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Development is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] we realize all dharmas concerning the root of good. 進是法明門、成就一切善根法故。 "Development" here is pretty straightforward. This is what we do when we make effort and apply ourselves to our practice, do our zazen, work and study and deepen our understanding of what Buddha and our ancestors taught. Our challenge, of course, is to cultivate our practice without having any agenda for that. We’re not doing it in order to impress ourselves or others, and we don’t cling to an idea about what practice is or who we are as practitioners for doing it. We just go about our practice with aspiration and intention without being fixated on an outcome. Nonetheless, the gate statement says that we will realize all dharmas concerning the root of good. What this is pointing to is the absence of three poisonous minds: greed, anger and ignorance. The opposites are generosity, loving kindness and wisdom. These are the three primary good roots. This gate statement is encouraging us to establish morally positive habits that lead to wholesomeness--in other words, to plant good karmic seeds by setting up good habits of practice and living that lead to skillful action. It’s probably worth reviewing here the relationship between cause and effect, which is a hugely important teaching for us, and that zazen is good for nothing. On the one hand, cause and effect is the basis for our understanding of emptiness. Nothing arises randomly -- everything has causes and conditions, so there is nothing that is not interconnected within this one unified reality. Things only come into being when there is a cause or seed, and also the necessary conditions for that arising. If you put a seed on a rock in the desert, it won’t grow, but if you plant it in good soil and water it, the conditions are right for it to sprout. If everything is dependent on other things for its arising and shaping and functioning, then it can’t have any permanent self-nature of it own, and when causes and conditions change, as we know they will, then whatever arises must also change. Thus cause and effect is tied quite closely to interdependence, impermanence, no-self and emptiness. We can’t ignore it. However, we also keep hearing that zazen is good for nothing, and that there’s no goal for our practice or even a way to measure how we’re doing. Okumura Roshi has said: According to Uchiyama Roshi, zazen is not a method to break through to anything. Usually we think it is. We practice in order to attain a certain stage of mind that is free from thinking. If our zazen is a means to break through the bottom of the bucket, then there’s a target. That’s the problem. That is a common idea in Zen: we have to break through our thinking, and our zazen is a method to do it. If we practice in that way, already there is a target and the basis of our practice is hitting that target -- that is, to break through our thinking. That is a contradiction. We just sit in the midst of this contradiction, in the correct posture, not thinking and not sleeping. There’s no target, no way we can judge whether we are doing good zazen, there is no way we can make sure if this practice is good for us or not. This is a basic contradiction in our zazen. We just sit in the midst of this contradiction. That is our practice. Although we aim, we can never perceive hitting the mark. We just sit in the midst of this contradiction that is absolutely ridiculous when we think about it with our small minds. One of the most important reasons that zazen is good for nothing is that there is nothing outside of here and now, so there’s no other time or place in which we’re going to get the reward. Everything is already here: buddhanature, awakening or whatever. This moment contains past and future, so it includes the causes and conditions of the past and sets the causes and conditions that will unfold in the future. That means that we can set up habits that will help support our ongoing practice. We can plant seeds that will encourage us to keep making effort and developing ourselves, and in fact, it’s our job to establish our practice because no one else is going to do that for us. Our practice is our own responsibility, and we can and should help ourselves. We’ve seen that the good roots in this dharma gate are what determine whether or not what we do is wholesome or unwholesome, and whether or not it’s motivated by the three poisons. In that sense, we don’t need to do something and then wait around to see whether it turns out to be good or not. We can look at the underlying cause or intention and whether one or more of the poisons are there. This is Right View or Right Understanding on the Eightfold Path. The Sammaditthi Sutta in the Pali Canon says : When a disciple of the noble ones discerns what is unskillful, discerns the root of what is unskillful, discerns what is skillful, and discerns the root of what is skillful, it is to that extent that he is a person of right view, one whose view is made straight, who is endowed with verified confidence in the Dhamma, and who has arrived at this true Dhamma. Now what is unskillful? Taking life is unskillful, taking what is not given… sexual misconduct… lying… abusive speech… divisive tale-bearing… idle chatter is unskillful. Covetousness… ill will… wrong views are unskillful. These things are termed unskillful. And what are the roots of what is unskillful? Greed is a root of what is unskillful, aversion is a root of what is unskillful, delusion is a root of what is unskillful. These are termed the roots of what is unskillful.[ii] This text is identifying unwholesome actions and then asking what the root of that unwholesomeness is. Killing and stealing and lying are unwholesome, and those things are the leaves and branches that grow from roots in habits of greed anger and ignorance. We uproot this stuff by developing the opposite: generosity, loving kindness and wisdom. Then we’ve shifted the causes and conditions toward wholesomeness by establishing good habits. One place we can turn for inspiration for our practice habits is the Fukanzazengi. This was the first text Dogen wrote when he returned from China. The title is usually translated something like Universal Recommendations for Zazen. Dogen explains some larger teachings about zazen, he sets out his own question about why we have to practice if buddha nature is already here, and he talks about why zazen is not “meditation.” However, he also gives concrete advice about establishing habits of practice, everything from where to sit to managing your food and clothing. For practicing Zen, a quiet room is suitable. Eat and drink moderately. Put aside all involvements and suspend all affairs. Do not think “good” or “bad.” Do not judge true or false. Give up the operations of mind, intellect, and consciousness; stop measuring with thoughts, ideas, and views. Have no designs on becoming a buddha. How could that be limited to sitting or lying down? Then he goes on to tell us exactly what to do every time we come to sit zazen: At your sitting place, spread out a thick mat and put a cushion on it. [then he describes lotus and half-lotus] Tie your robes loosely and arrange them neatly. Then place your right hand on your left leg and your left hand on your right palm, thumb-tips lightly touching. Straighten your body and sit upright, leaning neither left nor right, neither forward nor backward. Align your ears with your shoulders and your nose with your navel. Rest the tip of your tongue against the front of the roof of your mouth, with teeth together and lips shut. Always keep your eyes open, and breathe softly through your nose. Once you have adjusted your posture, take a breath and exhale fully, rock your body right and left, and settle into steady, immovable sitting. Think of not thinking, “Not thinking --what kind of thinking is that?” Nonthinking. This is the essential art of zazen. Now he’s covered all of the only four things we do in zazen: take the posture, keep the eyes open, breathe through the nose and let go of thought. At the end of zazen, he says, When you arise from sitting, move slowly and quietly, calmly and deliberately. Do not rise suddenly or abruptly. In a really concrete way he’s showing us the habitual way to come to the cushion every day, do our zazen and then return to the world of work and study. If we establish these patterns, we can support a steady, solid practice. Dogen wrote various texts about the specifics of forms and habits, how to take formal meals, how to use the bathroom, how to function in the study hall. These things were really important to him because he brought back two things from China to Japan: one was the content of the teachings he had studied and practiced with over there, and the other was the monastic container itself as a support for that practice, the habits and spirit and attitude that help the practice community settle down to letting go of three poisonous minds and develop generosity, loving kindness and wisdom. In addition to the Fukanzazengi and others of Dogen’s writings about practical instructions, we can also look to the precepts for help in establishing habits. The Sammaditthi Sutra referred to them above. These are less about the practice container specifically and more about our day to day living. What approach do we take to our lives and to our encounters with the universe that results in skillful action and releases us from the three poisons? One big reason that the precepts are helpful is that they break us out of habituated thinking and help us form new habits. My habit is that I see something desirable and I want to have it. When there’s chocolate cake or cherry pie, the reflex is to grab it, whether I’m hungry or not or whether it’s mine or not. Then I learn about the precept that says don’t take stuff, and I get to ask myself: how would it be if I didn’t have this habit of just thoughtlessly reacting to nice desserts? How would it be if my habit was to consider whether or not to grab it, or to share what I have with others? The whole point of having something like a set of precepts is that we need some guidance that shows us our habits, because usually it doesn’t occur to us that there’s any way to live other than our assumptions and ideas and conclusions. Wait, what if I thought about what intoxicants really are? Or what my sexual relationships are really based on? Or where my anger really comes from? Usually we just go along in the cloud of our three poisonous mind and never realize what’s going on, but practicing with the precepts is a direct way to develop the good roots this gate statement is talking about. In fact, the Bonmokyo or Brahma Net Sutra, which is one of our most important source texts for the precepts uses these actual words. It says this about the precept on anger: A disciple of the Buddha shall not harbor anger or encourage others to be angry. He should not create the causes, conditions, methods, or karma of anger. As a disciple of the Buddha, he ought to be compassionate and filial, helping all sentient beings develop the good roots of non-contention. If instead, he insults and abuses sentient beings, or even transformation beings [such as deities and spirits], with harsh words, hitting them with his fists or feet, or attacking them with a knife or club -- or harbors grudges even when the victim confesses his mistakes and humbly seeks forgiveness in a soft, conciliatory voice -- the disciple commits a Parajika offense. “Developing the good roots of non-contention” is exactly reversing the poison of anger, and as the gate statement says: Development is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] we realize all dharmas concerning the root of good. Making effort to establish steady habits of practice on and off the cushion is the way we release ourselves from the three poisons, and of course, there’s really no separation between zazen and precepts. We realize all of the precepts in zazen because it’s not possible to break them when we’re really sitting. We can’t really take any unwholesome actions of body, speech or mind when we’ve taken the posture and are just letting go of thought. Of course, many of our habits come from the assumptions we absorb from our culture or society or people who have influence over us. We don’t usually stop to question, and then we might fall into what Sawaki Roshi called group stupidity. He’s not saying we shouldn’t listen to advice and guidance from others, and he’s not telling us to rely only on our own opinions. He’s saying we should ask ourselves why we believe what we believe and why we’re doing what we’re doing. Those are important questions to investigate in our practice. The thing is, we have to be the ones to make the commitment and then get our cabooses on the cushion or make the effort to be skillful in the world. We can’t wait around for anyone else to do that for us. Teachers are helpful, but they’re not responsible for our practice. Sanshin is here and practice goes on, but if we drift away and choose not to practice, no one’s going to come and stage an intervention. This is one of the seven points that Uchiyama Roshi made in his final talk at Antaiji: Realizing that development and backsliding are your responsibility alone, endeavor to practice and develop. You may have noticed that we don’t have a curriculum or any kind of “program” here at Sanshin. There’s no an intake process that’s designed to move you through a series of checkpoints on your way to something. There’s no "system" that carries you along. From the first day you come through the door as a newcomer, your practice is your own responsibility. There is no point at which you are simply an observer or a guest. You may not know a lot at the beginning, and that’s fine, but it’s up to you to figure out what you don’t know and to watch others, do what they’re doing, and ask questions. Sometimes it takes awhile for us to realize that practicing in a community is not like a program or entertainment, where you pay for your ticket and then sit back to enjoy watching a performance put on for your benefit. The community itself is the activity, and when you agree to participate, you become an integral part of its life. There are no guests and hosts, teachers and students. There is only one living entity carrying out one practice. That means we don’t just sit around and wait to be told things. We observe, imitate, follow and fully engage. Practice leaders make an effort to orient us, but we need to meet them halfway by paying attention to what’s happening around us, and not focusing solely on our own experience and assuming that the larger picture doesn’t matter. The key to Sanshin style is non-reliance, and we have to understand how that’s related to being responsible for ourselves. Non-reliance means only thing driving practice is own bodhicitta, not the desire to get something or be somebody as a result of practice, and not our feelings of guilt or obligation to teachers or the sangha. A commitment to practice is a commitment to pay attention. Especially during sesshin, for instance, much communication is non-verbal, coming through bells, forms, gestures, maybe signage. I’ve seen people standing next to a sign doing the exact thing that the sign is asking them not to do, and being completely oblivious. If you realize you’re out of step, your ego might take comfort in saying to itself, “I didn’t know because nobody told me.” But are you sure there was no chance for you to have observed what was happening and corrected your actions by yourself? I frequently notice practitioners who participate week after week for some time and still haven’t noticed that they’re not doing what everyone else is doing. However, the waking up is itself the practice, and if I or others keep correcting you, you don’t have the chance to do it yourself. It’s convenient to blame our karmic circumstances for our practice situation. Well, I’m a beginner, or I’ve been away for awhile, or I was never much good at forms. All of those things might be true, but using them as excuses is simply an exercise in preserving the ego. Non-reliance means there’s no one and nothing to blame out there somewhere for what we do. They’re not responsible for us. Although it's important to take responsibility for our own practice, we have to be careful about falling into trying to develop into something or trying to make progress toward a goal or reward. We might think of backsliding as a lapse of mindfulness. We’ve forgotten to practice what Buddha taught. The good news is that in this moment we can get right back onto the path. This is vow and repentance in action. Backsliding is not forever, so we take responsibility and in the next moment recommit to development. Thus our deveopment is about paying attention in two directions. One is our internal engagement with the three poisons as they arise, and the other is letting go of our self-centeredness and noticing what’s happening around us so we can cooperate and fold in. Internally, we’re working on uprooting greed, anger and ignorance. I encounter something, I decide I like it, I immediately want more, and I may be pulled into some unskillful situation. Instead I could decide not to treat that craving as an emergency where things are on fire and not feel compelled to do something about it. Externally, we’re working to pick up on how the universe is working and to see that clearly and without preconceptions and shoulds, not turning away from the effect we’re having on others. It’s not easy to change our habits. We’ve all tried to break bad habits, and unless we’re vigilant, we find ourselves backsliding, falling back into old patterns. However, this is where everything starts, with us ourselves making the commitment to do something different with body, speech and mind and to develop good roots so that what unfolds from here is positive and wholesome. 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
August 2025
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