Jikoji Chants and Verses

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Short Verses

Robe Chant

Dai sai ge da pu ku

mu so fuku den-e
hi bu nyo rai kyo
ko do sho shu jo.

Great robe of liberation
field far beyond form and emptiness
wearing the Tathagata’s teaching
freeing all beings.

Dai sai ge da pu ku
mu so fuku den-e
hi bu nyo rai kyo
ko do sho shu jo.

Before Dharma Talk

An unsurpassed, penetrating and perfect Dharma
Is rarely met with even in a hundred thousand million kalpas. Having it to see and listen to, remember and accept,
I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata's words

After Dharma Talk

May our intention equally extend to every being and place
with the true merit of Buddha’s way.
Beings are numberless, I vow to save them. Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them. Dharma gates are endless, I vow to enter them. Buddha’s way is unsurpassable, I vow to become it.
 

Dedications (After a Sutra or Eko)

All Buddhas in ten directions, past present and future all Bodhisattvas, Mahasattvas, world-honored ones the Maha Prajna Paramita
Ji ho san shi i shi hu Shi son bu sa mo-ko sa Mo ko ho ja ho ro mi

Sangemon (Confession/Repentance)

All my ancient wrong actions
from beginningless greed hate and delusion born through body speech and mind
I now fully avow.
Ga shaku sho zo sho aku go Kai yu mu shi ton jin shi
Ju shin ku i shi sho sho Is-sai ga kon kai san ge

Trisarana (Three Refuges in Pali)

Buddham saranam gacchami Dhammam saranam gacchami Sangham saranam gacchami
Dutiyam pi Buddham saranam gacchami Dutiyam pi Dhammam saranam gacchami Dutiyam pi Sangham saranam gacchami
Tatiyam pi Buddham saranam gacchami Tatiyam pi Dhammam saranam gacchami Tatiyam pi Sangham saranam gacchami

Maka Hannya Haramita Shin Gyo

(Heart of Great Perfect Wisdom Sutra)
Kan ji zai bo satsu gyo jin han nya ha ra mi ta
ji sho ken go on kai ku do is sai ku yaku sha ri shi
shiki hu i ku ku hu i shiki shiki soku ze ku ku
soku ze shiki ju so gyo shiki yaku bu nyo ze sha ri shi ze sho ho ku
so fu sho fu metsu fu ku fu jo fu zo fu gen ze ko ku chu mu shiki mu ju so gyo shiki mu gen ni bi ze shin ni mu shiki sho ko mi soku ho mu gen kai nai shi mu i shiki kai mu mu myo yaku mu mu myo jin nai shi mu ro shi yaku mu ro shi jin mu ku shu metsu do mu chi yaku mu
toku i mu sho tok ko bo dai sat ta e han nya ha ra mi ta ko shin mu ke ge mu ke ge ko mu u ku fu on ri is sai ten do mu so ku gyo ne han san ze sho butsu e han nya ha ra mit ta ko toku a noku ta ra sam myaku sam bo dai ko chi han nya ha ra mi ta
ze dai jin shu ze dai myo shu ze mu jo shu ze mu to do shu
no jo is sai ku shin jitsu fu ko ko setsu
han nya ha ra mit ta shu soku setsu shu watsu
gya te gya te ha ra gya te hara so gya te
bo ji sowa ka han nya shin gyo.

Ji ho san shi i shi hu
Shi son bu sa mo ko sa
Mo ko ho ja ho ro mi.

Great Wisdom Beyond Wisdom Heart Sutra

Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva,
when practicing deeply the Prajna Paramita,
perceived that all five skandhas are empty
and was saved from all suffering and distress.
“Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness
emptiness does not differ from form
That which is form is emptiness
that which is emptiness form.
The same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, consciousness. Shariputra, all dharmas are marked with emptiness
they do not appear nor disappear
are not tainted nor pure
do not increase nor decrease.
Therefore in emptiness no form,
no feelings, perceptions, impulses, consciousness;
no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind;
no color, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no object of mind; no realm of eyes and so forth until no realm of mind-consciousness; no ignorance and also no extinction of it, and so forth until
no old age and death and also no extinction of them;
no suffering, no origination, no stopping, no path,
no cognition, also no attainment.
With nothing to attain
the Bodhisattva depends on Prajna Paramita
and mind is no hindrance.
Without any hindrance no fears exist.
Far apart from every inverted view, one dwells in Nirvana.
In the three worlds all Buddhas depend on Prajna Paramita
and attain unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment.
Therefore know the Prajna Paramita
is the great transcendent mantra,
is the great bright mantra,
is the utmost mantra,
is the supreme mantra
which is able to relieve all suffering
and is true, not false.
So proclaim the Prajna Paramita mantra,
proclaim the mantra that says:
Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate! Bodhi! Svaha!”
 

The Sutra on the Heart of Realizing Wisdom beyond Wisdom

Avalokiteshvara , who helps all to awaken,
moves in the deep course of realizing wisdom beyond wisdom,
sees that all five streams of body and mind are boundless,
and frees all from anguish.
O Shariputra, form is not separate from boundlessness;
boundlessness is not separate from form.
Form is boundlessness; boundlessness is form.
The same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, and discernment.
O Shariputra, boundlessness is the nature of all things.
It neither rises nor perishes,
neither stains nor purifies,
neither increases nor decreases.
Boundlessness is not limited by form,
nor feelings, perceptions, impulses, and discernment.
It is free of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind;
free of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and any object of mind;
free of sensory realms including mind-consciousness.
It is free of ignorance and the end of ignorance.
Boundlessness is free of old age and death, and free of the end of old age and death. It is free of suffering, arising, cessation, and path,
and free of wisdom and attainment.
Being free of attainment, those who help all to awaken
abide in the realization of wisdom beyond wisdom
and live with an unhindered mind.
Without any hindrance, the mind has no fear.
Free from confusion those who lead all to liberation embody profound serenity.
All those in past, present, and future who realize wisdom beyond wisdom
manifest unsurpassable, authentic, and thorough awakening.
Know that realizing wisdom beyond wisdom
is no other than this great mantra,
luminous, incomparable, and supreme.
It relieves all suffering.
Not illusory, it is genuine.
So set forth this mantra of realizing wisdom beyond wisdom.
Set forth this mantra that says:
Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi! Svaha!”
 

Daihi Shin Dharani

Namu kara tan-no tora ya-ya
namu ori-ya boryo-ki-chi shifu ra-ya
fuji sato bo-ya, moko sato bo-ya
mo ko kya-runi kya-ya
en sa hara ha ei shu tan-no ton sha
namu shiki-ri toi-mo ori-ya boryo-ki-chi shihu ra rin to-bo na-mu no ra
kin-ji ki-ri mo ko ho do sha-mi sa-bo
o to jo shu ben o shu-in
sa-bo sa-to no mo bo gya
mo ha te cho
to-ji to-en o bo-ryo ki ru gya-chi
kya rya chi
i kiri mo ko fuji sa-to sa bo sa-bo
mo-ra mo-ra, mo-ki mo-ki
ri to in ku-ryo ku-ryo
ke-mo to-ryo to-ryo ho-ja ya-chi
mo ko ho ja ya chi
to-ra to-ra chiri-ni shihu ra-ya,
sha-ro sha-ro mo mo ha mo ra
ho chi ri yu ki yu ki shi-no shi-no
ora san fura sha ri
ha-za ha-za fura sha ya
ku-ryo ku-ryo mo-ra ku-ryo ku-ryo
ki-ri sha-ro sha-ro shi-ri shi-ri su-ryo su-ryo fuji-ya, fuji-ya, fudo-ya, fudo-ya
mi chiri-ya nora-kin-ji
chiri shuni no
hoya mono somo-ko
shido-ya somo-ko moko shido ya somo-ko shido yu-ki shifu ra ya somo-ko
nora-kin-ji somo-ko
mo-ra no-ra somo-ko
shira su omo-gya-ya somo-ko sobo-moko-shido-ya somo-ko
shaki-ra oshi-do-ya somo-ko hodo-mogya-shido-ya somo-ko
nora-kin-ji ha gyara-ya somo-ko
mo hori shin gyara-ya somo-ko
namu-kara tan-no tora-ya-ya
namu-ori-ya
boryo-ki-chi shifu-ra-ya so mo ko
shite-do modo-ra hodo-ya so mo ko.
 

The Great Compassion Dharani

Adoration to the Three Treasures–Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha! Adoration to Avalokitesvara, the Bodhisattva Mahasattva,
the Bodhisattva of Compassion!
Adoration to the one who relieves all fear and suffering!
With the honoring of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, we now recite this dharani which purifies all beings, which fulfills the wishes of all beings.
Hail to Bodhisattva Mahasattva who embodies the Trikaya
who radiates transcendent wisdom.
Hail to Bodhisattva Mahasattva who continues to save all beings
without defilement in the mind.
Hail to Bodhisattva Mahasattva who sustains the highest complete wisdom who is free from all impediments.
Hail to Bodhisattva Mahasattva whose expression reveals
fundamental purity in all beings.
Hail to Bodhisattva Mahasattva who wipes away the three poisons —greed, anger and delusion.
Quick, quick! Come, come! Here, here!
A joy springs up in us.
Help us to enter into the realm of great realization!
Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva of Compassion, guide us to
spiritual contentment.
Accomplishment, accomplishment!
Having testified to freedom and compassion with a mind like Avalokitesvara, Having now purified our body and mind,
Having become brave like the lion,
Having become manifest into all beings,
Having attained to the Wheel of Dharma and the Lotus Flower,
we can now liberate all beings without hindrance.
May the understanding of the mysterious nature of Avalokitesvara prevail
forever.
Adoration to the Three Treasures–Buddha, Dharma and Sangha! Adoration to Avalokitesvara, the Bodhisattva Mahasattva,
the Bodhisattva of Compassion. May this dharani be effective.
Hail!
 

Metta Sutra (Loving Kindness Sutra)

This is what should be accomplished by the one who is wise,
who seeks the good and has obtained peace:
Let one be strenuous, upright and sincere, without pride, easily contented and joyous.
Let one not be submerged by the things of the world. Let one not take upon oneself the burden of riches.
Let one’s senses be controlled.
Let one be wise but not puffed up; and
let one not desire great possessions even for one’s family.
Let one do nothing that is mean or that the wise would reprove.
May all beings be happy.
May they be joyous and live in safety.
All living beings, whether weak or strong,
in high or middle or low realms of existence,
small or great, visible or invisible, near or far, born or to be born, may all beings be happy.
Let no one deceive another, nor despise any being in any state;
let none by anger or hatred wish harm to another.
Even as a mother at the risk of her life watches over and protects her only child, so with a boundless mind should one cherish all living things,
suffusing love over the entire world, above, below, and all around without limit, so let one cultivate an infinite good will toward the whole world.
Standing or walking, sitting or lying down, during all one’s waking hours, let one practice the way with gratitude.
Not holding to fixed views, endowed with insight, freed from sense appetites, one who achieves the way will be freed from the duality of birth and death.
 

Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi

The teaching of thusness has been intimately communicated by Buddhas and ancestors.
Since you already have it, please keep it well.
Filling a silver bowl with snow,
hiding a heron in the moonlight –
Though taken as similar they are not the same;
when you align them, you know what they are.
The meaning is not in the words,
yet it responds to an inquiring impulse.
Move toward it and you are trapped;
back away and you fall into doubt and vacillation.
Turning away and touching are both wrong, for it is like intensive fire.
Even to depict it in literary form
is to stain it with defilement.
Though appearing bright at midnight, it will not be noticed at dawn.
It will act as a guide for beings,
and its use removes suffering.
Although it is not fabricated,
it is not without speech.
It is like facing a jewel mirror;
form and image behold each other –
You are not it,
but it is completely you.
Like a baby in the world
with its five aspects complete;
It neither goes nor comes, neither rises nor stands,
Saying “baba wawa”
but is there anything said or not?
Ultimately it need not apprehend anything because speech is not yet formed.
It is like the six lines of the illumination hexagram where the relative and ultimate are joined.
Compiled, they make three,
the complete transformation makes five.
It is all the tastes of the five-flavored herb, it is like the diamond thunderbolt.
Subtly included within the true
inquiry and response come up together.
When communing with the source, when traveling the pathways embrace the territory and treasure the road.
Respecting this is fortunate; do not neglect it.
Being naturally real yet inconceivable,
it is neither in the province of delusion nor enlightenment.
With causal conditions, time and season, quiescently it shines bright.
In its fineness it fits into spacelessness,
in it greatness it is utterly beyond location.
A hairsbreadth’s deviation
will fail to accord with proper attunement.
In both sudden and gradual paths
the various teachings and approaches arise,
and once basic approaches are distinguished then there are guiding rules.
But even though a basis is reached or approach comprehended, true eternity still flows.
Outwardly still while inwardly moving, like a tethered colt, a trapped rat –
The ancient sages had sympathy and bestowed the teachings.
With the capacity of delusion
even black could be known as white,
But when erroneous imaginations cease the acquiescent mind realizes itself. If you want to conform to the ancient way,
please observe the teaching of former times. When about to fulfill the way of buddhahood,
one gazed at the tree for ten eons Like a battle-scarred tiger,
like a horse with shanks gone gray. Because there is the common
there are jewel pedestals, fine clothing. Because there is the startlingly different
there are house, cat, and cow. Yi with his archer’s skill
could hit a target at a hundred paces, But when the arrow-points meet head on,
what has this to do with the power of skill? When the wooden man begins to sing
the stone woman gets up dancing.
It’s not within the realm of feeling or discrimination
so how could it admit of consideration in thought? Ministers serve their lords,
and children obey their parents; Not obeying is not filial
and not serving is no help. Practice secretly, working within,
like a fool, like an idiot. Just to continue in this way
is called the host within the host.
 

Genjo Koan

When all dharmas are the Buddhadharma, there is illusion and enlightenment, there is prac- tice, there is birth and death, there are ordinary beings and there are buddhas. When these myriad dharmas are without self there is no illusion, no enlightenment, no generation, no ex- tinction, no ordinary being, no buddha. Because the Buddha way is unconstrained by dualities such as fullness or loss, it can be available as both illusion and enlightenment, as both genera- tion and extinction, as both ordinary being and buddha. Even with recognizing this, still we begrudge the fading of a flower, and are dismayed by the flourishing of weeds.
To practice and attempt to confirm existence by conveying a self to it is illusion. For exis- tence itself to come forward practicing, confirming you, is enlightenment. Buddhas are those who thoroughly awaken the delusion. Ordinary beings are those deluded with an idea of awakening. Some also are enlightened beyond enlightenment, and some deluded even in the midst of delusion. A buddha may not necessarily even notice that they are buddha, nonetheless an actualized buddha continues to actualize as buddha.
There is just seeing forms and hearing of sounds with body and mind as one, making them intimate, intimately their own, fully knowing them. This knowing is not like a reflection in a mirror, or like the moon on the water. With the recognition of one side, the other side is dark- ness. To learn the Buddha way is to learn the self. To learn the self is to forget self. To forget self is to be confirmed by all existence, and to be confirmed by all existence is to effect the dropping off of body-mind identity, and dispersion of identities beyond it as well. With no trace of enlightenment remaining, a traceless, graspless enlightenment continues endlessly. But at the very moment one seeks this dharma, it escapes the seeking. The dharma has already been correctly transmitted. It is the immediate recognition of one’s original face.
It is like this - if someone were out in a boat and turned to see the shore, they might assume that the shoreline was moving. But if they examined the situation, examined their boat, they would see it is the boat itself that moves. It is same when in attempting to confirm existence with mistaken views, such as attributing permanence to body and mind. If we simply return to ourselves, and make daily activity intimate, intimately its own, then the reason why within all myriad dharmas there is no self will be clear to us.
Once firewood has turned to ash it will not again turn back to firewood. But it should not be presumed that firewood is before or that ash is after. The dharma stage of firewood com- pletely possesses a before and after, and also is fully free of before and after. The dhar- ma-stage of ashes likewise embodies a before and after. Just as firewood does not return, so beings do not return to their lives after death. The teaching does not say life becomes death, but rather that life is without origin. The teaching does not say that death becomes life, but rather that death is non-extinction. Death is its own time, and life is its own time, as are the winter and the spring. We do not suppose that the winter itself becomes the spring, or say that spring itself is now summer.
Enlightenment is received like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet. The water is not broken. For all the immensity of the moon’s height it rests upon a small patch of water. The moon and the sky in their entirety settle on a single dewdrop in the grass, on a mere drop of water. Enlightenment presents no harm to a person just as the moon would not harm the water, and the person does not obstruct enlightenment, any more than a dewdrop would obstruct the moon or sky. In the depths of that dewdrop resides the full measure of the moon’s greatness. With this, consider also the duration of light, the water’s greatness or small- ness, the aspect of the moon, and the vastness of the sky.
When truth has not yet filled body and mind, we may feel complete. But when the dharma has thoroughly filled body and mind, we know something is missing. Again, it is as if we were out in a boat, past the view of any mountains. Then the expanse of the ocean might appear to be round. But it is neither round nor square. Inexpressible virtues still remain as “ocean.” It could even be considered a palace or a necklace of jewels, but for that moment the eye sees only a circle. The experience of phenomena is commonly like this.
Aspects of this dusty life as well as a pure life are perceived only to the extent that practice and the eye of insight will penetrate. In our understanding of things, as well as being round or square, the ocean may manifest in infinite variety. There are worlds there, in all directions. There are worlds also within us, and worlds even in one drop of water.
When a fish swims in water, in the swimming there is no end to water. When a bird flies in the sky, in the flying there is no end to sky. This is because from the beginning they are in ac- cord with the water or the sky. With extensive activity comes extensive use, and with modest activity, less use. Yet essentially and everywhere, the full use is made of all that is functioning, and all that is functioning turns and moves freely. Leaving the water or leaving the sky would immediately be the leaving of life, for with the fish, water is life, and for the bird, sky is life. Also for the sky, the bird is life. For the water, the fish is life. Life is bird and sky. Life is fish and water. It is the same with practice, with realization, and with everything in life’s dura- tion.
Like the bird and fish, we must first manifest in our element before extending further, or we will not find our way or place. There is just the arrival at this place. Everyday activity is the manifestation of absolute reality. The way is everyday activity actualizing everything.
The way, this place, is not large or small, not self, not other, not from before, not newly emerging. It is just this. The Buddha way is within the meeting of one dharma is the fulfill- ment of that one dharma, and the full engagement of one action is the fulfillment of all activity.
So here is the place. It is here that the way opens. With no distinct boundaries to realiza- tion, simultaneously knowing and not knowing come forward, and simultaneously we practice with Buddha as Buddha. Realization is not an acquisition. It is not necessarily manifest. Nevertheless it is here, immediately before us, and it is inconceivable.
Once the teacher Bao-chi was fanning himself and a monk asked: “The nature of the wind is to abide and to pervade everywhere, so why do you then fan yourself?” Bao-chi said “You may know that the wind abides, but you do not yet understand ‘pervading everywhere.’” “What is the meaning?” the monk asked. Bao-chi simply continued to fan himself. The monk then bowed in understanding. This is the actualization of the Buddhadharma, the vital trans- mission of the way. Not to see the function of the wind within the function of the fan, or fan within wind, is to miss the seeing of either wind or fan.
The dharma-wind abides, and it pervades everywhere. So from this broad, golden earth, and from the intimate home of the Buddha, the wind, this way, is offered like a ripened, nour- ishing, medicinal drink, and extends outward into the vastness like a long, flowing river.
 

Harmony of Difference and Equality

The mind of the great sage of India
is intimately transmitted from west to east.
While human faculties are sharp or dull,
the way has no northern or southern ancestors.
The spiritual source shines clear in the light;
the branching streams flow on in the dark.
Grasping at things is surely delusion;
according with sameness is still not enlightenment.
All the objects of the senses interact and yet do not.
Interacting brings involvement. Otherwise, each keeps its place.
Sights vary in quality and form,
sounds differ as pleasing or harsh.
Refined and common speech come together in the dark, clear and murky phrases are distinguished in the light.
The four elements return to their natures just as a child turns to its mother;
Fire heats, wind moves,
water wets, earth is solid.
Eye and sights, ear and sounds,
nose and smells, tongue and tastes;
Thus with each and every thing,
depending on these roots, the leaves spread forth.
Trunk and branches share the essence;
revered and common, each has its speech.
In the light there is darkness,
but don’t take it as darkness;
In the dark there is light,
but don’t see it as light.
Light and dark oppose one another
like the front and back foot in walking.
Each of the myriad things has its merit, expressed according to function and place.
Phenomena exist; box and lid fit.
principle responds; arrow points meet.
Hearing the words, understand the meaning; don’t set up standards of your own.
If you don’t understand the way right before you, how will you know the path as you walk?
Progress is not a matter of far or near,
but if you are confused, mountains and rivers block your way.
I respectfully urge you who study the mystery, do not pass your days and nights in vain.
 

Shosaimyo Kichijo Darani

No mo san man da moto nan
oha ra chi koto-sha sono nan to ji to-en gya gya
gya-ki gya-ki
un nun
shihu-ra shifu-ra
hara shihu-ra hara shihu-ra chisu-sha chisu-sha chishu-ri chishu-ri
soha-ja soha-ja sen chi gya
shiri ei so mo ko
Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo
Kanzeon namu butsu yo butsu u in
yo butsu u en
buppo so en
jo raku ga jo cho nen kanzeon bo nen kanzeon nen nen
ju shin ki nen nen
fu ri shin
 

Names of Buddhas and Ancestors (Busso)

Bibashi Butsu Dai-o-sho, Shiki Butsu Dai-o-sho, Bishabu Butsu Dai-o-sho,
Kuruson Butsu Dai-o-sho, Kunagon Muni Butsu Dai-o-sho, Kasho Butsu Dai-o-sho,
Shakamuni Butsu Dai-o-sho, Makakasho Dai-o-sho, Ananda Dai-o-sho,
Shona-Washu Dai-o-sho, Uba-kikuta Dai-o-sho, Dai-taka Dai-o-sho,
Mishaka Dai-o-sho, Bashu-mitsu Dai-o-sho, Butsuda-nandai Dai-o-sho,
Fuda-mitta Dai-o-sho, Barishiba Dai-o-sho, Funayasha Dai-o-sho,
Anabotei Dai-o-sho, Kabimora Dai-o-sho, Nagyahara-Juna Dai-o-sho,
Kana-daiba Dai-o-sho, Ragorata Dai-o-sho, Sogya-nandai Dai-o-sho,
Kaya-shata Dai-o-sho, Kumorata Dai-o-sho, Shayata Dai-o-sho,
Bashu-banzu Dai-o-sho, Manura Dai-o-sho, Kakuro-kuna Dai-o-sho,
Shishi-bodai Dai-o-sho, Basha-shita Dai-o-sho, Funyo-mitta Dai-o-sho,
Hanya-tara Dai-o-sho, Bodai-daruma Dai-o-sho, Taiso-ekka Dai-o-sho,
Kanchi-sosan Dai-o-sho, Dai-i-doshin Dai-o-sho, Daiman-konin Dai-o-sho,
Daikan Eno Dai-o-sho, Seigen Gyoshi Dai-o-sho, Sekito Kisen Dai-o-sho,
Yakusan Igen Dai-o-sho, Ungan Donjo Dai-o-sho, Tozan Ryokai Dai-o-sho,
Ungo Doyo Dai-o-sho, Doan Dohi Dai-o-sho, Doan Kanshi Dai-o-sho,
Ryozan Enkan Dai-o-sho, Taiyo Kyogen Dai-o-sho, To Sugisei Dai-o-sho,
Fuyo Dokai Dai-o-sho, Tanka Shijun Dai-o-sho, Choro Seiryo Dai-o-sho,
Tendo Sagaku Dai-o-sho, Setcho Chikan Dai-o-sho, Tendo Nyojo Dai-o-sho,
Eihei Dogen Dai-o-sho, Koun Ejo Dai-o-sho, Tettsu Gikai Dai-o-sho,
Keisan Jokin Dai-o-sho, Meiho Sotetsu Dai-o-sho, Jhugan Dochin Dai-o-sho,
Tessan Shikaku Dai-o-sho, Keigan Eisho Dai-o-sho, Chuzan Ryoun Dai-o-sho,
Gizan Tonin Dai-o-sho, Shogaku Kenryu Dai-o-sho, Kinen Horyu Dai-o-sho,
Taishitsu Chisen Dai-o-sho, Kokei Shojun Dai-o-sho, Sesso Yuho Dai-o-sho,
Kaiten Genshu Dai-o-sho, Shuzan Shunsho Dai-o-sho, Chozan Sennetsu Dai-o-sho,
Fukushu Kochi Dai-o-sho, Meido Yuton Dai-o-sho, Hakuho Genteki Dai-o-sho,
Gesshu Soko Dai-o-sho, Manzan Dohaku Dai-o-sho, Sogen Tekisui Dai-o-sho,
Houn Keido Dai-o-sho, Hogen Tantei Dai-o-sho, Issen Shucho Dai-o-sho,
Ungai Shuin Dai-o-sho, Gimon Ryoho Dai-o-sho, Hakuryu Kanzui Dai-o-sho,
Daiju Bussan Dai-o-sho, Dairin Kanchu Dai-o-sho, Giun Koshu Dai-o-sho,
Hozan Koei Dai-o-sho, Houn Kobun Dai-o-sho, Houn Kobun Dai-o-sho, Houn Kobun Dai-o-sho.
 

Names of Women Ancestors

Acharya Mahapajapati, Acharya Mitta, Acharya Yasodhara, Acharya Tissa, Acharya Sujata, Acharya Sundari-nanda, Acharya Vaddhesi,
Acharya Patachara, Acharya Visakha, Acharya Singalaka-mata,
Acharya Khema, Acharya Uppalavanna, Acharya Samavati, Acharya Uttara, Acharya Chanda, Acharya Uttama, Acharya Bhadda Kundalakesa,
Acharya Nanduttara, Acharya Dantika, Acharya Sakula, Acharya Siha, Acharya Dhammadinna, Acharya Kisagotami, Acharya Ubbiri,
Acharya Isidasi, Acharya Bhadda Kapilani, Acharya Mutta,
Acharya Sumana, Acharya Dhamma, Acharya Chitta, Acharya Anopama, Acharya Sukka, Acharya Sama, Acharya Utpalavarna, Acharya Shrimala Devi, Acharya Congchi, Acharya Lingzhao, Acharya Moshan Liaoran,
Acharya Liu Tiemo, Acharya Miaoxin, Acharya Daoshen, Acharya Shiji, Acharya Zhi’an, Acharya Huiguang, Acharya Kongshi Daoren,
Acharya Yu Daopo, Acharya Huiwen, Acharya Fadeng, Acharya Wenzhao, Acharya Miaodao, Acharya Zhitong, Acharya Zenshin, Acharya Zenzo, Acharya Ezen, Acharya Ryonen, Acharya Egi, Acharya Shogaku,
Acharya Ekan, Acharya Shōzen, Acharya Mokufu Sonin,
Acharya Myosho Enkan, Acharya Ekyu, Acharya Eshun, Acharya Soshin, Acharya Soitsu, Acharya Chiyono.
 

Fukanzazengi

The way is basically perfect and all-pervading. How could it be contingent upon practice and realization? The dharma-vehicle is free and untrammeled. What need is there for concentrated effort? Indeed, the whole body is far beyond the world's dust. Who could believe in a means to brush it clean? It is never apart from one, right where one is. What is the use of going off here and there to practice?
And yet, if there is the slightest discrepancy, the way is as distant as heaven
from earth. If the least like or dislike arises, the mind is lost in confusion. Suppose one gains pride of understanding and inflates one's own enlightenment, glimpsing the wisdom that runs through all things, attaining the way and clarifying the mind, raising an aspiration to escalade the very sky. One is making the initial, partial excursions about the frontiers, but is still somewhat deficient in the vital way of total emancipation.
Need I mention the Buddha, who was possessed of inborn knowledge? The influence of his six years of upright sitting is noticeable still. Or Bodhidharma's transmission of the mind-seal? The fame of his nine years of wall-sitting is celebrated to this day. Since this was the case with the saints of old, how can we today dispense with negotiation of the way?
You should therefore cease from practice based on intellectual
understanding, pursuing words and following after speech, and learn the backward step that turns your light inwardly to illuminate your self. Body and mind of themselves will drop away, and your original face will be manifest. If you want to attain suchness, you should practice suchness without delay.
For sanzen, a quiet room is suitable. Eat and drink moderately. Cast aside all involvements and cease all affairs. Do not think good or bad. Do not administer pros and cons. Cease all the movements of the conscious mind, the gauging of all thought and views. Have no designs on becoming a buddha. Sanzen has nothing whatever to do with sitting or lying down.
At the site of your regular sitting, spread out thick matting and place a
cushion above it. Sit either in the full-lotus or half-lotus position. In the full-lotus position, you first place your right foot on your left thigh and your left foot on your right thigh. In the half-lotus, you simply press your left foot against your right
thigh. You should have your robes and belt loosely bound and arranged in order. Then place your right hand on your left leg and your left palm (facing upward) on your right palm, thumb-tips touching. Thus sit upright in correct bodily posture, neither inclining to the left nor to the right, neither leaning forward nor backward.
Be sure your ears are on a plane with your shoulders and your nose in line with
your navel. Place your tongue against the front roof of your mouth, with teeth and lips both shut. Your eyes should always remain open, and you should breathe
gently through your nose. Once you have adjusted your posture, take a deep breath, inhale and exhale, rock your body right and left and settle into a steady,
immovable sitting position. Think of not-thinking. How do you think of not-thinking?
Nonthinking. This in itself is the essential art of zazen.
The zazen I speak of is not learning meditation. It is simply the dharma-gate
of repose and bliss, the practice-realization of totally culminated enlightenment. It is the manifestation of ultimate reality. Traps and snares can never reach it. Once its heart is grasped, you are like a dragon gaining the water, like a tiger taking to the mountains. For you must know that just there (in zazen) the right dharma is manifesting itself and that from the first dullness and distraction are struck aside.
When you arise from sitting, move slowly and quietly, calmly and deliberately.
Do not rise suddenly or abruptly. In surveying the past,
we find that transcendence of both unenlightenment and enlightenment,
and dying while either sitting or standing, have all depended entirely on the strength of zazen.
In addition, the bringing about of enlightenment by the opportunity provided
by a finger, a banner, a needle, or a mallet, and the effecting of realization with the aid of a hossu, a fist, a staff, or a shout cannot be fully understood by discriminative thinking. Indeed, it cannot be fully known by the practicing or realizing of supernatural powers either. It must be deportment beyond hearing and seeing - is it not a principle that is prior to knowledge and perceptions?
This being the case, intelligence or lack of it does not matter, between the dull and the sharp-witted there is no distinction. If you concentrate your effort single-mindedly, that in itself is negotiating the way. Practice-realization is naturally undefiled. Going forward in practice is a matter of everydayness.
In general, this world and other worlds as well, both in India and China
equally hold the buddha-seal; and over all prevails the character of this school, which is simply devotion to sitting, total engagement in immovable sitting. Although it is said that there are as many minds as there are persons, still they all negotiate the way solely in zazen. Why leave behind the seat that exists in your home and go aimlessly off to the dusty realms of other lands? If you make one misstep you go astray from the way directly before you.
You have gained the pivotal opportunity of human form. Do not use your
time in vain. You are maintaining the essential working of the buddha way. Who would take wasteful delight in the spark from the flintstone? Besides, form and substance are like the dew on the grass, destiny like the dart of lightning - emptied in an instant, vanished in a flash.
Please, honored followers of Zen. Long accustomed to groping for the
elephant, do not be suspicious of the true dragon. Devote your energies to a way that directly indicates the absolute. Revere the person of complete attainment who is beyond all human agency. Gain accord with the enlightenment of the buddhas; succeed to the legitimate lineage of the ancestors' samadhi. Constantly perform in such a manner and you are assured of being a person such as they.
Your treasure store will open of itself, and you will use it at will.
 

Song of the Grass-Roof Hermitage

I've built a grass hut where there's nothing of value. After eating, I relax and enjoy a nap.
When it was completed, fresh weeds appeared. Now it's been lived in - covered by weeds.
The person in the hut lives here calmly,
Not stuck to inside, outside, or in between. Places worldly people live, she/he doesn't live. Realms worldly people love, she/he doesn't love.
Though the hut is small, it includes the entire world.
In ten square feet, an old man illumines forms and their nature. A Great Vehicle Bodhisattva trusts without doubt.
The middling or lowly can't help wondering;
Will this hut perish or not?
Perishable or not, the original master is present, not dwelling south or north, east or west.
Firmly based on steadiness, it can't be surpassed. A shining window below the green pines --
Jade palaces or vermilion towers can't compare with it.
Just sitting with head covered, all things are at rest.
Thus, this mountain monk doesn't understand at all. Living here he no longer works to get free.
Who would proudly arrange seats, trying to entice guests?
Turn around the light to shine within, then just return.
The vast inconceivable source can't be faced or turned away from. Meet the ancestral teachers, be familiar with their instruction, Bind grasses to build a hut, and don't give up.
Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely open your hands and walk, innocent
Thousands of words, myriad interpretations,
Are only to free you from obstructions.
If you want to know the undying person in the hut,
Do not separate from this skin bag here and now.
 

Hsin Hsin Ming (Song of Trusting Mind)

The Great Way isn’t difficult for those who are unattached to their preferences. Let go of longing and aversion and everything will be perfectly clear;
when you cling to a hairsbreadth of distinction,
heaven and earth are set apart.
If you want to realize the truth, don’t be for or against.
The struggle between good and evil is the primal disease of the mind: not grasping the deeper meaning, you just trouble your mind’s serenity. As vast as infinite space, it is perfect and lacks nothing,
but because you select and reject, you can’t perceive its true nature.
Don’t get tangled in the world, don’t lose yourself in emptiness;
be at peace in the oneness of things and all errors will disappear by themselves. If you don’t live the Tao, you fall into assertion or denial:
asserting that the world is real you are blind to its deeper reality;
denying that the world is real you are blind to the selflessness of all things.
The more you think about these matters, the farther you are from the truth;
step aside from all thinking and there is nowhere you can’t go.
Returning to the root, you find the meaning; chasing appearances, you lose their source.
At the moment of profound insight you transcend both appearance and emptiness. Don’t keep searching for the truth, just let go of your opinions.
For the mind in harmony with the Tao, all selfishness disappears
with not even a trace of self-doubt; you can trust the universe completely.
All at once you are free with nothing left to hold on to, all is empty brilliant perfect in its own being.
In all the world of things as they are, there is no self no non-self.
If you want to describe its essence, the best you can say is “not two”;
in this “not two” nothing is separate, and nothing in the world is excluded. The enlightened of all times and places have entered into this truth;
in it there is no gain or loss. One instant is ten thousand years;
there is no here, no there; infinity is right before your eyes.
The tiny is as large as the vast when objective boundaries have vanished; the vast is as small as the tiny when you don’t have external limits. Being is an aspect of non-being; non-being is no different from being: until you understand this truth you won’t see anything clearly.
One is all, all are one; when you realize this what reason for holiness or wisdom? The mind of absolute trust is beyond all thought, all striving, is perfectly at peace, for in it there is no yesterday no today no tomorrow.
 

The Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore

(Thich Nhat Hanh)
   

Avalokiteshvara, while practicing deeply with the insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore, suddenly discovered that all of the five Skand- has are equally empty, and with this realization he overcame all ill-being.
“Listen, Shariputra, this Body itself is Empti- ness, and Emptiness itself is this Body.
This Body is not other than Emptiness, and Emptiness is not other than this Body.
The same is true of Feelings, Perceptions, Men- tal Formations, and Consciousness.
Listen Shariputra, all phenomena bear the mark of Emptiness; their true nature is the nature of no Birth no Death, no Being and no Non-being, no Defilement no Purity, no Increasing no De- creasing.
That is why in Emptiness, Body, Feelings, Per- ceptions, Mental Formations & Consciousness are not separate self entities. The Eighteen Realms of Phenomena which are the six Sense Organs, the six Sense Objects, and the six Con- sciousnesses, are also not separate self-entities. The 12-Links of Interdependent Arising and their Extinction are also not separate self-enti- ties. Ill-being, the Causes of ill-being,
the End of ill-being, the Path, insight and attain- ment, are also not separate self-entities.
   Whoever can see this no longer needs anything to attain.
Bodhisattvas who practice the insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore see no more ob- stacles in their mind, and because there are no more obstacles in their mind, they can over- come all fear, destroy all wrong perceptions and realize perfect Nirvana.
“All Buddhas in the past, present, and future by practicing the insight that Brings Us to the Oth- er Shore are capable of attaining Authentic and Perfect Enlightenment.
Therefore, Shariputra, it should be known that the insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore is a Great Mantra, the most illuminating mantra, the highest mantra, a mantra beyond copare, the True Wisdom that has the power to put an end to all kinds of suffering. Therefore let us pro- claim a mantra to praise the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore.
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha!
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha!
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha!
 

Loving-Kindness Sutra

This is what should be done by one skilled in the good, having made the breakthrough to that peaceful state: one should be able, upright, and very upright, amenable to advice and gentle without arrogance.
One should be content and easily supported, of few duties and a frugal way of living; of peaceful faculties and judicious, curteous, without greed when among families.
One should not do anything, however slight,
because of which other wise people might criticize them.
May all beings be happy and secure; may they be inwardly happy!
Whatever living beings there are, whether frail or firm, without omission, those that are long or those that are large, middling, short, fine, or gross; whether they are seen or unseen, whether they dwell far or near,
whether they have come to be or will come to be,
may all beings be inwardly happy!
No one should deceive another, nor despise anyone anywhere.
Because of anger and thoughts of aversion, no one should wish suffering for another. Just as a mother would protect her child, her only child, with her own life,
so one should develop toward all beings a state of mind without boundaries.
And toward the whole world, one should develop loving-kindness, a state of mind without boundaries -above, below, and across- unconfined, without enmity, without adversaries.
Whether standing, walking, sitting, or lying down, as long as one is not drowsy, one should resolve on this mindfulness: they call this a divine dwelling here.
Not taking-up any views, possessing good behavior, endowed with vision, having removed greed for sensual pleasures,
one never again comes back to the bed of a womb.