Raihai Tokuzui

When practicing for the supreme perfect enlightenment, it is difficult even to encounter a guiding teacher. That guiding teacher is not one who appears in the form of a man or a woman; they must be a true person, they must be such a person. They are not someone of the past or present; they are a wild fox spirit who is a true good friend. This is the true face of one who has attained the marrow; they must be a guide and a benefit. They do not obscure cause and effect; they are you, me, and them. Once you have met such a guiding teacher, you should cast aside all conditions, not waste a single moment, and vigorously practice and pursue the Way.

You should practice with a mind, you should practice without a mind, you should practice with half a mind. Being thus, you should emulate the one whose head is on fire, you should learn from the one standing on tiptoe. If you do so, you will not be ensnared by the demonic horde of slander, and the ancestor who cut off his arm and attained the marrow is none other than this; the teacher who cast off body and mind is already yourself.

Attaining the marrow and transmitting the Dharma certainly depends on utmost sincerity and arises from faithful mind. Sincere mind does not come from elsewhere; there is no direction from which it emerges from within. You should simply make the Dharma heavy and make your body light. You escape the world and make the Way your dwelling. If, even slightly, you regard your body as heavier than the Dharma, the Dharma will not be transmitted and you will not attain the Way. The will to make the Dharma heavy is not singular. Although it does not require other teachings, I shall temporarily cite one or two.

It is said: To make the Dharma heavy means that even if it is a stone pillar, even if it is a lantern, even if it is all buddhas, even if it is a wild fox, even if it is a demon, even if it is a man or a woman, if they maintain and uphold the great Dharma and have attained my marrow, you should make your body and mind their seat and serve them for countless eons. Body and mind are easy to find; in the world they are like rice, hemp, bamboo, and reeds. The Dharma is rarely encountered.

Śākyamuni Buddha said: When you meet a teacher who expounds the unsurpassed enlightenment, do not observe their caste, do not look at their appearance, do not dislike their faults, do not consider their conduct. Solely because they revere prajñā, you should daily feed them a hundred thousand taels of gold, send heavenly food to make offerings, scatter heavenly flowers to make offerings. Three times each day, bow and venerate them, and furthermore, do not give rise to a mind of vexation. If you do so, the path of enlightenment will certainly have a place. Since I first aroused the mind, I have practiced thus, and today have attained the supreme perfect enlightenment.

Therefore, you should seek a teacher from trees and rocks, you should request a teacher from fields and villages. You should inquire of stone pillars and investigate even with walls. In the past, there was Śakra, lord of gods, who took a wild fox as his teacher, bowed, and inquired about the Dharma; he is praised as a great bodhisattva—it does not depend on the high or low status of one's karma.

Yet, foolish types who have not heard the Buddha-Dharma think: I am a great bhikṣu; I should not bow to a young one who has attained the Dharma. I have long practiced and cultivated; I should not bow to a late learner who has attained the Dharma. I am inscribed with a teacher's title; I should not bow to one without a teacher's title. I am a Dharma officer; I should not bow to other monks who have attained the Dharma. I am a monastic official; I should not bow to laymen or laywomen who have attained the Dharma. I am one of the three worthies and ten sages; even if they have attained the Dharma, I should not bow to bhikṣuṇīs and the like. I am of imperial descent; even if they have attained the Dharma, I should not bow to ministers or families of ministers. Such foolish people, vainly leaving their fatherland and stumbling on the roads of another country, thereby fail to see or hear the Buddha-Way.

Long ago, Master Zhenji of Zhaozhou in the Tang dynasty, when first arousing the mind and setting out on pilgrimage, said: "Even if one is but seven years old, if that one surpasses me, I shall inquire of that one. Even if one is a hundred years old, if that one is inferior to me, I shall instruct that one." When asking the Dharma of a seven-year-old, the old monk should bow in reverence. This is the aspiration of the sage, the mind-seal of the ancient buddhas. When a bhikṣuṇī who has attained the Way and realized the Dharma appears in the world, a bhikṣu who seeks the Dharma and engages in practice should join that assembly, bow in reverence, and inquire about the Dharma; this is the noble path of practice.

It is like one who is thirsty encountering drink.

Master Zhixian of China was a venerable elder in the Linji lineage. When Linji happened to see his teacher arriving, he stopped him. The teacher said, "I understand." Linji let him go, saying, "For now, I'll let you off with a beating." From then on, he became Linji's disciple. After leaving Linji, he arrived at Moshan. Moshan asked, "From where have you recently departed?" The teacher said, "From the crossroads." Moshan said, "Why did you not cover it when you came?" The teacher was silent. He immediately bowed and performed the ritual between teacher and disciple.

The teacher, turning it around, asked Moshan, "What is this Moshan?" Moshan said, "Its peak is not revealed." The teacher said, "What is the person in the mountain?" Moshan said, "It is not a form of male or female." The teacher said, "Why do you not transform?" Moshan said, "I am not a wild fox spirit; what would I transform?" The teacher bowed. He finally aroused the mind of enlightenment and served as head gardener for a full three years. Later, when he appeared in the world, he showed the assembly and said, "I obtained half a ladle at Grandfather Linji's place; I obtained half a ladle at Grandmother Moshan's place.

I made them into one full ladle, drank it all, and have been fully satiated from then until now." Hearing this Way now and admiring the traces of the past, Moshan was the spiritual heir of Gao'an Dayu; having the power of the lifeblood, she became Zhixian's mother. Linji was the direct heir of Teacher Huangbo; having the power of his effort, he became Zhixian's father. "Father" means dad; "mother" means mom. Master Zhixian's bowing to and seeking the Dharma from the nun Liaoran of Moshan is the victorious track of his resolute will, the customary virtue of a late learner. It can be called striking the barrier and breaking the node.

Myōshin-ni was a disciple of Kyōzan. Once, when Kyōzan was selecting a temple administrator, he asked all the senior monks and former officers, "Who is a person of true humanity?" After much discussion back and forth, Kyōzan finally said, "Shin Jun-shi, though a woman, has the aspiration of a great man. She is truly fit to be the temple administrator." The assembly all agreed. Myōshin was thus appointed as the temple administrator. At that time, the dragons and elephants within Kyōzan's assembly bore no resentment. Although it was not a position of great importance, for the one selected for it, it was a matter of self-respect.

While serving in this post at the temple, there were seventeen monks from Shu who, having formed a group to seek a teacher and inquire about the Way, came to lodge at the temple at dusk on their way to visit Kyōzan. During their evening conversation while resting, they brought up the Sixth Ancestor's story of the wind and the flag. Each of the seventeen spoke, but none of their words hit the mark.

At that time, the temple administrator, who was outside the wall, heard this and said, "Seventeen blind donkeys—it is pitiable how many straw sandals they have wasted. They have not yet even dreamt of the Buddha Dharma." A temple worker heard the administrator's rejection of the monks and reported it to the seventeen monks. The seventeen monks did not resent the administrator's rejection. Ashamed of their own failure to express the Way, they immediately composed their demeanor, burned incense, made bows, and went to ask for instruction.

The temple administrator said, "Come closer." Before the seventeen monks had even finished taking a step closer, the temple administrator said, "It is not the wind moving, it is not the flag moving, it is not the mind moving." Upon hearing this expression of the Way, all seventeen monks attained realization. They bowed in gratitude and performed the rites between teacher and disciple. They promptly returned to western Shu and never went on to visit Kyōzan. Truly, this is not something the three worthies and ten sages can reach; it is the authentic, generation-to-generation practice of the Buddhas and Ancestors.

Therefore, if the present abbot and the half-seat master lack the dharma, they should request that a bhikṣuṇī who has attained the dharma [teach it]. Even if a bhikṣu is aged and venerable, if he has not attained the dharma, what use is he? The master of the assembly must necessarily rely on clear-eyed [understanding]. Yet, those who are immersed in the minds and bodies of villagers are stubborn and there are many things even the secular world would laugh at. How much more so in the Buddha-Dharma—it is beyond words. Furthermore, there may be women and nuns who intend to refuse to bow to a dharma-transmitting teacher-monk.

This is because they do not know and have not studied; they are close to animals and far from the buddhas and ancestors. Those who deeply resolve to cast body and mind into the Buddha-Dharma—the Buddha-Dharma will surely have compassion for such people. Even foolish humans and gods still possess a mind that is moved by truth. How could the true dharma of all buddhas not have compassionate resonance with the genuine? Even in earth, stones, sand, and pebbles, there is the ultimate spiritual mystery of sincere感动.

In the temples of Great Song China, when a bhikṣuṇī is residing and there is a report that she has attained the Dharma, an imperial decree is bestowed appointing her as abbess of a bhikṣuṇī temple, whereupon she gives a formal hall sermon. The abbess and all the monks below come up to attend and stand on the spot to listen to the Dharma. The questioner is also a bhikṣuṇī monk; this is the ancient regulation. One who has attained the Dharma is a single true ancient buddha, and should not be met as someone from the past. When they see us, they meet us on the new, special ground. When we see them, we must treat them with today's "today must enter today" attitude.

For instance, if a bhikṣuṇī who transmits and upholds the Shōbōgenzō is approached by arhats, pratyekabuddhas, and the three worthies and ten sages who come to bow and ask about the Dharma, the bhikṣuṇī should receive this bow. Why should a male be considered noble? Space is space, the four elements are the four elements, the five aggregates are the five aggregates. The female stream is also thus; attainment of the Way is attainment of the Way for all.

However, all should revere and respect the attainment of the Dharma; do not argue about male and female. This is the supremely wondrous rule of the buddha-way. Furthermore, in the Song dynasty, a layperson refers to a gentleman who has not left home. Some dwell in hermitages with spouses, and others are solitary and pure. They can still be called the thick forest of worldly defilements. Nevertheless, when they have a point of clarity, cloud-robed and mist-sleeved ones gather to bow and seek benefit, the same as with an ordained master. Even if it is a woman, or an animal, it should also be thus.

One who has not even dreamt of the principle of the buddha-dharma, even if a hundred-year-old elder bhikṣu, cannot match a man or woman who has attained the Dharma. They are not to be revered. There is only the courtesy of guest and host. One who practices the buddha-dharma and speaks the Way of the buddha-dharma, even if a seven-year-old female, is immediately a guide for the four assemblies and a compassionate father for all beings. For example, it is like the dragon girl's attainment of buddhahood.

Making offerings and showing respect should be equal to that toward all buddhas and tathāgatas. This is precisely the ancient custom of the buddha-way. Those who do not know and have not received the single transmission are pitiable.

Recorded on the Clear and Bright Festival in the year Kanoe-Ne of the En'ō era, at the Kannon Dōri Köshō Hōrin Temple.

Furthermore, in both Japan and China throughout ancient and modern times, there have been empresses holding the imperial position. Their entire country is the dominion of this sovereign, and all people become her subjects. This is not about revering the person, but about revering the position. Also, regarding bhikṣuṇīs, there has never been, since ancient times, reverence for the person herself. It is solely the attainment of the Dharma that is revered. Also, when there is a bhikṣuṇī who has become an arhat, she possesses all the merits that accord with the four fruits of attainment.

Since merits still follow her, what human or celestial being could surpass the merits of the four fruits? The various heavens of the triple world cannot reach her, yet they become those who abandon her. She is an object of reverence for all the heavens. How much more so for one who transmits the true Dharma of the Tathāgata and arouses the great mind of a bodhisattva—who would not revere her? Not revering this is one's own foolishness. If one does not revere one's own unsurpassed bodhi, it is the folly of slandering the Dharma.

Also, in our country, there are daughters of emperors or of chief ministers who are treated as equivalent to the imperial consorts, and there are those who have received an imperial title as empress dowager. Among these, some shave their heads and some do not. Yet, there are monks, resembling greedy, fame-loving, profit-seeking bhikṣus, who, when they enter these households, never fail to bow their heads to these women. They are even inferior to the master's retainers, and moreover, many become servants and spend their years. How pitiful! To be born in a small, remote country and be unaware of such perverse customs!

In India and China, this has never existed; it exists only in our country. It should be lamented. To shave one's head and beard and yet destroy the true Dharma of the Tathāgata is what should be called a grave and serious karmic transgression. This is solely due to forgetting that the worldly path is like a dream, an illusion, an echo, or a flower, and it is pitiable to be bound and enslaved by women. For the sake of a futile worldly path, it is still like this.

For the sake of unsurpassed bodhi, why would one not revere what should be revered—the attainment of the Dharma? This is because the aspiration to value the Dharma is shallow and the mind seeking the Dharma is not thoroughgoing. When one covets treasure, one does not think it unacceptable because it is a woman's treasure. When seeking the Dharma, one should surpass this frame of mind. If it is so, then grasses, trees, tiles, and walls expound the true Dharma, and heaven, earth, and all dharmas bestow the true Dharma. This is a principle one must understand.

Even if one meets a true good friend, if one has not yet established this resolve and seeks the Dharma, one will not receive the moistening of the Dharma-water. One should investigate meticulously. Also, now, extremely foolish people think without changing their mind that women are objects that provoke lustful greed, and they view them as such. A child of Buddha should not be like this. If one should avoid something because it may become an object provoking lust, then should all men also be avoided? As for becoming a cause or condition for defilement, men can also be objects, and women can also be objective conditions.

What is neither male nor female can be an objective condition; dreams, illusions, echoes, and flowers can be objective conditions. There were cases where a water reflection served as a condition for unchaste conduct, and cases where the sun in the sky served as a condition for unchaste conduct. Deities can be objects; demons can be objects. The conditions cannot be exhaustively counted. It is said there are eighty-four thousand objective spheres—should all these be abandoned? Should they not be seen? The Vinaya says: for a man, two places; for a woman, three places; these equally entail pārājika, expulsion from the community.

Therefore, if one dislikes something because it may become an object provoking lust, then all men and women would mutually dislike each other, and there could never be a time for receiving ordination. This principle should be examined carefully in detail. Also, among non-Buddhists, there are those without wives. Even without a wife, if they have not entered the Buddha-Dharma, they are non-Buddhists of wrong views. Among Buddha's disciples, the two groups of lay followers have husbands and wives.

Even though they have husbands and wives, because they are Buddha's disciples, there is no other class their equal among humans and celestial beings. Also, in China there were foolish monks who made a vow, saying: "For life after life, for ages, may I never see a woman." To what Dharma does this vow conform? Does it accord with worldly dharma, with Buddha-Dharma, with non-Buddhist dharma, or with the dharma of celestial demons? What fault do women have? What virtue do men have? Evil people—there are men who are evil. Good people—there are women who are good. The wish to hear the Dharma and seek liberation certainly does not depend on being male or female.

If it is a time when afflictions are not yet cut off, then men and women are equally without cut-off afflictions. When afflictions are cut off and truth is realized, there is no distinction whatsoever between men and women. Also, if one vows never to see women, then at the time of vowing to save innumerable beings, should women be abandoned? If one abandons them, one is not a bodhisattva—how can one speak of Buddha's compassion?

This is merely the drunken, mad speech of one deeply intoxicated by the wine of the śrāvaka vehicle. Humans and celestials should not believe this to be true. Also, if one dislikes someone because they committed a transgression in the past, then one should dislike all bodhisattvas who first aroused the mind. If one dislikes someone because they might commit a transgression in the future, then one should dislike all bodhisattvas who first aroused the mind. If one dislikes in this way, one would abandon everyone. By what means would the Buddha-Dharma become manifest? Such words are the ravings of an ignorant person who does not know the Buddha-Dharma. It is lamentable.

If it were as your vow wishes, does it mean that Śākyamuni and all the bodhisattvas of his time had committed transgressions, or that their mind of bodhi was shallower than yours? One should quietly reflect. One should study whether, if the ancestral teachers who transmitted the Dharma and the bodhisattvas of the Buddha's time did not have such a vow, there is any place in the Buddha-Dharma where one could follow it.

If it were as your vow wishes, not only would you fail to save women, but also when a woman who has attained the Dharma appears in the world and expounds the Dharma for the sake of humans and celestials, would you not come to listen? If you do not come to listen, you are not a bodhisattva; you are a non-Buddhist.

Now, looking at the great land of Song China, there are monks who seem to have long cultivated practice, yet they idly count the sands of the sea, drifting and wandering in the ocean of birth and death. Even if one is a woman, if she seeks out a true teacher and exerts herself in the work of discerning the Way, she becomes a guide for humans and devas. There have been old women who sold no cakes and abandoned no cakes. It is pitiful that even among male bhikṣu monks, there are those who idly count the grains of sand in the sea of teachings, never having even dreamt of the Buddha-Dharma. In general, when encountering a situation, one must learn to be clear about it.

To learn only to fear and run away is the teaching and practice of the Śrāvakas of the Small Vehicle. If you abandon the east and try to hide in the west, there is still a situation in the west as well. Even if you think you have escaped, or even if you are not clear about it, far away is a situation, and nearby is a situation. This is still not the part of liberation. The distant situation will likely be even deeper. Furthermore, in Japan there is a ridiculous matter.

So-called places are designated as "boundaried ground" or called "Mahāyāna practice places," and they do not allow bhikṣuṇīs or women to enter. This perverse custom has been transmitted for a long time, and people do not discern it. Those who study the past do not correct it, and widely learned persons do not consider it. Some call it the doing of those in power, others label it the legacy of ancient worthies, and they do not discuss it further; if one laughed, a person's guts might break. Who are these "people in power"? Are they wise men or sages? Gods or demons? The Ten Holy Ones or the Three Worthies? The Stage of Equal Enlightenment or the Stage of Wonderful Enlightenment?

Furthermore, if one should not reform the old, then should one not discard the flowing transmigration of birth and death? How much more so the Great Teacher Śākyamuni, who is the Unsurpassed, Perfectly Enlightened One. What should be made clear, he made completely clear. What should be practiced, he practiced completely. What should be liberated, he liberated entirely. Who now could even approach the shore?

Yet, in the Buddha's assemblies during his lifetime, there were always the four assemblies: bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās. There were the eight kinds of beings, the thirty-seven kinds, the eighty-four thousand kinds. All of these formed a Buddha-realm; they were fresh, new Buddha-assemblies. Which assembly was without bhikṣuṇīs, without women, without the eight kinds? We should not wish for a boundaried ground purer than the Buddha's assemblies during the Tathāgata's lifetime, for that would be the realm of celestial demons. The ceremonial rules of the Buddha's assemblies are no different in one's own realm, other directions, the three times, or the thousand Buddhas.

Know that if there is a different Dharma, it is not a Buddha-assembly. The four fruits are the ultimate stages. Whether in the Mahāyāna or the Hīnayāna, the merit of the ultimate stages is not different. Yet, many bhikṣuṇīs realize the four fruits. In the three realms and in the Buddha-lands of the ten directions, which realm would they not reach? Who would obstruct this conduct? Furthermore, Wonderful Enlightenment is the unsurpassed stage.

Since women already attain Buddhahood, which of the various directions would not be fully penetrated? Who would presume to obstruct this and prevent them from reaching it? Since they already possess the merit of shining everywhere throughout the ten directions, how could there be boundaries? Furthermore, would they obstruct celestial maidens and prevent them from reaching it? Would they obstruct goddesses and prevent them from reaching it? Celestial maidens and goddesses are not yet categories free from delusion; they are still sentient beings in the flow of transmigration. When they have offenses, they exist; when they have none, they do not.

Human women and female animals also have offenses when they exist, and have none when they do not. Who would obstruct the path of the devas, the path of the gods? They already attend the Buddha-assemblies of the three times; they study at the Buddha's place. Who would believe and accept as Buddha-Dharma something different from the Buddha's place and Buddha-assemblies? This is merely the extreme folly of deceiving and confusing worldly people. It is more foolish than a jackal worrying that its den might be taken by a human.

Furthermore, the ranks of the Buddha's disciples, whether as bodhisattvas or even as śrāvakas, are: first, bhikṣus; second, bhikṣuṇīs; third, upāsakas; fourth, upāsikās. It is like this. This ranking is known in both the heavens and the human world. It has been heard of for a long time. Yet, the second rank among the Buddha's disciples, that of bhikṣuṇī, surpasses that of a wheel-turning sage king, and should surpass that of Śakra Devānām Indra; there can be no place they do not reach. How much more so should it not be ranked equally with the positions of kings and ministers of small, borderland countries.

Now, looking at practice places said to be where bhikṣuṇīs must not enter, farmers, rustics, peasants, and old woodcutters enter in confusion. How much more so, what king, minister, hundred officials, or prime minister would not enter? If we discuss the study of the Way and the attainment of rank between farmers and bhikṣuṇīs, what would the superiority or inferiority ultimately be? Whether discussed in terms of worldly law or in terms of Buddha-Dharma, farmers and rustics could not possibly reach the place where bhikṣuṇīs reach.

The extreme disorder is such that small countries first leave this trace. It is pitiful that the eldest children of the compassionate father of the three realms came to a small country and there were places where they were obstructed and prevented from reaching. Furthermore, the fellows dwelling in those places called "boundaried grounds" do not fear the ten evils and fully commit the ten grave offenses. Do they merely dislike non-offending people as an "offense-creating realm"? How much more do they consider grave offenses weighty. Those dwelling in boundaried lands will likely create grave offenses as well. Such demon realms should indeed be destroyed.

One should learn the Buddha's transformation; one should enter the Buddha-realm. This would indeed be repaying the Buddha's kindness. Such ancient worthies, do you know the essential meaning of setting boundaries or not? From whom did you receive transmission? Whose seal did you receive? It is said that those who enter this great realm established by all Buddhas, whether all Buddhas or all sentient beings, the great earth or empty space, are liberated from bondage and return to the source in the wonderful Dharma of all Buddhas.

Therefore, any sentient being who once treads this realm universally receives the Buddha's merit. There is the merit of non-transgression; there is the merit of attaining purity. When one establishes a single direction, the entire Dharma realm is established; when one establishes a single layer, the entire Dharma realm is established. There are realms established with water; there is establishing boundaries with mind; there is establishing boundaries with emptiness. There must be a transmission and a tradition to know this.

How much more so, at the time of establishing boundaries, after sprinkling sweet dew, after finishing the prostration of taking refuge, and even after purifying the realm and so on, a verse says: "This realm pervades the Dharma realm; unconditioned, it establishes purity." Do the ancient worthies of recent times who speak of "establishing boundaries" know this essential meaning or not? I think you do not know that within the establishing, the pervasion of the Dharma realm is established. I know: you are drunk on the wine of the Śrāvakas and consider a small realm important.

I pray that the confusion and drunkenness of recent times quickly clears, that you revere and honor the merit of the great realm of all Buddhas pervading all realms without transgression, whereby all sentient beings receive transformation in salvation and embrace. Who would not call this obtaining the marrow of the Way?