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Mind as an abode of mindfulness is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] we reflect that mind is like a phantom. 心念處是法明門、觀心如幻化故。 As we continue our consideration of the four abodes of mindfulness, we can begin to see how they’re helping us to understand the process of having an experience and then taking action based on that experience. First we saw how the sense organs of the body have some contact with something, and out of that arises feeling or sensation; we decide immediately whether that feeling is pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. Now we get to the third step in that process: thoughts and emotions arise in the mind. Mind in the case of this dharma gate is not just intellect. There’s some variety in the way the original Sanskrit words for these four abodes are translated and understood. For instance, “mind” is sometimes translated “mental states,” so it isn’t just intellectual thinking but also includes the feeling tone. This is the point where feeling or sensation gives rise to the three poisons. We have a pleasant sensation and greed arises; we want more happiness, satisfaction, self-esteem or reassurance. We have an unpleasant sensation and aversion arises; we want to escape from anger, hatred, fear or shame. We have a neutral sensation and maybe ignorance is there; we don’t pay much attention to it or we ignore it. Usually we’re rather unaware of this chain, and suddenly we may be completely hijacked by our response to something. In a split second our whole outlook can change, so it makes sense to pay attention to how things arise in the mind and how those mental states are changeable and impermanent. When we’re deep in the throes of misery, infatuation or some other mental state, it seems like that feeling is going to go on forever. Sometimes that’s good and sometimes it’s not. We like good feelings and happy thoughts, and don’t want to let go of those. We don’t like bad feelings and unhappy thoughts, and we want them to go away as quickly as possible. That’s all completely understandable in this human form. Our practice isn’t telling us not to feel things, or to suppress our responses to the world. We’re not completely and wholeheartedly living this human life if we’re doing that. There are parts of our selves and our lives that we don’t like so much and we’d like to pretend they’re not there, but as bodhisattvas, that’s not an option for us. Mindfulness of mind means we know what’s going on in our minds. We know and acknowledge when we’re feeling attraction or aversion. We recognize when we’re being pulled around by delusion. We’re also aware of the general condition of our minds: distracted or focused, clear or confused. It sounds pretty simple, like we shouldn’t have to be told about it. Of course I know what’s going on up there. However, when we start paying attention, we realize how much of the time things are happening that lead to action or affect our relationships, and we’re completely unaware of what’s driving us. Where did that come from? What was I thinking? Entering into this gate is a real chance to befriend ourselves, a real chance to become intimate with ourselves and the totality of our experience. That’s not always easy or pleasant, and sometimes we don’t like ourselves that much. It’s not easy to befriend someone you don’t like. Especially if we’re stuck in habituated thinking and we’re having responses that are really familiar, we can just take for granted that those responses are the only possible outcome and that that process is permanent. Taking up this gate is also a way to practice with an intimate experience of impermanence. You’ll recall that impermanence is one of the three marks of existence, other two being interconnectedness and the emptiness of the self. These three marks are characteristic of all conditioned things. In other words, everything arises from causes and conditions, and everything is impermanent, interconnected and empty. These three marks aren’t actually separate; they’re all really pointing to the same thing. Uchiyama Roshi calls impermanence one of the undeniable realities. He says that everything that has a life loses life, which applies not only to beings we might say are alive; even insentient beings are changing all the time, and so are our mental states. He says: Many people think that simply pursuing material happiness or riches is the most important in life. But stand that way of life next to the reality of death and it completely falls apart. When a person who thinks he is happy because of his material situation has to face death, he’s likely to fall into the depths of bitterness and despair. If happiness means having plenty of money and good health, then by that very definition, you’re only going to hit rock bottom when it’s your time to die. When you are faced with death, what good is being healthy or wealthy? That is why all of these materialistic pursuits only end in despair in the face of the undeniable reality of death. (1) He’s giving one example of how quickly mental states can change. One minute we’re happy because we have things we want, and the next we’re in a hell realm because those things have been lost. Okumura Roshi says that when we’re unaware of impermanence and we’re not mindful of mind, then ego seems to be the center of the world. When the ego tries to protect itself, then greed and anger arise. The ego thinks it needs things in order to feel good, so we chase them. When it thinks it’s threatened and becomes fearful, \we run away from things we don’t like. (2) There we have the beginning of the three poisons as the root of our other delusions, and our bad karma when we take action based on them. He says mental formations and the rest of the five skandhas can’t be controlled because there is nothing to control them. The self is empty, and we can’t actually control our lives. This body and mind aren’t possessions that we can control and operate as though we’re driving cars. Thus he says that to see this body and mind as impermanent and unstable is to free ourselves from attachments and three poisons. (3) If we try to fix the mind on any particular view or idea, that’s a problem. Even clinging to the idea that mind is impermanent is a problem. Clinging to mental states creates hindrances in our ability to clearly manifest Buddha nature and act skillfully because Buddha nature itself and awakening itself are constantly changing. Uchiyama Roshi says we can’t shoot down and carry away a ready-made awakening like some kind of trophy! Okumura Roshi takes up that teaching as well. If you feel good or enlightened in certain conditions, and you cling to this experience, you are deluded. You are already stagnating in enlightenmemt. So we just open our hands and keep practicing. This is the meaning of just sitting, of continuous practice. There is no one who is deluded or enlightened. (4) Sometimes this teaching that the mind or mental states are impermanent can feel scary. What do you mean that everything I think and believe is like a phantom? Isn’t there anything I can rely on? Deeply seeing the impermanence of small mind naturally leads us to some understanding of no-self. If my mind is constantly changing and there’s nothing up there I can point to and say “That’s me,” then what is the self? Who’s driving this bus? Well, it turns out that the self is empty of a fixed nature. On the one hand, we can distinguish individual people with individual psychological attributes and personalities. On the other hand, it’s also true that we are not separate from the entire functioning of this reality, which includes all the other individual people and mental activity. Thus in addition to paying attention to the small mind, the human psychological mind, we also have to pay attention to Original Mind or Pure Mind. Original Mind is nothing other than awakening. It’s simply the complete moment-by-moment functioning of the universe, or reality. Entering into today’s dharma gate is not being separate from this Original Mind. It’s being aware that our individual mental states are arising and changing and dissolving within Original Mind. So far we’ve considered impermanence of mind from a sort of modern Zen perspective, but in Dogen’s time there was quite an argument going on about whether or not the mind was permanent, as opposed to the body. Somebody asked him whether the teachings being given by another teacher named Senika were true. This teacher said that transmigration happens because we don’t understand that when the body dies, the mind goes on and returns to the ocean of original nature. This was his teaching about how to be released from birth and death. Of course, Dogen completely disagreed. He said that Buddhism teaches that body and mind are not separate, so how can the body be impermanent and the mind permanent? In fact, he says, the very mind that’s clinging to that idea is itself impermanent, and one other problem for him was that there was some sense that the body was impure and the mind was pure. Anyway, he said that you can’t separate body and mind, or life and death, or samsara and nirvana, so using an idea like “mind is permanent” to escape from the wheel of transmigration makes no sense. Here’s what Dogen actually says: In the gate of speaking about impermanence all dharmas are impermanent, essence and material form are not separate. Why do you call the body impermanent and the mind permanent contrary to the true principle? Not only that, you should completely awaken to life and death as exactly nirvana. You can never speak of nirvana as outside life and death. Furthermore, although you have the illusory idea that the understanding that mind is permanent and apart from the body is the buddha wisdom distinct from life and death, still the mind with this discriminating view is itself arising and perishing, not permanent at all. Isn’t this illusory idea insignificant? (5) The challenge for us is that it’s fairly easy to see impermanence in the body; we don’t look like we did ten years ago. We’ve gotten bigger or smaller, stronger or weaker, more wrinkled, less keen-eyed, and we can easily change the appearance of this body with a haircut or a makeup kit. Mindfulness of the impermamence of the body is pretty easy. Seeing the impermanence of the mind is a bit more difficult. We may think we’ve always had the outlook we have now. There are certain things we’ve always assumed are true, and we’ve based our worldview on certain beliefs and values. One of the basic elements of spiritual health is understanding why we believe what we believe. Having that kind of grounding feels stable and reassuring, and then something happens: we go to school or otherwise get some education, we grow up and things that were important to us in elementary school or high school are not so important now, and we have direct experience of something we’d only read or heard about. Maybe our level of suffering rises to the point that we fall under the influence of people or organizations that seem to explain our fear, which could be wholesome or not. It could be that we fall in with extremist groups, or it could be that we encounter the dharma and start to practice. Suddenly or gradually, our thinking and ideas change. I know I don’t see the world now the same way I did before I started to practice, but I haven’t always been aware that my mind is changing. I read an interview with a woman who had been involved with Q-Anon and eventually got out. While she was part of the group, she met up with an old school friend, who expressed surprise at the transformation: “This isn’t the person I used to know.” Until that moment, the woman had been unaware of how much her thinking had changed. We live with the body and mind all day every day, so it feels like the same body and mind all the time. We can see ourselves growing and changing and aging on the outside, but we don’t always see that change on the inside. Impermanence of the mind in the long term isn’t always obvious. That’s why it’s easy to think there’s a fixed self-essence or identity or soul that persists, something permanent that’s uniquely ours. Nishiari Bokusan, one of Sawaki Roshi’s teachers, said this, and he’s harkening back to Dogen’s disagreement with Senika: The form of the body is born and dies in every moment and keeps moving without ceasing even for an instant. The form of mind is said to be born and die fifty times within the cycle of a day and a night. People ordinarily think that their body and mind are permanent because they use them continuously all their life. But if you reflect on yourself intimately, what we call self-mind and self-nature perishes in each moment. The self-mind and self-nature are annihilated when this body is destroyed. There is no place where this so-called divine self abides. In each of these essays on the four foundations of mindfulness, we’ve been considering Dogen’s piece about them in the Eihei Koroku: Our Buddha (Shakyamuni) said to his disciples, there are four foundations of mindfulness on which people should depend. These four foundations of mindfulness refer to contemplating the body as impure, contemplating sensation as suffering, contemplating mind as impermanent and contemplating phenomena as non-substantial. I, Eihei, also have four foundations of mindfulness: contemplating the body as a skin-bag, contemplating sensation as eating bowls, contemplating mind as fences, walls, tiles and pebbles, and contemplating phenomena as old man Zhang drinking wine, old man Li getting drunk. Great assembly, are my four foundations of mindfulness the same or different from the ancient Buddha’s four foundations of mindfulness? If you say they are the same, your eyebrows will fall out (from lying). If you say they are different, you will lose your body and life. (7) Where Buddha says “contemplating mind as impermanent,” Dogen says “contemplating mind as fences, walls, tiles and pebbles.” I’ve been saying that I think what Dogen is doing is taking Buddha’s adjectives to describe each element and providing a concrete day-to-day example. It’s not so easy to contemplate our minds—it’s like using our eyes to see our eyes—but we can also understand that being mindful of fences and tiles is the same as being mindful of mind. Mind as fences and walls throws us back to Original Mind, mind as awakening that includes all dharmas and all beings. The forces at work on mind (interconnection, impermanence and no-self) are also at work on fences and walls. There’s no separation between mind and body, or mind and fences and walls. When we see impermanence, we see that everything is impermanent. The small mind is a reflection of the complete functioning of reality. Previously we considered how the six sense organs come into contact with something and some sensation or feeling arises. The mind is one of those six sense organs. When it comes in contact with something, some sensation arises. That leads to labeling and emotion and action. We can think of the mind like a mirror. Everything that passes in front of the mirror produces a reflection. That image isn’t the thing itself, and the mirror doesn’t have any control over what passes in front of it and how the reflection is created. It’s just constantly responding to causes and conditions and it’s in complete accord with those causes and conditions. There’s simply complete functioning without separation. Dogen says: All day and all night, things come to the mind and the mind attends to them; at one with them all, diligently carry on the Way. (8) If the mirror is warped or cracked, then the reflection is also distorted. Maybe the image is a pool of still water that’s reflecting everything that goes by; when you throw in a pebble and the surface changes, so the reflection also changes and distorts. Sitting zazen is getting that pool of water to become still again and accurately reflect this moment. If we’re looking at distorted images, we take distorted actions. Okumura Roshi points out that the impermanence of mental states means that we can start over when we make mistakes, no matter what they are. If we are mindful of mind, we can transform our thinking and our views when we discover they’re not wholesome, or not in accord with reality. It means awakening is possible. (9) Even in zazen, the mind comes in contact with something and there’s a response. There’s a constantly changing picture show happening. Mental states are coming and going even though we’re sitting silently and not moving. That’s the “opening the hand of thought” part of the very familiar four things we do in zazen: taking the posture, keeping the eyes open, breathing deeply through the nose and opening the hand of thought. Even in the midst of the activity of thinking, there is the stillness of nonthinking. Thinking happens when there’s “me” separate from a thought and I’m in relationship with it—there’s a subject and an object. Nonthinking is the brain or mind doing what it does and “me” not engaging with it. Okumura Roshi says: When we are sitting, we do not follow or get involved with our thoughts, nor do we stop them. We just let them come and go freely. We cannot call it simply thinking, because the thoughts are not pursued or grasped. We cannot call zazen not thinking either, because thoughts are coming and going like clouds floating in the sky. When we are sitting, our brain does not stop functioning, just as our stomach does not stop digesting. Sometimes our minds are busy; sometimes calm. Just sitting without worrying about the conditions of our mind is the most important point of zazen. When we sit in this way, we are one with Reality, which is “beyond-thinking.” (10) This gate is about seeing and accepting the changability of the mind, even in zazen when we think we’re “supposed” to have some steadiness, calm or peace in our minds. Sawaki Roshi says: You lack peace of mind because you’re running after an idea of total peace of mind. That’s backwards. Be attentive to your mind in each moment, no matter how unpeaceful it might seem to be. Great peace of mind is realized only in the practice within this unpeaceful mind. It arises out of the interplay between peaceful and unpeaceful mind. The very impermanence of our minds is an important ground for practice, and there’s some subtlety there: it’s not that impermanence of mind is something we need to overcome. It’s not an obstacle to anything: it’s the nature of reality. Our practice is to see it deeply and completely accept and enter into it. Contentment comes from not wanting impermanence of mind to be other than what it is. Seeing and accepting the unpeaceful mind is the arising of peaceful mind, just as there is nonthinking in the midst of thinking. We might wish that our practice would put our minds up onto a transcendant plane where we had a blissful mindstate all the time, where we could finally get some equanimity by leaving our changeable up-and-down mindstates behind, or avoid our worries about the emptiness of the self. Well, of course, practice is not like that. We practice by fully entering into the impermanence of mind. To live only in the world of the absolute is Zen sickness. That’s not where bodhisattvas live. Impermanence of mind is a fact of our existence. The question is whether and how we recognize and work with this undeniable reality. Notes (1) Uchiyama, K. (2005). Opening the Hand of Thought: Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice. Ukraine: Wisdom Publications, p. 7. (2) see Okumura, S. (2012). Living by Vow: A Practical Introduction to Eight Essential Zen Chants and Texts. United Kingdom: Wisdom Publications, p. 57. (3) see Living by Vow, p. 127. (4) Living by Vow, p. 163. (5) The Wholehearted Way: A Translation of Eihei Dogen's Bendowa, With Commentary by Kosho Uchiyama Roshi. (2011). United States: Tuttle Publishing, p.161. (6) Dogen, E., Zenji, E. D. (2011). Dogen's Genjo Koan: Three Commentaries. United States: Counterpoint Press, p. 64. (7) Dogen, E. (2010). Dogen's Extensive Record: A Translation of the Eihei Koroku. United States: Wisdom Publications. p. 287. (8) Deepest Practice, Deepest Wisdom: Three Fascicles from Shobogenzo with Commentary. (2018). United States: Wisdom Publications, p. 36. (9) see LbV163 (10) Deepest Practice, Deepest Wisdom: Three Fascicles from Shobogenzo with Commentary. (2018). United States: Wisdom Publications, p.81. 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
January 2025
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