Bendōwa

Introduction

All the Tathāgata Buddhas have together and in direct lineage transmitted the wondrous Dharma, and to realize anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi (the unsurpassable, perfect and complete enlightenment), there exists a sovereign art, without artifice. This transmission, from Buddha to Buddha, without any deviation, is precisely the jijuyū zanmai (三昧, the samādhi of the free and proper use of oneself). This is the standard of that reality.

To move and radiate within this samādhi, seated meditation — seated participation (sanzen, 參禪) — is the principal gate. This Dharma is richly present in the share of every being — and yet, without practice, it does not manifest; without realization, it cannot be held. When one releases it, it fills the hand; it has no edge, neither one nor many. When one speaks of it, it fills the mouth; in length as in breadth, it is without limit.

The Buddhas dwell permanently in this place, allowing enlightenment to act in every direction without retaining any trace of it. Innumerable beings make use of this place at all times, without enlightenment appearing in any particular direction.

The Cosmological Scope of Zazen

If someone, even for a single instant, marks the three actions with the Buddha's seal and sits in samādhi, the entire Dharma realm (henjikkai, 遍法界) becomes entirely the Buddha's seal, and all of empty space in its entirety becomes entirely realization.

The result is that one causes all Tathāgata Buddhas to increase the joy of the Dharma in their original land, and one renews the adornment of the Way of Enlightenment. Moreover, beings of all kinds from the three evil paths and the six destinies of the realms of the ten directions of the Dharma — all together, in one and the same instant, purify body and mind, realize the great earth of liberation, and when the original face appears, all dharmas together bear witness to perfect enlightenment.

Those who benefit from the effect of the wind and water thus stirred are all secretly aided by the Buddha's transformation, wondrous and impossible to conceive, and manifest an enlightenment that is near and immediate. All those who receive and use this water and fire contribute to the Buddha's transformation of original realization (honshō, 本證).

However, the reason why these various beings present are not left in obscurity regarding their own enlightenment is that it is through direct realization in non-fabrication (muzōsa, 無造作) within silence.

Therefore, even if it is only a single person practicing seated meditation for a single instant, because that person is in secret resonance with all dharmas and penetrates harmoniously all times, they accomplish within the infinite Dharma realm, in the past, present and future, the permanent and constant acts of the Buddha's transformation and Way.

Know this: even if all the Buddhas of the innumerable worlds — in number comparable to the grains of sand of the Ganges in the ten directions — were to gather their forces and seek, through the Buddha's wisdom, to measure, know and exhaust the merit of a single person practicing seated meditation, they could never find its edge.

The Transmission: From Śākyamuni to the Present Day

The Great Master Śākyamuni, at the assembly of Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa, transmitted the Dharma to Kāśyapa. Transmitted from patriarch to patriarch in the direct line, it reached the venerable Bodhidharma. The venerable himself went to the land of China and transmitted the Dharma to the Great Master Huike. That was the beginning of the Buddha's Dharma coming to the lands of the East.

At that time, the sixth patriarch had two eminent spiritual disciples: Nanyue Huairang and Qingyuan Xingsi. Both together bore the Buddha's seal and were equally guides of humans and celestial devas. From their diffusion in two streams, the five gates opened fully: the Fayan, Guiyang, Caodong, Yunmen and Linji lineages.

Now, all the patriarchs and all the Buddhas who have upheld and maintained the Buddha's Dharma have all regarded the right practice of seated meditation relying on the jijuyū zanmai as the authentic way of enlightenment and awakening. This is because masters and disciples secretly and authentically transmitted this sovereign art to one another, receiving and preserving this true essential.

Simply: to sit (taza, 打坐) and attain the complete dropping away of body and mind (shinjin datsuraku, 身心脱落).

Questions and Answers (Selection)

Why zazen alone? — Because all Buddhas — the Buddha Śākyamuni, the Tathāgatas of the three ages, all the patriarchs of India and China — each attained the Way through seated meditation. It is not one training among others but the direct manifestation of reality itself.

Is practice still necessary for one who has realized Buddha-nature? — Shushō ittō (修證一等): practice and realization are one and the same thing, and not two successive moments. Master Nanyue Huairang said: "It is not that practice-realization is absent — simply, it cannot be defiled." To understand this is to not defile realization by separating it from practice. Right practice is already realization manifested.

Can laypeople practice? — The Buddha's Way is accessible to all without distinction. In the temples of Song China, Dōgen himself saw laypeople practice with sincerity and attain the Way. What matters is a heart determined to practice, not one's status.

Is it necessary to have a teacher? — Yes, the guidance of an authentic teacher is absolutely necessary. To understand Buddha-nature through reading alone, without the living transmission of a teacher, is to enclose oneself in the net of words and representations. The transmission from heart to heart (ishin denshin, 以心傳心) cannot be accomplished without direct encounter.

Impermanence and Buddha-nature — The Sixth Patriarch Huineng: "Impermanence is Buddha-nature (mujō sunawachi bussho, 無常即佛性)." Buddha-nature is not a permanent substance concealed behind the flux of phenomena — it is that flux itself, in its truth.