Sutras

^ Four Vows

Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to save them
Desires are inexhaustible; I vow to put and end to them
The dharmas are boundless; I vow to master them
The Buddha Way is unsurpassable; I vow to attain it.

^ Verse of the Kesa

Vast is the robe of liberation. A formless field of benefaction
I wear the Tathagatha teaching. Saving all sentient beings

^ Gatha of Atonement

All evil karma ever committed by me since of old
On account of my beginningless greed, anger, and ignorance
Born of my body, mouth, and thought
Now I atone for it all.

^ Evening Gatha

Let me respectfully remind you
Life and death are of supreme importance
Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost
Each of us should strive to awaken… Awaken!
Take heed! Do not squander your life!

^ Gatha on Opening the Sutra

The Dharma, incomparably profound and infinitely subtle
Is rarely encountered, even in millions of ages.
Now we see it, hear it, receive and maintain it.
May we completely realize the Tathagatha’s true meaning

^ Maha Prajna Paramita Gatha

Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha  (x9)

^ Maha Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, doing deep prajna paramita,
Clearly saw emptiness of all the five conditions,
Thus completely relieving misfortune and pain,
O Shariputra, form is no other than emptiness, emptiness is no other than form;
Form is exactly emptiness, emptiness exactly form;
Sensation, conception, discrimination, awareness are likewise like this.
O Shariputra, all dharmas are forms of emptiness, not born, not destroyed;
Not stained, not pure, without loss, without gain;
So in emptiness there is no form, no sensation, conception, discrimination, awareness;
No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind;
No color, sound, smell, taste, touch, phenomena;
No realm of sight… no realm of consciousness;
No ignorance and no end to ignorance…
No old age and death, and no end to old age and death;
No suffering, no cause of suffering, no extinguishing, no path;
No wisdom and no gain. No gain and thus
The bodhisattva lives prajna paramita
With no hindrance in the mind, no hindrance, therefore no fear,
Far beyond deluded thoughts, this is nirvana.
All past, present, and future Buddhas live prajna paramita,
And therefore attain anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.
Therefore know, prajna paramita is
The great mantra, the vivid mantra,
The best mantra, the unsurpassable mantra;
It completely clears all pain — this is the truth, not a lie.
So set forth the Prajna Paramita Mantra,
Set forth this mantra and say:
Gate! Gate! Paragate! Parasamgate!
Bodhi svaha. Prajna Heart Sutra. ☸

^ Identity of Relative and Absolute

The mind of the Great Sage of India was intimately
Conveyed from west to east,
Among human beings are wise ones and fools,
But in the Way there is no northern or southern ancestor.
The subtle source is clear and bright;
The tributary streams flow through the darkness.
To be attached to things is illusion;
To encounter the absolute is not yet enlightenment.
Each and all, the subjective and objective spheres are related,
And at the same time, independent.
Related, yet working differently, though each keeps its own place.
Form makes the character and appearance different;
Sounds distinguish comfort and discomfort.
The dark makes all words one;
The brightness distinguishes good and bad phrases.
The four elements return to their nature as a child to its mother.
Fire is hot, wind moves, water is wet, earth hard.
Eyes see, ears hear, nose smells, tongue tastes the salt and sour.
Each is independent of the other;
Cause and effect must return to the great reality.
The words high and low are used relatively.
Within light there is darkness,
But do not try to understand that darkness;
Within darkness there is light,
But do not look for that light.
Light and darkness are a pair,
Like the foot before and the foot behind, in walking.
Each thing has its own intrinsic value and is
Related to everything else in function and position.
Ordinary life fits the absolute as a box and its lid.
The absolute works together with the relative
Like two arrows meeting in mid-air.
Reading words you should grasp the great reality.
Do not judge by any standards.
If you do not see the Way, you do not see it even as you walk on it.
When you walk the Way, it is not near, it is not far.
If you are deluded, you are mountains and rivers away from it.
I respectfully say to those who wish to be enlightened:
Do not waste your time by night or day. ☸

^ Dharma Lineage

^ Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo

Kan ze on na mu butsu yo butsu u in yo butsu u en bup po so
en jo raku ga jo cho nen kan ze on bo nen kan ze on nen
nen ju shin ki nen nen fu ri shin ☸

Kanzeon!
At one with Buddha.
Related to all Buddhas in cause and effect.
And to Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
Joyful, pure, eternal being!
Morning mind is Kanzeon.
Evening mind is Kanzeon.
This very moment arises from Mind.
This very moment is not separate from Mind.

^ Sho Sai Myo Kichijo Dharani

No mo san man da moto nan oha ra chi koto sha sono nan
to ji to en gya gya gya ki gya ki un nun shiu ra shiu ra
hara shiu ra hara shiu ra chishu sa chishu sa chishu ri
chishu ri sowa ja sowa ja sen chi gya shiri ei somo ko ☸

One with all the Buddhas!
One with the teaching that knows no
Obstructions! Thus:
Om, Khya khya khyahi khyahi (speak, speak)!
Hum Hum!
Jvala jvala prajvala prajvala (blaze, blaze)!
Tistha tistha (up, up) Stri stri!
Sphata (burst, burst)! One who is quiescent!
To the glorious one, hail!

^ Hakuin’s Song of Zazen

Sentient beings are intrinsically Buddha
Like ice and water,
Apart from water, there is no ice;
Apart from sentient beings, there is no Buddha

Not knowing how near the truth is,
We seek it far away—
What a pity.
We are like the son of a rich man,
Who wandered away among the poor.

The reason we transmigrate throughout the six worlds
Is because we are lost in the darkness of ignorance.
Going astray further and further in the darkness,
When will we be free from birth and death?

As for the Mahayana practice of zazen,
We have no words to praise it.
The virtues of perfection: charity,
Morality and the invocation of the Buddha’s name,
Confession and ascetic discipline, and many
Other good deeds of merit,
All come from the practice of zazen.
Even those who sit just once
Will see all their Karma erased.
Nowhere will they find evil paths,
But the Pure Land will be near at hand.

With a reverential heart,
If we listen to this truth even once,
And gladly praise and embrace it,
We will surely be infinitely blessed;
But, if we concentrate within,
And testify to the truth that Self Nature is No Nature,
We have really gone beyond foolish talk.

The gate of oneness of cause and effect opens,
The non-dual, non-triple road lies straight ahead.
The formless form now being your form,
Going or returning you go not elsewhere;

The thoughtless thought now being your thought,
Singing and dancing are the voice of the Dharma.
Boundless and free the sky of samadhi!
Perfect and bright the full moon of wisdom!
At this moment what more do you seek?
With the truth eternally revealed before you?
This very place is the Lotus Land:
This Body is the Buddha.

^ Daihishin Dharani

Namu kara tan no tora ya ya namu ori ya boryo ki chi shiu ra ya fuji sato bo ya moko sato bo ya mo ko kya runi kya ya en sa hara ha ei shu tan no ton sha namu shiki ri toi mo ori ya boryo ki chi shiu ra ri to bo na mu no ra kin ji ki ri mo ko ho do sha mi sa bo o to jo shu ben o shu in sa bo sa to no mo bo gya mo ha de cho to ji to en o bo ryo ki ryo gya chi kya rya chi i kiri mo ko fuji sa to sa bo sa bo mo ra mo ra mo ki mo ki ri to in ku ryo ku ryo ke mo to ryo to ryo ho ja ya chi mo ko ho ja ya chi to ra to ra chiri ni shiu ra ya sha ro sha ro mo mo ha mo ra ho chi ri i ki i ki shi no shi no ora san fura sha ri ha za ha za fura sha ya ku ryo ku ryo mo ra ku ryo ku ryo ki ri sha ro sha ro shi ri shi ri su ryo su ryo fuji ya fuji ya fudo ya fudo ya mi chiri ya nora kin ji chiri shuni no hoya mono somo ko shido ya somo ko moko shido ya somo ko shido yu ki shiu ra ya somo ko nora kin ji somo ko mo ra no ra somo ko shira su omo gya ya somo ko sobo moko shido ya somo ko shaki ra oshi do ya somo ko hodo mogya shido ya somo ko nora kin ji ha gyara ya somo ko mo hori shin gyara ya somo ko namu kara tan no tora ya ya namu ori ya boryo ki chi shiu ra ya somo ko shite do modo ra hodo ya so mo ko ☸

^ Special Services

^ Maka Hannya Haramita Shingyo
(The Heart Sutra)

Kan ji zai bo sa gyo jin han nya ha ra mi ta ji sho ken go on kai ku do is sai ku yaku sha ri shi shiki fu i ku ku fu i shiki shiki soku ze ku ku soku ze shiki ju so gyo shiki yaku bu nyo ze sha ri shi ze sho ho ku so fu sho fu metsu fu ku fu jo fu zo fu gen ze ko ku chu mu shiki mu ju so gyo shiki mu gen ni bi zes shin ni mu shiki sho ko mi soku ho mu gen kai nai shi mu i shiki kai mu mu myo yaku mu mu myo jin nai shi mu ro shi yaku mu ro shi jin mu ku shu metsu do mu chi yaku mu toku i mu sho tok ko bo dai sat ta e han nya ha ra mi ta ko shin mu ke ge mu ke ge ko mu u ku fu on ri is sai ten do mu so ku gyo ne han san ze sho butsu e han nya ha ra mi ta ko toku a noku ta ra sam myaku sam bo dai ko chi han nya ha ra mi ta ze dai jin shu ze dai myo shu ze mu jo shu ze mu to to shu no jo is sai ku shin jitsu fu ko ko setsu han nya ha ra mi ta shu soku setsu shu watsu gya tei gya tei ha ra gya tei hara so gya tei bo ji sowa ka han nya shin gyo

^ Song of the Jewel Mirror Awareness
(Hokkyozammai)

The Dharma of thusness
Is intimately communicated by Buddhas and Patriarchs;
Now you have it,
So keep it well.
Filling a silver bowl with snow,
Hiding a heron in the moonlight —
When you array them, they’re not the same;
When you mix them, you know where they are.
The meaning is not in the words,
Yet it responds to the inquiring impulse.
If you’re excited, it becomes a pitfall
If you miss it you fall into retrospective hesitation.
Turning away and touching are both wrong,
For it is like a mass of fire.
Just to depict it in literary form
Is to relegate it to defilement.
It is bright just at midnight;
It doesn’t appear at dawn.
It acts as a guide for beings —
Its use removes all pains.
Although it is not fabricated,
It is not without speech.
It is like facing a jewel mirror;
Form and image behold each other —
You are not it,
It actually is you.
It is like a babe in the world,
In five aspects complete;
It does not go or come,
Nor rise nor stand.
“Baba wawa” —
Is there anything said or not?
Ultimately it does not apprehend anything
Because its speech is not yet correct.
It is like the six lines of the double split hexagram;
The relative and absolute integrate —
Piled up, they make three;
The complete transformation makes five.
It is like the taste of the five-flavored herb,
Like the diamond thunderbolt.
Subtly included within the true,
Inquiry and response come up together.
Communing with the source and communing with the process,
It includes integration and includes the road;
Merging is auspicious;
Do not violate it.
Naturally real yet inconceivable,
It is not within the province of delusion or enlightenment.
With causal conditions, time and season,
Quiescently it shines bright.
In its fineness it fits into spacelessness;
In its greatness it is utterly beyond location.
A hairsbreadth’s deviation
Will fail to accord with the proper attunement.
Now there are sudden and gradual,
In connection with which are set up basic approaches.
Once basic approaches are distinguished,
Then there are guiding rules.
But even though the basis is reached and the approach comprehended,
True eternity still flows.
Outwardly still while inwardly moving,
Like a tethered colt, a trapped rat —
The ancient saints pitied them,
And bestowed upon them the teaching;
According to their delusions,
They called black as white —
When erroneous imaginations cease,
The acquiescent mind realizes itself.
If you want to conform to the ancient way,
Please observe the ancients of former times;
When about to fulfill the way of Buddhahood,
One gazed at a tree for ten aeons,
Like a tiger leaving part of its prey,
A horse with a while left hind leg.
Because there is the base, (there are)
Jewel pedestals, fine clothing;
Because there is the startlingly different, (there are)
House cat and cow.
Yi, with his archer’s skill,
could hit a target at a hundred paces;
But when arrow points meet head on,
What has this to do with the power of skill?
When the wooden man begins to sing,
The stone woman gets up to dance;
It’s not within reach of feeling or discrimination —
How could it admit of consideration in thought?
A minister serves the lord,
A son obeys the father.
Not obeying is not filial,
And not serving is no help.
Practice intimately, working within,
As though a fool, like an idiot —
If you can achieve continuity,
This is called the host within the host. ☸

^ Gate of Sweet Nectar
(Kan Ro Mon)