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Being without hindrances is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] the mind is free of doubt. 煩悩の障りが無いことは法明門である。 それは心に疑惑が無いからである。 The word for hindrances here is bonno 煩悩, the same bonno as in the bodhisattva vows, although there it’s frequently translated as delusion: bonno mujin seigan dan or delusions are inexhaustible; I vow to end them. Bonno are things like worldly cares, sensual desire, passions, unfortunate longings, suffering and pain. Delusion is not a simple thing! One word is really not enough to convey all complexity of bonno—and now we can see why they’re inexhaustible. The first kanji of bonno (煩) is troubles, worries, vexations, concerns, afflictions or annoyances. It has a connotation of being noisy, fussy and distracting, something clamoring for our attention. The second (悩) gives the feeling of seduction or enchantment, something we yearn for or long for. These are the sufferings born from our desires. We want things even when we know they won’t help when they’re distracting us from what we really need to do or from more wholesome things. They’re like potato chips—they seem desirable and we eat them, but they don’t really provide much nourishment, and the salt makes us thirsty. A short time later we’re hungry again, maybe for real food this time, but potato chips are easy and taste good and satisfy our body’s desire for fat and salt. Bonno has a feeling of temptation. We suffer because we’re tempted by our attachments. Even when we know we’re going to suffer because of them, somehow we can’t resist. Whenever I overindulge in internet shopping, I have trouble paying my bills . . . but I just can’t resist that new jacket or book or video game. Maybe this time it won’t really be a problem somehow! This is one kind of delusion; it comes from compulsions and habituated thinking. We do the same things over and over and somehow don’t accept the result. Another Japanese word related to delusion is mayoi 迷い. In Buddhism it means maya, the illusion of thinking that duality is the real nature of things. As an everyday Japanese word it has the sense of being lost. We hesitate and we are bewildered because we’ve lost our way, literally losing touch with reality. When we’re deluded we believe in things that contradict ultimate reality. We do it because of ignorance, the same root as ignore. This delusion that comes from ignorance is the second kind of bonno. One hundred and eight is an important number in our tradition. It shows up here as the 108 gates of dharma illumination, and there are also said to be 108 bonno to overcome to reach Nirvana. Temples and shrines often have 108 steps up to them, which might be two stairways of 54 steps or three stairways of 36 steps. In Japan at the New Year, temple bell rings 108 times to ward off delusion and protect practitioners. Shiku hakku 四苦八苦 is an expression meaning to be in dire distress, or to have difficulty; it represents the sufferings of life. It has the same sound as 4, 9, 8, 9, shi ku ha ku. If you add up 4 times 9 and 8 times 9 it turns out to equal 108. Shi ku ha ku (as 108 gates or bells) helps you get rid of shikuhakku (as the sufferings of life). The physical act of ringing a bell 108 times or walking up 108 steps is a kind of body practice to symbolically eliminate each bonno. In any event, the Yogacara school of Buddhist philosophy from which our Soto school descends says that there are four fundamental bonno from which all the other ones spring:
Ignorance, egocentric view, arrogance and self-attachment are the basic bonno. The 我 at the beginning of each of these means I or me. They’re all centered on I: my attachment to certain things, my point of view, my concept of myself, my need to be better than others. In the gate statement, bonno is part of a larger phrase: bonno no sawari 煩悩の障り. Sawari is impediment, obstacle or hindrance, and the complete phrase means the hindrance of seductive delusion. Buddha said that a hindrance is something that overwhelms our awareness and weakens our discernment. He said having hindrances is like having a river where the water gets diverted through various little channels until it loses momentum and the current stops flowing. It’s like these hindrances sap our energy or our attention until we just can’t go forward anymore. If on the other hand we dam up all those little channels of hindrance, the river keeps flowing strongly and we can stay focused and stay on the path. We don’t fall prey to the seductive distractions of our delusions. Interestingly, one of the hindrances the Buddha talks about is uncertainty or doubt, to which we’ll return shortly. The next part of the gate statement is nai koto 無いこと, a thing that does not exist or does not arise. The bodhisattva vows say delusions are inexhaustable—we never run out of delusions. We keep working on their non-arising, and they still keep showing up. We don’t have to count up to 108 to know there are a lot. Dogen wrote a poem that gives an illustration about how hindrances or sawari get in the way: People in this world are like an elephant going out the window. Only its tail remains without being pulled through. [Such a tiny thing becomes] the obstacle [to renouncing the mundane world]. ("Obstacle" here is sawari.) Dogen’s point is that there were many people in his time who left home to become Buddhist monks, but many of them still had some attachment to fame and profit. The seduction of this kind of delusion was still pretty strong, and thus they were unable to free themselves from samsara. Okumura Roshi says about this poem: When we compete with other people and want to consider we are better than others, or we want other people to consider us as superior practitioners to them, or if we study Buddhist teachings to show others that we have better knowledge, our motivation is not genuine bodhi-mind. We are moved by our ego-centered desire to be winners in the competition. This is the way we ourselves create samsara within our own Buddhist practice. That is the tiny tail of the elephant that binds us to samsara. Even within our practice, seductive delusion is there! The rest of the gate statement is about shin ni giwaku 心に疑惑: doubt, mistrust, or misgivings of the heart-mind. The feeling of giwaku is confusion and bewilderment. It’s not just being suspicious of something, but being perplexed and unable to make up one’s mind about the right choice. We have misgivings because we’re confused, not because we see our options clearly and don’t have confidence in this one or that one. Buddha said there were eight objects of doubt:
The overall feeling of this gate is that we’re usually being led astray by the seductive nature of our delusions. Walking around in this fog of unclarity that makes it hard for us to find our way, but when we can see the true nature of reality clearly and the fog lifts, then the hindrances to our expression of our Buddha nature don’t arise and we don’t have any doubt about practice, teachings and whether to walk this path. The Samannaphala Sutra says: A man traveling through a desert, aware that travelers may be plundered or killed by robbers, will, at the mere sound of a twig or a bird, become anxious and fearful, thinking: “The robbers have come!” He will go a few steps, and then out of fear, he will stop, and continue in such a manner all the way; or he may even turn back. Stopping more frequently than walking, only with toil and difficulty will he reach a place of safety, or he may not even reach it. It is similar with one in whom doubt has arisen in regard to one of the eight objects of doubt. Doubting whether the Master is an Enlightened One or not, he cannot accept it in confidence, as a matter of trust. Unable to do so, he does not attain to the paths and fruits of sanctity. Thus, as the traveler in the desert is uncertain whether robbers are there or not, he produces in his mind, again and again, a state of wavering and vacillation, a lack of decision, a state of anxiety; and thus he creates in himself an obstacle for reaching the safe ground of sanctity. In that way, skeptical doubt is like traveling in a desert. That reminds me of the part of the Heart Sutra that says: With nothing to attain, a bodhisattva relies on prajna paramita and the mind is without hindrance. Without hindrance, there is no fear. Far beyond all inverted views, one realizes nirvana. By the way, the Japanese word that’s translated here as “hindrance” is not sawari but a different word: samatageru 妨げる. This one means to obstruct, block or prevent. Interestingly, this same kanji is used in words related to electrical insulators—something that prevents electricity flowing between two connectors. It’s a helpful picture: our hindrances keep our Buddha nature insulated by covering it up. We have a harder time making contact with it when it’s buried in delusion. Finally, the gate statement says that without hindrances the mind is free from doubt. Doubt is itself one of the hindrances and Buddha said some of the same things about it that he said about ill-will. When we dwell on feelings of doubt, not only do we strengthen the doubt we have, we set the conditions for new doubts to arise. Hanging out with people who are noble friends, or good role models for us, helps dispel doubt. Suitable conversation, or paying attention to Right Speech, is also important. Those three antidotes are the same as for ill-will. Buddha teaches about two other ways to work with doubt also. First is dharma study, getting to know the scriptures, asking questions about what you don’t understand, and becoming familiar with the teachings. Second is following the precepts, whatever form that takes in your life. If you’ve formally received lay precepts or you’re part of the ordained sangha, you carry out those vows. If you’ve not done something formal, at least be familiar with the precepts and make an effort to live in a wholesome way. With these two kinds of effort we can develop some firm conviction about the Three Treasures. That leads us to take refuge because we know we can rely on the three treasures as a complete expression of the buddha-dharma. We even include a reference to being without hindrance in the refuge chant we do as part of the ryaku fusatu ceremony every month: I take refuge in Sangha, together with all beings Bringing harmony to everyone, free from hindrance. To take refuge in something, you really need to believe in it. We need to believe in immersing body and mind deeply in the way and awakening true mind. We need to believe in entering the merciful ocean of Buddha’s way, and we need to believe in bringing harmony to everyone, free from hindrance. We need to really know that these are wholesome, real things that reflect our true nature. Buddha said that when we have hindrances like ill-will and doubt, we can’t be clear about what’s good for ourselves and what’s good for others and what’s good for both. We’re going to do what we shouldn’t do and not do what we should do, and on that basis we perpetuate suffering and get a bad reputation. He said that giving up hindrances is not only the basis of wisdom but the manifestation of wisdom. When we do, the mind becomes flexible and steady and we’re better able to concentrate on practice. You’d think that the outstanding teachers in our dharma family would never have been bothered by doubt or seduced away from practice by delusion, but at least two of them were, and they’ve shared that experience so we can learn from it. First is Dogen, who’s Great Doubt led him to some of the insights and teachings that define the Soto school today. His teachers were telling him that everyone has buddha nature, and his question was: then why do we have to practice? Nonetheless, he kept at it, visited various teachers and ultimately came to an answer that resolved his doubt. He realized that we don’t practice in order to get something like Buddha nature or awakening, but that practice and our moment-by-moment lives are manifestations of the true self that we already are. The other teacher with doubts was Uchiyama Roshi. He wrote about how he and others who were practicing with Sawaki Roshi had serious doubts about this just-sitting as opposed to working with koans or trying to get satori: Kodo Sawaki had a special appeal as a human being as well as having a distinctive character as a true zen monk. . . . Those who heard his zen discourse for the first time were immediately drawn to him as iron is drawn to a magnet. So despite roshi’s declaration that the practice of zazen will come to nothing (his way of expressing the character of zazen for which there is “no gain and no satori”), many of his audience would conclude that in the course of practicing zazen they would surely attain something. That’s why so many became his students. Those lay practitioners, who come to sesshins from their homes to join us in zazen may not have thought as deeply about shikantaza as those who shaved their heads and were ordained by roshi, devoting their lives to zazen. They may not reach a point as many of the monks did where they have doubts about shikantaza. no matter how much these monks practice zazen it doesn’t completely satisfy their hunger. it’s as if they never feel completely full no matter how much they eat. For them not feeling sufficiently satisfied now means they haven’t had their fill of the thing called satori. Young people, in particular, who have thrown themselves into a religious practice will wonder whether it is meaningful spending their early lives practicing a zazen in which nothing stays with them. Once they start feeling this way, they begin to feel that the seniors who have practiced for many years are all deluded beings once their exterior coat has been peeled off. So, they presume, they had better attain satori. For this reason many leave roshi’s community. I too was riddled with doubts. however, I stayed with roshi for twenty-five years until his death, serving as his attendant and continuing my zazen practice. So i understand how people feel when they have doubts about this practice. On the other hand, I also understand the meaning of shikantaza as expressed by Zen master Dogen and by Sawaki roshi. He goes on to say that when we try to read Dogen Zenji’s writings or even Sawaki Roshi’s teachings, we don’t understand what they’re saying and we doubt the practice. Like the Buddha, he encourages us to do some dharma study so that we can see that these writings are simply talking about our everyday moment-to-moment experience. They sound mysterious and exotic to us, particularly Dogen’s writings, but we’ve probably all had the experience of hearing Okumura Roshi or another teacher do some exegesis on something Dogen wrote and suddenly it all makes sense. All our teachers are saying: stick with it. Watch out for the seductive delusions that lead us astray. Pay attention to hindrances like doubt when they arise, and don’t feed them. Do shikantaza, let go of thoughts and cultivate some insight. When we do, we can develop confidence that our practice is meaningful and worthwhile. Questions for reflection and discussion
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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
October 2024
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