Hōkyō Zanmai
Introduction
The Hōkyō Zanmai — "the samadhi (三昧) of the jewel mirror (宝鏡)" — is a poem in heptasyllabic verse composed by Tōzan Ryōkai (洞山良价, 807–869), founder of the Sōtō school of Chan Buddhism. It stands as one of the most important doctrinal texts of this school.
The "jewel mirror" is a metaphor for the awakened mind: like a polished mirror that reflects all things without distortion, the mind in samadhi receives reality as it is. The poem unfolds the doctrine of the five ranks (goi), Tōzan's central teaching on the interpenetration of the relative and the absolute.
Transmitted orally from master to disciple as a secret treasure, it is today chanted daily in Sōtō monasteries, often as a diptych with the Sandōkai.
Thus transmitted by buddhas and patriarchs —
you now possess it; guard it well.
Like a silver bowl filled with snow,
like a heron hidden in the white moon —
considered separately they differ;
mixed together, their place is known.
The meaning does not reside in the words,
yet it responds to urgent questions.
Move and you are bound;
miss the essential and you fall into degrees.
To turn away and oppose is wrong;
fire and water support each other.
To drink from words, to be lost in them —
wholly present, it illuminates.
Subtle, it does not reside in sensation,
yet a child of excellent quality
is endowed with the five attainments:
it neither goes out nor returns.
If you seek it, you cannot perceive it;
its two lines are not parallel.
In the mirror of the moon, what form do you have?
In the water, what is your color?
If you do not understand this,
let us call it "true" and "eternal."
It is neither being nor non-being;
who would dare transmit this?
A man of jade, at night, seeks his way;
a woman of wood sings at dawn.
It is not reached by the senses;
why depend on thoughts?
Servants obey their masters;
children answer their parents.
Not cold, not hot —
neither appropriated nor transformed.
To correspond to no particular moment —
this is the method of the Dharma king.
Without head or tail,
it responds nonetheless when called upon.
Interpret the six lines:
light and darkness alternate.
To trample with the feet is wrong;
to lean upon it is also mistaken.
Whoever knows fire,
that one shall be the father of my daughters.
To possess the four virtues:
first, last, together.
Like five flavors on the tongue —
like the five branches of the vajra.
At this moment, neither suddenly nor gradually;
the eye does not seek the bottom of the water.
Do not expose it to passersby;
do not enter the bird's cage.
If you dare transgress,
to commit to this path all the way —
then you may speak of the gate
of those who have found the way.
Translated from classical Chinese. Tōzan Ryōkai (洞山良价, 807–869), founder of the Sōtō school of Chan.