Ikka Myōju

In the Sahā world, in the great land of Song China, at the Genjasan-in temple in Fukushū, there was the Great Master Shūitsu, whose dharma name was Shibi and whose secular surname was Sha. In his earlier life as a layman, he loved fishing, floating his boat on the Nantai River and following the ways of the various fishermen. It was as if, without fishing, he already possessed the golden-scaled one that does not await the hook. At the beginning of the Xiantong era of the Tang dynasty, he suddenly desired to leave the dusty world. He abandoned his boat and entered the mountains. That year he was thirty years old.

He had awakened to the peril of the floating world and recognized the nobility of the Buddha Way. Eventually, he ascended Mount Seppō and, attending upon the Great Master Shinkaku, practiced the Way day and night. Once, intending to travel extensively to penetrate the various directions, he shouldered his pack and left the ridge. On the path, he stubbed his toe on a rock. As the blood flowed and the pain pierced him, he abruptly came to a fierce realization and said, "This body is not existent; from where does the pain come?" He then returned to Seppō.

Seppō asked, "Which one is the ascetic Bi?" Genja said, "In the end, I dare not deceive people." Seppō particularly treasured these words, saying, "Who would not possess these words? Who could utter these words?" Seppō further asked, "Ascetic Bi, why do you not travel widely to study?" The Master said, "Because it is said, 'Bodhidharma did not come to the Eastern Land; the Second Patriarch did not go to Western Heaven.'" Seppō praised him exceedingly. As he had been a fisherman in ordinary times, he had never even dreamed of seeing the various sutras and texts. However, because his aspiration was not shallow, a resolute spirit manifested in his side.

Seppō, thinking him outstanding among the assembly, praised him as a prominent horn in the gate. He used cloth robes and, as he did not change them, they became patched on the thighs. Next to his skin, he wore paper garments and ate mugwort grass. Apart from attending upon Seppō, he did not visit other teachers. Nevertheless, he truly possessed the power to discern and inherit his master's dharma.

After he had finally attained the Way, he showed it to people, saying, "The whole ten-direction world is a single bright pearl." At that time, a monk asked, "I have heard that you, Reverend, have said, 'The whole ten-direction world is a single bright pearl.' How is this student to understand it?" The master said, "The whole ten-direction world is a single bright pearl; what use is understanding?" The master, the next day, asked that monk, "The whole ten-direction world is a single bright pearl; how do you understand it?" The monk said, "The whole ten-direction world is a single bright pearl; what use is understanding?" The master said, "I see that you are making a living in the cave of demons on the black mountain." Now, the saying "The whole ten-direction world is a single bright pearl" originates with Xuansha.

Its essential meaning is that the whole ten-direction world is neither vast nor minute, neither square nor round, neither centered nor correct, neither lively and vibrant nor dewy and revolving. Furthermore, because it is not birth-and-death, coming-and-going, it *is* birth-and-death, coming-and-going.

For this very reason, "in the past, one went from here," and "now, one comes from here." Upon thorough investigation, who could see through it as fragmentary? Who could pick it up as solid and unmoving? "The whole ten-direction" means chasing things and making them the self, chasing the self and making it things—this is unceasing. To speak of "when feelings arise, wisdom is blocked" as "blocked" is to turn the head and change the face; it is to unfold the matter and hit the mark. Because one chases the self and makes it things, the "whole ten-direction" is unceasing. Because it is the principle prior to the opportunity, there are times when it surpasses the grasp of the essential point.

"Is a single bright pearl": though it has not yet been named, it is expressed; there is that which has recognized it as a name. "A single bright pearl" must directly be ten thousand years. Though it has been unresolved since ancient times, it arrives throughout the present. Though there is a body now and a mind now, it is the bright pearl. It is not the grass and trees of this and that, nor the mountains and rivers of heaven and earth; it is the bright pearl. How is the student to understand it?

This saying, even if it resembles a monk toying with *karmic consciousness*, is the great function appearing; it is the great standard. Advance and make one foot of water and one foot of waves towering. It is the so-called one-*zhang* pearl, one-*zhang* light. In speaking the so-called expression, Xuansha's way is "The whole ten-direction world is a single bright pearl; what use is understanding?" This saying is an expression where Buddha succeeds Buddha, ancestor succeeds ancestor, and Xuansha succeeds Xuansha.

Though one might wish to evade succeeding, there is no place to evade; yet even if one temporarily and clearly evades, the living expression is the manifest covering of the present moment. Xuansha, the next day, asked that monk, "The whole ten-direction world is a single bright pearl; how do you understand it?" This says: yesterday's speaking was fixed dharma; today, borrowing two coins, one vents breath. Today's speaking is unfixed dharma; it overturns yesterday's nodding and laughing. The monk said, "The whole ten-direction world is a single bright pearl; what use is understanding?" It should be said: riding a thief's horse to chase the thief.

For the ancient Buddha to speak for you is to walk among different kinds. One should temporarily turn the light around and reflect; how many coins of "what use is understanding" are there? If one tries to speak, it is seven milk cakes, five vegetable cakes; yet it is the teaching practice of south of Xiang, north of Tan. Xuansha said, "I see that you are making a living in the cave of demons on the black mountain." Know that the sun-face and moon-face have never been exchanged since antiquity.

Because the sun-face appears together with the sun-face, and the moon-face appears together with the moon-face, "If in June one says it is precisely the time, one must not say my nature is hot." Therefore, this bright pearl's having a beginning or no beginning is without origin. The whole ten-direction world is a single bright pearl; it does not speak of two or three pearls. The whole body is a single authentic *dharma* eye; the whole body is the true reality; the whole body is a single phrase; the whole body is bright light; the whole body is the whole mind. When it is the whole body, there is no obstruction for the whole body. It is perfectly round and expansive; it turns like a wheel.

Because the virtue of the bright pearl is seen and accomplished thus, there are present *Guanyin* and *Maitreya* who see forms and hear sounds; there are ancient Buddhas and new Buddhas who manifest bodies and preach the dharma. Precisely at such a time, whether hanging in empty space or hanging within the robe, whether stored under the chin or stored within the topknot, all are the whole ten-direction world, a single bright pearl. Hanging on the back of the robe is taken as the appearance; one must not speak of hanging it on the front. Hanging within the topknot and under the chin is taken as the appearance; one must not intend to play with it on the surface of the topknot or chin.

At the time of drunkenness, there is an intimate friend who gives a pearl; to an intimate friend, one must certainly give a pearl. At the time one hangs the pearl, one certainly becomes drunken. Since it is thus, it is a single bright pearl existing throughout the ten-direction world. Therefore, though it resembles turning over the face of turning and not turning, it is precisely the bright pearl. To know that the pearl is thus is precisely this bright pearl.

The bright pearl has sounds and sights heard and seen thus. Since one has attained thus, to grope, thinking "I am not the bright pearl," or to doubt, thinking "it is not the pearl," should not be done. Groping, doubting, accepting and rejecting, whether acted or unacted, are merely temporary, small-scale views, only making them resemble the small scale. How can one not love it? The bright pearl's colors and lights are thus, without limit. The fragments and strands of colors and lights are the virtue of the whole ten-direction world. Who could snatch it away? There is no one in the marketplace hitting with a brick; do not trouble yourself over falling or not falling into the six paths' cause and effect. Not obscuring the original, with head correct and tail correct—the bright pearl is the face and eyes; the bright pearl is the eye.

Yet, both you and I, not knowing what is this bright pearl and what is not this bright pearl—the hundred thoughts and hundred non-thoughts—though we have bundled the clear fodder, through Xuansha's dharma way, we have heard and known the appearance of body-and-mind that is the bright pearl, and having clarified it, the mind is not my own; for whom would the arising and ceasing be the bright pearl or not the bright pearl, troubling over acceptance and rejection? Even if one gropes and troubles over it, it is not that it is not the bright pearl; since it does not resemble the actions or thoughts stirred by that which is not the bright pearl, it is precisely the advancing and retreating in the cave of demons on the black mountain that is solely the single bright pearl.

The Shōbōgenzō, One Bright Pearl, Number Seven Now, in the great kingdom of Song, there is the Elder Fuyō Dōkai. Once, when he was the head monk under Tōsu, he asked Tōsu, "The One Bright Pearl—how does a person accept and use it?" Tōsu said, "The One Bright Pearl—how does a person accept and use it?" Dōkai then gave a shout. Tōsu said, "Hey, monk!" Dōkai responded, "Yes?" Tōsu said, "Step back." Dōkai said, "I beg your pardon." The next day, Dōkai went to see Tōsu. Tōsu said, "Our exchange of yesterday—what do you make of it?" Dōkai then stood aside. Tōsu said, "You think you've grasped it." Dōkai then gave a shout and left.

Now, the words "The One Bright Pearl—how does a person accept and use it?" were spoken first by Tōsu and later by Dōkai. Are these words the same or different? You should examine this thoroughly. Furthermore, Dōkai's shout and his standing aside—are these the same or different? You must investigate this. Tōsu's "Hey, monk!" and Dōkai's "Yes?"—are these the same or different? You must study this. Tōsu's "Step back" and Dōkai's "I beg your pardon"—are these the same or different? You must clarify this.

The next day, Tōsu's "Our exchange of yesterday—what do you make of it?" and Dōkai's standing aside—are these the same or different? You must penetrate this. Tōsu's "You think you've grasped it" and Dōkai's shout and departure—are these the same or different? You must master this. Now, the One Bright Pearl is not something that was first created by the buddhas and ancestors. It is not something that appears now for the first time. It is not something that did not exist before. It is not something that exists now. It is not something that will exist in the future. It is not something that is nonexistent. It is not something that is existent. It is not something that is empty.

It is not something that is form. It is not something that is within. It is not something that is without. It is not something that comes. It is not something that goes. For this reason, it is called the One Bright Pearl. You should know that the One Bright Pearl is the entire universe—there is no universe outside of it. The entire universe is the One Bright Pearl—there is no One Bright Pearl outside of it. The entire universe is the entire universe—there is no entire universe outside of it.

The One Bright Pearl is the One Bright Pearl—there is no One Bright Pearl outside of it.