Kobutsushin

The Mind of the Ancient Buddhas

Introduction

Kobutsushin (古佛心, "The Mind of the Ancient Buddhas") is the ninth fascicle of Dōgen Zenji's Shōbōgenzō. The title refers to the teaching of the National Teacher Dazheng Huizhong, who famously answered the question "What is the mind of the ancient buddhas?" with "Walls and tiles."

Dōgen takes this enigmatic response as a key to understanding the nature of awakened mind. The mind of the ancient buddhas is not a special state of consciousness or a transcendent principle — it is the very ordinariness of walls and tiles, the everyday reality of the ten thousand things. The chapter explores how this seemingly mundane answer points to the deepest truth of the buddha-dharma.

Through a series of reflections, Dōgen shows that the mind of the ancient buddhas is not something hidden or remote but is manifest in the most ordinary phenomena. The ordinary mind (byōjō shin) — the mind that does not distinguish between this world and the other world — is precisely the mind of the ancient buddhas. The chapter thus overturns any notion of awakening as a special achievement, revealing it as the fundamental nature of our everyday reality.

The transmission of the Dharma by the ancestral teachers, from the Seven Buddhas to Caoxi, constitutes forty patriarchs. From Caoxi to the Seven Buddhas, it constitutes forty buddhas. Because the Seven Buddhas all possess the merit of going upward and going downward, they reach Caoxi and reach the Seven Buddhas. Because Caoxi possesses the merit of going upward and going downward, the true transmission comes from the Seven Buddhas, comes from Caoxi, and is truly transmitted to the later buddhas. It is not merely a matter of before and after. At the time of Śākyamuni Buddha, there are buddhas in the ten directions. At the time of Qingyuan, there is Nanyue; at the time of Nanyue, there is Qingyuan. And so on, at the time of Shitou, there is Jiangxi. That which does not mutually obstruct must be none other than non-obstruction. That there is merit such as this should be thoroughly investigated.

Although all the forty buddhas and ancestors of the past are said to be ancient buddhas, they have mind and they have body, they have radiance and they have lands, there is "long past," and there is "never past." Even if it is "never past," even if it is "long past," it is equally the merit of the ancient buddhas. To study the Way of the ancient buddhas is to realize the Way of the ancient buddhas. They are ancient buddhas generation after generation. Although what are called ancient buddhas are uniformly ancient in terms of new and old, they further transcend past and present; they are upright within past and present.

My late master said, "I met with Hongzhi the Ancient Buddha." He came to realize that within Tian-tong's house there is an ancient buddha, and within the ancient buddha's house there is Tian-tong.

Master Yuanwu said, “I bow to Caoxi, the true ancient buddha.” Know that from Shakyamuni Buddha to the thirty-third generation is the ancient buddha to whom one should bow. Because Master Yuanwu possesses the dignified radiance of an ancient buddha, he meets with the ancient buddha, and thus there is such a bowing. Therefore, by taking up Caoxi’s correct head and correct tail as fodder, one should know that the ancient buddha has such a handle. The one who has this handle is this ancient buddha.

Sōzan said, "On the summit of Mount Daiyurei there is an ancient buddha, whose radiance shines forth and reaches right here." Know this: Sōzan has already met face-to-face with the ancient buddha. You should not seek it elsewhere. The place where the ancient buddha exists is the summit of Mount Daiyurei. A self that is not the ancient buddha cannot know the source from which the ancient buddha emerges. To know the abode of the ancient buddha is to be the ancient buddha.

Xuefeng said, “Zhaozhou is an ancient buddha.” Know this: even if Zhaozhou is an ancient buddha, if Xuefeng had not shared in the ancient buddha’s power and capacity, it would be difficult to thoroughly master the essential method of encountering an ancient buddha. Our present practice, through the grace of the ancient buddha, involves the effort of “not answering” when studying with an ancient buddha. This Xuefeng, this old fellow, is a true great person. The house style and dignified bearing of an ancient buddha cannot be imitated by one who is not an ancient buddha; they are not the same grade. Therefore, by studying Zhaozhou’s excellence in the beginning, middle, and end, one should study the life span of an ancient buddha.

The Great Teacher of Certification, National Master of Guangzhai Temple in the Western Capital, is a dharma heir of Caoxi. Human emperors and heavenly emperors alike revere and honor him. This is truly what is seen and heard in the land of Shen Dan. He is not only the teacher of emperors for four generations; an emperor himself personally drew a carriage and had him enter the palace.

Moreover, having received an invitation from the palace of Indra, he ascends far into the heavens. Amidst the assemblies of *devas*, he expounds the dharma for Indra. The National Master, on account of a monk’s asking, “What is the ancient buddha mind?” replied, “Walls, fences, tiles, and pebbles.” What is called the point of asking is saying, “This side gets it like this,” and saying, “That side gets it like this.” It is raising this expression and making it the point of asking. This point of asking has broadly become the expression of past and present.

Therefore, the myriad trees and hundred grasses of blooming flowers are the expression of the ancient buddha, the point of asking of the ancient buddha. The nine mountains and eight seas of the arising world are the sun-face and moon-face of the ancient buddha, the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of the ancient buddha. Furthermore, there may be the practicing buddha of the ancient mind, there may be the verifying buddha of the ancient mind, there may be the making buddha of the ancient mind. There may be the mind that is made ancient by buddha. “Ancient mind” is said because the mind is ancient.

Because mind-buddha must necessarily be ancient, the ancient mind is chairs, bamboo, and wood. “Searching throughout the whole great earth, one cannot find a single person who understands the buddha-dharma.” “Venerable, what do you call this?” The present season, cause, and conditions, as well as dust-worlds and empty space, are none of them not the ancient mind. To maintain and bear the ancient mind, to maintain and bear the ancient buddha, is one face yet maintaining both ends, depicting both ends. The master said, “Walls, fences, tiles, and pebbles.” What is called the essential point is that there is one advance of expressing toward walls, fences, tiles, and pebbles: walls, fences, tiles, and pebbles. There is one path of expressing forth; there is one retreat of expressing and arriving within the allowance of walls, fences, tiles, and pebbles’ walls, fences, tiles, and pebbles.

In the perfect completion, the tenfold completion where these expressions are fully present, there are walls standing a thousand fathoms, ten thousand fathoms; there are fences standing throughout the earth, throughout the heavens; there are tile roofs of one piece, half a piece; there are pebble points both great and small. Being like this is not only mind; it is precisely this body, and should be the environment and the living beings. Therefore, one should ask, “What are walls, fences, tiles, and pebbles?” one should express it. In answering, one should answer, “The ancient buddha mind.” After maintaining and bearing it like this, one should further investigate.

What are the so-called walls? What are called walls? What specific forms and stages do they fully possess now? One should investigate meticulously. Do the walls appear from construction, or does construction appear from the walls? Is it construction, or is it not construction? Are they sentient beings, or are they insentient? Are they present, or are they not present?

Practicing and investigating in this way, even if it be in the heavens or among humans, even if it be the appearance of this land or another realm, the ancient buddha mind is walls, fences, tiles, and pebbles; not a single speck of dust has yet emerged to stain it.

Master Zengen Chūkō, when a monk asked, "What is the ancient buddha-mind?" replied, "The world collapses." The monk said, "Why does the world collapse?" The master said, "Better that there be no self." The so-called world is entirely the buddha-world in all ten directions. There is no world that is not the buddha-world. The form and aspect of its collapse must be studied throughout this entire ten-direction world; do not study within the self. Because one does not study within the self, at the very moment of collapse, being one strand, two strands, three, four, five strands, it is therefore endless strands.

Those strands, they are precisely "better that there be no self." The self is precisely "better that there is not." Do not, in this very moment, begrudge yourself and fail to make your own self the ancient buddha-mind. Truly, before the Seven Buddhas the ancient buddha-mind stands like a wall; after the Seven Buddhas the ancient buddha-mind is just born; before all buddhas the ancient buddha-mind's flower opens; after all buddhas the ancient buddha-mind bears fruit; before the ancient buddha-mind the ancient buddha-mind is cast off.

The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye, Volume 9: The Ancient Buddha's Heart The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart. The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart. The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart. The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart. The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart. The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart. The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart. The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart. The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart. The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart.

The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart. The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart. The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart. The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart. The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart. The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart. The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart. The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart. The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart. The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart. The Ancient Buddha's Heart is the Ancient Buddha's Heart.

Translated from classical Japanese based on the text established by the SAT database (Shinshū Taishōzō Taikei Database), University of Tokyo. Shōbōgenzō, fascicle 9. Eihei Dōgen Zenji (1200–1253).

Kobutsushin

Introduction

Zen Guide