, and Kashyapa Buddha received dharma from Shakyamuni Buddha. When you understand in this way, it is the true dharma heritage of all buddhas and all ancestors.
Then, for the first time, I not only accepted that there is dharma heritage of buddha ancestors, but I also was able to get out of the old pit I had been in up to that time.
On the twenty-seventh day, the third month, the second year of the Ninji Era [1241], this was written at the Kannondori Kosho Horin Monastery by monk Dogen, who has transmitted dharma from China.
On the twenty-fourth day, the ninth month, the first year of the Kangan Era [1243], I have hung my traveling stick at the grass-thatched hut in Yoshimine Village, Echizen Province. A written seal.