Kesa kudoku

The Buddhas and patriarchs have authentically transmitted the method of the robe. The one who truly transmitted it in China is none other than the Great Ancestor of Songshan. This Great Ancestor is the twenty-eighth patriarch since Buddha Shākyamuni. In the Western Heavens, the transmission passed from master to disciple for twenty-eight generations. The twenty-eighth patriarch entered China and became its first patriarch. In China, after five transmissions, one arrives at Caoxi; this is the thirty-third patriarch, called the Sixth Patriarch. The thirty-third patriarch, Chan Master Dajian, received this method of the robe at Huangmeishan in the middle of the night, protected and preserved it his whole life, and it is still today kept at Baolin Temple on Mount Caoxi.

Successive emperors have in turn invited it to the imperial palace to venerate and pay homage to it, for it is a sacred object protected by deities. Emperors Zhongzong, Suzong, and Daizong of the Tang dynasty frequently brought it back to the palace to venerate it. When they invited it or sent it back, they specially dispatched an imperial envoy with an edict. Emperor Daizong, in an edict accompanying the return of the Buddha's robe to Mount Caoxi, declared: "We now send the great general Liu Chongjing, who will carry it on his head to return it. We regard it as a national treasure. You [the abbot] must preserve it in your original temple, and order the monks who have directly received the teaching of the school to strictly protect it, without letting it be lost or damaged."

Truly, rather than ruling over countless worlds as vast as the sands of the Ganges, to be a king in a small country where the Buddha's robe is present, to see it, hear of it, and venerate it, would be the best of births within the cycle of life and death. Wherever the Buddha's influence extends, throughout these three thousand worlds, what place would be devoid of the kāṣāya? However, those who have received the Buddha's kāṣāya through direct transmission, face-to-face, from master to disciple, are only the ancient patriarchs of Songshan. The collateral lineages did not receive the Buddha's kāṣāya. Although the collateral lineage of the twenty-seventh patriarch, transmitted by Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla, reached Master Zhao, it did not authentically transmit the Buddha's kāṣāya. Although the fourth patriarch in China also transmitted to Chan Master Farong of Niutoushan, he did not authentically transmit the Buddha's kāṣāya to him.

Thus, even without direct transmission from master to disciple, the true dharma of the Tathāgata is not in vain; its benefits are immense for all times. But if one receives direct transmission from master to disciple, it cannot be compared to the absence of transmission.

Therefore, if humans and gods receive and keep the kāṣāya, they must receive it through the authentic transmission passed down by the Buddhas and patriarchs. In India and China, in the era of the true dharma and the formal dharma, even laypeople received and kept the kāṣāya. But today, in these times of decline in distant and peripheral regions, those who shave their heads and beards and call themselves disciples of the Buddha neither receive nor keep the kāṣāya; they do not even believe they should receive it, they do not know it, do not understand it. It is lamentable. How could they know its form, color, and dimensions? How could they know the manner of wearing it?

The kāṣāya has long been called the "robe of liberation." Karmic obstacles, obstacles of passions, obstacles of retribution—all must be liberated through it. If a dragon receives even a single thread of it, it escapes the three heats. If an ox rubs it against a horn, its crime erases itself. When the Buddhas attain awakening,

they always wear the kāṣāya. Know that this is said to be the most venerable and supreme merit.

Indeed, we are born in a peripheral land and encounter the age of the final dharma, which can be lamented. But to encounter the method of the robe transmitted directly from Buddha to Buddha, from master to disciple, what immense joy! What family, what lineage can boast of having authentically transmitted, like us, the robe of Buddha Shākyamuni? Encountering it, who would not venerate and honor it? Even if one were to sacrifice innumerable lives like the sands of the Ganges in a single day, one must venerate it. One must even make the vow, life after life, to encounter it, to wear it on the head, and to venerate it with respect.

Although we are separated from the Buddha's birthplace by more than a hundred thousand leagues of mountains and distant seas difficult to cross, where our past karmic affinities lead us, mountains and seas do not obstruct, and the ignorance of remote regions is not rejected. Encountering this true dharma, we practice it day and night without ceasing. Receiving this kāṣāya, we constantly wear it on the head and protect it. It is not only that we have practiced merits with one or two Buddhas; it is as if we have practiced all kinds of merits with innumerable Buddhas like the sands of the Ganges. Even if it is ourselves, we must revere it and rejoice in it. We must deeply thank the great benevolence of the patriarchs who transmitted the dharma. Animals know how to repay kindness, how could humans ignore gratitude? One who ignores gratitude is more foolish than a beast.

The merits of this Buddha's robe and this Buddha's dharma, those who are not the patriarchs who transmitted the true dharma of the Buddha do not understand them, do not know them. If one aspires to follow the trace of the Buddhas, one must precisely rejoice in it. Even after a hundred thousand generations, one must regard this authentic transmission as the authentic transmission. This is the Buddha's dharma, the proof will be fresh and new. This cannot be compared to mixing water with milk. It is like the enthronement of the crown prince. Even if it were milk mixed with water, at the moment of using milk, if there is no other milk than this, one must use it.

Even unmixed with water, one cannot use oil, nor lacquer, nor alcohol. This authentic transmission is thus. Even if the master is ordinary and mediocre, if he possesses the authentic transmission, it is the moment to use the good milk. All the more so, the authentic transmission of the Buddhas and patriarchs is like the enthronement of the crown prince. Even laypeople say: "One does not wear a garment that is not the ritual garment of the ancient kings." How could a son of the Buddha wear what is not the Buddha's robe?

Since the tenth year of the Yongping era of Emperor Ming of the Later Han, monks and laypeople have ceaselessly succeeded one another, traveling between the Western Heavens and the lands of the East. Yet, it is not said that they encountered in the West the patriarchs of the authentic transmission of the Buddhas and patriarchs. There is no lineage of direct transmission face-to-face since the Tathāgata. They only followed masters of sūtras and treatises, bringing the teachings of the sūtras in Sanskrit. It is not said that they encountered the patriarchs of the authentic transmission of the Buddha's dharma, nor that there were patriarchs transmitting the Buddha's kāṣāya. It is clearly known that they did not enter the depths of the Buddha's dharma. Such people do not understand the principle of the authentic transmission of the Buddhas and patriarchs.

The Tathāgata Shākyamuni, when he transmitted the Treasury of the Eye of the True

The Dharma and the unsurpassed bodhi to the venerable Mahākāśyapa, also simultaneously transmitted the kāṣāya of the authentic transmission of the Buddha. Transmitted directly from master to disciple up to the Chan master Dajian of Mount Caoxi, this makes thirty-three generations. Its form, color, and dimensions have been transmitted directly. Since then, the descendants in the Dharma of Qingyuan and Nanyue have faithfully transmitted the method, have prepared the Dharma of the patriarchs, have fabricated the Dharma of the patriarchs. The method of washing and the method of receiving and keeping, if one has not studied in the sanctuary of the direct transmission firsthand, one does not know them.

The kāṣāya refers to the three robes: the five-panel robe, the seven-panel robe, and the great robe of nine panels or more. Those of superior practice receive only these three robes, do not possess others, use only these three robes, which suffice to meet the needs of the body.

For activities and work, important or minor comings and goings, one wears the five-panel robe. To accomplish good deeds and enter the assembly, one wears the seven-panel robe. To teach humans and gods and inspire respect and faith in them, one must wear the great robe of nine panels or more.

Furthermore, in private, one wears the five-panel robe; at the moment of entering the assembly, one wears the seven-panel robe. If one enters the royal palace or a village, one must wear the great robe.

Again, when it is mild and warm, one wears the five-panel robe; when it is cold, one adds the seven-panel robe; when the cold is intense and severe, one adds the great robe.

Thus, formerly, in the middle of winter, at night, the sky was so cold it split the bamboo. The Tathāgata, in the first part of the night, wore the five-panel robe. As the night advanced, it grew colder, he added the seven-panel robe. In the last part of the night, the cold intensifying further, he added the great robe.

The Buddha then thought: "In future times, for those who cannot bear the suffering of the cold, the good sons will be able, with these three robes, to sufficiently cover their bodies."

The method for donning the kāṣāya: Uncovering the right shoulder is the usual method. There is also the method of wearing it on both shoulders, which is the ceremonial of the Tathāgata and the ancient venerables. Even when wearing it on both shoulders, there are times when the chest is uncovered, and times when it is covered. Wearing on both shoulders concerns the great kāṣāya of sixty panels or more. When donning the kāṣāya, the two ends are overlapped and crossed over the left shoulder and arm. The front end is passed over the left end and hangs outside the arm. For the great kāṣāya, the front end is passed over the left shoulder and hangs down the back. There are, moreover, various methods for donning the kāṣāya; one must study them at length under a master.

From the Liang, Chen, Sui, Tang dynasties to the Song, over several hundred years, many scholars of the two vehicles, rejecting the study of sūtras as vain, understanding that it does not lead to the ultimate, stepped forward to study the Dharma of the authentic transmission of the Buddhas and patriarchs. They then necessarily rejected their old corrupted robes and received the kāṣāya of the authentic transmission of the Buddhas and patriarchs. This is precisely abandoning error and returning to correctness.

The true Dharma of the Tathāgata, the Western Heavens are its original source. From all time, many masters have rejected the narrow and limited views of the feelings and measures of ordinary beings. Since the world of the Buddhas and the world of sentient beings are neither limited nor unlimited, the teachings, practices, principles, and realities

The great and small vehicles cannot enter the limited measures of ordinary beings today. Yet, to vainly neglect the Western Heavens as the source, and in China, now invent new limited and narrow views and consider them the dharma of the Buddha—this cannot be reasonable.

Thus, those who today produce the mind of awakening, if they are to receive and keep the kāṣāya, must receive the kāṣāya of authentic transmission. One must not receive a newly fabricated kāṣāya according to one's own conceptions. The kāṣāya of authentic transmission is that transmitted authentically since Shaolin and Caoxi, the direct transmission from master to disciple of the Tathāgata. Not a single generation is missing from it. That which is worn by the descendants in the dharma is the kāṣāya of authentic transmission. The new fabrications of the Tang are not the authentic transmission. In all times, the kāṣāya worn by monks coming from the Western Heavens are all worn as the kāṣāya of authentic transmission of the Buddhas and patriarchs. Not a single one resembles the kāṣāya fabricated by the companions of the newly created disciplinary studies in China. Ignorant companions believe in the kāṣāya of disciplinary studies; the clear-sighted reject them.

In general, the merits of the kāṣāya transmitted by the Buddhas and patriarchs are clear and easy to believe and receive. The authentic transmission has indeed been transmitted from master to disciple. The original model has been transmitted directly; it is present today. Those who have received and kept it, successors in the dharma, have come down to the present. The patriarchs who have kept it are all masters who have realized accord and transmitted the dharma.

Thus, one must fabricate the kāṣāya according to the method of fabrication of the kāṣāya of authentic transmission of the Buddhas and patriarchs. Precisely because it is the authentic transmission. This is what ordinary beings, sages, humans, gods, dragons, and spirits have long realized and known. Encountering the propagation of this method, even for an instant, a kṣaṇa, if one covers one's body with the kāṣāya and keeps it, it immediately becomes the protective talisman that ensures the realization of unsurpassable bodhi. If one imbues one's body and mind with a phrase or a gāthā, it becomes a seed of light for long kalpas, ultimately leading to unsurpassable bodhi.

Imbuing one's body and mind with a dharma, a good action, is also thus. Although the thoughts of the mind arise and perish instantaneously and are without abode, although the body arises and perishes instantaneously and is without abode, the merits practiced will certainly have their moment of maturation and liberation. The kāṣāya is neither fabricated nor non-fabricated, neither with abode nor without abode, although only the Buddha with the Buddha exhausts its understanding, the practitioner who receives and keeps it will certainly see the merits obtained from it accomplished, reaching the ultimate.

One who has no past karmic affinities, even if they traverse one life, two lives, countless lives, cannot see the kāṣāya, wear it, believe and receive it, understand and know it. Seeing China and Japan today, some manage to don the kāṣāya once on their body, others do not. This depends neither on nobility nor baseness, nor on stupidity or wisdom. One understands that it depends on past karmic affinities.

Thus, if one receives and keeps the kāṣāya, one must rejoice in past karmic affinities, not doubt the accumulation of merits and virtues. If one has not yet obtained it, one must wish for it, hasten in this life to create for the first time the causes. Those who, hindered, cannot receive and keep it, must feel shame and repentance toward the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma, the Saṅgha.

gha. How many beings in other countries wish that in their country, as in China, the robe and dharma of the Tathāgata were authentically transmitted and directly present! Those whose country lacks the authentic transmission should deeply feel ashamed, sorrowful, and regretful. What fortune do we have to encounter the dharma where the robe and dharma of the Tathāgata, the Blessed One of the world, are authentically transmitted? This is the great power of the merits of prajñā cultivated in past lives.

Today, in these evil times of the final dharma, those who are not ashamed of lacking the authentic transmission, who envy those who have it, are probably followers of Māra. What one possesses and where one resides now, driven by past actions, is not reality. Only taking refuge in and venerating the dharma of the Buddha of authentic transmission is the true refuge of one who studies the Buddha.

In general, know that the kāṣāya is what the Buddhas venerate and respect. It is the body of the Buddha, it is the mind of the Buddha. It is called the robe of liberation, the robe-field of merits, the markless robe, the unsurpassed robe, the robe of patience, the robe of the Tathāgata, the robe of great compassion, the robe of the victorious banner, the robe of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. Precisely thus should it be received, kept, and worn on the head. Because it is thus, it should not be renewed according to one's own mind.

The cloth of the robe may also be silk or cotton, according to what is available. It is not necessary that cotton be pure and silk impure. There is no view that rejects cotton and chooses silk, it is laughable. The constant rule of the Buddhas is to consider the robe of discarded rags as the most excellent.

There are ten kinds of discarded rags, four kinds of discarded rags. Namely: burned by fire, chewed by a cow, gnawed by rats, death robe, etc. People of the five Indias discard such robes in alleys and fields. They are similar to rubbish, therefore called robe of discarded rags. The practitioner takes them, washes them, sews them, and uses them to cover the body. Among them, there is silk, there is cotton. One must reject views on silk and cotton, and study discarded rags.

The robe of discarded rags, once washed in Lake Anavatapta, was praised by the dragon-king, who rained flowers and prostrated. Masters of the small vehicle also have the theory of transformed thread, one should not rely on it, people of the great vehicle laugh at it. What thread is not transformed? Even if you believe the ear that hears transformation, you doubt the eyes that see transformation. Know that in gathering discarded rags, there may be cotton resembling silk, silk resembling cotton. Earthly customs are infinitely varied, creation is difficult to measure, it is not what the fleshly eye can well know.

If one obtains such things, one should not discuss silk or cotton, one should call them discarded rags. Even if born from the discarded rags of humans and gods, it is not a sentient being, they are discarded rags. Even if born from the discarded rags of pines and chrysanthemums, it is not a non-sentient, they are discarded rags. When one believes and receives the principle that discarded rags are neither silk nor cotton, nor gold, silver, pearls, jade, then discarded rags are realized. If the discriminative view on silk and cotton has not yet fallen away, one has not even dreamed of discarded rags.

A monk once asked an ancient Buddha: "The robe transmitted to Huangmei in the middle of the night, is it cotton or silk? After all, what is it?" The ancient Buddha said: "It is neither cotton nor silk." Know that the kāṣāya is neither silk nor cotton, it is the profound teaching of the way of the Buddha.

The venerable Śāṇavāsin, the third entrusted with the dharma treasury, was born with u

A garment. This garment, when he was a layperson, was secular clothing; when he left home, it became a kāṣāya. Similarly, the bhikṣuṇī Śuklā, having vowed to give a woolen garment, in all her births, including the intermediate state, was always born with a garment. Today, when she met the Buddha Shākyamuni and left home, her innate secular garment quickly transformed into a kāṣāya. It was the same for the Venerable Śāṇavāsin. It is clearly known that the kāṣāya is not of silk, cotton, etc. All the more so, the merit of the Buddha's dharma, capable of transforming the body, mind, and all dharmas, is like this. When we leave home and receive the precepts, the principle of the quick transformation of body, mind, environment, and retribution is clear, but we are ignorant and do not know it. The constant rule of the Buddhas does not apply only to Śāṇavāsin and Śuklā, it also applies to us. The benefits according to our capacities are indubitable.

Such a principle must be clearly studied and practiced. The kāṣāya donned during the reception of the precepts by "Welcome," is not necessarily cotton, nor silk. The Buddha's transformation is inconceivable, the jewel in the garment's lining is not within the realm of counting sands. The form, color, dimensions of the Buddhas' kāṣāya, limited or unlimited, with or without marks, must be clearly studied. The patriarchs of the Western Heavens and the lands of the East, from the past to today, have all studied and authentically transmitted it.

While seeing and hearing clearly, without any possible doubt, the authentic transmission of the patriarchs, to neglect not transmitting authentically to these patriarchs, their intention and aspiration would be difficult to excuse. This is the extreme of stupidity, due to disbelief. It is abandoning the real to seek the illusory, abandoning the root to desire the branches. It is probably despising the Tathāgata. Those who produce the mind of awakening must absolutely receive the authentic transmission of the patriarchs.

Not only do we encounter the Buddha's dharma which is difficult to encounter, but as descendants in the dharma of the authentic transmission of the Buddha's kāṣāya, we can see it, hear it, study it, practice it, receive it, and keep it. This is precisely seeing the Tathāgata. This is hearing the Buddha teach the dharma. This is being illuminated by the Buddha's light. This is enjoying what the Buddha enjoys. This is directly transmitting the Buddha's mind. This is obtaining the Buddha's marrow. This is being directly covered by Shākyamuni's kāṣāya. This is Shākyamuni himself entrusting the kāṣāya to us. Following the Buddha, we receive this kāṣāya.

Method for washing the kāṣāya: Do not fold the kāṣāya, put it in a clean bucket, boil fragrant water a hundred times, immerse the kāṣāya in it and leave it for a while. Another method: boil clean water with ashes a hundred times, immerse the kāṣāya in it and wait for the water to cool. Today, ash water is commonly used. Ash water, here, is called "ash water." When the ash water has cooled, with pure clear water, wash several times, without rubbing or pressing it with both hands. The aim is to remove dirt and grease. Then, mix aloeswood, sandalwood, etc., with cold water and wash with it. Then, spread it on a clean support. Well dried, fold it carefully, place it high up, burn incense, scatter flowers, circumambulate several times to the right and prostrate. Either three prostrations, or six, or nine, then kneel, join the palms, raise the kāṣāya with both hands, recite a gāthā in a low voice, then rise and don it correctly.

The Blessed One of the world said to the great assembly: "

Once, during the time of Buddha Ratnagarbha, I was the bodhisattva Mahākaruṇā. At that time, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Mahākaruṇā, before Buddha Ratnagarbha, made this vow: "Blessed One of the world, after I have become a Buddha, if there are beings who enter my dharma, leave home and don the kāṣāya, even if they transgress grave precepts, even if they hold wrong views, even if they despise and do not believe in the Three Jewels, accumulating all kinds of heavy offenses – bhikṣu, bhikṣuṇī, upāsaka, upāsikā – if, in a single instant of thought, they generate a mind of respect, revere the saṅghāṭī robe, generate a mind of respect, revere the Blessed One of the world or the Dharma, the Saṅgha, Blessed One of the world, if even a single such being, without attaining prediction in the three vehicles, were to regress, then I would have deceived the Buddhas present, as numerous as atoms, countless and limitless, of the ten directions.

I would certainly not realize anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi." Blessed One of the world, since I will have become a Buddha, the gods, dragons, spirits, humans and non-humans, if they can, towards one who dons this kāṣāya, respect, honor, venerate, praise it, and if this person can see even a small part of this kāṣāya, they will immediately obtain non-regression in the three vehicles. If there are beings tormented by hunger and thirst, poor spirits, people of low condition, down to hungry beings, if they obtain even a small part of the kāṣāya, even four inches, they will immediately obtain food and drink to satiety, and according to their wishes, will quickly attain fulfillment.

If there are beings in conflict with each other, conceiving thoughts of enemies and thieves, quarreling and fighting, or the gods, dragons, spirits, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, kuṣmāṇḍas, piśācas, humans and non-humans, at the moment of quarreling and fighting, if they remember this kāṣāya, through the power of the kāṣāya, they will immediately generate a mind of compassion, a gentle mind, a mind without enemy or thief, a mind of tranquility, a good and tamed mind, and regain purity.

If someone, amidst armed conflicts, lawsuits, arbitrations, brings a small part of this kāṣāya among these people, for their own protection, respects, venerates, honors it, these people will not be able to attack, destroy, disturb, torment, despise them. They will always triumph.