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[81] Right mindfulness is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] we do not consider all dharmas intellectually. 正念是法明門、不思念一切法故。 . Ah yes, mindfulness again. Mindfulness has shown up in no fewer than 13 of the 81 gates we’ve explored already. What’s left to say? Quick review: In a Soto Zen context, mindfulness is simply remembering to practice, or remembering what the Buddha taught. What Buddha taught was dharma, and there are three kinds. There’s what Shakyamuni preached and taught to his students and followers (the manifesting dharma treasure), there’s the written version of those teachings in the sutras and the Pali Canon that we can still pick up, carry and read today (the maintaining dharma treasure), and there’s the dharma that’s simply how the universe works, the complete functioning of reality in this moment (the absolute dharma treasure). Mindulness, remembering what Buddha taught, is being in the midst of dharma. Right mindfulness here is shōnen, from the Sanskrit samyak-smṛti. We’ve encountered nen before as mindfulness. Sho is true, the same sho as in Shobogenzo, the treasury of the true dharma eye. The sense is of something done fully and completely, completely penetrating or going completely through to the bottom. It’s the same “true” that we use in unsurpasable true awakening (anyuttara samyak-sambodhi). All of the “right” elements on the eightfold path are things we do fully and completely, without a gap between subject and object. We simply do them as the universe carrying out its function. For us, right mindfulness, to continuously keep dharma in mind, is not about “me” as a subject remembering an object. There is simply recognizing the ongoing presence of that teaching or activity. It’s the Buddha manifesting as dharma—these two things aren’t really two. We are always aware of the manifestation of Buddha. In a concrete sense, we’re reminded by immersing ourselves in practice, encountering Buddha figures and encountering his teachings in sutras and canonical texts, and being with sangha friends who are on the path with us. However, in the larger sense, we don’t have to be reminded, because we see Buddha in the continuous, complete functioning of this one unified reality. In this gate statement we’re also intersecting right mindfulness with “not considering all dharmas intellectually.” The kanji here actually indicate “not thinking.” With complete mindfulness or awareness, we go beyond thinking. We should also take that to mean we go beyond both thinking and not-thinking to something we call non-thinking. We know what thinking is: there’s a “me” that’s thinking an object called a thought. As long as there’s a subject and an object, there’s “thinking,” and not thinking is not engaging in this activity. Yet non-thinking doesn’t negate either thinking or not-thinking. There is room for both thinking and not-thinking within non-thinking. This is what happens in zazen. Thoughts arise and do whatever they do because the universe is functioning and doing what it does. We can’t stop thinking because we have karma that continues to unfold related to past experiences and various influences, but there’s no “me” that owns or drives those thoughts. We let go of the construct of subject and object. We just sit in the midst of that activity and we’re completely part of it rather than separate from it, but we’re not engaged in it and trying to control it. That’s non-thinking, going beyond our ideas of thinking or not-thinking and just being immersed in reality. This gate says true awareness of Buddha or awakening and non-thinking are connected. It’s not that the intellect shuts down when we “do not consider all dharmas intellectually.” It’s that we don’t limit our engagement with all dharmas to an intellectual relationship. Buddha sees the intellect and sees beyond the intellect and sees beyond that distinction as well, and since we are already Buddha, we’re in that same space. Here’s what Dogen has to say about today’s gate: “Right mindfulness as a branch of the path” is the eighty- or ninety-percent realization of the state of being duped by ourselves. To learn that wisdom occurs following from mindfulness is “leaving the father and running away.” To learn that wisdom occurs within mindfulness itself is to be fettered in the extreme. To say that being without mindfulness is right mindfulness is non-Buddhism. Neither should we see the animating soul of earth, water, fire, and wind as mindfulness. Upset states of mind, will, and consciousness are not called mindfulness. “You having got my skin, flesh, bones, and marrow” is just “right mindfulness as a branch of the path.” (1) “Right mindfulness as a branch of the path” is the eighty- or ninety-percent realization of the state of being duped by ourselves. Our usual thinking would take that to mean that it’s not complete realization—that there’s something missing—but that’s not what it means to Dogen. He talks about this in Shobogenzo Kannon, where he quotes a koan dialogue between two monks, in which one says that what the other has said is all right but is only 80 or 90 percent of it. Dogen’s comment on this part of the story is: When we express completely without leaving out something unexpressed or something inexpressible, we simply say, “[your expression is] eighty or ninety percent.” In studying the above-mentioned meaning, even if there is one hundred percent achievement [using language], if the person is unable to express the whole [through his practice], it is not actual penetration. Even if his expression is eighty or ninety percent perfect, if [he] expresses eighty or ninety percent perfectly, then he expresses one hundred percent perfectly. . . . We should learn that “achieving eighty or ninety percent” is tantamount to saying [achieving] “hundreds or thousands” or “innumerable.” The point of this whole thing is that there are two kinds of expression happening, what gets said with words and what gets expressed with the totality of our functioning in this moment. When we say something in words, that language might only express 80- or 90- percent of the truth. We know that language is limited and there’s the problem of the dualism of language; it can’t entirely express the ineffable. However, if our activity of saying those words is done completely, with no gaps or hindrances, within complete awareness or awakening, then we’ve still achieved 100% expression of true reality. On the other hand, if we’re brilliant with words and are somehow able to 100% sum up reality with language but we’re unable to function seamlessly within the activity of the universe as a whole, then we’ve still not achieved 100% expression of true reality. “Right mindfulness as a branch of the path” is the 80- or 90-percent realization of the state of being duped by ourselves. Right mindfulness as complete awareness is complete realization or expression of delusion. This is a point he makes several times. Delusion and awakening are not separate. Expressing reality completely includes expressing our delusion completely. From here he goes on to show mistaken ideas of mindfulness and how things that should negate each other or obstruct each other really don’t. To learn that wisdom occurs following from mindfulness is “leaving the father and running away.” This is a reference to a story in the “Belief and Understanding” chapter of the Lotus Sutra. A wealthy man’s child runs away from his father and spends 50 years wandering around in complete poverty, hiring himself out as a menial laborer. One day by chance he ends up at his father’s mansion. The father is overjoyed to see his son again and wants to give him all of his wealth and possessions, but his son doesn’t recognize him; he’s overwhelmed and runs away. The father sends a messenger to bring him back, but the son thinks the messenger has come to arrest him and he’s so scared he faints. Then the father sends two servants in dirty old clothes to hire him to clean out the toilets, and the son is happy to take the job. After awhile, the father puts on dirty old clothes himself and goes to see his son, telling him he can work there as long as he wants and that he will treat him like his own son. He goes on working like this for 20 more years and gradually becomes more confident. The father promotes him to be the administrator of his property and over time he gets to know how the whole thing operates. When the father knows he’s going to die, he invites a lot of important people over and reveals who the son really is. Then he hands the whole estate over to him. The point of the story is that the father is Buddha, who wants everyone to experience the same awakening as his own, just like the father wanted to give all his possessions and wealth to his son. The son represents ordinary people who transmigrate in the realms of samsara without encountering the way. The Buddha and the father use expedient means to bring people to understanding so the truth can be revealed. To learn that wisdom occurs following from mindfulness, or holding the view that mindfulness leads to wisdom, is a non-Buddhist view, “leaving the father and running away.” Usually we think of mindfulness as an individual activity with a subject and an object—there’s a “me” being mindful of “something”—but that doesn’t work if mindfulness is a complete functioning. In that case, there’s no subject and object and there’s no separate thing we can call mindfulness. Earlier in the Buddhist tradition, the generally accepted sequence was that an ethical life necessary before engaging in concentration practice, and then that concentration practice would lead to wisdom or prajna. Dogen says prajna is foundation of everything, not the end point, so mindfulness doesn’t lead to prajna; it’s not a means to an end. Prajna is the basis of mindfulness; if prajna wasn’t already there, mindfulness wouldn’t be possible. To learn that wisdom occurs within mindfulness itself is to be fettered in the extreme. Not only does wisdom not happen after some human activity called mindfulness, even saying that it happens within mindfulness is still to put boundaries on prajna and separate it, to say it’s contained within something else. It’s still a misunderstanding. To say that being without mindfulness is right mindfulness is non-Buddhism. The word used for mindfulness can also mean thought, so this could be read as to say that being without thought is right thought is non-Buddhism. In several places elsewhere in his writings, Dogen points out that even delusion is not separate from the dharma manifesting as the complete functioning of the universe. Drawing a distinction between right mindfulness and without mindfulness, or the human brain working and the human brain being a blank, is just our idea. In his fascicle called Dignified Conduct of Practice Buddha, Dogen says (in Okumura Roshi’s translation): Such [concepts] as having thought (u-nen) and being without thought (mu-nen), or having awakening (u-kaku) and being without awakening (mu-kaku), or gradual enlightenment (shikaku) or original enlightenment (hongaku), which are thought by the common people of these days, are solely the thoughts of the common people; they are not what has been transmitted from a buddha to another buddha. Having thoughts (u-nen) of the common people and having thoughts (u-nen) of the buddhas are extremely different from each other; do not compare them. Shutting down our mental operations isn’t the point. That’s not how we fully enter into the dharma. It’s not that we push aside our thinking in order to be mindful. There is mindfulness and not-mindfulness and non-mindfulness that goes beyond the distinction or separation. These three all exist in the same space and don’t negate each other. If we have idea about what right mindfulness is, that’s just our idea, not a Buddha’s experience of right mindfulness. As our gate statement says, right mindfulness is not considering all dharmas intellectually. Neither should we see the animating soul of earth, water, fire, and wind as mindfulness. The reference here is to the godai, or five great elements. It comes from esoteric Japanese Buddhism with roots in China and India. Under this philosophy, all material things in the world come from the same source and can be put into one of four categories: earth, water, fire or wind. Earth is things that are solid. Water is things that are fluid. Fire is things that are energetic. Wind is things that grow or expand. The highest of the elements is the void, which is associated with potential or creative energy. This is the source of everything that has physical existence. There were stories of warriors who could connect with the void to sense their surroundings and act without using the mind or the physical senses. Dogen says this is not right mindfulness. He’s pushing back against something he sees around him, not saying that paying attention to nature isn’t OK. By the way, if you look at a Japanese stupa or pagoda, you can see that it’s built in five layers or stories. These represent the godai; this kind of teaching was there in a physical way that people could encounter every day. Upset states of mind, will, and consciousness are not called mindfulness. These three are a summary of mental processes, based on the Nikayas of early Buddhism. Dogen is pointing to a mindfulness which goes beyond the working of our individual psychology. He’s not negating the functioning of our brains, but he’s saying that’s not where his brand of mindfulness lives. “You having got my skin, flesh, bones, and marrow” is just “right mindfulness as a branch of the path.” Now that he’s shown what right mindfulness is not, now he begins pointing to what it is. Of course, here he’s referring to a famous koan story about Bodhidharma and four of his students. He also talked about it in his comment back at Gate 20, reflection on no-self, and he includes it in Shobogenzo Katto; in Okumura Roshi’s translation: The Twenty-Eighth Ancestor said to his disciples, “The time is coming. Why don’t you speak of what you have attained?” At that time, the disciple Daofu said, “My present view is something like neither clinging to words nor departing from words, and yet carrying out the function of the Way. The Ancestor said, “You have attained my skin.” The nun Zongchi said, “My present understanding is that it is like Ananda seeing the land of Aksobhya Buddha: he saw it once but never saw it again. The Ancestor said, “You have attained my flesh.” Daoyu said, “The four great elements are originally empty; the five aggregates are non- existent. Therefore, my view is that there is not even a single dharma to be attained.” The Ancestor said, “You have attained my bones.” Finally, Huike made three prostrations, after which he stood at his position. The Ancestor said, “You have attained my marrow.” As a result, [Bodhidharma] made him the Second Ancestor, transmitting to him the dharma and the robe. The common understanding is that Huike won the contest, that Bodhidharma thought his answer was the most profound because he said nothing and expressed his answer with the body and the other three only got as far as skin, flesh and bones but didn’t penetrate to the marrow. Yet in Katto, Dogen says no: all of the answers were equally effective expressions and nobody won. He says these answers don’t oppose each other or cancel each other out. Skin, flesh, bones and marrow aren’t a ranking but simply four different images for being in that same space of awakening with Bodhidharma. So when he refers to this story here in his comment on right mindfulness and says “You having got my skin, flesh, bones, and marrow”is just “right mindfulness as a branch of the path,” what’s his point? Bodhidharma is verifying his student’s understanding and Dogen says that all four of them have received dharma transmission in this story. All four of them are doing right mindfulness by being right in the middle of Buddha’s dharma body. Transmission is not a one-way street. There are formal ceremonies in our tradition for receiving dharma transmission in a way that recognizes you as a teacher; it means you’re now allowed to function on your own as clergy and you get some documents and new robes. However, the reality of transmission is that nothing is transmitted and you don’t receive anything. You’ve entered into the space of awakening with all the buddhas and ancestors across space and time. Anytime we enter into that space, we’re in there with all of them, so we all transmitting and receiving to and from each other. In the story of Bodhidharma, all five of those folks are together in that space. It’s kind of the same idea as the story last week where the teacher told his students that he met them in zazen no matter where they were sitting, and that was the “monastery.” With right mindfulness, we encounter things and people and events authentically by seeing right to the bottom of reality. We can’t do this when we encounter things from the perspective of the small self that sees everything in relation to what it means for “me” and considers all dharmas intellectually. We have to drop off body and mind and put aside the distortions that go with our hindrances and delusions, and yet we do that without negating body and mind. Notes: 1) Master Dogen's Shobogenzo, tr. Nishijima and Cross, vol 4. (2006). United Kingdom: Booksurge Publishing, p. 13. 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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