Butsudō

The ancient buddha of Caoxi once instructed the assembly, saying: "From Huineng back to the Seven Buddhas, there are forty patriarchs. In investigating this Way, from the Seven Buddhas to Huineng, there are forty buddhas. In calculating the buddhas and patriarchs, one calculates in this manner. Calculating in this manner, the Seven Buddhas are seven patriarchs; the thirty-three patriarchs are thirty-three buddhas. The essential point of Caoxi is like this; this is the correct instruction of the buddhas. Only the legitimate heir of the true transmission correctly transmits this method of calculation. From Shakyamuni Buddha to Caoxi, there are thirty-four patriarchs.

This transmission of buddhas and patriarchs is together just as Mahakashyapa encountered the Tathagata, and just as the Tathagata obtained Mahakashyapa. It is just as Shakyamuni Buddha studied under Kashyapa Buddha; both teacher and disciple are present right now. Therefore, the Shōbōgenzō has been personally transmitted directly from legitimate heir to legitimate heir. The true life of the buddha-dharma is solely this true transmission.

Because the buddha-dharma is transmitted truly in this way, it is the direct entrustment from heir to heir. Thus, the essential point and merit of the buddha-way are fully possessed without omission. Transmitted from the Western Heavens to the Eastern Land, it is one hundred eight thousand miles.

Transmitted from the Buddha's time in the world to the present day, over two thousand years, there are those who have not studied this principle and who erroneously claim that the Shōbōgenzō Nehan Myōshin, truly transmitted by the buddhas and patriarchs, is arbitrarily called the 'Zen School.' They call the patriarchs 'Zen Patriarchs' and call practitioners 'Zen Disciples.' Some call themselves 'Zen Fellows,' and some have the self-proclaimed title of 'Zen School Lineage.' These are all branches and leaves rooted in biased views.

In the Western Heavens and Eastern Land, from ancient times until now, there has never been the designation 'Zen School.' To arbitrarily proclaim this for oneself is a demon that destroys the buddha-way, an enemy that the buddhas and patriarchs do not summon.

The Forest Record of Stone Gate states: "Bodhidharma first went from Liang to Wei. He practiced walking meditation at the foot of Mount Song and leaned on his staff at Shaolin. He merely sat in serene composure facing a wall; it was not the practice of zazen. After a long time, people could not fathom his reason. Therefore, they took Bodhidharma to be practicing zazen." Now, dhyāna is but one among the many practices. How could it be sufficient to fully express the sage? Yet the people of that time took it as such, and those who wrote histories further transmitted him in the ranks of those who practice zazen, making him keep company with the lot of withered trees and dead ashes.

Although the sage is not limited to dhyāna, he also does not deviate from dhyāna. It is like the Book of Changes emerging from yin and yang, yet not deviating from yin and yang. Calling him the Twenty-Eighth Patriarch is based on counting the great being Mahākāśyapa as the First Patriarch. From Buddha Vipaśyin, he is the Thirty-Fifth Patriarch.

The Seven Buddhas and the twenty-eight generations do not necessarily establish the verification of the Way through dhyāna. Therefore, the ancients said: "Dhyāna is but one among the many practices. How could it be sufficient to fully express the sage?" These ancients had somewhat seen into people and entered the inner sanctum of the ancestral masters; therefore, this Way exists. In recent times, this would be rare and precious in the land of the Great Song. Even if it is dhyāna, it should not be called the Zen School, much less is dhyāna yet the essential point of the Buddha-Dharma.

Nevertheless, there are those who specifically call the great Way of the authentic transmission from buddha to buddha the "Zen School." They have not yet dreamt of the Buddha-Way, have not yet dreamt of hearing it, have not yet dreamt of transmitting it. Do not listen to and permit that those who style themselves as the Zen School might possess the Buddha-Dharma. Who first called it the Zen School? There has never been any buddha or ancestral master who called it the Zen School. Know that the designation "Zen School" is what Māra Pāpīyas calls it.

Those who would call themselves by the name of Māra Pāpīyas must be Māra's kin, not descendants of the Buddhas and Ancestors.

Before the assembly of a million beings on Vulture Peak, the World-Honored One held up an udumbara flower and blinked. The entire assembly remained silent. Only the Venerable Mahākāśyapa broke into a faint smile. The World-Honored One said, "I have the True Dharma Eye Treasury, the Marvelous Mind of Nirvāṇa, and I now entrust it, along with the saṃghāṭī robe, to Mahākāśyapa." What the World-Honored One entrusts to the Great Being Kāśyapa is "I have the True Dharma Eye Treasury, the Marvelous Mind of Nirvāṇa." There is no other "I have" of Zen that is entrusted to Mahākāśyapa. He says "and I entrust the saṃghāṭī robe along with it," but he does not say "and I entrust Zen along with it." Therefore, during the lifetime of the World-Honored One, the designation "Zen School" was not heard at all.

At that time, the First Patriarch instructed the Second Patriarch, saying: "The unsurpassable wondrous Way of all buddhas is attained through arduous practice over countless eons, through difficult deeds and austerities, through enduring what is hard to endure.

How could it be reached through minor virtue and minor wisdom, through a frivolous and arrogant mind, hoping for the true vehicle?" He also said: "The Dharma-seal of all buddhas is not obtained from another." He also said: "The Tathāgata entrusted the treasury of the true Dharma-eye to the great master Mahākāśyapa." What is being instructed here is the unsurpassable wondrous Way of all buddhas, the treasury of the true Dharma-eye, and the Dharma-seal of all buddhas.

At that time, there was no designation of "Zen school"; one does not hear of any cause or condition that should warrant the name "Zen school." Now, this treasury of the true Dharma-eye has been personally transmitted through a raised eyebrow or a blink of an eye; it has been bestowed using body, mind, bone, and marrow; it has been received within body, mind, bone, and marrow.

It has been transmitted and received before and after the body; it has been transmitted and received within and beyond the mind. In the assembly of the World-Honored One and Mahākāśyapa, one does not hear the designation "Zen school." In the assembly of the First and Second Patriarchs, one does not hear the designation "Zen school." In the assembly of the Fifth and Sixth Patriarchs, one does not hear the designation "Zen school." In the assemblies of Qingyuan and Nanyue, one does not hear the designation "Zen school." There is no indication of from what time or by whom this name was first applied.

It was likely applied secretly by companions who destroy and steal the Dharma, who are not among the true number of practitioners. For later learners to use this designation arbitrarily, when the buddhas and patriarchs have not yet permitted it, would damage the gate of the buddhas and patriarchs. Furthermore, it resembles there being a teaching called "Zen school" apart from the Dharma of the buddhas and patriarchs. If it exists apart from the Way of the buddhas and patriarchs, it must be a teaching of outsiders.

Since we are already descendants of the buddhas and patriarchs, we must study the bone, marrow, face, and eyes of the buddhas and patriarchs. We commit ourselves to the Way of the buddhas and patriarchs. We must not flee from this very place and study outsiders. Rarely is the human body and mind preserved and entrusted; this is the power of practicing the Way since ancient times. Receiving this grace and power, yet mistakenly supporting outsiders, is not repaying the kindness of the buddhas and patriarchs.

The Great Master Mujaku of Sekitō Hermitage on Mount Nanshan, addressing the assembly from the high seat, said to the great assembly, "My Dharma-gate was transmitted and received from the former buddhas. It does not discuss dhyāna practice or zealous exertion; it only reaches the Buddha's knowledge and vision." Know that the buddhas and ancestors who have the true transmission from the Seven Buddhas and all buddhas express the Way like this. He only manifests and expresses, "My Dharma-gate was transmitted and received from the former buddhas." He does not manifest and express, "My Zen school was transmitted and received from the former buddhas." He does not understand the various particulars of dhyāna practice and zealous exertion; he only causes one to reach the Buddha's knowledge and vision. It is not that he dislikes zealous exertion and dhyāna practice; it is only the Buddha's knowledge and vision that is reached.

This is what he established as "I have the True Dharma-Eye Treasury, which I entrust to you." "My" is "I have"; the "Dharma-gate" is the "True Dharma." "My," "I have," "my marrow"—this is the entrustment that "you obtain." Great Master Mujaku is a direct descendant of the High Ancestor Seigen; he alone entered the inner sanctum. He is the Dharma-heir who received the tonsure from the Ancient Buddha Sōkei. Therefore, the Ancient Buddha Sōkei is the ancestor, the father. The High Ancestor Seigen is the elder brother, the teacher. The hero of the buddha-way's ancestral seat is solely Great Master Mujaku of Sekitō Hermitage.

The true transmission of the buddha-way is only Mujaku's "only reaches." The fruits and particulars of the Way's manifestation are all the Ancient Buddha's "not ancient," the Ancient Buddha's "long now." This should be taken as the eye of the True Dharma-Eye Treasury; it should not be compared to anything else. Those who do not know wrongly compare him to Daijaku of Kōsei.

Therefore, know that the buddha-way transmitted and received from the former buddhas does not even speak of dhyāna practice, much less would it be a topic of discussion called "Zen school." Clearly know that to call it "Zen school" is a grave error. Inferior fellows, thinking it would be like the schools of Existence or Emptiness, lament that without the designation "school" it would be as if they had nothing to study. The buddha-way must not be like this; it should definitely never be called "Zen school." Yet, the mediocre streams of recent times, foolish and ignorant of the ancient style, being lineages without the transmission from the former buddhas, mistakenly say that within the Buddha-Dharma there are five schools with their particular styles. This is the natural decline. There is not yet a single one or even half a one to save this. My late teacher, the Ancient Buddha Tendo, for the first time took pity on this. It is the fortune of people, the attainment of the Dharma.

Our late master, the ancient buddha, once ascended the hall and addressed the assembly, saying: "Nowadays, everyone just says that the Yunmen, Fayan, Guiyang, Linji, and Caodong schools have distinct house styles. This is not the buddha-dharma, nor is it the Way of the ancestral teachers." This manifestation of the Way is difficult to encounter in a thousand years; our late master alone expressed it. It is difficult to hear throughout the ten directions; the full assembly alone heard it. Therefore, among a thousand cloud-dwelling monks, there was no ear that truly heard it, no eye that truly saw it.

How much less could there be one who raised the mind to hear it, or one who heard it in the very place of the body? Even if there were one who heard it with one's entire body and mind for millions of kalpas, there was none who raised and presented our late master's thorough body and mind to hear it, realize it, trust it, and cast it off. It is pitiful! Throughout the entire land of Great Song, in all directions, people together considered our late master to be on a par with the elders of various places.

Shall we regard those who think in this way as having the eye, or as not yet having the eye? Furthermore, some considered our late master to be on a par with Linji and Deshan. We must say that these people have not yet seen our late master, and have not yet met Linji. Before I bowed to our late master, the ancient buddha, I intended to investigate the profound purport of the Five Schools. After I bowed to our late master, the ancient buddha, I clearly understood the principle that the Five Schools are a disorderly designation. Therefore, when the buddha-dharma was flourishing in the land of Great Song, there was no designation of Five Schools.

Moreover, there were no ancients who raised the designation of Five Schools and proclaimed house styles. It is since the buddha-dharma became diluted that the Five Schools have been arbitrarily designated. This is because people's practice of inquiry is shallow and they do not engage intimately in the pursuit of the Way. If you seek the true investigation of this cloud, this water, this very reality, you must above all avoid memorizing the disorderly designations of the Five Houses and marking down the gate styles of the Five Houses.

How much less so the Three Mysteries and Three Essentials, the Fourfold Selection, the Fourfold Illumination and Function, the Ninefold Belt, and so on. How much less so the Three Phrases, the Five Ranks, the Tenfold Identity of True Wisdom. The Way of Śākyamuni, the old master, is not such a small measure; it does not take such things as a great measure; the Way is not manifested; it is not heard of at Shaolin or Caoxi. It is pitiful! Now, the bald-headed ones of the latter age who have not heard the dharma speak from their darkened bodies, minds, and eyes. Do not let the children and seeds of the buddhas and ancestors utter such words.

In the abiding and maintaining of the buddhas and ancestors, such wild words have never been heard. Later foolish teachers, having never heard the complete Way of the buddha-dharma, lacking the complete reliance of the ancestral way, being fellows dark in their fundamental share, take pride in merely one or two small points and establish such sectarian designations. Since the establishment of sectarian designations, the little children who come after, because they do not learn the Way by which to seek the source, uselessly follow the branches.

They lack the aspiration to yearn for the ancients and possess the conduct of mixing with the vulgar. Even the vulgar despise and warn against following worldly customs.

King Wen asked Taigong, “A ruler devotes himself to elevating the worthy, yet he does not achieve its benefit; the disorder of the age grows increasingly severe, leading to peril and ruin. Why is this?” Taigong replied, “To elevate the worthy but not employ them—this is to have the name of elevating the worthy, but not the reality of obtaining the worthy.” King Wen asked, “Wherein lies the error?” Taigong said, “The error lies in being fond of employing those whom worldly custom praises, and not obtaining their true substance.” King Wen asked, “What does it mean to be fond of employing those whom worldly custom praises?” Taigong answered, “If one is fond of heeding those whom worldly custom praises, one may take the non-worthy as worthy, the non-wise as wise, the non-loyal as loyal, the non-trustworthy as trustworthy. If the ruler takes those whom worldly custom praises as worthy and wise, and takes those whom worldly custom slanders as unworthy, then those with many partisans advance, and those with few supporters retreat.

Therefore, a host of the wicked band together and obscure the worthy; loyal ministers die though innocent, and wicked ministers seek rank and position through empty praise. Thus the disorder of the age grows increasingly severe, and so that state cannot avoid peril and ruin.” The worldly still lament the peril and ruin of their state and their way. If the Buddha-dharma and the Buddha-way were to face peril and ruin, the Buddha’s disciples must surely lament. The root of peril and ruin is to follow worldly custom recklessly. When one listens to what worldly custom praises, one does not obtain the truly worthy.

If one wishes to obtain the truly worthy, one must have the wisdom and strategy to illuminate what comes after and observe what lies before. What worldly custom praises is not necessarily worthy, not necessarily sage. What worldly custom slanders is not necessarily worthy, not necessarily sage. Yet, even so, when the worthy incur slander, and the false possess praise, these three points of examination must not be confused. Not to employ the worthy is a loss to the state; to employ the unworthy is a grievance to the state.

Now, to establish the claim of the Five Schools is the confusion of worldly custom. Though there are many who follow this worldly custom, few are those who know the worldly as worldly. One who transforms the worldly should be considered a sage; to follow the worldly is the utmost folly. How could those who would follow this worldly custom know the Buddha’s true dharma? How could they become buddhas and ancestors? The Seven Buddhas have been transmitted directly, one-to-one. How could they be like those fellows in the Western Heavens who, interpreting the texts literally, establish five divisions? Therefore, know this: the ancestors who made the true life of the Buddha-dharma the true life have never spoken of there being “schools” or “family gates” of the Five Schools. To study that there are Five Schools in the Buddha-way is not to be a true heir of the Seven Buddhas.

Our late master addressed the assembly, saying: "In recent years, the Way of the patriarchs has declined, and the hordes of demons and beasts are many. They repeatedly raise up the gate styles of the Five Houses—bitter indeed, bitter indeed!" Therefore, we have come to know: the twenty-eight generations in the West and the twenty-two patriarchs in the East have not yet propagated the gateways of the five schools. The patriarchs who are called patriarchs are all like this. Those who claim to establish the Five Schools, each with its own separate teaching, are a kind of people who deceive and confuse the world, of shallow hearing and meager understanding.

If, within the Buddha Way, each were to establish their own separate way, how could the Buddha Way have reached the present day? Kāśyapa too would have to establish his own; Ānanda too would have to establish his own. If the principle of establishing one's own were taken as the correct path, the Buddha Dharma would have already perished in the West. Who would revere the ancients for a teaching that each establishes for themselves?

Who would determine what is correct and what is deviant for a teaching that each establishes for themselves? If correctness and deviance are not yet determined, who would say this is Buddha Dharma and this is not Buddha Dharma? Without clarifying this principle, it is difficult to call it the Buddha Way. The designation of the Five Schools was not established while each patriarch was presently alive. The patriarchs called patriarchs of the Five Schools—after they had already passed into perfect quiescence, sometimes their mediocre followers, whose eyes were not yet clear and whose feet had not yet walked, without inquiring of the father, opposing the ancestor, came to establish these designations. This point is clear; surely everyone knows it.

The Great Teacher Dàiyuán of Mount Dàyú is a dharma-heir of Bǎizhàng Dàzhì. He dwells on Mount Dàyú at the same time as Bǎizhàng. He does not yet say that the Buddha Dharma should be called the Guìyáng school. Bǎizhàng also, from your time onward, dwells on Mount Dàyú and does not say it should be called the Guìyáng school. They are not called teacher and patriarch; know that this is called false naming. Even if one wishes to establish a school name as one pleases, one should not arbitrarily seek out Yǎngshān. If one should name oneself, one should name oneself. Because one should not name oneself, those who came before did not name themselves, and now there is no self-naming.

They do not say the Cáoxī school, they do not say the Nányuè school, they do not say the Jiāngxī school, they do not say the Bǎizhàng school. When one reaches Mount Dàyú, one should not differ from Cáoxī. One should not surpass Cáoxī, one should not equal Cáoxī. A single phrase or half a line taken up by the Way of Dàyú is not necessarily carried by two people on the same staff as Yǎngshān.

When establishing the name of a school, one should say the Dàyú school, one should say the Great Dàyú school; there is still no reason to call it the Guìyáng school. If it should be called the Guìyáng school, it should have been called so during the lifetimes of the two venerables. Not calling it so when it should have been called during their lifetimes—what hindrance caused it not to be called? Since it was not called during the lifetimes of the two, to call it the Guìyáng school, violating the Way of the fathers and patriarchs, is to be unfilial descendants. This is not the original intent of the Great Teacher Dàyú, nor is it the longstanding intention of the Elder Yǎngshān. There is no true transmission from a true teacher; it is clearly the false naming of a faction of falsehood. Let this not be heard throughout the entire ten-direction world.

Master Huizhao abandoned his family tradition of scriptural lectures to become a disciple of Huangbo. He received Huangbo's blows three times, amounting to sixty staff strikes. He went to Dayu and there attained awakening. He later resided at the Zhenzhou Linji Monastery. Although he did not exhaustively investigate Huangbo's mind, there is not a single phrase or half a phrase uttered by him establishing the transmitted Buddha-dharma as the "Linji School." He did not raise a fist; he did lift his whisk. Yet, among his disciples, the mediocre ones, immediately failing to see their father's work, failing to see the Buddha-dharma, mistakenly established the designation "Linji School." Had Master Huizhao, in his lifetime, constructed such a thing, and had it contradicted the Way of the ancient ancestors, there would surely have been prior deliberation about establishing such a designation.

Moreover, when Linji was about to show his extinction, he instructed the Chan master Sansheng Huiran, saying, "After my parinirvana, do not let my True Dharma Eye Treasury be extinguished." Huiran said, "How would I dare to extinguish the Reverend's True Dharma Eye Treasury?" Linji said, "If someone suddenly asks you [about it], how will you respond?" Huiran then gave a shout. Linji said, "Who would have thought my True Dharma Eye Treasury would be extinguished upon this blind donkey!" Such is the discourse between master and disciple.

Linji does not say, "Do not let my Chan School be extinguished"; he does not say, "Do not let my Linji School be extinguished"; he does not say, "Do not let my school be extinguished"; he only says, "Do not let my True Dharma Eye Treasury be extinguished." Clearly know this: it means one must not designate the great Way truly transmitted by buddhas and ancestors as the "Chan School," nor must one designate it as the "Linji School." Furthermore, there absolutely must not be any designation as a "Chan School." Even though "extinction" is the principle and appearance of the True Dharma Eye Treasury, his instruction is like this.

"Extinguished upon this blind donkey" is truly the "who would have thought" of the instruction. Within Linji's gate, there was only Sansheng. One must not extend this to dharma brothers and dharma disciples and line them up equally. It is precisely an arrangement under the bright window. The encounter of Linji and Sansheng is the buddhas and ancestors. Today's instruction from Linji is the instruction from Vulture Peak in the past. Therefore, the principle that it must not be called the "Linji School" is clear.

The Great Dharma Eye Chan Master of Qingliang Monastery is the direct heir of Dizang Monastery. He is the dharma grandson of Xuansha Monastery. His essential teaching exists; there is no error. "Great Dharma Eye" is his officially conferred master's title. That this title of "True Dharma Eye Treasury" should be established as the name for the "Dharma Eye School"—there is not a single word for this among a thousand words, not a single phrase for this among ten thousand phrases. Yet, despite this, his disciples later established the name "Dharma Eye School." If Dharma Eye were to teach now, he would surely eradicate this false designation, this "Dharma Eye School," from the Way.

Since Chan Master Dharma Eye has already departed, there is no one to save it from this affliction. Even if ten million years hence, those who would be filial to Chan Master Dharma Eye must not take this name "Dharma Eye School" as a proper name. This is the fundamental filial piety toward the Great Dharma Eye Chan Master.

Generally speaking, masters like Yunmen and Dharma Eye are distant descendants of the High Ancestor Qingyuan; the bone of the Way has been transmitted, the marrow of the Dharma has been transmitted.

The Great Ancestor Wuben Dashi received dharma transmission from Yunyan; Yunyan is the true heir of Master Yaoshan; Yaoshan is the true heir of Master Shitou; Master Shitou is the one son of the Great Ancestor Qingyuan. There are no two or three of equal rank; the Way's practice is transmitted uniquely and correctly. That the true life of the buddha-way still spreads in the eastern lands is due to the power of Master Shitou's unerring correct transmission. The Great Ancestor Qingyuan, being contemporaneous with the Ancient Buddha of Caoqi, transformed Caoqi's teaching activity into Qingyuan's teaching activity.

That he manifested leaving the world while in the world, enabling the world to see and hear leaving the world in that very age, must be the true heir above true heirs, the Great Ancestor among Great Ancestors. It is not that the male engages in study and the female leaves the world. Those of equal rank at that time are now preeminent. This is what students should particularly know. When the Ancient Buddha of Caoqi, incidentally using his present parinirvāṇa, was teaching gods and humans at the edge of his seat, Shitou came forward and requested a teacher to rely on.

The Ancient Buddha, incidentally, directed him to "go think it over" and did not say "go concede it over." Therefore, the Ancient Buddha's Shōbōgenzō is transmitted correctly to the Great Ancestor Qingyuan alone. Even if fellow attainers of the Way like Shendu are acknowledged, the Great Ancestor is still the true spiritual foot walking alone. The Ancient Buddha of Caoqi established Qingyuan as making his son a son. That the son has a father, and the father has a father, clarifies the attainment of the marrow. It is clear that he is the true successor of the ancestors.

Master Dongshan, precisely as the fourth-generation direct heir from Qingyuan, correctly transmits the Shōbōgenzō and opens the eye of the nirvāṇa wondrous mind. Beyond this there is no separate transmission, no separate school. The Master never showed the assembly a fist or blinked an eye suggesting it should be called the Caodong school. Also, since no mediocre people mingled among his disciples, there were no disciples who called it the Dongshan school, let alone the Caodong school. If the name Caodong school is meant to honor Caoshan, then it should also honor Yunju and Tong'an.

Yunju is a guide among humans and gods, more revered than Caoshan. I have discerned that this name Caodong is a stinking skin-bag used by fellows who wish to be considered of equal rank with them, who thus call it the Caodong school. Truly, though the bright sun is clear, it is as if floating clouds cover the frost.

Our late master said, "Nowadays many ascend the lion's throne, many are called teachers of humans and devas, yet they do not know or attain the principle of the Buddha Dharma. Therefore, those who arbitrarily establish the doctrines of the five schools, or those who err and stagnate in the phrases of words and letters, are truly the enemies of the Buddhas and Ancestors. Some, for instance, speak of the line of Zen Master Huanglong of Nanchang and call it the Huanglong school, but one must know that this lineage is not transmitted and is an error.

In general, when the World-Honored One was in the world, he never called it the Buddha school, nor did he call it the Vulture Peak school, the Jetavana school, the My Mind school, or the Buddha Mind school. In which Buddha's words is it called the Buddha school? Why do people nowadays call it the Buddha Mind school? For what reason would the World-Honored One insist on calling mind the school? Why must the school necessarily be mind? If there is a Buddha Mind school, then there should be a Buddha Body school, a Buddha Eye school, a Buddha Ear school, a Buddha Nose and Tongue school, and so on.

There should be a Buddha Marrow school, a Buddha Bone school, a Buddha Foot school, a Buddha Land school, and the like. These do not exist now; know that the name 'Buddha Mind school' is a false appellation. When Shakyamuni Buddha broadly raised up the true aspect of all dharmas in all Buddha lands and expounded all Buddha lands, he did not ask which school was established within all Buddha lands. If the name 'school' were the Dharma of the Buddhas and Ancestors, it should exist in Buddha lands; if it existed in Buddha lands, the Buddha would have spoken of it. The Buddha did not speak of it; know that it is not an implement of the Buddha lands. The Ancestral Way does not practice it; know that it is not a utensil of the Ancestral domain." Not only will one be laughed at by people, one will be prohibited by all Buddhas, and one will also be laughed at by oneself. Do not dare to call it a school; do not say there are five houses in the Buddha Dharma.

Later there was a minor disciple named Chisō who gathered one or two sayings of the ancestral teachers and called it the Five Houses schools, naming it The Eye of Humans and Gods. People do not discern this; there are those among the ranks of beginners and late learners who think it genuine and keep it hidden in their collars. It is not the eye of humans and gods; it blinds the eye of humans and gods. How could it have the merit of the True Dharma Eye Treasury? That Eye of Humans and Gods was compiled by the senior monk Chisō around the twelfth month of the wushen year of the Chunxi era [1188] at Wan’nian Monastery on Mount Tiantai.

Even if it were a later creation, if the Way were present in it, it might be permissible to listen and accept it. But this is madness, it is folly and darkness. It has no eye for study, no eye for pilgrimage—how much less could it have the eye for seeing the Buddhas and Ancestors? It must not be used. It should not be called Chisō [“Wisdom and Intelligence”]; it should be called Gumō [“Ignorance and Obscurity”].

He did not know the person; he gathered the words and phrases of those he had not met, and did not gather the words and phrases of those who are genuine persons. Know this: it is to not know the person. In the land of China, the companions of doctrinal learning establish sectarian designations because there are those of equal rank. But now the True Dharma Eye Treasury of the Buddhas and Ancestors is transmitted directly from legitimate heir to legitimate heir; there must be no equal rank, there are no peers to be mixed with it. Yet, the reckless elders of today, in their arbitrary and presumptuous schemes to rashly employ sectarian names, do not fear the Buddha Way. The Buddha Way is not your Buddha Way; it is the Buddha Way of all Buddhas and Ancestors, it is the Buddha Way of the Buddha Way itself.

Taigong said to King Wen, "The world is not the world of one person; it is the world of the world." If even a worldly person possesses such wisdom and such a Way, then how much more so for a child of the buddhas and ancestors. Do not arbitrarily, according to your own foolish whims, take the great Way of the buddhas and ancestors and proclaim your own school. It is most ridiculous and is not the conduct of a buddha-person. If a school is to be proclaimed, the World-Honored One himself should proclaim it. Since the World-Honored One did not proclaim one himself, why would there be any proclamation by descendants after his extinction? Who could be more skillful than the World-Honored One?

If one is not more skillful, it will be of no benefit. Furthermore, if one establishes one's own school in opposition to the Way of the buddhas and ancestors since ancient times, who among the buddha-descendants would take your school as their school? You should examine the past and observe the present in your study; do not act arbitrarily.

Even the wish not to differ by a single hair from the World-Honored One while he was in the world—grieving at not attaining even one part in a hundred thousand, rejoicing at what is attained, and praying not to deviate—this is the very thought cherished by his disciples. You should vow over many lifetimes to encounter and behold him; you should pray over many lifetimes to see the Buddha and hear the Dharma. To deliberately establish the name of a school, opposing the manner of teaching of the World-Honored One while he was in the world, is to be no disciple of the Tathāgata and no descendant of the ancestral teachers. It is heavier than grave transgression.

It is to fail to esteem the Tathāgata's unsurpassed bodhi in the immediate present, to be self-absorbed in one's own school. It is to slight and oppose what has come before. It should be said one does not know what has come before. It is to lack faith in the merit of the days when the World-Honored One was present. In their house, there can be no buddha-dharma. Therefore, if you wish to correctly transmit the Way-practice of learning the Buddha, you must not see or hear of the proclamation of a school.

What all buddhas and ancestors entrust and correctly transmit is the treasury of the true dharma eye, the unsurpassed bodhi. All dharma possessed by buddhas and ancestors has been entrusted by the buddhas; there is no newly added surplus dharma. This principle is precisely the bones of the dharma and the marrow of the Way.