Hotsu Bodaishin

The Western Patriarch said, "The Snowy Mountains are likened to the great nirvana." Know that what should be likened is likened. "What should be likened" means that it is intimate and authentic. What is called "taking up the Snowy Mountains" is likening the Snowy Mountains. Taking up the great nirvana is likening it to the great nirvana.

The First Ancestor of China said, "Mind upon mind is like wood and stone." What is called mind is mind as it is. It is the mind of the whole great earth. Therefore, it is the mind of self and others. The mind upon mind of all people of the whole great earth, and of all buddhas and ancestors throughout the ten directions, and of gods, dragons, and so on, is this wood and stone. There is no mind apart from this. This wood and stone are not confined within the realms of existence, non-existence, emptiness, form, and so on.

It is with this mind of wood and stone that one arouses the aspiration, practices, and attains realization. It is because it is mind-wood and mind-stone. By the power of this mind-wood and mind-stone, the very ground of present thought and beyond thought is manifesting. It is from seeing and hearing the wind-sound of mind-wood and mind-stone that one first transcends the lineage of non-Buddhist paths. Prior to that, it is not the Buddha Way.

The Great Master of Verification, National Teacher, said, "Walls, tiles, and pebbles—these are the mind of the ancient buddhas." One should investigate and see: where do the walls, tiles, and pebbles of the present moment exist? One should inquire, "What is this thing appearing thus so readily?" The "mind of the ancient buddhas" is not on the other shore of the Empty King. It is sufficient porridge, sufficient rice; sufficient grass, sufficient water.

Taking up what is like this, and sitting as a buddha, acting as a buddha—this is called arousing the mind of enlightenment.

Generally speaking, the causes and conditions for arousing the mind of bodhi are not brought from elsewhere; it is by bringing forth the mind of bodhi that the mind is aroused. “Bringing forth the mind of bodhi” means taking up a single blade of grass and creating a buddha, taking up a rootless tree and creating a sutra. It means offering sand to the Buddha, offering muddy water to the Buddha. It means distributing a handful of food to sentient beings, offering five stems of flowers to the Tathagata. Performing even a small good deed due to others’ encouragement, or bowing to the Buddha when harassed by demons—these too are arousing the mind of bodhi.

Not only that, but knowing the household is not the true home, leaving the household to become a monastic, entering the mountains to practice the Way, engaging in faith-practice or Dharma-practice—these are arousing the mind of bodhi. Creating buddha images and building stupas is arousing the mind of bodhi. Reciting sutras and invoking the Buddha’s name is arousing the mind of bodhi. Expounding the Dharma for beings, seeking teachers and visiting the Way—these are arousing the mind of bodhi.

Sitting in full lotus posture, making a single bow to the Three Treasures, uttering a single “Namu Buddha”—all such things, the causes and conditions of the eighty-four thousand Dharma teachings, are invariably the arousing of the mind. Some arouse the mind in a dream and attain the Way; some arouse the mind while intoxicated and attain the Way. Some arouse the mind and attain the Way amidst flying blossoms and falling leaves; some arouse the mind and attain the Way amidst peach blossoms and green bamboo. Some arouse the mind and attain the Way in the heavens; some arouse the mind and attain the Way in the ocean.

All these are arousing the mind of bodhi within the very arousing of the mind of bodhi. They are arousing the mind of bodhi within body and mind. They are arousing the mind of bodhi within the bodies and minds of all buddhas; they are arousing the mind of bodhi within the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of the buddhas and ancestors. Therefore, the building of stupas and creation of buddha images now are precisely the arousing of the mind of bodhi. It is the arousing of the mind that goes straight through to buddhahood, and should not be interrupted or abandoned midway.

This is the merit of the unconditioned; this is the merit of the uncreated. This is the contemplation of suchness; this is the contemplation of Dharma-nature. This is the samadhi of the assembly of all buddhas; this is attaining the dharanis of all buddhas. This is the mind of anuttara-samyak-sambodhi; this is the fruit of arhatship; this is the buddha’s manifesting and becoming. Apart from this, there are no other unconditioned, uncreated Dharmas. However, foolish people of the Lesser Vehicle say that creating images and erecting stupas are karmic activities of the conditioned, and should be set aside and not undertaken.

They say that calming thought and concentrating the mind is unconditioned, that birthlessness and uncreatedness are true reality, and that the contemplative practice of Dharma-nature’s true aspect is unconditioned. Such statements have become customary in India and China, past and present. Because of this, even when committing grave or rebellious offenses, they do not create images or erect stupas; even when defiled in the dense forest of worldly dusts, they do not invoke the Buddha’s name or recite sutras.

This not only damages the seeds of human and celestial realms, but they are also those who deny the Tathagata’s buddha-nature. Truly lamentable! Though meeting the time of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, they become enemies of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Though climbing the mountain of the Three Treasures, they return empty-handed; though entering the ocean of the Three Treasures, they will return empty-handed. Even if they meet thousands of buddhas and myriads of ancestors appearing in the world, they will have no chance of liberation and will lose the way of arousing the mind. This is because they do not follow the sutras and do not follow good teachers.

Largely because they follow heretical teachers and wrong guides, they are like this. The view that building stupas and such are not arousing the mind of bodhi should be quickly discarded. One should wash the mind, wash the body, wash the ears, wash the eyes, and not look or listen to such things. One should follow the Buddhist sutras and follow good teachers, take refuge in the true Dharma, and study and practice the Buddha Dharma.

The great Way of the Buddha Dharma is such that within a single dust mote there are sutras of the great thousand worlds; within a single dust mote abide immeasurable buddhas. Every blade of grass, every tree, is body and mind. Since all dharmas are unproduced, the one mind is also unproduced; since all dharmas are the true aspect, a single dust mote is the true aspect. Therefore, the one mind is all dharmas; all dharmas are the one mind, are the whole body. If building stupas and such were conditioned, then the fruit of buddhahood, bodhi, suchness, and buddha-nature would also be conditioned.

Since suchness and buddha-nature are not conditioned, creating images and erecting stupas are precisely not conditioned; they are the unconditioned arousing of the mind of bodhi, the unconditioned and non-outflow merit. One should decisively believe and understand that creating images and erecting stupas are indeed the arousing of the mind of bodhi. The practices and vows over countless eons will grow from this; it is the arousing of the mind that should not be abandoned for countless millions of eons. This is called seeing the Buddha and hearing the nature.

Know that gathering wood and stone, piling up clay and earth, collecting gold, silver, and the seven treasures to create buddhas and erect stupas is precisely gathering the one mind to build stupas and create images. It is gathering emptiness upon emptiness to make a buddha; it is taking up mind upon mind to create a buddha. It is piling stupa upon stupa to build a stupa; it is causing buddha upon buddha to manifest and become to create a buddha. Therefore, the sutra says: “When one engages in such contemplation, the buddhas of the ten directions all appear.” Know that when the contemplation of a single thought creates a buddha, the contemplation-buddhas of the ten directions all appear. When a single dharma creates a buddha, all dharmas create buddhas.

The Buddha Shakyamuni said, "When the morning star appeared, I, together with all sentient beings of the great earth, simultaneously attained the Way." Therefore, the arousing of the mind, the practice, bodhi, and nirvana should be the simultaneous arousing of the mind, practice, bodhi, and nirvana. The body and mind of the Buddha Way are the grasses and trees, tiles and pebbles; they are the wind and rain, water and fire. Turning these into the Buddha Way is precisely the arousing of the mind. One should grasp empty space and build a pagoda, create a Buddha. One should scoop up a handful of stream water and create a Buddha, build a pagoda. This is arousing *anuttara-samyak-sambodhi*.

It is arousing the single thought of bodhi mind a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand times. Practice and realization are also like this. However, to hear that the arousing of the mind is a single arousal with no further arousal, that practice is immeasurable, and that the fruit of realization is a single realization—this is not hearing the Buddha Dharma, not knowing the Buddha Dharma, not encountering the Buddha Dharma.

The arousing of the mind a hundred billion times is definitely the arousal of a single arousing of the mind. The arousing of the mind by a hundred billion people is the arousal of a single arousing of the mind. A single arousing of the mind is a hundred billion arousings of the mind; practice, realization, turning the Dharma are also like this. If it were not for the grasses and trees and so on, how could there be body and mind? If it were not for body and mind, how could there be grasses and trees? Since it is not that they are not grasses and trees, it is thus. Zazen and the discernment of the Way—this is arousing the bodhi mind.

The arousing of the mind is not one or different; zazen is not one or different; it is not repeated; it is not a prescribed arrangement. In each and every instance, one should investigate like this. From beginning to end, gathering grasses and trees and the seven treasures to build a pagoda and create a Buddha—if that, being conditioned, cannot lead to attaining the Way, then the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment would also be conditioned.

Taking up the body and mind of humans and devas in the three realms to practice—all would be conditioned, and there could be no ultimate ground. Grasses and trees, tiles and pebbles, and the four great elements and five aggregates are equally this mind-only, equally this true aspect. Throughout the entire ten-direction world, the true suchness and Buddha nature are equally the abiding of the Dharma in its Dharma position. Within the true suchness and Buddha nature, how could there be grasses and trees and so on? How could grasses and trees and so on not be the true suchness and Buddha nature? All dharmas are neither conditioned nor unconditioned; they are the true aspect.

The true aspect is such a true aspect; "such" is the present body and mind. With this body and mind, one should arouse the mind. Do not dislike treading on water or treading on stones. Simply take up a single blade of grass and fashion the sixteen-foot golden body; take up a single mote of dust and erect an ancient Buddha's stupa and temple—this is arousing the bodhi mind. It is seeing the Buddha, hearing the Buddha. It is seeing the Dharma, hearing the Dharma. It is making the Buddha, being the Buddha.

The Buddha Śākyamuni said: “Laymen and laywomen, good men and good women should make offerings to the Three Treasures with the flesh of their wives and children, and with their own flesh. Since the monks have received these faithful offerings, how could they not practice?” Thus it is understood: making offerings to the Three Treasures of food and drink, clothing, bedding, medicine, monastic dwellings, fields, and groves is precisely offering up the flesh, skin, bones, and marrow of oneself and one’s wife and children. Having already entered the ocean of merit of the Three Treasures, it is immediately of one flavor. Precisely because it is of one flavor, it is the Three Treasures.

The merit of the Three Treasures is fully manifest in the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of oneself and one’s wife and children—this is the diligent effort of practice. Now, raising the nature and characteristics of the World-Honored One, one should investigate and grasp the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of the Buddha Way. Now, this faithful offering is the arousing of the mind. How could the receiving monks not practice? Head and tail must be correct.

Accordingly, when a single speck of dust instantly arises, the one mind accordingly arises; when the one mind first arises, the one emptiness subtly arises. Generally, when sentient and insentient beings arouse the mind, they first plant and attain the one Buddha-nature. If one revolves the four great elements and the five aggregates and practices with sincere mind, one attains the Way. If one revolves grasses, trees, walls, and fences and practices with sincere mind, one should attain the Way. This is because the four great elements and the five aggregates are equally investigated with grasses, trees, walls, and fences; because they are of the same nature.

Because they are of the same mind and same life, because they are the same body and same capacity. Therefore, in the assemblies of the Buddhas and Patriarchs, there are many instances of taking up the mind of grasses and trees in practice. This is the aspect of arousing the bodhi-mind. The Fifth Patriarch was for a time a wayfarer planting pines; Linji had the effort of planting firs and pines on Mount Huangbo. At Dongshan there was an old man, Mr. Liu, who planted pines.

In such cases, they took up the steadfast integrity of pines and cypresses and extracted the eye of the Buddhas and Patriarchs. This is to realize the power of handling the living eye, the opening and illuminating of the eye. Building pagodas and fashioning Buddhas and so on is handling the eye; it is consuming the aroused mind, employing the aroused mind. If one does not attain the eye of building pagodas and so on, there is no accomplishment of the Way by the Buddhas and Patriarchs. Only after attaining the eye of fashioning Buddhas does one become a Buddha or a Patriarch. Building pagodas and so on ultimately turns to dust and earth—it is not true merit.

The training in the unborn is firm and solid; to say it is not stained by dust and defilement is not the Buddha’s word. If one says a pagoda turns to dust and earth, then the unborn also turns to dust and earth. If the unborn does not turn to dust and earth, then a pagoda also should not turn to dust and earth. What is this place here? It is speaking the conditioned and speaking the unconditioned.

The sutra says: “When a bodhisattva in the midst of birth and death first arouses the mind, single-mindedly seeks awakening, firm and immovable.” The merit of that one thought is deep, vast, and boundless; even if the Tathāgata expounds it analytically, exhausting the kalpas he cannot finish. Clearly know: taking up birth and death and arousing the mind—this is single-mindedly seeking awakening. That one thought is the same as one blade of grass, one tree, because it is one birth, one death. Yet its merit is deep and boundless, vast and boundless. Even if the Tathāgata were to analyze it using language exhausting the kalpas, there would be no limit to its end.

Just as the sea may dry yet its bottom remains, and a person may die yet the mind remains—therefore it cannot be exhausted. Just as that one thought is deep, vast, and boundless, so too one blade of grass, one tree, one stone, one tile are deep, vast, and boundless. If one blade of grass or one stone is seven or eight feet, then that one thought is seven or eight feet, and arousing the mind is also seven or eight feet.

Therefore, entering deep mountains and contemplating the Buddha Way is easy; building pagodas and making Buddha images is extremely difficult. Although both mature from diligent effort without negligence, there is a vast difference between taking up the mind and being taken up by the mind. Such arousing of the bodhi-mind, accumulated, is how buddhas and ancestors are fully realized.