There are two books that deal exclusively with ‘Bodhidharma’
texts: The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma translated by Red Pine & The
Bodhidharma Anthology translated by Jeffrey L. Broughton. There is another
book which contains two ‘Bodhidharma’ texts also included in the Red Pine
volume: Zen Dawn, translated by J. C. Cleary. For all intents and
purposes, this is the Bodhidharma canon in English.
Before going any further, it might be useful to say who Bodhidharma
is. Scholars can get intense about the details and chant the word
‘hagiographical’ or ‘epistemology” as some learned mantra. I prefer Red Pine’s
simple summary:
Unknown to all but a few disciples
during his lifetime, Bodhidharma is the patriarch of millions of Zen
Buddhists…. He is the subject of many legends as well… As often happens with
legends, it’s become impossible to separate fact from fiction. His dates are
uncertain; in fact, I know at least one Buddhist scholar who doubts that
Bodhidharma ever existed.
If the man never existed, the texts do, relatively speaking.
They are bright expositions of early Chan (in Japanese, Zen). And it is my
intent to list all of them here along with some information about each,
including, most importantly, a brief but substantial selected quote. I find the texts to
be refreshingly spare as well as skillful pointers to nondual truth.
The Red Pine is a small volume of what may, for the most
part, be apocryphal works, but also mostly quick and insightful. In
the end notes, he describes his sources:
The Chinese text used for this
translation is a Ch’ing dynasty woodblock edition that incorporates corrections
of obvious copyist errors in the standard edition of the continuation to the
Ming dynasty Tripitaka. I’ve added several corrections of my own, based mostly
on textual variants found in Tunhuang versions, for which see D.T. Suzuki’s
Shoshitsu isho oyobi kaisetsu (Lost Works of Bodhidharma).
The Broughton may be more academic, but the translations are
luminous and the commentary, brilliant. He describes their importance:
Of the ten texts we now have
attributed to Bodhidharma or claiming to present his teaching, the one
generally held to contain material that is authentic in some sense is the
Bodhidharma Anthology, which itself is composed of seven texts…The Bodhidharma
Anthology as a continuum was discovered only in the early part of this century,
and it is fair to describe it as one of the most important finds among the
Tun-huang manuscripts, a small portion of which constitute the “Dead Sea
Scrolls” of Zen…[D.T.] Suzuki was able to find and reproduce
a number of Zen texts, including an anthology that came to be called the Long
Scroll of the Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices (Ninyu shigydron
chokansu); he subsequently published the reproductions in Japan. The Long
Scroll is the work I have dubbed the Bodhidharma Anthology…For decades discussion of the Long Scroll or Bodhidharma
Anthology, both Japanese and Western, has concentrated on the second section,
the Two Entrances, and has come to the consensus that only this text can be
attributed to Bodhidharma…A purpose of this book is to give the Records,
particularly Record II and Record III, their due as the real beginnings of Zen
literature, the true ancestors of the Zen genre known as recorded sayings…
The Cleary is as the Clearys are: clean and thorough.
1. Two
Entrances and Four Practices
-Red Pine: Outline of Practice
-Broughton: Two Entrances (section 2 of Bodhidharma
Anthology)
Bodhidharma Anthology is called by D. T. Suzuki:
The Long Scroll of the Treatise on The Two Entrances and Four Practices,
and includes a Biography, 2 letters, and 3 records (in Suzuki, 2) [see 5-9
below] in addition to the Two Entrances
-J. C. Cleary: Section Two of Records of Teachers and the
Students of the Lanka: Tripitaka Dharma Teacher Bodhidharma
compiled by Tanlin (per Broughton)
Excerpt:
Now, in entering the path there are
many roads. To summarize them, they reduce to two types. The first is entrance
by principle and the second entrance by practice. Entering by principle means
that one awakens to the thesis by means of the teachings, and one deeply
believes that all living beings, common and sagely, are identical to the True
Nature; that it is merely because of the unreal covering of adventitious dust
that the True Nature is not revealed. If one rejects the false and reverts to
the real and in a coagulated state abides in wall-examining, then self and
other, common man and sage, are identical; firmly abiding without shifting, in
no way following after the written teachings-this is mysteriously tallying with
principle. It is nondiscriminative, quiescent, and inactive; we call it
entrance by principle.
~trans Broughton
2. Bloodstream
Sermon
-Red Pine: Bloodstream Sermon
Yanagida attributes authorship to a member of Oxhead Zen
School (per Red Pine, although “I see no reason why they shouldn’t be accepted
as the sermons of the man to whom they’ve been attributed for more than 1,200
years.”)
Excerpt:
Buddhas of the past and future only
talk about this mind. The mind is the buddha, and the buddha is the mind.
Beyond the mind there’s no buddha, and beyond the buddha there’s no mind. If
you think there’s a buddha beyond the mind, where is he? There’s no buddha
beyond the mind, so why envision one? You can’t know your real mind as long as
you deceive yourself. As long as you’re enthralled by a lifeless form, you’re
not free. If you don’t believe me, deceiving yourself won’t help. It’s not the
buddha’s fault. People, though, are deluded. They’re unaware that their own
mind is the buddha. Otherwise they wouldn’t look for a buddha outside the mind.
Buddhas don’t save buddhas. If you
use your mind to look for a buddha, you won’t see the buddha. As long as you
look for a buddha somewhere else, you’ll never see that your own mind is the
buddha. Don’t use a buddha to worship a buddha. And don’t use the mind to
invoke a buddha. Buddhas don’t recite sutras. Buddhas don’t keep precepts. And
buddhas don’t break precepts. Buddhas don’t keep or break anything.
Buddhas don’t do good or evil. To
find a buddha, you have to see your nature. Whoever sees his nature is a
buddha. If you don’t see your nature, invoking buddhas, reciting sutras, making
offerings, and keeping precepts are all useless.
~trans Red Pine
3. Wake-up
Sermon
-Red Pine: Wake-up Sermon
Yanagida attributes as an eight-century work of the Northern
Zen School (per Red Pine)
Excerpt:
Using the mind to look for reality
is delusion. Not using the mind to look for reality is awareness. Freeing
oneself from words is liberation. Remaining unblemished by the dust of
sensation is guarding the Dharma. Transcending life and death is leaving home.
Not suffering another existence is reaching the Way. Not creating delusions is
enlightenment. Not engaging in ignorance is wisdom. No affliction is nirvana.
And no appearance of the mind is the other shore.
When you’re deluded, this shore
exists. When you wake up, it doesn’t exist. Mortals stay on this shore. But
those who discover the greatest of all vehicles stay on neither this shore nor
the other shore. They’re able to leave both shores. Those who see the other
shore as different from this shore don’t understand zen.
Delusion means mortality. And
awareness means buddhahood. They’re not the same. And they’re not different.
It’s just that people distinguish delusion from awareness. When we’re deluded
there’s a world to escape. When we’re aware, there’s nothing to escape.
~trans Red Pine
4. Contemplation
of Mind Treatise
-J.C. Cleary: Treatise on Contemplating Mind
-Red Pine: Breakthrough Sermon
Excerpt:
This mind is the source of all
virtues. And this mind is the chief of all powers. The eternal bliss of nirvana
comes from the mind at rest. Rebirth in the three realms also comes from the
mind. The mind is the door to every world and the mind is the ford to the other
shore. Those who know where the door is don’t worry about reaching it. Those
who know where the ford is don’t worry about crossing it.
The people I meet nowadays are
superficial. They think of merit as something that has form. They squander
their wealth and butcher creatures of land and sea. They foolishly concern
themselves with erecting statues and stupas, telling people to pile up lumber
and bricks, to paint this blue and that green. They strain body and mind,
injure themselves and mislead others. And they don’t know enough to be ashamed.
How will they ever become enlightened? They see something tangible and
instantly become attached. If you talk to them about formlessness, they sit
there dumb and confused. Greedy for the small mercies of this world, they
remain blind to the great suffering to come. Such disciples wear themselves out
in vain. Turning from the true to the false, they talk about nothing but future
blessings.
If you can simply concentrate your
mind’s inner light and behold its outer illumination, you’ll dispel the three
poisons and drive away the six thieves once and for all. And without effort
you’ll gain possession of an infinite number of virtues, perfections, and doors
to the truth. Seeing through the mundane and witnessing the sublime is less
than an eye-blink away. Realization is now. Why worry about gray hair? But the
true door is hidden and can’t be revealed. I have only touched upon beholding
the mind.
~trans Red Pine
5. First
Letter
Broughton: section 3 of Bodhidharma Anthology
written by Tanlin or Huike? (per Broughton)
Excerpt:
I have always admired the former
wise ones. I have broadly cultivated all the practices. I have always esteemed
the Pure Lands of the Buddhas and looked up to the teachings that have come
down to us as a thirsty man longs for water. Those who have been able to meet
Sakyamuni Buddha and realize the great path are in the millions; those who have
obtained the four fruits are numberless. I really thought that the heavenly
mansions were another country and the hells another place, that if one were to
attain the path and get the fruit, one's bodily form would change. I unrolled
sutra scrolls to seek blessings; through pure practice I [tried to produce
karmic] causes. In confusion I went around in circles, chaSing my mind and
creating karma; thus I passed many years without the leisure to take a rest.
Then for the first time I dwelled upright in dark quiescence and settled external
objects in the kingdom of mind. However, I had been cultivating false thought
for such a long time that my feelings led me to continue to see
characteristics. I came to the point where I wanted to probe the difficulties
inherent in these illusionary transformations. In the end I clearly apprehended
the Dharma Nature and engaged in a coarse practice of Thusness. For the first
time I realized that within the square inch of my own mind there is nothing
that does not exist. The bright pearl comprehends clearly and darkly penetrates
the deep tendency of things. From the Buddhas above to the wriggling insects
below there is nothing that is not another name for false thought. They are the
calculations of thought.
~trans Broughton
6. Second
Letter
Broughton: section 4 of Bodhidharma Anthology
written by Layman Hsiang incorporated in Hui-ko-B (Huike) of
Continued Biographies of Eminent Monks by Tao-Hsuan (per Broughton)
Excerpt:
Shadows arise from bodily forms;
echoes follow upon voices. Some play with their shadows to the point of tiring
their bodies, not realizing that their bodies are the shadows. Some raise their
voices to stop the echoes, not realizing that the voice is the source of the
echo. Searching for nirvana by eliminating the defilements is like searching
for the shadow by getting rid of the body. Seeking for Buddhahood by rejecting
sentient beings is like seeking for the echo by silencing the voice. Therefore,
we know that delusion and awakening are one road, that stupidity and wisdom are
not different. In a place of namelessness they mistakenly think of erecting
names, and because of these names, is and is-not are born. In a place without
principles they mistakenly think of creating principles, and because of these
principles, disputations flourish therein. Illusionary transformations are not
real, so who is right and who wrong? Falsity is unreal, so what exists and what
does not exist? One should know that obtaining is having nothing to obtain and
losing is having nothing to lose. Having not yet been able to talk with you, I
have composed these lines, but how can one discuss the dark purport?
~trans Broughton
7. Record I
Broughton: section 5 of Bodhidharma Anthology
Broughton: “Record I, the Method for Quieting Mind, consists
of forty-five sections. The format is both lecture and dialogue. Some sections
are fairly lengthy, some only a few lines. One characteristic separates Record
I from the Two Entrances, the First Letter, and the Second Letter. The latter
are in literary style, and Record I contains quite a few colloquial elements…
These colloquial forms should alert us. They are the beginnings of a tendency
that culminates in Sung Dynasty Ch'an literature, the most conspicuous
characteristic of which is the use of colloquial language. Of course, in that
literature the colloquial once again solidifies into a literary language…
Record I takes the first big step toward breaking into the colloquial range of
the recorded-sayings (yu-lu) genre of Ch'an literature; Record II is on the
verge of breaking into that range. The vibrancy, the resonance with the spoken
word, tells us more about original Ch'an than Tan-lin's elegant, balanced Two
Entrances. These texts tell us of the deepening Sinification of Buddhism, in
the sense of a move toward a spoken Chinese form of expression and away from
the venerable, but artificial, style of the translation and commentarial
traditions…”
Yen-shou calls it Bodhidharmatara’s The Method for
Quieting Mind (per Broughton)
Excerpt:
Question: "Why does the common
man fall into evil rebirths?" Answer: "Because he has an ego, is
stupid, and therefore says: 'I drink wine.' The wise one says: 'When you have
no wine, why don't you drink winelessness?' Even if [the stupid person] were to
say 'I do drink winelessness,' the wise one would say: 'Where is your I?' The
stupid person also says: 'I commit a sin.' The wise one says: 'What sort of
thing is your sin?' All of this is conditioned arising, lacking an essence.
When it arises, you already know there is no ego, so who commits the sin and
who receives punishment? The sutra says: 'Common men insist on discriminating:
"I crave; I am angry." Such ignorant people will then fall into the
three evil rebirths.' The sutra says: 'Sin is intrinsically neither internal
nor external, nor is it between the two.' This illustrates that sin is
unlocalized. The unlocalized is the locus of quiescence. When human beings fall
into a hell, from mind they calculate an ego. They remember and discriminate,
saying: 'I commit evils, and I receive punishments. I do good deeds, and I
receive rewards.' This is the evil karma. From the outset no such things have
existed, but they arbitrarily remember and discriminate, saying that they
exist. This is the evil karma."
Question: "Who can cross over
the ego to nirvana?" Answer: "Dharma can cross over the ego. How can
this be known? By seizing characteristics, one falls into a hell. By examining
Dharma, one is liberated. If you see characteristics, remember, and
discriminate, then you will suffer from a scalding cauldron, a blazing furnace,
the ox-headed [guards of hell], the Hell of the Sound of Cold, and so forth.
You will see manifested before you the characteristics of birth-and-death. If
you see that the Dharma-Realm nature is the nirvana nature and you are without
memory and discrimination, then it is the substance of the Dharma Realm."
~trans Broughton
8. Record
II
Broughton: section 6 of Bodhidharma Anthology
Broughton: “Record II truly constitutes the beginnings of
the recordedsayings genre of Ch' an literature. There is a direct line from
this work to the vast literature of Ch' an recorded sayings, and neglect of
Record II has led us to place the beginnings of the recorded-sayings genre much
too late in the history of Ch'an literature-usually in the ninth century.
Record II’s eighteen sections seem to break naturally into three parts.
Sections 50-56 center on Master Yuan; sections 57-62 center on Hui-k'o; and
sections 63-67 provide miscellaneous dialogues. We could dub Record II the
Recorded Sayings of Yuan and Hui-k'o…”
Excerpt:
Another question: "What is the
path?" Answer: "When you desire to produce the thought of moving
toward the path, crafty ingenuity will arise, and you will fall into having
mind. If you desire to give rise to the path, ingenious artifice will arise. If
you have devices in your mind, crafty artifice will always arise." Another
question: "What is crafty artifice?" Answer: "If you use
intellectual understanding to seek a name, a hundred ingenious schemes arise.
If you desire to cut off crafty artifice, don't produce the thought of
enlightenment and don't use knowledge of the sutras and treatises. If you can
accomplish this, then for the first time you will have bodily energy. If you
have spirit, do not esteem understanding, do not seek Dharma, and do not love
knowledge, then you will find a little quietude." Further: "If you do
not seek wonderful understanding, do not serve as a teacher for people, and
also do not take Dharma as your teacher, you will walk alone spontaneously."
Further: "If you do not give rise to a demon mind, I can lead you."
~trans Broughton
9. Record III
Broughton: section 7 of Bodhidharma Anthology (most
not in Suzuki’s The Long Scroll of the Treatise on The Two Entrances and
Four Practices)
Broughton: “Record III is a collection of sayings, not
dialogues. Eschewing the question-and-answer mold, it consists of sayings of
numerous masters, many with the title Dhyana Master. Some sayings seem to be
followed by commentary, often including one or more sutra quotations.”
Excerpt:
The nun Yuan-chu says: "All
dharmas are nonreacting. They are intrinsically liberated. Why? When the eye
sees forms, there are none that it does not see. Even when the mind
consciousness knows, there is nothing that it does not know and nothing that it
knows. At the time of delusion there is no understanding; at the time of
understanding there is no delusion. During a dream there is no awakening; at
the time of awakening there is no dream. Therefore, the sutra says: 'The great assembly,
having seen Aksobhya Buddha, no longer saw that Buddha. Ananda! No dharma
associates with the eye and ear organs to create a reaction. Why? Dharmas do
not see dharmas. Dharmas do not know dharmas.' Also, the sutra says: 'The
nonproduction of consciousness due to forms is called not seeing forms.' "
~trans Broughton
