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Veracity is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] we do not deceive gods and human beings. 實是法明門、不誑天人故. Veracity means telling the truth. (Next week we’ll take up truth itself.) Buried down at #4 in the list of precepts is not speaking falsehood. It’s interesting that it’s buried in the middle of the list, because breaking other precepts probably also involves breaking this one. Breaking this precept means deceiving others for the sake of ourselves. The kanji for “falsehood” 偽 (ishiwari) has one piece that represents a person and another that means benefit or serve. We lie to serve ourselves. Society says lying is a bad thing; depending on the severity of the falsehood, you could go to jail. However, it’s not really that simple. What about the white lie of kindness and compassion? What about when your friend asks you, “Do pants make me look fat?” or when someone says “How are you?” and you say “I’m fine” when you’re not? If this isn’t someone you know well, it’s not appropriate to spill all your issues on him. “How are you?” is a social convention, not a question. The earliest version of this precept is not about lying in general, but a particular kind of false speech. A natural disaster happened and many monks didn’t have enough food, but a particular group of monks had plenty, which they got by telling the laypeople that they were enlightened and had superhuman powers. Thus this precept was originally about not saying you’re enlightened. Even today, someone who says he or she is enlightened is going to get funny looks, and apparently Kodo Sawaki was still running into this problem. He wrote: Nowadays, all zazen groups or masters who transmit the law have signs indicating their presence. A long time ago in India, large banners were put up. And even now, in certain regions, flags of all colors hang and fly in the breeze, a souvenir of ancient times. In our language nowadays, hanging flags indicating Dharma, and establishing true doctrine, means expressing one’s own experience relating to satori. Those who speak of Dharma without ever having experienced it are like parrots. They quote words and expressions of others, just like a dictionary. Teaching the Dharma means relating your personal experience. I want to come back to this in a few minutes, because I’ve struggled with this myself and I think it’s relevant to all of us, not just dharma teachers. Not saying that you’re enlightened is a very particular aspect of the precept about not speaking falsehood. There’s an absolute view of this precept as well that says that any use of language is speaking falsehood. After all, the word isn’t the thing; the word fire** won’t burn anything. There’s also the old problem of words creating duality. As soon as we say “emptiness,” we imply there’s something that’s outside of emptiness, reality or the Buddha Way. That’s why we have stories about teachers remaining silent when asked a question. Bodhidharma said that whatever you say is falsehood—so don’t speak. Don’t say anything, because nothing can truthfully be said about reality. Dogen brings both of these perspectives together. He says yes, language is a problem, but we need to use it in our daily lives, and also, in an absolute sense all language is false. So, we’re stuck. What do we do now? Dogen turns the whole thing inside out and says that even in our falsehood, we can’t help but express reality. The reality is that I’m using language and it’s false. The reality is that someone is telling a lie for his own benefit. The reality is that someone is trying to deceive others. We’re all expressing the reality of ourselves and our delusion, which may be an intent to mislead or do harm, or not. Even telling falsehood reveals reality. We can step back and step back, but we can’t step out of reality. In that sense, veracity or truth-telling is always happening, and false speech is an expression of the dharma. Okumura Roshi says: Within reality, there is the fact that human beings are telling lies. It’s a part of reality, the turning of the dharma wheel. Still, we don’t see that reality, so we think we can tell a lie and deceive others. Sometimes we even say that we can deceive ourselves, but actually we can’t deceive others or deceive ourselves. We can’t deceive reality or the dharma wheel. If we really see that we can’t tell a lie even though we are telling a lie, we are showing our reality. There’s no place to escape, and no place to hide ourselves. When we really awaken to that reality, there’s no way to tell a lie. Thus there are three dimensions to this one precept about not telling a lie. In our daily lives, we need to make choices; we try not to tell lies and instead to speak truth. From the absolute point of view, whatever we say is false. Finally, when we let go of our small self, whatever we see and whatever we say is reality or truth. These three aspects together make a dynamic whole. Now I want to go back to Sawaki Roshi and his quote about about dharma teaching: Those who speak of Dharma without ever having experienced it are like parrots. They quote words and expressions of others, just like a dictionary. Teaching the Dharma means relating your personal experience. Some of us practicing at Sanshin are preparing to be dharma teachers, but all of us are expressing our own practice because we can’t help it. One of my peers once called me a dharma technician -- and it wasn’t a complement. She felt that I wasn’t self-revelatory enough in my dharma teaching. For instance, I have an academic writing style, concerned mainly with Sanshin’s functioning and the processes of practice. I'm trained as a journalist, and we don't insert our opinions into our reporting. She said, “I know you have strong feelings about the dharma, but we don’t see that.” I let that percolate. When you get feedback like that, you need to see if there’s something there to investigate. My initial response was: I don’t see the problem. I don’t know that I do have strong feelings about the dharma. I have strong feelings about how we should practice, but who cares what I think about the dharma? Dharma doesn’t care! Dharma is the dharma. Our expressions of the dharma are always true and complete because they can’t come from anything but our own lives. One one hand, Sawaki Roshi is so right when he says we can’t just parrot our teachers’ words. I wrote a handbook for shusos (1) that includes help and suggestions for writing and giving talks, since by nature many shusos are inexperienced with these things. It makes the point that you have to use your own voice and talk about your own understanding rather than just stringing a bunch of quotes together. I’ve heard far too many dharma talks that amount to book reports: I found this book on [something] and it says . . . OK, tell us what you read, but tell us why we should care. Bring something new and original to the discussion. Shusos are sometimes afraid of me because they know that following the talk I may ask, “Why is all this important for you or us? What's your take on this topic?" I do sometimes quote my direct ancestors because they are the source of our style of practice, and I want to know what they have to say on a topic and to share that with the sangha. Rather than just filling space in the talk, including them in the conversation brings their words alive for us. I’m expressing my own practice by sharing what our ancestors had to say. This is how I study, and that makes the expression true and complete in this moment. In that way, it’s impossible for my dharma teaching not to be a true expression of my personal experience no matter what I say -- and yet, it’s a lie because I’m using words. This is true also for practitioners who don’t teach formally. Maybe we can’t really explain to others what our practice is about, but how can your life not be a true and complete expression of your practice? We all hear the shuso acknowledge this every June at the end of the hossenshiki when he or she lowers the head and says, "Please forgive my mistakes; they fill heaven and earth, leaving me no place to hide." We’ve talked about veracity related to language, but of course we can lie with actions as well as with words. Depending on motivation, we can look completely sincere on the outside and really be doing things for our own profit, including our practice. We can turn our practice into a lie. Kodo Sawaki wrote this : Depending whether we believe in religion for personal profit or let go of this gaining mind for the sake of faith, the meaning of our practice changes completely. The former is a heretic who exploits God or Buddha, while the latter is a truly religious person. When someone prostrates before God or Buddha and prays devoutly, it’s impossible to tell from the outside whether his faith is true or false. It depends whether we’re seeking benefit for ourselves, others or Buddha. Even a holy person respected by many could be driven by a subtly selfish motive. Attitude and motivation are everything. We’re going for transparency so that what we’re transmitting is our most authentic self. the self before the delusion of separation and subject and object come into it. Because of interdependence and interpenetration, what we do colors the entire universe. Okumura Roshi said in Living by Vow that when we’re angry the whole universe is anger; when we’re happy the whole universe is happy, etc. Thus it follows that if the entire universe is supporting our being, and if we’re perpetuating falsehood, then we turn all the things that support us into engines for breaking the fourth precept. We can use our karmic conditions for veracity or for lies. We can use them to create wholesomeness in the world or unwholesomeness. Sawaki Roshi again: If our attitude is false and then all those who have fed us and taught us, all those we have met and known, have acted solely in order to produce that falseness. If our attitude is right, whatever they have done they did solely in order to produce that rightness. The limits of the Self are truly beyond any imagining, and fill the sky, earth, and the whole universe. This gate about truthtelling becomes even more important when we see that it affects so much more than just us, and even more than the people we may intend to deceive. The whole universe becomes veracity or falsehood in this moment depending on what we choose to do. Notes
(1) The shuso is the head novice during an ango, or practice period. Serving in this role is an opportunity for leadership development on the way to becoming an authorized dharma teacher. At Sanshin, among other things the shuso is asked to prepare and deliver about eight Sunday dharma talks. 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
February 2025
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