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Reflection on suffering is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] we cease all aspirations. 苦觀是法明門、斷一切願故. This week we continue the discussion of the four dharma seals: inconstancy or impermanence, suffering, no-self and nirvana. Last week we talked about the first seal in Gate 18 (Reflection on inconstancy is a gate of dharma illumination; for [with it] we reflect upon the desires of the triple world) and we saw that the triple world was made up of the worlds of desire, form and beyond-form. In this gate we again have the triple world, although it’s not mentioned directly. The Japanese for the second seal is sangai kaiku 三界皆苦: all beings in the three worlds are suffering. Last week we saw that the three worlds of desire, form and beyond-form contain beings who have not permanently moved beyond suffering, despite being able to let go of sense experiences and the craving and aversion that arise from them. It’s the first noble truth: life is characterized by suffering. These three worlds contain beings who have not reached Nirvana; they’re still suffering because they’re still attached to something. There’s a Japanese proverb that says: A child is a neck-shackle for the Three States of Existence (or the three worlds). In other words, love or attachment to a child will impede your spiritual progress through not only this world but the other two! It’s difficult to be a parent. This gate asks us to deeply consider the reality that all beings everywhere have suffering, and further suggests that if we really understand this, we will stop chasing after things. Even aspiring to move to a higher celestial realm will not end our suffering. Does that mean we should have no goals in life? Should we give up all of our plans? And how do we make the daily choices necessary to get along in the world? Do we just drift at the mercy of whatever comes along? The good news is that this is not what our ancestors taught. The element of the Eightfold Path known as Right View is all about truly understanding the Four Noble Truths, which explain the nature of suffering, how it arises and what we can do about it. Here’s what Uchiyama Roshi had to say about sangai kaiku, all beings are suffering: Suffering is not something that comes to attack me periodically; my whole life, as it is, is suffering. Nevertheless, I go around fighting with people, loving them, ignoring them, without every being able to truly see that suffering. Actually, suffering in the deepest sense is all of that. In other words, as long as this matter of death remains unclear, everything in the world suffers. That is the meaning of the idea that all sentient beings are suffering. It is something that isn’t talked about much simply because most people wouldn’t have any idea of what it’s about. (1) When he says that as long as this matter of death remains unclear everything suffers, he’s talking about impermanence, the first dharma seal: everything dies. Intellectually, we can understand what the Buddha taught fairly easily. The life of all beings is characterized by suffering, and that suffering is the result of our cravings and aversions that cause us to chase after things we want and run away from things (like death) that we don’t want. There is a way to liberate ourselves and all beings from suffering, and that’s to engage in the practice of the Eightfold Path. However, just knowing what the words mean isn’t the same as deeply understanding that this path is a better means to a wholesome life than simply being led by our desires and delusions. It’s not an academic or intellectual exercise. Buddhism is a practice, something we do. The way to get to grips with Right View and to reflect on suffering is to get onto the cushion. Settling down in zazen, we can begin seeing through our ideas and cravings, and understand that even though we fall off the path, living a life of practice is a good thing for ourselves and all beings. Now, we might ask: But isn’t aspiring to live in Buddha’s Way still an aspiration, something the gate statements warns us against? Recognizing that we’re working with a translated text, we need to understand what “aspiration” means in this gate statement. Interestingly, the root of the word “aspire” is about breathing—breathing into or breathing on. These days we think of “aspiring” as aiming toward a worthy goal, but the earliest historical sense of it is “panting with desire!” However, grasping and craving for things that shore up the small self is different from arousing bodhicitta and intending to walk Buddha’s path for the sake of both self and others. Without some direction or intention we couldn’t practice. Our understanding of bodhicitta and the direction of our practice changes throughout our lives as we get better at seeing the reality of ourselves and our existence. The focus of our dharma study, the particular practice schedule we carry out, the specifics of our bodhisattva work may change, but our determination to live in Buddha’s way remains constant, supported by vow and repentance and not based on our personal desires. Of course, as limited human beings we sometimes become attached to results or outcomes of our practice. We may find ourselves trying to get something from zazen or dharma study in order to make ourselves feel accomplished, important or wise. There’s a fine line between personally getting something from our practice and practicing for the good of the world. The Buddha Way doesn’t leave anyone out, including ourselves. We certainly share in the wholesomeness manifested by engaging in zazen and the Eightfold Path, but underneath it all, what’s our motivation to practice? For many of us, it was our individual suffering that led us to make that first contact with a dharma center, read that first dharma book or seek out that first dharma teacher. Something felt like it was out of whack and we were in search of some means of lessening that discomfort. Maybe we’d already tried other spiritual traditions, various wellness activities or latest psychological method. Maybe we’d resorted to the distractions of addiction to make our pain go away, resulting only in making it worse. All else has failed, so let’s try Buddhism as the next spiritual technology. Originally, we may have climbed onto the cushion looking for a reduction in the stress of our personal lives, but after awhile it likely became clear that there was more to this than our own circumstances. Healing ourselves can’t help but change the things around us if we are not separate from the rest of reality. Our actions of body, speech and mind—the three places where we create karma—affect ourselves and others now and give rise to the conditions of the next moment. The understandably self-centered approach we originally brought to the cushion starts to expand, and we realize that it’s not actually possible to practice for ourselves alone. We go from panting with desire for some kind of personal results to seeing the larger and more balanced worldview, and that happens when we see our true nature as bodhisattvas. Even so, there are few human actions that don’t contain some degree of delusion and defilement, however small. We may begin taking some pride in our practice: how many Dogen quotes we can spout, our experiences practicing abroad, how many chants we’ve memorized, the age of our rakusu, our intimate knowledge of things kept at the dharma center, our membership in the Buddhist in-crowd. The basis of all of this is our engagement with the Three Treasures, and yet it’s resulted in self-aggrandizement. It’s just another example of the need for lifelong moment-by-moment practice—as well as the need for good sangha friends willing to wisely and compassionately point out that we’re making some mistakes. When we truly understand that suffering arises from craving and aversion, we stop chasing and avoiding. We can keep ourselves aimed at manifesting awakening, but we’re able to accept and respond skillfully to things that happen along the way that we can’t predict. We can make course corrections as our insight deepens, holding our goals loosely, finding new and helpful ways around obstacles without getting caught up in anger and discouragement when our ideas don’t match reality. We can’t possibly know the totality of the ways in which causes and conditions will play themselves out, so we can’t possibly control everything about our lives. Without flexibility, it’s hard to keep our intention alive and pointed in the right direction. Discouragement leads to giving up when it seems that goals aren’t achievable. That’s when it’s time to examine our ideas and assumptions about what we’re trying to do. There may be a better plan for getting where we’re going or a different way to frame the goal. Maybe we have misperceptions about the way things work, or maybe something is more possible with the help of others. Cultivating clarity lets us remain firmly on the path while letting go of the fixed ideas that lead to suffering. There’s an Iowa poet named Robert Tremmel who’s clearly been reading Opening the Hand of Thought. In 2016 he published a poem called Power Outage, and before the poem he includes a quote from Uchiyama Roshi: Truth must consist of living out our lives in accord with certain inescapable realities. “Inescapable realities” is Uchiyama Roshi’s way of saying Four Noble Truths, and this is the inspiration for the poem. Power Outage Candlelight is not enough light to read by any more than bluegills circling blindly beneath the ice can lead anyone to salvation or even mere enlightenment. Outside, the wind groans on, branches heavy with snow twist and creak, small feet curl into fur. In Japanese there are words for this shogyō mujō the nature of the wick sangai kaiku the suffering of the wax. We can imagine being inside during a power outage. It’s dark and the lights don’t work, so we’ve got a candle, but the light isn’t very bright and it’s not enough to read by. We’re not going to get anywhere with whatever we’re reading and going on with it is kind of pointless, just like the fish swimming around under the ice in the lake outside are not going to lead anyone to salvation. They don’t know where they’re going, and they can’t save anybody. Blindly rushing around isn’t going to solve all our problems, and it’s not even going to lead us to mere enlightenment, seeing the undeniable realities of life. Outside, we can hear the sound of the wind and the creaking of the branches. Small animals have taken shelter somewhere and they’re doing what they need to do to ride out the storm. These things are going on regardless—wind and snow are coming and going and small animals are living their lives. The universe is doing what the universe does. In Japanese, there are words for this / shogyō mujō / the nature of the wick Shogyō mujō is the first dharma seal: all conditioned things are impermanent. The wick provides a condition for the flame of the candle; without the wick, the candle cannot burn. Yet, the wick is changing, and as a result, the flame is changing. sangai kaiku / the suffering / of the wax. Sangai kaiku is the second dharma seal: all beings in the three worlds are suffering, as is the wax while the universe functions, the candle burns, and wax is consumed in the fire. Each is completely filling its dharma position. To return to Uchiyama Roshi for a moment: The first undeniable reality (shogyō mujō or impermanence) is that every living thing dies and the second undeniable reality (sangai kaiku or suffering) is that we suffer throughout our lives because we don’t understand death. The truth derived from these two points is the importance of clarifying the matter of birth and death. (2) Because of impermanence, the wax changes shape, melts into a liquid and gets drawn up into the flame and burned. Because of impermanence, we are born and live and die. The light that comes from our burning desires isn’t enough to read by; it’s not going to get us to an understanding of reality. The delusion that hinders our ability to find liberation for ourselves and others is like the ice that covers the lake and traps the fish. We spend our lives moving about aimlessly, and again it’s not going to get us to an understanding of reality. And yet, impermanence and suffering are not separate from reality. Just like the house with the power outage is sitting in the midst of nature doing what nature does, and we can hear it, there’s a candle of our burning senses there on the table and it’s no good for reading—and yet it’s an undeniable part of reality. It’s a complete manifestation of impermanence and suffering. How can we see the real nature of the candle and of the fish under the ice, as well as the little animals and the wind and snow and tree branches? It’s sometimes called using form to transcend the form, using our suffering to see the how craving and aversion arise and understand the true nature of reality. Questions for reflection and discussion
Notes
(1) Uchiyama, Kosho. Opening the Hand of Thought: Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice. Wisdom Publications, 2005. p. 34 (2) Ibid. p. 36-37. Comments are closed.
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About the text The Ippyakuhachi Homyomon, or 108 Gates of Dharma Illumination, appears as the 11th fascicle of the 12 fascicle version of Dogen Zenji’s Shobogenzo. Dogen didn't compile the list himself; it's mostly a long quote from another text called the Sutra of Collected Past Deeds of the Buddha. Dogen wrote a final paragraph recommending that we investigate these gates thoroughly. Hoko has been talking about the gates one by one since 2016. She provides material here that can be used by weekly dharma discussion groups as well as for individual study. The 108 Gates of Dharma Illumination
[1] Right belief [2] Pure mind [3] Delight [4] Love and cheerfulness The three forms of behavior [5] Right conduct of the actions of the body [6] Pure conduct of the actions of the mouth [7] Pure conduct of the actions of the mind The six kinds of mindfulness [8] Mindfulness of Buddha [9] Mindfulness of Dharma [10] Mindfulness of Sangha [11] Mindfulness of generosity [12] Mindfulness of precepts [13] Mindfulness of the heavens The four Brahmaviharas [14] Benevolence [15] Compassion [16] Joy [17] Abandonment The four dharma seals [18] Reflection on inconstancy [19] Reflection on suffering [20] Reflection on there being no self [21] Reflection on stillness [22] Repentance [23] Humility [24] Veracity [25] Truth [26] Dharma conduct [27] The Three Devotions [28] Recognition of kindness [29] Repayment of kindness [30] No self-deception [31] To work for living beings [32] To work for the Dharma [33] Awareness of time [34] Inhibition of self-conceit [35] The nonarising of ill-will [36] Being without hindrances [37] Belief and understanding [38] Reflection on impurity [39] Not to quarrel [40] Not being foolish [41] Enjoyment of the meaning of the Dharma [42] Love of Dharma illumination [43] Pursuit of abundant knowledge [44] Right means [45] Knowledge of names and forms [46] The view to expiate causes [47] The mind without enmity and intimacy [48] Hidden expedient means [49] Equality of all elements [50] The sense organs [51] Realization of nonappearance The elements of bodhi: The four abodes of mindfulness [52] The body as an abode of mindfulness [53] Feeling as an abode of mindfulness [54] Mind as an abode of mindfulness [55] The Dharma as an abode of mindfulness [56] The four right exertions [57] The four bases of mystical power The five faculties [58] The faculty of belief [59] The faculty of effort [60] The faculty of mindfulness [61] The faculty of balance [62] The faculty of wisdom The five powers [63] The power of belief [64] The power of effort [65] The power of mindfulness [66] The power of balance [67] The power of wisdom [68] Mindfulness, as a part of the state of truth [69] Examination of Dharma, as a part of the state of truth [70] Effort, as a part of the state of truth [71] Enjoyment, as a part of the state of truth [72] Entrustment as a part of the state of truth [73] The balanced state, as a part of the state of truth [74] Abandonment, as a part of the state of truth The Eightfold Path [75] Right view [76] Right discrimination [77] Right speech [78] Right action [79] Right livelihood [80] Right practice [81] Right mindfulness [82] Right balanced state [83] The bodhi-mind [84] Reliance [85] Right belief [86] Development The six paramitas [87] The dāna pāramitā [88] The precepts pāramitā [89] The forbearance pāramitā. [90] The diligence pāramitā [91] The dhyāna pāramitā [92] The wisdom pāramitā [93] Expedient means [94] The four elements of sociability [95] To teach and guide living beings [96] Acceptance of the right Dharma [97] Accretion of happiness [98] The practice of the balanced state of dhyāna [99] Stillness [100] The wisdom view [101] Entry into the state of unrestricted speech [102] Entry into all conduct [103] Accomplishment of the state of dhāraṇī [104] Attainment of the state of unrestricted speech [105] Endurance of obedient following [106] Attainment of realization of the Dharma of nonappearance [107] The state beyond regressing and straying [108] The wisdom that leads us from one state to another state and, somehow, one more: [109] The state in which water is sprinkled on the head Archives
September 2024
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