Nyorai Zenshin
Introduction
The fascicle "Nyorai Zenshin" (The Tathāgata's Whole Body) from Dōgen's *Shōbōgenzō* centers on a radical redefinition of sacred presence. It takes as its starting point a passage from the *Lotus Sutra* where the Buddha instructs that wherever the sutra is taught or kept, a stupa should be erected, for there the Tathāgata's whole body already resides, making physical relics (śarīra) unnecessary. Dōgen seizes upon this statement to argue that the sutra text itself, and more fundamentally the "real form" or ultimate reality (*jissō*) it expresses, *is* the living, complete body of the Buddha. This means that the act of engaging with the Dharma—through speaking, reading, reciting, or copying the sutra—is not merely a devotional exercise but a direct encounter with the Buddha's full, dynamic being. The central argument dismantles the conventional distinction between symbolic representation and actual presence, insisting that the Dharma and the Buddha are non-dual.
Key images and terms in the fascicle serve to expand this core idea. The "seven-jeweled stupa" commanded in the sutra is interpreted not as a physical monument but as "real form" itself, a tower of immeasurable dimension because reality is boundless. Dōgen extends the concept of "relics" (*shari*) far beyond physical remains to include the sutra scroll, and further, to all phenomena manifesting reality: "the present real form of all things is the sutra scroll." He lists various types of relics—from ancient Buddhas to painted Buddhas, and even to people—to demonstrate that the Buddha's whole body permeates all existence. The discourse culminates with the assertion that the entire "three-thousand-great-thousandfold world system" is itself "a single piece of sincere mind," "one whole of empty space," and "the Tathāgata's entire body." Thus, the Buddha's lifelong practice and compassionate activity are not past events but the ongoing "living activity" (*kakke*) of reality here and now.
This fascicle is of paramount importance within Dōgen's Zen for its profound implications for practice and understanding. It collapses any hierarchical separation between the historical Buddha, the Dharma he taught, and the practitioner's engagement with it. By declaring that to venerate the sutra is to venerate the Buddha directly, Dōgen elevates the practice of engaging with the teachings—study, recitation, copying—to the highest form of communion. More broadly, by identifying the whole phenomenal world with the Buddha's body, "Nyorai Zenshin" presents a radically immanent view of enlightenment. It teaches that the practitioner's path does not lead to a distant goal but is the continuous unfolding of the Buddha's own "never once ceasing" activity within the immediate context of one's life and the universe itself.
At that time, the Buddha Śākyamuni, residing on Vulture Peak in Rājagṛha, addressed the great bodhisattva Medicine King: 'Medicine King, wherever this sūtra is expounded, read, recited, or written, wherever a scroll of this scripture resides, a stūpa of the seven treasures should be erected, made exceedingly high, broad, and splendidly adorned. There is no need to further enshrine relics. Why? Because herein already lies the complete body of the Tathāgata. This stūpa should be worshipped, revered, honored, and praised with all flowers, incense, garlands, silken canopies, banners, flags, music, and song.
Should any person see this stūpa and pay homage and make offerings to it, know that such ones are all drawing near to anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.' The 'scripture scroll' is precisely the expounding, the reading, the reciting, the writing. The scripture scroll is ultimate reality. 'Should erect a stūpa of the seven treasures' means ultimate reality is the stūpa. 'Made exceedingly high and broad'—its measure is invariably the measure of ultimate reality. 'Herein already lies the complete body of the Tathāgata'—the scripture scroll is this complete body. Therefore, expounding, reading, reciting, writing, and so forth—these are the Tathāgata's complete body.
They should be worshipped, revered, honored, and praised with all flowers, incense, garlands, silken canopies, banners, flags, music, and song. These may be celestial flowers, celestial incense, celestial silken canopies—all are ultimate reality. Or they may be the finest flowers and incense among humans, renowned robes and garments—these too are all ultimate reality. Worship and reverence are ultimate reality. The stūpa should be erected. 'There is no need to further enshrine relics'—know that the scripture scroll is itself the Tathāgata's relics, the Tathāgata's complete body. The golden words from the Buddha's own mouth—there can be no greater merit than seeing and hearing this.
Hasten to accumulate merit and virtue! If a person pays homage and makes offerings to this stūpa, know assuredly they are all drawing near to anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. When you see this stūpa, sincerely pay homage and make offerings to it. Then you will all draw near to anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. 'Drawing near' does not mean approaching from afar or coming close. It means 'all draw near' to anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. And now, when we see upholding, reading, reciting, explaining, and writing [the sūtra], that is 'seeing this stūpa.' Rejoice! All draw near to anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. Therefore, the scripture scroll is the Tathāgata's complete body.
Paying homage to the scripture scroll is paying homage to the Tathāgata. Encountering the scripture scroll is encountering the Tathāgata. The scripture scroll is the Tathāgata's relics. For this reason, the relics must be this sūtra. Even if one knows the scripture scroll is the relics, if one does not know the relics are the scripture scroll, one is not yet on the Buddha Way. And now, the ultimate reality of all dharmas is the scripture scroll. The human world, the heavens, the ocean depths, empty space, this land, other realms—all are ultimate reality. They are the scripture scroll; they are the relics.
One should receive, uphold, read, recite, explain, and write the relics to awaken—this is perhaps following the scripture scroll. There are relics of ancient buddhas, relics of present buddhas. There are relics of pratyekabuddhas, relics of cakravartin kings, relics of lions. There are relics of wooden buddhas, relics of painted buddhas, and there are relics of humans. In the great Song dynasty of the present age, there are ancestral buddhas of successive generations who, while alive, manifest relics. After cremation, many produce relics. All these are the scripture scroll.
The Buddha Śākyamuni addressed the great assembly: 'Originally practicing the bodhisattva path, the life span I attained is not yet exhausted even now; it is double the number above.' Now, the eight *hu* and four *dou* of relics are still the Buddha's life span. The life span attained through originally practicing the bodhisattva path is not limited to the three-thousand-great-thousand world system; it must be vast indeed. This is the Tathāgata's complete body; this is the scripture scroll.
The bodhisattva Accumulated Wisdom said: 'I see the Tathāgata Śākyamuni, throughout immeasurable kalpas, performing difficult and arduous practices, accumulating merit and virtue, seeking the bodhisattva path, never once ceasing. Observing the three-thousand-great-thousand world system, there is not even a spot as small as a mustard seed that is not a place where the bodhisattva relinquished body and life. Only then, for the sake of beings, did he attain the realization of the bodhi path.' Know this: this three-thousand-great-thousand world system is a single red heart, a single expanse of empty space. It is the Tathāgata's complete body.
It is not a matter of relinquished or not relinquished. The relics are not before or after the Buddha, nor are they alongside the Buddha. The difficult and arduous practices throughout immeasurable kalpas are the living activity and intimate message of the Buddha's womb and belly; they are the Buddha's skin, flesh, bones, and marrow. Since it is said 'never once ceasing,' even upon becoming Buddha, he is ever more vigorous. Even while transforming throughout the great-thousand world, he still advances. Such is the living activity of the complete body.
Shōbōgenzō: The Complete Body of the Tathāgata, Number 65
Presented to the assembly at Yoshida Peak Hermitage, Yoshida County, Echizen Province, on the fifteenth day of the second month in the second year of Kangen [1244], the cyclical year *kinoe-tatsu*. Copied in the monks' hall of Eihei Temple on the twenty-third day of the sixth month in the second year of Kōan [1279].
Original text in classical Japanese (文語). Shōbōgenzō, fascicle 65. Eihei Dōgen Zenji (1200–1253).