Gyōji

The philosophical introduction

In the Great Way of the Buddhas and Patriarchs, there is necessarily an unparalleled continuous practice (musho no gyōji). The Way turns in a circle without ever breaking. The arising of the thought of awakening (hosshin), practice, Awakening (bodai), Nirvāṇa — there is not the slightest gap between them, not even the briefest. Continuous practice is this circle of the Way. This is why it is not the result of constraint imposed upon oneself, nor of constraint imposed by others. It is a continuous practice that has never been defiled (fuzo-zenna no gyōji). The virtue (kudoku) of this continuous practice sustains us, and sustains others.

Its essential principle is as follows: our continuous practice — that is, the earth that covers the ten directions and the sky that fills them — all of this receives its virtue. Even if others do not know it, even if we ourselves do not know it, it is so. This is why, through the continuous practice of all the Buddhas and all the Patriarchs, our own continuous practice comes forth and manifests (genjō), and we traverse the Great Way to its end.

Through our continuous practice, the continuous practice of the Buddhas comes forth and manifests, and the Buddhas traverse the Great Way to its end. Through our continuous practice, there is the virtue of this circle of the Way. It is thanks to this that Buddha after Buddha, Patriarch after Patriarch abide in the Buddha, negate the Buddha, awaken to the Buddha-mind, become Buddha — without this ever being broken.

Through this continuous practice, there is the sun, the moon and the stars. Through continuous practice, there is the great earth and the void of space. Through continuous practice, there is body and mind, the dependent world and the essential world. Through continuous practice, there are the four great elements (shidai) and the five aggregates (goun).

Although continuous practice is not something that worldly people cherish, it should be the true refuge of all persons. Through the continuous practice of the Buddhas of the three times — past, present, future — the Buddhas of the three times come forth and manifest. The virtue of this continuous practice is concealed at no moment. This is why the thought of awakening is aroused and practice is undertaken. Its virtue is revealed at no moment. This is why it is not perceived through the six faculties. Even if it does not manifest, one must study in practice that it does not hide itself.

Dependent co-origination (engi) is continuous practice. Continuous practice is what it is because it does not follow dependent co-origination. One must examine with precision and care this effort of study in practice (kufū sangaku).

The exemplary patriarchs

Śākyamuni Buddha. At 19, he abandons the palace to enter practice in the mountains. At 30, he awakens under the Bodhi tree. But Dōgen insists: Awakening is not the end of practice. The Buddha continues to teach, to walk, to sit until his parinirvāṇa at the age of 80. His entire life is gyōji.

Mahākāśyapa. The Buddha's first successor practices the twelve dhūtaṅga disciplines (purification asceses) until the end of his life, neglecting not a single one, even in old age. It is precisely because he continued — not through heroism, but through unbroken fidelity — that the Dharma could be transmitted.

Pārśva (10th Patriarch). At 80, he makes the solemn vow never to lie down (fuganshinga) until he has mastered the three baskets (tripiṭaka). In three years of practice standing or sitting, he fulfills his vow. Gyōji is not tied to the vigor of a young body.

Huineng (6th Patriarch). An illiterate woodcutter, he awakens upon hearing a single phrase of the Diamond Sūtra recited. He joins the monastery of the 5th Patriarch and spends eight months pounding rice in the kitchens, without status or recognition. After receiving the secret transmission, he disappears for eight years into the ordinary world. Those eight months of pounding rice and those eight years of obscurity: this is gyōji — practice that does not show itself, that does not seek to be seen.

Mazu Daoyi. Before becoming one of the most celebrated masters of Tang dynasty China, Mazu practices zazen for twenty consecutive years with uninterrupted intensity. It is this rootedness in seated practice that grounds the authority of his later teaching.

Yunyan Tansheng. He spends forty full years at the side of his master Daowu, without ever a single night lying down. Practice here is a fidelity of posture even in sleep: gyōji becomes synonymous with perpetual wakefulness.

Baizhang Huaihai. He establishes the rule of monastic work (samu): until his death, he does not let a single day pass without working alongside the community. When his disciples, concerned for his health, hide his gardening tools, he refuses to eat that day — hence his celebrated saying: "A day without work, a day without eating" (一日不作、一日不食, ichijichi fusakyu, ichijichi fushoku). This is not asceticism: it is integrity — nourishment and work are one and the same thing in the Way.

Zhaozhou Congshen. He does not truly begin his intensive practice until the age of 61 — an age at which most men would think of retiring. He then lives without wealth or possessions, in total poverty, for forty years, until the age of 120. His monastery is so poor it has no wood for chairs. Gyōji has no age, no required material condition.

Late practice is also true practice.

Yangqi Fanghui. He presides over a monastery whose practice hall is in ruins, riddled with holes through which rain and wind pass. His disciples offer to make repairs; he refuses, invoking the ancient patriarchs who practiced under trees, without shelter. Gyōji does not require ideal conditions. The history of transmission is a history of practice in the elements, not in palaces.

Translator's note

Dōgen's classical Japanese presents several notable features:

行持道環 (gyōji dōkan): the "circle of the Way" — the Way is not a straight line going from ignorance to Awakening, but a circle without beginning or end in which practice and Awakening are already one.

不曾染汚 (fuzo-zenna): "that has never been defiled" — the primordial nature of practice, prior to all pure/impure duality.

縁起ハ行持ナリ。行持ハ縁起セサルカユヱニ: "Dependent co-origination is continuous practice. Continuous practice is because it does not follow dependent co-origination." — One of the most philosophically dense statements in the entire Shōbōgenzō: gyōji is simultaneously within the world of causality and transcends it.