Kankin

The practice and realization of anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi is sometimes undertaken with a teacher, sometimes with a sutra. "Teacher" means the complete self of the buddhas and ancestors. "Sutra" means the complete self of the sutra. It is like this because it is the self that is the complete buddhas and ancestors, the self that is the complete sutra. Although it is called "self," it is not constrained by notions of "I" or "you." It is the living eye, the living fist. Nevertheless, there are reciting sutras, reading sutras, chanting sutras, copying sutras, receiving sutras, and upholding sutras. All are the practice and realization of the buddhas and ancestors.

Yet, encountering the buddha-sutra is not easy. "In innumerable lands, even the name cannot be heard." "Among the buddhas and ancestors, even the name cannot be heard." "Within the life vein, even the name cannot be heard." Unless one is a buddha or ancestor, one does not see, hear, read, chant, or comprehend the meaning of the sutra. It is from studying with the buddhas and ancestors that one studies the sutra.

At this time, the manifestation of hearing, upholding, receiving, and expounding the sutra occurs at the ear gate, the eye gate, the tongue gate, the nose gate, at the place where body, mind, and objects of sense meet, at the place of arrival, at the place of hearing, at the place of speech. Those who, "for the sake of seeking fame, expound the discourses of non-Buddhists," should not practice the buddha-sutra. The reason is that sutras are transmitted and upheld by trees and rocks; they are spread by fields and villages. There is their performance throughout the dust-motes of worlds; there is their expounding opening up in empty space.

Master Yaoshan, the Great Teacher Hongdao of past generations, had not entered the dharma hall for a long time. The monastery director said to him, "The assembly has been longing for your compassionate teaching for a long time.

The mountain said, "Strike the bell." The monastery head struck the bell, and the assembly gathered. The mountain ascended the hall, remained silent for a long while, then descended from the seat and returned to his quarters. The monastery head followed after him and said, "Reverend, you just now consented to give a talk for the assembly. Why did you not utter a single word?" The mountain said, "For sutras there are sutra masters, for treatises there are treatise masters. Why should this old monk be considered strange?" The ancient patriarchs' compassionate concealment is this: for the fist there is a fist master, for the eye there is an eye master.

Nevertheless, for a while we should bow and inquire: it is not that there is no reason to find the reverend strange; I wonder, what kind of master is the reverend?

At Shaozhou’s Mount Caoxi, in the assembly under the Great Mirror High Ancestor, a monk called Fada, who recited the Lotus Sutra, came to participate. The High Ancestor spoke a verse for Fada, saying: “When the mind is deluded, the Lotus turns you; when the mind is awakened, you turn the Lotus. Reciting long without illuminating the self makes you a foe to the meaning. No-thought, then thought is just right; having thought, then thought becomes wrong. Not reckoning either having or not having, forever you drive the white ox cart.” Thus, when the mind is deluded, it is turned by the Lotus; when the mind is awakened, it turns the Lotus.

Furthermore, when you leap clear of delusion and awakening, the Lotus turns the Lotus. Fada, hearing the verse, leapt for joy and praised it with a verse, saying: “Three thousand times I recited the sutra, yet at Caoxi’s one phrase it perished. Had I not clarified the intent of the出世, how could I have ceased the madness of many lives? The sheep, deer, and ox carts are provisionally set up; beginning, middle, and end, the good is proclaimed.

Who would have known that within the burning house originally is the king of the Dharma.” Then the High Ancestor said, “From now on you may rightly be called a sutra-reciting monk.” Know that in the Buddha Way there is a sutra-reciting monk. This is the direct pointing of the Ancient Buddha of Caoxi. This “reciting” of the sutra-reciting monk is not a matter of having thought or no-thought, nor of reckoning having or not having. It is only that from kalpa to kalpa the hand never releases the scroll, from day to night there is no time of not reciting. It is only that from sutra to sutra there is nothing that is not sutra.

The Venerable Prajñātāra, the Twenty-Seventh Ancestor of Eastern India, was once invited by the King of Eastern India for a meal offering. The king then asked, "All the others are turning the sutras. Why is it only you, Venerable One, who does not turn them?" The Ancestor said, "This poor monk's out-breath does not follow conditions; the in-breath does not dwell in the aggregates and realms. I constantly turn such a sutra—a hundred thousand, ten thousand, a hundred million volumes—not merely one or two volumes." The Venerable Prajñātāra was a native of Eastern India in the land of India. He is the twenty-seventh-generation legitimate heir from the Venerable Mahākāśyapa.

He correctly transmitted all the implements of the Buddha's house. He upheld and maintained the crown of the head, the eyeball, the fist, the nostrils, the staff, the begging bowl, the robe, the dharma, the marrow of the bones, and so on. He is our ancient ancestor; we are his distant descendants. Now, the Venerable One's complete power is not only that the out-breath does not follow conditions, but also that conditions do not follow the out-breath.

Even if conditions are the crown of the head and the eyeball, even if conditions are the entire body, even if conditions are the whole mind—carrying them coming, carrying them going, and again carrying them coming—it is precisely not following conditions. Not following is complete following. Therefore, it is bumping into and knocking against. Although the out-breath is these conditions, it is not following conditions.

For countless kalpas, one has not yet known the news of the out-breath and in-breath, but because the time has now arrived when one should know for the first time, one hears "does not dwell in the aggregates and realms," one hears "does not follow conditions." It is the time when conditions for the first time investigate the in-breath and so on. This time is not in the past, nor should it be in the future. It exists only now. "Aggregates and realms" means the five aggregates. That is to say, form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness. Not dwelling in these five aggregates is because it is a world where the five aggregates have not yet arrived.

Because this pivotal point is taken up, the sutra being turned is not merely one or two volumes; it is constantly turning a hundred thousand, ten thousand, a hundred million volumes. Although "a hundred thousand, ten thousand, a hundred million volumes" temporarily raises one end of multiplicity, it is not merely the measure of multiplicity. The measure of a hundred thousand, ten thousand, a hundred million volumes is made of the "does not dwell in the aggregates and realms" of one exhalation. Even so, it is not within the scope of knowledge, whether tainted or untainted; it is not within the realm of dharmas, whether tainted or untainted.

Therefore, it is not measured by the knowledge of having knowledge; it is not conjectured by the knowledge of having awareness. It is not deliberated by the awareness of having no knowledge; it is not reached by the knowledge of having no awareness. The practice and verification of the buddhas and ancestors—the skin, flesh, bones, marrow; the eyeball, fist; the crown of the head, nostrils; the staff, whisk—is leaping and rushing.

Master Zhenji of Zhaozhou's Guanyin Temple, on account of an old woman who donated pure wealth, was requested to turn the great treasury of scriptures. The Master descended from his meditation seat, circumambulated it once, and said to the messenger, "The turning of the treasury is already completed." The messenger returned and reported this to the old woman. The old woman said, "I requested the turning of a whole treasury; how is it that the Reverend only turned half a treasury?" It is clearly understood. Turning a whole treasury or turning half a treasury is the old woman's three-volume scripture. "The turning of the treasury is already completed" is Zhaozhou's one treasury.

Generally, the conduct of turning the great treasury of scriptures is: there is Zhaozhou circling the meditation seat, there is the meditation seat circling Zhaozhou. There is Zhaozhou circling Zhaozhou, there is the meditation seat circling the meditation seat. However, all turnings of the treasury are not merely the circumambulation of the meditation seat, nor are they merely the meditation seat circumambulating.

Master Shenzhao of Mount Dasui in Yizhou, whose dharma name was Fazhen, was a successor of Master Da'an of Changqing Monastery. There was an old woman who offered pure donations and requested the master to recite the entire Buddhist canon. The master descended from his meditation seat, circumambulated once, and said to the messenger, "The recitation of the great canon is already finished." The messenger returned and reported this to the old woman. The old woman said, "I requested the recitation of the entire canon; why did the venerable master only recite half?" Do not now learn to go around Dasui's meditation seat; do not learn that the meditation seat goes around Dasui. It is not merely the perfect circle of fist and eye; it is making one circle and striking one circle. Nevertheless, does this old woman have the eye, or does she not yet possess the eye?

Even if the correct transmission from the fist says, "He only recited half the canon," the old woman should further say, "I requested the recitation of the great Buddhist canon; why did the venerable master merely toy with the essential spirit?" If she had spoken thus, even mistakenly, she would have been an old woman who possesses the eye.

The Great Ancestor Dongshan Wuben, on an occasion when an official had arranged a meal offering and donated pure wealth, requesting the Master to oversee the turning of the Great Treasury Scripture, descended from the meditation seat and bowed to the official. The official bowed to the Master. Leading the official, they together circumambulated the meditation seat one full circle, and he bowed to the official. After a long pause, he said to the official, "Do you understand?" The official said, "I do not understand." The Master said, "I, together with you, have overseen the turning of the Great Treasury Scripture.

How can you not understand?" That "I, together with you, have overseen the turning of the Great Treasury Scripture" is clear. It is not that learning circumambulating the meditation seat as overseeing the turning of the Great Treasury Scripture is mistaken; it is that [those who] do not understand overseeing the turning of the Great Treasury Scripture as circumambulating the meditation seat are mistaken. Even so, one should listen carefully to the Great Ancestor's compassionate obscurity.

This incident is what the Ancient Buddha, my late teacher, cited when he was residing at Mount Tiantong, on the occasion when a donor from the Goryeo kingdom entered the mountain to donate wealth, the assembly performed scripture reading, and they requested my late teacher to ascend the seat. Finishing the citation, my late teacher immediately used his whisk to draw a large circle one full time and said, "Today, Tiantong, together with you, oversees the turning of the Great Treasury Scripture." Then he threw down the whisk and descended from the seat. Now, one should oversee the turning of my late teacher's expression of the Way; it should not be compared to others.

Even so, in overseeing the turning of the Great Treasury Scripture, does one use one whole eye, or does one use half an eye? The Great Ancestor's expression of the Way and my late teacher's expression of the Way—how much have they used the eye-organ, how much have they used the tongue-organ? Investigate and discern thoroughly.

The ancient ancestor, Great Master Yaoshan Hongdao, ordinarily did not permit people to read sutras. One day, he took up a sutra and read it himself. Thereupon, a monk asked, "Venerable, you ordinarily do not permit people to read sutras. Why then do you read one yourself?" The master said, "I only want to cover my eyes." The monk said, "May I learn from you, Venerable?" The master said, "If you read, you must pierce even the cow's hide." Now, the Way of my wanting to cover the eyes is the place where covering the eyes is its own Way. Covering the eyes is losing the eye. It is losing the sutra. It is the eye entirely covered. It is covering entirely.

Covering the eyes is opening the eye within covering. It is the living eye within covering. It is the living cover within the eye. It is adding one more skin upon the eyelid. It is picking up the eye within covering. The eye itself picks up the covering. Therefore, if the eye is not the sutra, the merit of covering the eyes does not yet exist. "You must pierce even the cow's hide" is the whole cow's hide. It is the whole-hide cow. It is picking up the cow and making it hide.

For this reason, skin, flesh, bones, marrow, head, horns, and nostrils are made the living activity of the ox. When learning from the Venerable, making the cow the eye is covering the eyes; it is making the eye the cow.

Master Chifu Dōsen said, “The merit of making offerings to billions of buddhas is boundless, yet how can it compare to constantly studying the ancient teachings? On white paper, black characters are written; I ask you, open your eyes and see them right before you.” Know this: making offerings to the ancient buddhas and studying the ancient teachings—their merit and virtue are equal, their merit and virtue surpass. What is called the ancient teachings: black characters written on white paper—who knows this as the ancient teachings? You should investigate and penetrate this very principle.

Master Hongjue of Yunju Mountain, there being a monk in his room reciting a sutra, asked through the window, "Oshō, what sutra is that which you are reciting?" The monk replied, "The Vimalakīrti Sutra." The master said, "I am not asking you about the Vimalakīrti Sutra. What sutra is that which you are reciting?" This monk from this attained entry. The master's saying "What sutra is that which you are reciting?" is one thread of recitation, of profound and distant ages; it is not wishing to raise up a likeness to recitation. On the road, one meets a dead snake; therefore, the question "what sutra?" appears complete.

Meeting a person, one does not raise up erroneously; therefore, it is the Vimalakīrti Sutra. Generally, to read a sutra is to gather together and grasp all buddhas and ancestors, making them into an eye and reading the sutra. Precisely at such a time, immediately, buddhas and ancestors become buddhas, preach the dharma, speak of buddhas, and make buddhas. If it is not the time of this sutra reading, the top of the head and the face of buddhas and ancestors have not yet appeared.

In the assemblies of present-day buddhas and ancestors, there are various protocols for sutra reading. These include: a donor entering the monastery and inviting the assembly to read sutras; or the regular invitation of monks for rotating sutra reading; or monks spontaneously arousing the mind to read sutras. Beyond these, there is also sutra reading performed by the assembly for deceased monks. When a donor enters the monastery to invite monks for sutra reading, from the morning gruel time of that day, the hall manager beforehand hangs the sutra-reading placard in front of the monks' hall and at the common quarters. After gruel, a prostration mat is spread before the holy monk.

When the time arrives, the bell in front of the monks' hall is struck three times, or sometimes once, following the abbot's direction. When the bell sounds cease, the head monk and the assembly don their kāṣāya, enter the cloud hall, proceed to their assigned seats, and sit facing forward. Next, the abbot enters the hall, faces the holy monk, makes a greeting, offers incense, and then sits in his place. Next, a novice is made to circulate the sutras.

These sutras are prepared beforehand in the storeroom, arranged and set aside, and when the time comes, they are offered and presented. The sutras are sometimes circulated still in their sutra cases, and sometimes placed on a tray for circulation. Once the assembly has received the sutras, they immediately open and read them. At this time, the guest manager leads the donor and enters the cloud hall. The donor, just outside the cloud hall, takes a hand-incense burner and, holding it aloft, enters the hall. The hand-incense burner is in the public area of the monastery gate.

Incense is prepared beforehand, and a postulant is made to wait in front of the cloud hall; just as the donor is about to enter the hall, it is handed to the donor upon request. The requesting of the hand-incense burner is done by the guest manager. When entering the hall, the guest manager goes first, the donor follows, entering from the southern side of the front door of the cloud hall. The donor, arriving before the holy monk, offers one stick of incense and makes three prostrations. During the prostrations, the donor holds the hand-incense burner while prostrating.

During the prostrations, the guest manager stands on the north side of the prostration mat, facing south, slightly toward the donor, with hands folded. When the donor's prostrations are finished, the donor turns to the right, faces the abbot, holds up the hand-incense burner, bends forward, and makes a bow. The abbot, while sitting on his chair, holds up the sutra, joins his palms, and receives the bow. The donor next faces north and makes a bow. After bowing, the donor circumambulates the hall starting from in front of the head monk. During the circumambulation, the guest manager leads the way.

After circumambulating one full round and arriving before the holy monk, the donor again faces the holy monk, holds up the hand-incense burner, and makes a bow. At this time, the guest manager stands inside the threshold of the cloud hall door, on the south side of the prostration mat, facing north with hands folded. The donor, having finished bowing to the holy monk, follows the guest manager and exits to the front of the cloud hall, circumambulates one round in front of the hall, then again enters the cloud hall, faces the holy monk, and makes three prostrations.

After prostrating, the donor takes a folding chair and witnesses the sutra reading. The folding chair is set up facing south near the left pillar of the holy monk. Or sometimes it is set up near the southern pillar, facing north. Once the donor has taken a seat, the guest manager should bow to the donor and then take his own seat. Sometimes, during the donor's circumambulation, there is Brahmā sound chanting. The seat for the Brahmā sound is sometimes to the right of the holy monk, sometimes to the left, as appropriate. In the hand-incense burner, famous incense such as aloeswood or ledgerwood is inserted, and it is lit. This incense is prepared by the donor themselves.

When the donor circumambulates, the assembly of monks joins their palms. Next, sutra-reading money is distributed. The amount of money is according to the donor's mind. Sometimes goods such as silk floss or fans are distributed. The donor personally distributes them, or the administrative officers distribute them, or a postulant distributes them. The method of distribution is to place it in front of the monk; it is not put into the monk's hand.

When the donation money is distributed before them, each monk joins their palms and receives it. The distribution money is sometimes distributed at the midday meal time on that day. If it is distributed at meal time, after the head monk offers the food, the wooden hammer is struck once more, and the head monk distributes the wealth. The donor's dedicatory purpose is written on a slip of paper and pasted on the left pillar of the holy monk. During sutra reading inside the cloud hall, one does not read aloud but reads in a low voice. Or sometimes one merely opens the sutra scroll and looks at the characters. It does not extend to parsing phrases; it is simply reading the sutra.

In such sutra reading, often many hundreds or thousands of volumes of sutras such as the Diamond Sūtra, the "Universal Gate" and "Peaceful Practices" chapters of the Lotus Sūtra, and the Golden Light Sūtra are kept ready at the monastery. Each monk reads one volume. When the sutra reading is finished, the original tray or case is carried past the front of the seats, and each member of the assembly puts away their sutra. Both when taking and when putting away, they join their palms.

When taking, they first join their palms and then take it. When putting away, they first put away the sutra and then join their palms. After that, each joins their palms and dedicates the merit in a low voice. In sutra reading for the monastery's public community, the monks of the capital's official temples offer incense, make prostrations, circumambulate, and distribute money, all like a donor. Holding up the hand-incense burner is also like a donor. If among the assembly of monks someone becomes a donor and invites the assembly for sutra reading, it is also like a lay donor. There is offering incense, making prostrations, circumambulating, distributing money, and so on. The guest manager leading them should be as with a lay donor.

There is a practice known as the "Imperial Birthday Sutra Recitation." For this, if the current emperor's sacred birthday were, for instance, the fifteenth day of the first month, the Imperial Birthday Sutra Recitation would begin first from the fifteenth day of the twelfth month. On this day, there is no formal hall address. In front of the Śākyamuni Buddha in the Buddha Hall, meditation platforms are laid out in two rows. That is to say, they face each other east and west, each laid out in north-south lines. In front of the east and west platforms, reading stands are set up. Sutras are placed upon them.

These are sutras such as the Diamond Sūtra, the Benevolent Kings Sūtra, the Lotus Sūtra, the Sovereign Kings Sūtra, and the Golden Light Sūtra. Monks for the hall are invited, a certain number of monks per day, and a light meal is offered before the midday meal. Sometimes, each monk is given one bowl of noodles and one cup of broth. Sometimes, each monk is given six or seven steamed buns and a serving of broth. The buns are also placed in bowls. Chopsticks are provided, but spoons are not.

When this is offered, it is done while the monks are seated for sutra recitation, without leaving their seats. The light meal is arranged on the reading stands that hold the sutras. No additional small tables are brought. During the serving of the light meal, the sutras remain placed on the reading stands. When the serving of the light meal is concluded, each monk rises from his seat, rinses his mouth, and returns to his seat. They then recite the sutras. They recite sutras from after the morning gruel until the time of the midday meal. At the time of the midday meal, when the third drum sounds, they rise from their seats.

Today's sutra recitation is limited to the time of the midday meal. From the starting day, a plaque for "Establishing the Ceremonial Site for Celebrating the Sage" is hung on the east eave-end of the front side of the Buddha Hall; this is a yellow plaque. Also, on the east pillar of the interior front side of the Buddha Hall, the purpose of "Celebrating the Sage" is written on a papered plaque and hung; this too is a yellow plaque. The name of the abbot is written on red paper or white paper.

These two characters are written on a small piece of paper and pasted below the year, month, and day on the face of the plaque. In this way, they recite sutras, and when they reach the day of the imperial birth, the abbot gives a formal hall address and celebrates the sage. This is the tradition since ancient times. It is a practice that continues unbroken to the present. Also, there are monks who, of their own aspiration, undertake sutra recitation. Monasteries originally have a public sutra-recitation hall. They use that hall for sutra recitation. Its procedure is as described in the Pure Regulations now.

The Great Ancestor, Master Yaoshan Hongdao, asked the novice Gao, "Did you attain it from reading sutras, or from seeking instruction?" The novice Gao said, "I did not attain it from reading sutras, nor did I attain it from seeking instruction." The Master said, "There are many people who do not read sutras and do not seek instruction. Why do they not attain it?" The novice Gao said, "It is not that they lack it, only that they are unwilling to undertake it." Within the house of the buddhas and ancestors, there is undertaking and there is not undertaking. Nevertheless, reading sutras and seeking instruction are the everyday utensils of the home.