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THE ACTUALIZED EXPRESSION of all buddhas is the buddhas’ teaching. Because buddha ancestors express this teaching for all buddha ancestors, it is authentically transmitted for the sake of teaching. This is turning the dharma wheel. Within the eyeball of this dharma wheel, you actualize all buddha ancestors and have all buddhas enter pari-nirvana.
These buddha ancestors invariably emerge in a single particle and enter nirvana in a single particle. They emerge in the entire world and enter nirvana in the entire world. They emerge in a single moment and emerge in the ocean of multiple eons. And yet, their emergence in a single particle in a single moment lacks no merit. This cannot be replaced by their emergence in the entire world, in the ocean of multiple eons.
This being so, do not say that buddhas who attain the way in the morning and enter nirvana that evening lack merit. If you say that one day contains little merit, then eighty years of human life is not long enough. When you compare the eighty years of human life with ten or twenty eons, it would be like one day and eighty years, and the merits of this buddha and that buddha could not be discerned. If you compare the merit of a long eon and timeless life with the merit of eighty years, there would be no room for doubt.
In this way, the buddhas’ teaching is the buddha who teaches. It is the merit thoroughly experienced by buddha ancestors. It is not that buddhas are high and broad and their teaching of dharma is low and narrow.
Know that if buddhas are large, their teaching is large; if buddhas are small, their teaching is small. Thus, know that buddhas and their teaching cannot be measured as large or small. It is beyond the aspects of wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral. It is not a teaching for oneself or others.
A teacher says:
Old Man Shakya expounded the teaching of the sutras throughout his lifetime. In addition, he authentically transmitted the dharma of one mind, the supreme vehicle, to Mahakashyapa. This has been passed down from person to person. Due to this, his teaching is a groundless theory presented in accordance with the capacity of listeners. Meanwhile, the dharma of one mind is the true nature of reality. This authentically transmitted single mind is called transmission outside of scriptures. It does not equal words in the Three Vehicles and the Twelve Divisions of the teaching. Because this mind is the supreme vehicle, it is called directly pointing to the human mind, seeing original nature, and becoming a buddha.
This statement is not at all a work of buddha dharma. It has no vital path of leaping beyond and no awesome presence wherever the body reaches.
Even if those who make such a statement were to call themselves pioneering teachers hundreds and thousands of years in the future, regard them as neither clarifying nor mastering buddha dharma or the buddha way. Why? Because they don’t know the Buddha, the teaching, the mind, inside, or outside. The reason is that they have never heard buddha dharma.
When we speak of buddhas, those who don’t know the origin and effect of buddhas and their boundaries of coming and going cannot be called disciples of the Buddha. To talk only about this authentically transmitted single mind, while excluding authentic transmission of the buddhas’ teaching, is not to know buddha dharma. They do not know the single mind of the buddhas’ teaching. They have not heard of the single mind of the buddhas’ teaching.
They speak of the buddhas’ teaching outside of the single mind. Their single mind is not the single mind. They speak of the single mind outside of the buddhas’ teaching. The buddhas’ teaching they speak of is not the buddhas’ teaching. Even if they have inherited the mistaken view of transmission outside the teaching, their words and truth do not fit each other because they do not yet know inside from outside.
How can buddha ancestors who have transmitted the treasury of the true dharma eye person to person not transmit the buddhas’ teaching person to person? Furthermore, how would Old Man Shakya set up a teaching that is not a work of the buddha house? If Old Man Shakya lets the teaching be transmitted from person to person, which buddha ancestors can deny the teaching? Thus, what is called the supreme vehicle is the Three Vehicles and the Twelve Divisions of teaching, the great treasury and small treasury [Mahayana and Hinayana canons].
Know that what is called buddha mind is the Buddha’s eyeball, a broken wooden dipper. Since it is all things and the three realms, it is mountains, oceans, lands, the sun, the moon, and stars. The buddhas’ teaching is myriad things in all places. What is called outside is right here, arriving right here.
Since authentic transmission is conducted from self to self, the self is within authentic transmission. You authentically inherit one mind from one mind. Thus, there is one mind in authentic transmission. The dharma of one mind, the supreme vehicle, is mud, stone, sand, and pebbles. Since mud, stone, sand, and pebbles are one mind, the mud, stone, sand, and pebbles are mud, stone, sand, and pebbles. If you speak of the dharma of one mind, the supreme vehicle, you should understand it like this.
However, those who talk about transmission outside the teaching do not understand this meaning. So, do not believe the wrong view of transmission outside the teaching and thereby misunderstand buddhas’ teaching.
If these people were right, the buddhas’ teaching should be called transmission outside the mind. If we were to say so, neither one phrase nor half a verse of the buddhas’ teaching would have been transmitted to us. If we do not say transmission outside the mind, we should not say transmission outside the teaching.
Mahakashyapa is already the head of the dharma treasury as the heir of Shakyamuni Buddha. He authentically inherited the treasury of the true dharma eye and upholds the buddha way. It is biased to say that he should not have authentically inherited the buddhas’ teaching.
Know that if you authentically inherit one phrase, you authentically inherit one dharma. If you inherit one phrase, you inherit mountains and you inherit waters. You cannot be separated from this very place.
Shakyamuni Buddha authentically transmitted his treasury of the true dharma eye, unsurpassable enlightenment, to Mahakashyapa alone and to no one else. Authentic transmission was unquestionably to Mahakashyapa. Thus, all those who study truth in buddha dharma in the past and present always investigate thoroughly with buddha ancestors to determine the authenticity of teaching from the past. They do not ask others for this. Those who are not authenticated by buddha ancestors are not buddha ancestors. Those who want to be authenticated should be authenticated by buddha ancestors. The reason is that the original teachers of mastering the dharma wheel are buddha ancestors.
Buddha ancestors alone, being past and present buddhas, clarify and authentically transmit the expression of existence and nonexistence as well as the expression of emptiness and form.
Baling was once asked by a monk, “Is the heart of an ancestor the same as the heart of the teaching?”
Baling said, “When it is cold, a rooster climbs the tree and a duck gets into water.”
Study this expression, encounter the ancestral meaning of the buddha way, see, and hear the teaching of the buddha way. This monk was in fact asking whether or not the heart of an ancestor is truly the heart of an ancestor. Baling’s answer addresses a distinction, but it is not the same as the distinction discussed by those who are bound by distinction. In this way, because the heart of an ancestor and the heart of the teaching are beyond distinction, distinction is addressed. Baling’s answer is just like saying, “Don’t ask about distinction.”
Xuansha was once asked by a monk, “If the Three Vehicles and the Twelve Divisions of the teaching are not essential, what is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from India?”
Xuansha replied, “The Three Vehicles and the Twelve Divisions of the teaching are not essential; nothing is essential.”
The monk asked this question with the assumption, as is commonly understood, that the Three Vehicles and the Twelve Divisions of the teaching are mere details in buddha dharma. He wanted to know the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from India [the heart of buddha dharma], which he assumed should be other than these details. The monk did not understand that the Three Vehicles and the Twelve Divisions of the teaching are the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from India. Further, how could he have understood that the complete assemblage of eighty-four thousand dharma gates is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from India?
Investigate this thoroughly now. How can the Three Vehicles and the Twelve Divisions of the teaching not be essential? And, if they are essential, what are the guidelines? Is it possible that the study of the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from India is actualized even when the Three Vehicles and the Twelve Divisions of the teaching are disregarded? The monk’s question was not without significance.
Xuansha said, The Three Vehicles and the Twelve Divisions of the teaching are not essential; nothing is essential. This statement is a dharma wheel. Study thoroughly that when this dharma wheel is turned, the buddhas’ teaching abides in the buddhas’ teaching.
The meaning of Xuansha’s reply is that the Three Vehicles and the Twelve Divisions of the teaching are the buddha ancestors’ dharma wheel, which turns in the place where there are buddha ancestors and in the place where there are no buddha ancestors. It turns equally before and after the time of ancestors.
Further, the Three Vehicles and the Twelve Divisions of the teaching have the function of turning buddha ancestors. At the very moment of asking the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from India, this dharma wheel is nothing is essential. Nothing is essential doesn’t mean not to utilize or break this dharma wheel. This dharma wheel turns in nothing is essential.
See that Xuansha did not say that the Three Vehicles and the Twelve Divisions of the teaching did not exist; he said that they were not essential. Because they are not essential, they are the Three Vehicles and the Twelve Divisions of the teaching. Because they are the Three Vehicles and the Twelve Divisions of the teaching, they are beyond the Three Vehicles and the Twelve Divisions of the teaching. Thus, Xuansha said, the Three Vehicles and the Twelve Divisions of the teaching are not essential.
Let me offer an outline of the Three Vehicles and the Twelve Divisions of the teaching.
The Three Vehicles:
The first of the Three Vehicles is the Shravaka Vehicle. This vehicle is attained through the four noble truths. They are: The truth of suffering; the truth of the causes of suffering; the truth of the cessation of suffering; and the truth of the [eightfold] path. By learning and practicing these truths, you become free from birth, aging, sickness, and death, and fully experience pari-nirvana.
To say that the truths of suffering and the causes of suffering are ordinary and the truths of ceasing suffering and the path are primary in practicing the four noble truths is a view of scriptural commentators. In the practice of buddha dharma, all four noble truths are understood only by buddha and buddha; all four noble truths are things in their own conditions; all four noble truths are reality; all four noble truths are buddha nature. This being so, they do not require a discussion about not being born or not being created, because in the four noble truths nothing is essential.
The second vehicle is the Pratyeka-buddha Vehicle. This is a path to reach pari-nirvana by observing the twelvefold causation. It consists of: ignorance, inclination, discernment, name and form, six objects of perception, contact, feeling, craving, grasping, becoming, birth, decay and death.
When you observe these twelve causes, you examine them from the viewpoint of subject and object, cause and effect, in the past, present, and future. In this examination, the turning of the wheel is not essential at all; cause and effect are not essential at all.
Know that if ignorance is one mind, inclination and discernment, and so on, are one mind. If ignorance perishes, inclination and discernment, and so on, perish. If ignorance is nirvana, inclination and discernment, and so on, are nirvana. We say so because birth is itself perishing. Ignorance is a phrase of expression. Discernment, name and form, and so on, are also like this.
Know that ignorance, inclination, and so on, are no other than [Qingyuan’s statement]: “I have a hatchet. I live with it in this mountain.” [I am intimate with what I have.] Ignorance, inclination, and so on, are no other than “When I left the monastery, I asked the abbot to give me the hatchet.”
The third vehicle is the Bodhisattva Vehicle. It is to achieve unsurpassable, complete enlightenment through the teaching, practice, and realization of the six paramitas. Achieving them is not creating, not not-creating, not initiating, not newly making, not achieving for a long time, not original practice, and not not-making. It is just achieving unsurpassable, complete enlightenment.
The six paramitas [realizations] are: the paramita of giving, the paramita of precepts, the paramita of patience, the paramita of effort, the paramita of meditation, and the paramita of prajna [wisdom beyond wisdom]. These are all unsurpassable enlightenment, beyond any discussion of not-born and not-created.
It is not necessarily that the paramita of giving comes first and the paramita of prajna comes last. A sutra says, “A bodhisattva of sharp capacity makes prajna first and giving last. A bodhisattva of dull capacity makes giving first and prajna last.” However, the paramita of patience can come first, and the paramita of meditation can come first. Thirty-six [six times six] paramitas can be actualized. From one basket [container], another basket is reached.
Paramita means “arriving at the other shore” [of enlightenment]. Although the other shore does not have the appearance or trace from olden times, arriving is actualized. Arriving is the fundamental point. Do not think that practice leads to the other shore. Because there is practice on the other shore, when you practice, the other shore arrives. It is because this practice embodies the capacity to actualize all realms.
The Twelve Divisions of the teaching:
Sutra—a scripture in prose
Geya—a teaching reiterated in verse
Vyakarana—a prediction of enlightenment
Gatha—a verse for chanting
Udana—a teaching expounded not in response to a question
Nidana—an explanation of causes [of unwholesome things]
Avadana—a parable
Itivrittaka—a past life [of a disciple of the Buddha]
Jataka—a past life [of the Buddha]
Vaipulya—a broad teaching
Adbhuta-dharma—an unprecedented [magical] story
Upadesha—a philosophical discussion
The Tathagata personally expounded conditional and real matters of the world of skandhas, surroundings, and perceptions for sentient beings. This is called a sutra.
He also reiterated his explanation of these matters in verses of four, five, six, seven, or eight syllables. This is called a gaya.
Or he personally predicted a future event of a sentient being, such as a dove or a sparrow becoming a buddha. This is called a vyakarana.
The Tathagata explained matters of the world in a solitary verse. This is called a gatha.
He explained matters of the world without someone asking him a question. This is called an udana.
He summarized unwholesome matters of the world and provided precepts. This is called a nidana.
He explained matters of the world with a parable. This is called an avadana.
He explained past lives of the Buddha’s disciples. This is called an itivrittaka.
He explained matters of a past life. This is called a jataka.
He explained broad matters of the world. This is called a vaipulya.
He explained matters unprecedented in the world. This is called an adbhuta-dharma.
And he discussed matters of the world. This is called an upadesha.
These Twelve Divisions of scriptures have been created to give joy to sentient beings. They are the established explanations of the world.
It is rare to hear the names of the Twelve Divisions of the teaching. These names are heard when buddha dharma is spread in the world, and they are not heard when buddha dharma perishes. They are also not heard when buddha dharma is not yet spread. Those who cultivate wholesome roots for a long time and see the Buddha hear these names. Those who hear them are bound to receive unsurpassable, complete enlightenment before long.
Each of these Twelve Divisions is called a sutra. They are called the Twelve Divisions of the teaching or the Twelve Divisions of sutras.
Each of the Twelve Divisions of the teaching contains the Twelve Divisions of the teaching; they are one hundred forty-four divisions of the teaching. As each of the Twelve Divisions of the teaching embodies the Twelve Divisions of the teaching, they are one division of the teaching.
However, the number twelve is not the amount before or after a billion. The Twelve Divisions of the teaching are the eyeball of buddha ancestors, the bones and marrow of buddha ancestors, the work of the house of buddha ancestors, the radiant light of buddha ancestors, the splendor of buddha ancestors, the land of buddha ancestors. To see the Twelve Divisions of the teaching is to see buddha ancestors. To express buddha ancestors is to express the Twelve Divisions of the teaching.
This being so, Qingyuan’s lowering his one leg [as a sign of approving Shitou] is the Three Vehicles and the Twelve Divisions of the teaching. Nanyue’s statement “Your words were close but did not hit the mark” is no other than the Three Vehicles and the Twelve Divisions of the teaching.
Xuansha’s statement, The Three Vehicles and the Twelve Divisions of the teaching are not essential is also like this. When you take up this expression, there are only buddha ancestors. There is not half a person, not one thing other than buddha ancestors. Not even one thing has risen.
How is it? Say, “Nothing is essential!”
Also, there are Nine Divisions, or nine divisions of the teaching. They are:
Sutra
Gatha
Jataka
Adbhuta-dharma
Nidana
Avadana
Geya
Upadesha
As each of these nine divisions includes nine divisions, there are eighty-one divisions. As each of these nine divisions embodies one division, there are nine divisions.
Without the capacity to return to one division, there cannot be nine divisions. As there is the capacity to return to one division, one division returns to one division. For this reason, there are eighty-one divisions. This is the division of just this, the division of the self, the division of a whisk, the division of a walking stick, the division of the treasury of the true dharma eye.
Shakykamuni Buddha said, “I expound these nine divisions of dharma to suit all beings. This is the basis for entering the Great Vehicle. Thus, I expound these scriptures.”
Know that I is the Tathagata. His face, eyes, body, and mind are expressed. This I is already the nine divisions of dharma. The nine divisions of dharma are the I. Each phrase, each verse, expounded now is the nine divisions of dharma. Because of I, the nine divisions of dharma are expounded to suit all beings.
This being so, all birth of sentient beings is born inside this. That is why I expound these scriptures. All death dies inside this. That is why I expound these scriptures. All thoughts and actions are the reason why I expound these scriptures. The Tathagata guides all beings and helps them to enter the buddha way. That is why I expound these scriptures.
All beings follow I expound these nine divisions of dharma. To follow is to follow others, the self, all beings, birth, I, and this. As all beings are invariably I, they are every line of the nine divisions of dharma.
The basis for entering the Great Vehicle means the basis for realizing the Great Vehicle, practicing the Great Vehicle, listening to the Great Vehicle, and expounding the Great Vehicle.
This does not mean that all beings attain the way spontaneously. They are a part of attaining the way. Entering is the basis. The basis is from beginning to end.
The Buddha expounds dharma. Dharma expounds the Buddha. Dharma is expounded by the Buddha. The Buddha is expounded by dharma. The flame [of discourse] expounds the Buddha, expounds dharma. The Buddha expounds the flame. Dharma expounds the flame.
These scriptures have a reason for the Tathagata to expound, to expound thus. Even if we try to expound these scriptures, it is impossible. This being so, the Tathagata says, Thus, I expound these scriptures.
Expounding thus is the entire world. The entire world is expounding thus. This buddha and that buddha equally call them these scriptures. The realm of self and the realm of others equally expound these scriptures. Thus, I expound these scriptures.
These scriptures are the buddhas’ teachings. Know that the teachings of the buddhas are as many as the sands of the Ganges, a bamboo stick, and a whisk. The sands of the Ganges of the buddhas’ teachings are a staff and a fist.
Know that the Three Vehicles, the Twelve Divisions of the teaching, and so on, are the eyeball of buddha ancestors. How can those who do not open this eyeball be descendants of buddha ancestors? How can those who do not take them up inherit the authentic eye of buddha ancestors? Those who have not mastered the treasury of the true dharma eye are not dharma descendants of the Seven Original Buddhas.
Presented to the assembly of the Kosho Monastery, Yamashiro Province, on the fourteenth day, the eleventh month, the second year of the Ninji Era [1241].
[Presented again] On the seventh day, the eleventh month, the third year of the Ninji Era [1242].