Kūge

The great ancestor Bodhidharma said, "The Way is a single flower blooming into five petals, and the fruit forms naturally." One must investigate the season of this flower's blooming, as well as its radiance and form. The weight of the single flower is the five petals; the blooming of the five petals is the single flower. Where the principle of the single flower penetrates is "I originally came to this land to transmit the dharma and save deluded beings." The place to seek radiance and color is precisely this investigation. "The fruit forms as you will" is said to be "forming naturally." To say "forms naturally" means cultivating a cause and experiencing a fruit.

There is a public cause; there is a public fruit. One cultivates this public cause and fruit, and experiences this public cause and fruit. "Self" is the self; the self is certainly "you," meaning the four great elements and five aggregates. Because it makes use of the person of no rank, it is not me, not anyone. Therefore, what is unnecessary is called "self." "Naturally" means permission.

"Forms naturally" is precisely the season of the flower blooming and bearing fruit, the season of transmitting the dharma and saving the deluded. For example, the time and place of the udumbara flower's blooming is like a time of fire within fire. The drilling of fire and the flame of fire are all the place of the udumbara flower's blooming, its time of blooming. If it were not the time and place of the udumbara flower, not a single spark would be born, and not a single spark would function. Know that within a single spark there are hundreds of thousands of udumbara flowers blooming in the sky and blooming on the earth. They bloom in the past and bloom in the present.

To see and hear the present time and place of fire is to see and hear the udumbara flower. One must see and hear without missing the time and place of the udumbara flower. An ancient said, "The udumbara flower blooms within fire." Therefore, the udumbara flower certainly blooms within fire. If one wishes to know the fire within, it is precisely where the udumbara flower blooms.

One must not cling to human views or heavenly views and fail to learn the fire within. If one were to harbor doubts, one should also have doubted lotuses growing in water, or doubted flowers existing on branches. Furthermore, if one were to doubt, one should also have doubted the establishment of the vessel-world. Yet one does not doubt. Unless one is a Buddha or Patriarch, one does not know the flower's blooming and the world's arising. "Flower blooming" means the former three-three and the latter three-three. To fully realize this number, it is made increasingly abundant by gathering the entire universe.

One must bring forth this principle and thereby measure and know spring and autumn. It is not only that there are flowers and fruit in spring and autumn; wherever there is Being-Time, there are certainly flowers and fruit. Both flowers and fruit maintain the season; the season together maintains the flowers and fruit. Therefore, all grasses have flowers and fruit; all trees have flowers and fruit. Gold, silver, copper, iron, coral, crystal trees, and so on, all have flowers and fruit. Earth, water, fire, wind, and space trees all have flowers and fruit.

There are flowers on the human tree; there are flowers on the human flower; there are flowers on the withered tree. Within such reality, the World-Honored One said there are flowers in empty space. Yet, companions of little learning and narrow experience do not know what the colors, light, leaves, or flowers of these empty flowers are like; they merely hear the term "empty flowers." Know that in the Buddha Way there is talk of empty flowers; non-Buddhist paths do not know talk of empty flowers, let alone realize it. However, the Buddhas and Patriarchs alone know the blooming and falling of empty flowers and earthly flowers; they know the blooming and falling of world-flowers and the like.

They know these as the sutras of empty flowers, earthly flowers, and world-flowers. This is the standard for studying Buddhism. Because what the Buddhas and Patriarchs ride is empty flowers, the Buddha-worlds and all Buddha-dharmas are precisely these empty flowers. Yet, foolish ordinary people who hear the Tathagata's saying that "what is seen by a diseased eye is an empty flower" think that "diseased eye" refers to the inverted eyes of sentient beings.

They reason that because the sick eye is already inverted, it sees and hears empty flowers in pure emptiness. Clinging to this reasoning, they think that the triple world and six paths, the existence or non-existence of Buddhas, are all non-existent but falsely seen as existent. They reckon that if this deluded, diseased film over the eye were to clear, these empty flowers would not be visible. Therefore, they take up the saying "originally there are no flowers in emptiness" as their function. Pitiful are such people who do not know the beginning and end, the season of empty flowers in the Tathagata's Way.

The principle of the diseased eye and empty flowers in the Buddha Way is not yet within the view of ordinary people or non-Buddhists. The Buddhas and Tathagatas practice this empty flower and thereby attain robe, seat, and room; they attain the Way and attain the fruit. Holding up a flower and blinking an eye are all koans where the diseased eye and empty flower manifest fully. That the True Dharma Eye Treasury, the Wondrous Mind of Nirvana, is rightly transmitted even now without interruption is called the diseased eye and empty flower.

Bodhi, nirvana, the Dharma-body, self-nature, and so on are two or three petals of the empty flower blooming into five. Shakyamuni Buddha said, "It is also like a person with diseased eyes who sees flowers in space; if the disease of the eyes is removed, the flowers vanish in space." There are not yet any students who clarify this expression. Because they do not know emptiness, they do not know empty flowers; because they do not know empty flowers, they do not know the person with diseased eyes; they do not see the person, do not meet the person, are not the person. One should meet the person with diseased eyes and thereby know the empty flower and also see the empty flower.

After seeing the empty flower, one should also see "the flowers vanish in space." To think that once the empty flowers vanish they will never be again is the view of the Lesser Vehicle. When the empty flowers are not seen, by what means could they be? They only know that the empty flower should be discarded, and do not know the great matter after the empty flower; they do not know the seed, maturation, and liberation of the empty flower.

Nowadays, many ordinary students, carried away by superficial understanding, think that where the sun's energy reaches is emptiness, or that where the sun, moon, and stars hang is emptiness. They suppose that if one were to speak of "empty flowers," it would refer to something like floating clouds within this clear atmosphere, or like flying blossoms blown east and west by the wind, rising and falling, colorful forms appearing—they think this is what is called an empty flower. They do not specifically know that the four great elements, both agent and acted upon, together with all dharmas of the vessel-world, and even original enlightenment and original nature, are called empty flowers.

Nor do they know that through all dharmas there exist the agent four great elements and so on; they do not know that through all dharmas the vessel-world abides in the Dharma-position; they only perceive that through the vessel-world all dharmas exist. They only realize that through the diseased eye there are empty flowers, and do not realize the principle that through the empty flowers the diseased eye is produced.

Know that the "person with diseased eyes" in the Buddha Way is the person of original enlightenment, the person of wondrous enlightenment, the person of all Buddhas, the person of the triple world, the person beyond Buddha. Do not foolishly take "disease" as a false dharma and study something else as a true dharma. That would be a petty view. If the diseased flower were a false dharma, then the agent and the acted upon that falsely cling to it as a false dharma would all certainly be false dharmas. If all were false dharmas like this, no principle could be established. If there is no principle of establishment, then the diseased flower being a false dharma could not be so.

When the disease is enlightenment, all dharmas of enlightenment are together dharmas adorned by the disease. When the disease is delusion, all dharmas of delusion are together dharmas adorned by the disease. Let it be said for now: because the diseased eye is equal, the empty flower is equal; because the diseased eye is unproduced, the empty flower is unproduced; because all dharmas are the true aspect, the diseased flower is the true aspect.

One should not discuss past, present, and future; one is not involved with beginning, middle, and end. Because it is unobstructed by production and extinction, it lets production and extinction be production and extinction. They are produced in space and vanish in space. They are produced in the disease and vanish in the disease. They are produced in the flower and vanish in the flower. Even all other times and places are also like this. The study of empty flowers certainly has many varieties. There is what is seen by the diseased eye; there is what is seen by the clear eye. There is what is seen by the Buddha eye; there is what is seen by the Patriarch eye.

There is what is seen by the Way eye; there is what is seen by the blind eye. There is the view of three thousand years; there is the view of eight hundred years. There is the view of a hundred kalpas; there is the view of immeasurable kalpas. Although all of these see empty flowers, emptiness is already of various kinds, and flowers are also manifold. One should truly know that emptiness is a single blade of grass; this emptiness certainly blooms, like the hundred grasses blooming.

In expressing this principle, the Tathagata says, "Originally there are no flowers in emptiness." Although it is said there were originally no flowers, that there are flowers now is like peaches and plums, and like plum and willow. It is like saying, "The plum yesterday had no flower; the plum in spring has a flower." However, when the season arrives, it is the flower time when the flower blooms; it is the flower's arrival. At this very moment of the flower's arrival, there is nothing arbitrary. The flowers of plum and willow certainly bloom on plum and willow. Seeing the flower, one knows plum and willow; seeing plum and willow, one discerns the flower.

The flowers of peach and plum have never bloomed on plum and willow. The flowers of plum and willow bloom on plum and willow; the flowers of peach and plum bloom on peach and plum. The blooming of empty flowers in emptiness is also like this. They do not bloom on other grasses or other trees. Seeing the various colors of the empty flower, one measures the inexhaustibility of the empty fruit. Seeing the blooming and falling of the empty flower, one should study the spring and autumn of the empty flower.

The spring of the empty flower and the spring of other flowers should be the same. Just as the empty flower is of various kinds, the time of spring is also manifold. Therefore, there are springs and autumns throughout past and present. To study that the empty flower is not real, but other flowers are real, is to not see or hear the Buddha's teaching. To hear the teaching "originally there are no flowers in emptiness" and study that the empty flower, which originally did not exist, now exists, is short-sighted and narrow in experience. One must advance and have far-reaching consideration.

A Patriarch said, "The flower also never arose." The full manifestation of this essential teaching is, for example, "the flower also never arose, the flower also never perished." It is the principle of "the flower also never flowered, emptiness also never emptied." One should not confuse the before and after of flower time and engage in idle speculation about existence and non-existence. The flower certainly seems to be tinged with all colors, yet all colors are not necessarily limited to flowers. All times also have colors like blue, yellow, red, and white.

Spring draws forth the flower; the flower draws forth spring.

Zhangzhuo Xiucai was a lay disciple of Shishuang. When composing his verse on awakening to the Way, he said: "Luminous stillness shines throughout the river sands." This luminosity now manifests the monks' hall, the Buddha hall, the kitchen storehouse, and the mountain gate. "Throughout the river sands" is the luminous manifestation; it is the manifesting luminosity. "All beings, both ordinary and holy, share my home." It is not that ordinary people and sages do not exist; therefore, do not slander ordinary people and sages. "When not a single thought arises, the whole substance appears." Each and every thought is precisely this.

This is necessarily non-arising; this is the whole substance fully appearing. For this reason, it is spoken of as "not a single thought arises." "When the six sense faculties barely stir, they are obscured by clouds." Even though the six faculties are eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind, they are not necessarily two or three; they should be three-three before and after.

"Stirring" is like Mount Sumeru; it is like the great earth; it is like the six faculties; it is like "barely stirring." Since stirring is already like Mount Sumeru, non-stirring is also like Mount Sumeru. It is, for example, making clouds and making water. "To cut off and remove afflictions is to doubly increase sickness." It is not that there has never been illness; there is the Buddha's sickness and the ancestors' sickness. The present "cutting off" through wisdom piles up sickness and increases sickness. At the very moment of "cutting off and removing," it is necessarily those afflictions. It is simultaneous; it is non-simultaneous. Afflictions necessarily carry the dharma of cutting off and removing. "Even directing oneself toward suchness is also wrong." Turning away from suchness is wrong. Turning toward suchness is wrong. Suchness is direction and opposition; in each direction and opposition, this is suchness. Who knows that this "wrong" is also suchness?

"Following along with worldly conditions, there is no hindrance." Worldly conditions and worldly conditions follow along; following along and following along are worldly conditions. This is called "no hindrance." Hindrance and non-hindrance should become accustomed to being "hindered by the eye." "Nirvana and samsara are empty flowers." What is called nirvana is anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. This is the abode of the Buddhas and ancestors and the disciples of the Buddhas and ancestors. Samsara is the true human body. Although this nirvana and samsara are its dharma, they are empty flowers.

The roots, stems, branches, leaves, flowers, fruits, light, and colors of the empty flower are all the blossoming of the empty flower. The empty flower necessarily bears empty fruit and drops empty seeds. The three realms we now see and hear are the five-petaled blossoming of the empty flower; therefore, it is "not like the three realms, yet seen within the three realms." This is the true aspect of all dharmas; this is the flowery aspect of all dharmas.

One should study that even the immeasurable dharmas are all empty flowers and empty fruits, identical to plum, willow, peach, and plum trees.

Master Lingxun of Mount Furong in Fuzhou, Great Song, first went to study under Master Zhizhen of Guizong Monastery and asked, "What is Buddha?" Guizong said, "If I tell you, will you believe it?" The master said, "How would I dare not believe the venerable's sincere words?" Guizong said, "You are it." The master asked, "How does one maintain and actualize it?" Guizong said, "When a speck is in the eye, phantom flowers scatter in confusion." Now, Guizong's saying, "When a speck is in the eye, phantom flowers scatter in confusion," is the very expression of maintaining and actualizing the Buddha.

Therefore, know this: the scattering confusion of the speck and the flowers is the complete manifestation of all Buddhas; the flowers and fruits of the empty eye are the maintenance and actualization of all Buddhas. The speck makes the eye manifest; within the eye, phantom flowers manifest; within the phantom flowers, the eye manifests. Phantom flowers are in the eye; a single speck scatters in confusion. A single eye is in emptiness; all specks scatter in confusion.

Thus, the speck is the complete activity manifesting, the eye is the complete activity manifesting, emptiness is the complete activity manifesting, the flower is the complete activity manifesting. The scattering confusion is a thousand eyes; it is the whole body as eye. Generally, wherever and whenever a single eye exists, there are necessarily phantom flowers; there are eye-flowers. Eye-flowers are called phantom flowers; the expression of eye-flowers is necessarily an opening and illumination. Therefore,

The Great Master Guangzhao of Mount Langya said, "How wondrous! The buddhas of the ten directions are originally the flower in the eye. If you wish to know the flower in the eye, it is originally the buddhas of the ten directions. If you wish to know the buddhas of the ten directions, it is not the flower in the eye. If you wish to know the flower in the eye, it is not the buddhas of the ten directions." If you realize this, you surpass the buddhas of the ten directions. If you do not yet realize it, sravakas perform a dance and pratyekabuddhas apply their makeup. Know this: it is not that the buddhas of the ten directions are unreal; they are originally the flower in the eye.

The place where all the buddhas of the ten directions abide is the eye; if it is not in the eye, it is not the abode of the buddhas. The flower in the eye is neither nonexistent nor existent, neither empty nor real; of itself, it is the buddhas of the ten directions. If you now single-mindedly wish to know the buddhas of the ten directions, it is not the flower in the eye. If you single-mindedly wish to know the flower in the eye, it is as if it is not the buddhas of the ten directions.

For this reason, both realization and non-realization are the flower in the eye and are the buddhas of the ten directions. The very act of wishing to know and the state of 'is not' are the present, actualized 'How wondrous!'—the great wonder. The discourse of the buddhas and ancestors concerning the principle of the flower in the sky and the flower on the ground is precisely such a display of unhindered elegance. Though the term 'flower in the sky' is heard even by sutra masters and treatise masters, the lifeblood of the 'flower on the ground' has no cause for being seen or heard except by the buddhas and ancestors. There is a discourse of the buddhas and ancestors who have known and reached the lifeblood of the flower on the ground.

The Zen master Etsu of Sekimon Mountain in the Great Song dynasty was a venerable elder at the foot of Mount Ryō. On one occasion, a monk asked him, “What is the treasure of the mountain?” The essential meaning of this inquiry is the same as asking, “What is the Buddha?” or “What is the Way?” The master replied, “Sky-flowers sprout from the earth; to cover the nation and buy them, there is no gate.” This expression of the Way should not be measured by ordinary standards. Common teachers, when discussing the sky-flowers of sky-flowers, merely say they are born from emptiness and extinguished in emptiness.

They do not yet know “from emptiness,” much less “from the earth.” Only Sekimon alone knew it. “From the earth” means that from beginning, middle, and end, it is always from the earth. “Sprout” means to open. At this very moment of suchness, it is from the entire great earth that they sprout, from the entire great earth that they open. “To cover the nation and buy them, there is no gate” does not mean there is no covering the nation and buying; it means there is no gate for buying.

There are sky-flowers that sprout from the earth, and there is the entire earth that opens from the flowers. Therefore, know this: the essential meaning is that sky-flowers cause both earth and sky to open and manifest.

The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: The Fourteenth Volume, "Flowers in the Sky."

At that time, on the tenth day of the third month in the first year of Kangen, the cyclical year kibō, I presented this to the assembly while residing at Kannon Dōri Kōshō Hōrin-ji.