Sangai Yuishin

The Great Master Śākyamuni says, "The three realms are mind-only; outside of mind there is no other dharma. Mind, buddha, and sentient beings—these three are without difference." A single phrase's expression of the Way is the total exertion of a lifetime; the total exertion of a lifetime is the full exertion of exhaustive power. Even if it is the doing of forceful action, it should be the doing of saying and doing. Therefore, the Tathāgata's saying "the three realms are mind-only" is now the full manifestation of the whole Tathāgata. The whole lifetime is the whole single phrase; the three realms are the whole realm.

It is not that the three realms are simply called "mind." The reason is, no matter how exquisitely faceted the three realms may be, they are still the three realms. Even if one mistakenly clings, thinking they are not the three realms, one cannot escape entanglement. Inside, outside, and in between; beginning, middle, and end—all are the three realms. The three realms are as the three realms are seen. What is seen by what is not the three realms is an incorrect seeing of the three realms.

Within the three realms, the seeing of the three realms is taken as the old nest, and the seeing of the three realms is made a new branch. The old nest is seeing the three realms; the new branch is seeing the three realms. Therefore,

The Great Master Shakyamuni said, "Not like the triple world, seeing within the triple world." This seeing is precisely the triple world; this triple world is as the seeing. The triple world is not originally existent; the triple world is not presently existent. The triple world is not newly formed; the triple world is not born from causes and conditions. The triple world is not beginning, middle, or end. There is transcending the triple world; there is this present triple world. This is the mechanism meeting the mechanism; this is the entanglement growing the entanglement. This present triple world is the triple world's seeing. So-called seeing is seeing within the triple world. Seeing within the triple world is seeing becoming the triple world; the triple world is seeing-become; seeing-become is a kōan. It causes the triple world to be the arousing of the mind, practice, awakening, and nirvana. This is all "I have." Therefore,

The Venerable Śākyamuni says, "Now this triple world is all my possession, and the living beings in it are all my children." Now this triple world, because it is the "my possession" of the Tathāgata, is the entire world, all of which is the triple world. Because the triple world is the entire world, "now this" is past, present, and future. The realization of past, present, and future does not obstruct "now this." The realization of "now this" obstructs past, present, and future. "My possession" is the true human body of the entire ten-direction world; it is the single eye of a śramaṇa of the entire ten-direction world. Living beings are the true body of the entire ten-direction world.

They are living beings because each and every living being is "beings living." "All are my children" is the principle of "the child is the complete manifestation." However, it is not that they are "my children"; receiving body, hair, and skin from the compassionate father without destroying or diminishing them is considered "the child's realization." Yet now, it is not that the father is before and the child after, nor that the child is first and the father later.

That father and child are not arranged in mutual sequence is called the principle of "my children." It is not given, yet this is received; it is not seized, yet this is obtained. It is not a mark of coming and going, not a measure of large and small, not a discourse on old and young. Old and young should be maintained as the buddhas and ancestors maintain old and young. There is father young and child old; there is father old and child young. There is father old and child old; there is father young and child young. Learning the father's old age is not the child; not passing through the child's youth would not be the father.

The child's old and young and the father's old and young must be thoroughly investigated and studied with care; it must not be hasty. There are fathers and children who are born and appear simultaneously; there are fathers and children who appear and perish simultaneously. There are fathers and children who appear and are born at different times; there are fathers and children who appear and perish at different times. Without obstructing the compassionate father, "my child" is realized; without obstructing "my child," the compassionate father is realized.

There are sentient beings with mind; there are sentient beings without mind. There are "my children" with mind; there are "my children" without mind. Thus, "my child," "child me," all are the legitimate heirs of the compassionate father Śākyamuni. All living beings of past, present, and future in the entire ten-direction world are all buddhas of past, present, and future of the entire ten-direction world. The "my children" of the buddhas are living beings; the compassionate fathers of living beings are the buddhas. Therefore, the flowers and fruits of all plants are the "my possession" of the buddhas; the large and small of rocks and stones are the "my possession" of the buddhas. A peaceful place is forests and fields; forests and fields are already transcended. Yet, even though it is thus, the essential point of the Tathāgata's saying is only the Way of "my child"; the Way of "their father" is not yet present. This must be investigated.

The buddha-way of Śākyamuni Buddha, and the dharma-body of all buddhas manifesting in response, also do not depart from the three realms. Outside the three realms there are no sentient beings; what then would a buddha transform? Therefore I say, the claim that outside the three realms there separately exists a storehouse of a sentient-being realm is a teaching from the non-Buddhist Mahābhūta Sūtra, it is not what the seven buddhas taught. You should clearly investigate: the dharma-body of all buddhas manifesting in response is entirely this three realms; it is without an outside. It is like the Thus Come One being without an outside, like walls being without an outside.

Just as the three realms are without an outside, sentient beings are without an outside. Where there are no sentient beings, what would a buddha transform? What a buddha transforms is necessarily sentient beings. Know this: to posit a storehouse of a sentient-being realm outside the three realms is the non-Buddhist Mahābhūta Sūtra; it does not appear in the sūtra of the seven buddhas. "Mind-only" is not one or two, it is not the three realms.

It is not departing from the three realms; it is without any error. There is thought, perception, thinking, awareness; there is absence of thought, perception, thinking, awareness. Walls, tiles, pebbles; mountains, rivers, the great earth. Mind is this skin, flesh, bones, marrow; mind is this picking up a flower and breaking into a smile. There is mind-with-thought; there is mind-without-thought. There is the mind of a body; there is the mind without a body. There is the mind before the body; there is the mind after the body.

In giving birth to a body, there are the varieties of womb-born, egg-born, moisture-born, and transformation-born; in giving birth to mind, there are the varieties of womb-born, egg-born, moisture-born, and transformation-born. Blue, yellow, red, white—this is mind. Long, short, square, round—this is mind. Birth, death, going, coming—this is mind. Years, months, days, hours—this is mind. Dream, illusion, sky-flowers—this is mind. Water-bubbles, foam, flames—this is mind. Spring flowers, autumn moon—this is mind. Haste, stumbling, falling—this is mind.

Yet it must not be destroyed; therefore, the true aspect of all dharmas is mind; mind is for buddhas alone together with buddhas.

Master Shūitsu of Gensha-in asked Master Shin’ō of Jizō-in, saying, “The three realms are mind-only—how do you understand this?” Shin’ō pointed to a chair and said, “What does the Reverend call this?” The Master said, “A chair.” Shin’ō said, “The Reverend does not understand ‘the three realms are mind-only.’” The Master said, “I call this ‘bamboo and wood’; what do you call it?” Shinō said, “Keichin also calls it ‘bamboo and wood.’” The Master said, “Throughout the whole great earth, not a single person who understands the Buddha-dharma can be found.” Now, the Master’s asking, “The three realms are mind-only—how do you understand this?”—whether one understands “how” or does not understand “how”—is equally “the three realms are mind-only.” Therefore, it must be “not yet the three realms are mind-only.” For this reason, Shin’ō points to the chair and says, “What does the Reverend call this?” Know that “how do you understand this?” is “what do you call this?” As for the Master’s saying “a chair,” consider carefully: is this speaking that understands the three realms, or speaking that does not understand the three realms?

Is it speech of the three realms, or not speech of the three realms? Is it the Way of the chair, or the Way of the Master? One must investigate the Way in this manner, testing the saying. There is an understanding to be tested, an investigation to be undertaken. Shin’ō says, “The Reverend does not understand ‘the three realms are mind-only.’” This saying, even if it is like speaking of the east gate and south gate of Jōshū, must further have a west gate and north gate. There are further an east Jōshū and a south Jōshū.

Even if there is understanding “the three realms are mind-only,” one must further investigate not understanding “the three realms are mind-only.” Moreover, there is “the three realms are mind-only” that is neither understanding nor not understanding. The Master says, “I call this ‘bamboo and wood.’” This expression must be thoroughly investigated, penetrating the pivotal point before sound and after phrase, surpassing the former and cutting off the latter. So-called “I call this ‘bamboo and wood’”—before the present “calling,” what kind of “calling” is it? Within the ever-present eight-sided radiance, are beginning, middle, and end all “bamboo and wood”?

Is the present “calling it bamboo and wood” speaking “the three realms are mind-only,” or not speaking “the three realms are mind-only”? Know that when one speaks “the three realms are mind-only” in the morning, even if it is a chair, even if it is mind-only, even if it is the three realms, when one speaks “the three realms are mind-only” in the evening, one is spoken as “I call this ‘bamboo and wood.’” As for Shin’ō’s saying “Keichin also calls it ‘bamboo and wood,’” know that even though it is the face-to-face saying of teacher and disciple, the head and tail of fellow practitioners must be upright. Even so, one must investigate whether the Master’s saying “call this ‘bamboo and wood’” and Shin’ō’s saying “also call it ‘bamboo and wood’” are the same or not the same, are right or not right. The Master says, “Throughout the whole great earth, not a single person who understands the Buddha-dharma can be found.” This saying too must be examined in detail and clearly affirmed.

Know that the Master only calls it “bamboo and wood,” and Shin’ō only calls it “bamboo and wood.” They have not yet understood “the three realms are mind-only,” nor have they not understood “the three realms are mind-only.” They do not speak “the three realms are mind-only,” nor do they not speak “the three realms are mind-only.” Yet even though it is thus, one must question Master Shūitsu: even if one speaks of “not a single person who understands the Buddha-dharma can be found,” test it and say—by what calling is it made “the whole great earth”? In general, one should undertake such investigation and effort.