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Enjoyment, as a part of the state of truth, is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] we attain many kinds of balanced state. 喜覺分是法明門、得定故。 The Abhidharma, one of the texts of the Pali canon, describes various kinds of heaven. There are said to be 28 heaven realms, but once you arrive at one of them, you don’t stay there forever. You have a long life full of good things and with access to various divine powers, but this isn’t nirvana and eventually you drop back down into a lower realm. You go into a decline, start becoming dirty and scruffy and smelly, and don’t enjoy being in the heaven realm anymore. Your suffering in falling from this high place is sixteen times worse than the suffering of the beings in the hell realms. We can see this as a metaphor for being attached to the enjoyment that comes from pleasurable sensations that arise when our six senses come in contact with objects. This is as opposed to the enjoyment that comes from wisdom and compassion and being part of the total functioning of the universe, which is what our gate is pointing us to today. Dogen says existing in a heavenly realm is really a hindrance because we don’t see any need to practice. Then, when inevitably we lose the things we’re attached to in that heavenly realm, we’re really sunk. Uchiyama Roshi talked about what happens when modern people exist at the top of organizations and enjoy luxurious lives, but can’t actually take care of themselves or others. If they’re somehow cast out of that role, they don’t have any power and they’re in for a lot of suffering. Okumura Roshi brings these things together: Uchiyama Roshi says that modern people in developed countries who enjoy convenient lives without personal effort are like these heavenly beings. People at the top especially enjoy their lives. However, everything is impermanent. When they lose status, they experience much suffering, just like the heavenly beings of ancient Buddhist cosmology. Heaven is a manmade idea of what’s “better.” When we feel more successful than others, we’re in heaven. When we feel others are more successful, we’re in hell. To live this way of life based on comparison is to free ourselves from samsara. Living on the ground of the true reality of life is finding nirvana within this world. (1) Clearly the kind of enjoyment that goes with high socioeconomic status and trying to satisfy all of our small-self desires isn’t what this gate is talking about. In the early teachings, the Sanskrit term that’s translated enjoyment in this gate means rejoicing or taking delight in the dharma. It’s a mental factor in a group of mental formations, and it arises as a meditator concentrates on an object and moves through the first two stages of awakening. Anger dissipates, concentration strengthens, and there’s a sense of tranquility. However, this rapture can be either wholesome or unwholesome. If rapture arises because of objects that seem to be attractive to the senses, that’s unwholesome. If it arises because of steady, skillful practice, that’s wholesome. It was said that there are five kinds of rapture:
As for the “many kinds of balanced state” in this gate, that’s about complete meditative absorption or complete awakening. If you’ve achieved this state of rapture, then you’re prepared to move on to the next stages in your meditation practice. Fast forward from the early teachings about rapture as a stage of meditation to the 13th century, and Dogen means something else when he teaches about enjoyment, or joy in the dharma. In Zen we don’t have meditative stages because there is nothing to achieve or acquire in zazen. Simply doing the four things we do in zazen (take the posture, keep the eyes open, breath deeply through the nose and let go of thought) is itself a complete manifestation of awakening, so there’s nowhere else to go. However, that doesn’t mean that there’s no such thing as delight in the dharma for us. Dogen commented on each of the gate statements related to the 37 factors of bodhi in one of his Shobogenzo fascicles. His comment on this gate puts it in the context of the Mahayana, Zen, and Soto Zen: “Joy as a limb of the truth” is the sincerity of a granny’s mind when blood is dripping. The thousand hands and eyes of Great Compassion! Leave them as they are, immensely busy. Plum flowers are peeping from the December snow. In the scenery of coming spring a great master is cold. Even so, he is full of life and belly laughter. (2) When we hear this paragraph, all kinds of connections should immediately be springing up—there’s some familiar stuff here. We’ll take each of the sentences by itself, but they’re all connected to each other. “Joy as a limb of the truth” is the sincerity of a granny’s mind when blood is dripping. We think immediately of the three minds or sanshin that Dogen describes in the Tenzo Kyokun:
Uchiyama Roshi writes about these in Opening the Hand of Thought, and Okumura Roshi has talked about them frequently. It’s what Sanshin Zen Community is named for: a joyful and magnanimous spirit along with a caring heart. These are the three minds we need to have as we work and practice as part of a sangha; they’re the way we actualize our vow. It’s how we treat each other, and how we see our role and purpose in the community. We can look at each one individually, but they’re not actually disconnected; they arise together. In English, roshin is sometimes parental or grandmotherly mind. Aha! The sincerity of a granny’s mind when blood is dripping. When you were little and you cut your finger, Grandma probably stopped what she was doing, not only to provide some comfort but also to wash the cut, put on a bandage and give you a cookie. This is a practical kind of compassion. Elsewhere Dogen teaches that this parental or grandmotherly mind is how we consider the three treasures. We take care of them as though they were our only children. We don’t just say,”Oh yes, the Three Treasures, how lovely,” we actively care for the Buddha, dharma and sangha, and we’re happy to do it because feelings of connection and gratitude arise naturally. In context of Tenzo Kyokun, it’s how we prepare food for sangha. We plan it thoughtfully and watch over it carefully while it’s cooking, but while we’re doing that we’re also paying attention to everything else that’s happening in the kitchen. It’s the same mind we have in zazen. We do the only four things we do, and at the same time we don’t cling to them and lock out the rest of the universe. When you cut your finger, Grandma helps you sincerely and wholeheartedly but she keeps it all in perspective. This roshin is a manifestation of joy in the dharma. The thousand hands and eyes of Great Compassion! Leave them as they are, immensely busy. Here Dogen is invoking Kannon or Avalokitesvara in the form of Mahākaruṇā (lit. great compassion). One of the forms he takes has a thousand arms. There’s a wisdom eye in the palm of each hand on each of these arms in order to see all suffering of world and do something to help. This manifestation is called Senju Kannon. Dogen wrote fascicle about a famous koan in which one monk asks another what Senju Kannon does with all those hands and eyes. The discussion in that fascicle touches on how we as karmic beings can function like Senju Kannon. “A thousand” really means an infinite number, so Senju Kannon is everywhere as part of the natural function of this one unified reality. Liberating beings is part of the functioning of what Uchiyama Roshi calls the life force (the functioning of the universe). Seeing the true nature of all beings is unobstructed, taking care of all beings is unobstructed, and the joy that arises from that is unobstructed. Leaving those very busy thousand hands and eyes as they are is to let them do what they do without hindrance, and for Dogen, this is the whole point of the joyful mind. He says we need to be grateful for the chance not only to do our own practice but to offer that practice to others by taking care of everything we encounter. Joy means going about our activities with a light heart, not being resentful or martyred or seeing our work as a burden. Every one of those tasks is a chance to manifest awakening. We could play a bit of a game with ourselves and challenge ourselves: how much of the time can I remember to do each thing as a realization of dharma in the world? This is a mindfulness practice, not forgetting where real joy comes from. Plum flowers are peeping from the December snow. Plum flowers or baika are one of Dogen’s favorite images; he wrote a whole fascicle about them. Plum flowers bloom very early in the spring in Japan. They’re a sign that winter is ending. We had an old plum tree in front of the sodo at Toshiji; it was the first thing that bloomed. Even before the December snow had melted, somehow plum flowers were already there. The merit of plum blossoms is that they survive the severe cold of winter and send out their fragrance even in the midst of the snow. In Dogen’s teaching, plum flowers represent the correctly transmitted dharma. There are stories about him that has to do with lineage and dreams about plum flowers. In the first one, Dogen is on his pilgrimage to China and visits a certain temple, where the abbot shows him his own transmission documents, received from his teacher authorizing him to teach and function as clergy. This is really unusual, because you’re not supposed to show these things even to close disciples or people you live with without a really good reason. Dogen got to see those documents because the abbot had just had a dream in which an eminent monk appeared before him, held out a branch of plum flowers, and said: if a strange person comes who has disembarked from a boat, do not withhold these flowers. Five days later, Dogen arrived on a boat from Japan and came to see him. Since transmission documents were written on a brocade with a plum flower blossom design, the abbot decided that his dream had been a prophecy, and that Dogen must be the one the eminent monk mentioned. He showed Dogen his documents, and later Dogen himself had a dream in which the same ancestor came to him with a branch of plum flowers. Shortly afterward, he met his teacher, Tendo Nyojo. Dogen equated plum flowers with the Udumbara flower that Buddha held up when Mahakashyapa smiled in the first instance of dharma transmission. Once Dogen met his teacher and heard his dharma teachings, he realized that the ordinary plum blossoms he saw all the time were complete manifestations of thusness just like the Udumbara flower. In other words, this self is Buddha and awakening is already here, just like plum flowers already peeping from the December snow. His comment on enjoyment goes on: In the scenery of coming spring a great master is cold. Even so, he is full of life and belly laughter. In the midst of hardship, enjoyment or delight in the dharma is also there. The great master doesn’t allow discomfort or picking and choosing or suffering to obscure the nature of reality for him, and thus it doesn’t obstruct the arising of laughter or the total functioning of the life of the universal self. In one of his other teachings Dogen asks, If this greatest cold does not penetrate into our bones, how will the fragrance of the plum blossoms pervade the entire universe? If we cut off our experience of greatest cold, we also cut off the fragrance of the plum blossoms. If we cut off delusion and samsara, we also cut off awakening and nirvana, because they arise together. Magnanimous mind accepts all conditions and still finds joy, and is still right in the middle of life unfolding, as Uchiyama Roshi says. We encounter and receive everything without craving and aversion, and realize that it’s all our own life. Now putting Dogen’s comment back together: “Joy as a limb of the truth” is the sincerity of a granny’s mind when blood is dripping. The thousand hands and eyes of Great Compassion! Leave them as they are, immensely busy. Plum flowers are peeping from the December snow. In the scenery of coming spring a great master is cold. Even so, he is full of life and belly laughter. Joy in the dharma arises when we see the three marks of existence (impermanence, interconnection and no-self) and take care of all beings on that basis. We aren’t hindered in carrying out bodhisattva work by karmic circumstances, our limited human form, or our likes and dislikes because along with all that we’re wise enough to know that emptiness, awakening and joy don’t depend on the absence of those things. In his comment, Dogen is including all three minds. Joyful mind is completely interconnected with parental mind and magnanimous mind. Uchiyama Roshi says: Joyful mind is the mind that lives in accord with the true value of life. Joyful mind comes up as a dynamic feeling of truly being alive. Joyful mind does not mean a feeling of excitement at the fulfillment of some desire. Rather. joyful mind is discovering one’s worth and passion for life through the action of parental mind toward everything we encounter. When we see each encounter as our life, and function with the spirit that each and every encounter is our child to be looked after and taken care of, we will discover true ardor and passion and joy in being alive. . . . Any bodhisattva aspiring to live the Way of Buddha will without exception possess these three minds of magnanimity, joy and parental care. (3) We can see that there’s been a shift from the meaning of rapture in the early teachings. Now joy in the dharma has moved from an individual physical sensation that goes with a certain state in meditation to something that isn’t about the individual small self, and something that arises naturally when the universe is functioning without hindrances and obstacles. Uchiyama Roshi says that joyful mind is discovering the true meaning of our lives through our parental attitude, and he says that what Dogen is really asking when he teaches about joyful mind is: what direction are our lives taking? What are we doing with our lives, and what should we be doing? To cultivate joyful mind, we have to first understand the significance of bodhisattva work, and then we have to pour everything we have into it. That doesn’t leave any time and energy for having an idea about what a great spiritual reward we’re going to get out of the work. We’re not taking care of beings in order to get to our own awakening. We’re taking care of beings because awakening is already there and we have the opportunity to realize it. There’s a short-form meal verse that says: As we take food and drink I vow with all beings to rejoice in zazen, being filled with delight in the dharma. Maybe we’re not always rejoicing when we sit down to zazen--Dang! Back on this cushion again!—but in zazen everything is unobstructed, so joyful mind naturally arises. Rejoicing in zazen isn’t about our personal feeling--Oh, I just love zazen! We’re not vowing to convince ourselves to have a positive attitude toward zazen. We’re vowing to get out of the way so delight in the dharma can arise. We’re vowing to sit in the middle of profound nonseparation. I vow to rejoice in zazen, being filled with delight in the dharma. It’s interesting how often food and joy are linked together in our lives, and also in our practice. Here’s what Okumura Roshi has to say about this meal verse: When we eat, we should be happy. This happiness is the enjoyment of dharma. We consider the taste of food to be the taste of dharma. When we recieve or eat a meal, we shouldn’t grasp the taste. Usually when we eat, we encounter our food with our desires. These desires are the cause of delusion or samsara. The Buddha and Dogen Zenji teach us to become free from the desires caused by objects. This is Dogen’s teaching of shinjin datsuraku (dropping off body and mind). Our joy when we receive food is not the fulfillment of our desire. It is the joy of dharma and zazen. . . . When we can see this reality . . . not only eating but everything we do becomes our spiritual practice. (4) Dogen says a joyful spirit is one of gratefulness and buoyancy. If we’re feeling the opposite, sort of dragged down and heavy and put-upon, we can ask ourselves where we’ve gotten stuck. What have we gotten ourselves attached to that isn’t happening? It’s the most basic kind of suffering: things “should” be different than they are. It really gets in the way of joy. When we fall from the the top of the pyramid, it’s not a requirement than we abandon enjoyment or joyful mind. Enjoyment and awakening are not separate, as the gate statement says. If awakening is already here, then enjoyment is also already here. We don’t need to go looking for enjoyment; it comes with whatever we’re encountering. This doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate our favorite music or friends or hobbies. We don’t have to give up chocolate ice cream in order to be good practitioners, but can we enjoy peppermint or peach just as much? Can we understand that all of those flavors are the taste of dharma and take joy in them? Uchiyama Roshi has the last word this time: The true Self includes the entire world in which it lives. Therefore, there is nothing that is not a part of it. Everything encountered is life. To devote ourselves to everything we encounter and throw our life force into doing just that is quite different from simply exhausting our energies playing with toys. Here is where our passion for life as Joyful Mind manifests the significance of being alive. (5) Notes: (1) Uchiyama Roshi, K. (2014). Zen Teaching of Homeless Kodo. United States: Wisdom Publications, p. 116. (2) Master Dogen's Shobogenzo, tr. Nishijima and Cross, vol 4. (2006). United Kingdom: Booksurge Publishing, p. 12. (3) Uchiyama, K. (2005). Opening the Hand of Thought: Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice. Ukraine: Wisdom Publications, p. 135. (4) Okumura, S. (2012). Living by Vow: A Practical Introduction to Eight Essential Zen Chants and Texts. United Kingdom: Wisdom Publications, p. 96. (5) Uchiyama, K. (2005). How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment. United States: Shambhala, p. 96 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
July 2025
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