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The Three Devotions are a gate of Dharma illumination; for they purify the three evil worlds. 三歸是法明門、淨三惡道故. As always, first let’s look at the nature of the three devotions and then at their relationship to the three evil worlds. The three devotions are about taking refuge in three treasures: Buddha, dharma, and sangha. Buddha is the historical Buddha, but is also awakening itself. Dharma is what Buddha taught, but is also the way things are or the way the universe works. Sangha is the community of people who practice together, but also all beings. Sometimes these are also called the three jewels or the three gems. Gems are valuable and precious, but in ancient India they were also thought to have protective powers. When we hear the story of Buddha’s life, we hear that he attained awakening under the bodhi tree and then went to look for five men he’d practiced with before in order to share the dharma with them. They accepted these teachings and became Buddha’s students. This is when we can say that the three treasures were established—now there were a Buddha, the dharma and a sangha. Dōgen Zenji says we take refuge in Buddha because Buddha is a good teacher, we take refuge in dharma because it’s good medicine, and we take refuge in sangha because it’s a group of good friends. We need these things. . The expression “to take refuge” is kie 帰依. Ki 帰 means to return or go back and e 依 means to depend on. Taking refuge means we take the three treasures as the main guide for how we live. This idea of taking refuge goes back to India before Buddha. Originally, it meant declaring allegiance to a powerful person, like a patron. You did what the patron told you to do in exchange for receiving protection from various dangers. In the early years of the Buddha’s teaching career, his new followers adopted this custom. They expressed their allegiance to the Buddha, dharma and sangha, but in the Buddhist context this custom took on a new meaning. Taking refuge in the Buddhist sense is not asking for the Buddha personally to intervene to provide protection, although we still face dangers from the three poisonous minds and we want freedom from those. We’re committing to the three refuges and to our practice because we recognize that we create our own suffering. We’re committing to cultivating wisdom and skillful intentions that keep suffering from arising, and following the teachings helps us do that. During ceremonies like ryaku fusatsu, we chant the three refuges: I take refuge in Buddha together with all beings, immersing body and mind deeply in the Way, awakening true mind. I take refuge in dharma together with all beings, entering deeply the merciful ocean of Buddha’s Way. I take refuge in sangha together with all beings, bringing harmony to everyone, free from hindrance. We could spend a lot of time just taking apart this chant, but let’s look at it briefly. Immersing body and mind reminds us that awakening is only manifested when we enact it moment by moment. It’s not enough just to study intellectually what Buddha said and agree with it. We have to completely embody it and completely awaken to this reality. When we do that, our wisdom and compassion naturally manifest and we take skillful action. We study the teachings not only in the form of what Buddha said but also in the form of the way the universe works or the way things are. Yes, sometimes we study sutras or books, but we also pay attention to reality and immerse ourselves in that reality. The reference to the ocean is a pointer toward taking the broadest possible perspective, letting go of thoughts and views that limit our ability to see clearly. The words translated as “bringing harmony” actually mean “unify.” We’re unified by the dharma, and that makes a collection of individuals into a community. We don’t lose our individuality, but we see how we’re connected and functioning together. If there’s no separation, then obstacles and hindrances don’t arise—or at least, they get resolved. In taking refuge, we return to zazen and the three treasures when we lose our way; we can rely on them. However. the three treasures aren’t something outside ourselves that we worship. We’re simply recognizing that the three treasures and ourselves and all of reality are not separate. The three treasures are absolute reality, and this is where we live—this is our shelter, because there’s nowhere else to go. Dogen asks why we should have faith in the three treasures and answers that it’s because the three treasures are our final refuge. All the same, it’s easy to lose sight of that and to turn to other things for comfort or refuge when we’re fearful. There are lots of things we might look to to save us from misfortune or suffering. Okumura Roshi has written that he thinks religion arises from two needs: to deal with our fears, and to figure out how to live together. People two or three thousand years ago were no different. Dogen points us to a very old Buddhist text called the Abhidharma-kosa which says: Many people, fearing misfortune, take refuge in the ghosts enshrined in various mountains and forests. This refuge is not genuine or respectable. By such refuge we cannot be released from suffering. When we take refuge in the Buddha, dharma and sangha, we observe our life with wisdom, based on the Four Noble Truths. We know suffering, the cause of suffering and going beyond suffering forever. We also know the Holy Eightfold Noble Path and go to the peacefulness of nirvana. This taking refuge is most superior. This refuge is most respectable. By this taking this refuge, we will surely be relieved from various sufferings. People of that time turned to ghosts and other fantastic beings because they seemed to provide some way to have power over nature. Folks wanted control over things they couldn’t control. Buddhism says that if we take refuge in the three treasures instead, we learn about the real cause of our suffering and what to do about it. We bring about our own suffering, and we can’t look to someone or something else to end it. Okumura Roshi says: Not by simply worshipping something but by accepting this teaching, we know how suffering is created and how it can stop. That’s why taking refuge in Buddha, dharma and sangha is superior to worshipping a ghost. It might seem like our suffering isolates us from others: I feel pain, and you don’t feel the same pain I do. Sometimes it seems like no one is suffering except me, or that I’m alone in my suffering. This individual self that’s suffering is part of the universal self, and that’s where we go for refuge. We’re not actually alone, even when we’re in quarantine in our houses and we don’t see anyone else for weeks. We’re always interconnected with this one unified reality and with the three treasures. One aspect of the three treasures is ittai sanbo 一體三寶, or one body-three treasures. It means that the three treasures aren’t actually separate; we can say that they’re three expressions of awakening. However, it also points us back to interconnection and the reality that we and the three treasures are connected across space and time into one body. We’re born, we live and we die within this one reality. This reality is our home, so taking refuge in the three treasures is returning home and taking shelter there. We’re giving up being pulled around by our ideas and delusions and returning to the way things actually are. According to Uchiyama Roshi, taking refuge in the three treasures is how we come to have a settled life. As we know, the great question of his life was how we balance peace and progress, how to have a settled life in the midst of the need for progress and development in modern times. Because everything is always changing, we can’t rely on conditioned things forever. We’d like to feel that having things, people or circumstances in our lives make our lives settled and stable, but of course they will all disappear eventually. The three treasures that make up this one reality are all we can really rely on. We do many things to protect the small self and enhance our self-concept, but all we can really do is take refuge in the three treasures and give up trying to protect the self. Taking refuge implies that we stop revering the self and look instead to the three treasures. Dogen says: What the Buddhist ancestors have authentically transmitted is reverence for Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. If we do not take refuge in them, we do not revere them and if we do not revere them we do not take refuge in them. (1) Last week’s discussion of Gate 26 on dharma conduct pointed out that Dogen taught that having grandmotherly mind isn’t just about being kind to other people and taking care of them. It’s about taking care of the three treasures by understanding that all actions—all our conduct—is the buddha dharma. Dogen said: Be mindful of the Three Treasures as a parent would be mindful of an only child. We have to pay attention to all of our actions as practice. Dogen taught that practice and awakening are not two. There is no awakening which is outside or of separate from our day to day activity, so because the three treasures are important to us, we handle them carefully. In the Bonmokyo it says, Whenever a bodhisattva hears non-Buddhist or evil minded person direct even a single slanderous word at the Buddha, he experiences pain like that inflicted by three hundred spears piercing one heart. The tenth precept is about not slandering the three treasures. On one hand, we vow not to say bad things about them, not to say they’re evil or mistaken or harmful. On the other hand, Okumura Roshi reminds us that it’s also an act of slandering the three treasures if we’re practicing for ourselves: Even if we are trying to be good students of Buddha, if we try to do so for our own sake, even slightly, we slander the Three Treasures. Still, if we stop practicing and sharing dharma with others, again we slander the Three Treasures. We must examine what’s there inside of ourselves, what makes us behave, practice or act in this way, and if we find some defilement we have to let it go and make repentance. That’s how our practice continues and our awakening ripens. Even though we make vows and intend to do the right thing by the three treasures, we can still fall into delusion when we stop paying attention to our actions and motivations, or when our day-to-day activity becomes all about our craving and aversion and not about taking care of the three treasures. Those three evil worlds in this week’s gate statement are the sanakudo 三惡道, or three lower realms of the rokudo 六道. In this world of delusion or samsara we transmigrate constantly through the six realms (2). The three lower realms are hungry ghosts, hell, and animals, or our old friends, the three poisonous minds of greed, anger and ignorance. In the Ekottaragama Sutra it says, Beings who take refuge in Buddha do not fall into lower rebirth. They cease from excess and dwell with humans and gods, and will arrive at nirvana. Taking refuge in the three treasures, doing our practice, doing shikantaza, study and beneficial action, allows for our wisdom and compassion to manifest. We see clearly what’s happening and act skillfully in the world. We get to see how our craving and attachment create suffering for ourselves and others and push us into the three lower realms. In the hungry ghost realm, we want stuff and we’re incredibly frustrated because we never get it (greed). In the animal realm, we simply try to avoid pain and make ourselves comfortable—we’re just complacent and dull (ignorance). In the hell realm, we can’t escape from our anger and hatred, and feel claustrophobic and extremely hot or cold (anger and ill will). These three poisons and their attendent hell realms are the root souce of our suffering and the suffering we perpetuate for others. They aren’t something that comes from somewhere else and strikes us randomly. We put ourselves there in those realms and we can get ourselves out by taking refuge in the three treasures and doing our practice. Questions for reflection and discussion
Notes
(1) Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo – Book 4, translated by Gudo Nishijima & Chodo Cross, Windbell, 1999. (2) The six realms (rokudo) are hell 地獄, hungry ghost 餓鬼, animal 畜生, asura 修羅 , human 人間 and god 天. 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
December 2024
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