Platform Sutra – Talk 5
April 10, 1987 Dharma Talk by Dainin Katagiri Roshi
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Summary
Katagiri Roshi continues to discuss three-fold emptiness, and how to “achieve continuity of emptiness” by dealing with all phenomena directly, with compassion and kindness. There is an explanation of how the three poisons (greed, anger, and ignorance) transform into the three “learnings” (morality, concentration, and wisdom).
Transcript
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0:00
Katagiri Roshi: Page 101:
“Good Knowing Advisors, my Dharma-door produces 84,000 wisdoms from the one Prajna. Why? Because worldly people have 84,000 kinds of defilement.
(From The Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra, published and translated by the Buddhist Text Translation Society.)
“The dharma door produces 84,000 wisdoms from the one Prajna.” […] Dharma-door is the truth, the universe, [which] produces 84,000 wisdoms from the one prajna, [the] one perfect wisdom. So one perfect wisdom is [that] the true wisdom is one truth. So, one truth.
84,000 wisdoms: that is not only 84,000, [but] myriad, myriad wisdoms. Wisdoms of trees, plants, walls, fences… myriad, myriad beings. As long as there are myriad, myriad beings, there are myriad wisdoms. And then those wisdoms are one truth, one wisdom. That’s [what it says here].
So, “My dharma door produces 84,000 wisdoms.” They [are] all truth, because there is no crowd in the vastness of sky when wisdom manifests itself, just like the three poisons transform into three [learnings].
I think [a] previous sentence says… do you remember?
[Someone asks if it’s page 100.]
Page 100, yes. It says, “With such cultivation as that you will certainly realize the Buddha Way, transforming the three poisons into morality, concentration, and wisdom.”
You know the three poisons? The three poisons are greed, anger, ignorance. Those three poisons – greed, anger, ignorance – transform into sila, the precepts, dhyāna, meditation or concentration or tranquility, [and] ignorance transforms into wisdom.
Greed: usually we have greed, desire, but [with that] greed, greed is used for individual satisfaction. But if you use greed for all living beings, I think you cannot take care of your life individually. By practice of at least the six paramitas – you know, giving, discipline, patience, effort, wisdom, and dhyāna… At least we have to be patient and [have] effort. So you cannot take care of your life just by your will or by the satisfaction of your desires. You have to really practice patience and compassion, and [be] kindly to yourself and to others. So very naturally, you have to have [the] Precepts, you have to take best care of your life physically and mentally. You cannot hurt your bodies recklessly, you have to take best to care of your life. So very naturally greed transforms into sila, precepts. Is that clear?
We call [that] great greed, great desire.
And anger: anger is also used for the satisfaction of individual desire. If your desire is not [satisfied], very naturally you are angry with somebody as your object, and your circumstances. But you have to understand the object based on the profundity of being, how it [is] structured, [which is] called impermanent, suffering, dissatisfaction – dukkha – according to Buddha’s teaching. We have to understand very deeply. And also, all things are very changeable and impermanent – very naturally, you cannot always be angry with your life [and] others’ life. So very naturally you become sympathetic and you become compassionate to your life physically [and] mentally, and [also] your object, because your object, your partners, your friends are exactly the same as your physical situation and mental situation: always changing, impermanent. So very naturally you can be kindly, you can be compassionate to all beings.
So very naturally anger transforms into dhyāna: meditation and tranquility.
I think that’s why, whoever they are, even if people don’t know how to sit down in meditation… when people come to the end of their rope, or are suffering so much, fighting people, or [they are so] tired… very naturally, people sit down. Well, that’s the final way to go. You cannot run wildly around. If you suffer so much, if you come to the end of your rope, very naturally people sit down, and look at [themselves]. And that is a very natural situation. But if you touch something deeply, very naturally you become calm. So that’s why anger transforms into dhyāna.
And ignorance transforms into wisdom. […] I have said, according to Awakening of Faith, [the experience of ignorance] is the movement of consciousness. People don’t realize exactly the movement of consciousness, how it interacts and also how [it] pleases human life, because people always believe that it’s natural. […] It helps human life, but on the other hand it causes human life to go endlessly with dissatisfaction of human desires. And [it’s] pretty dualistic, and it causes human life to be cold and not exactly compassionate.
So when you realize how minutely consciousness moves, vibrating – very quickly, when you see your object or when you see the six objects, very naturally consciousness moves – at that time you cannot behave recklessly. So very naturally, if you realize the very minute vibration of consciousness, that realization becomes wisdom. Because without wisdom it’s impossible for us to realize [that] minute vibration of consciousness, how deeply consciousness effects human life.
So that’s why ignorance turns into wisdom. Is that clear?
[…] That’s why through the everyday life – when you see winter, when you see the trees, when you see the definite changes of the four seasons – very naturally you can see the manifestation of the three poisons transforming into the three [learnings], which is called wisdom.
So, that’s why it says here, “My Dharma-door produces 84,000 wisdoms from one Prajna.” So truth and phenomena become one. That is total manifestation of being.
“Why? Because worldly people have 84,000 kinds of defilement.” So [the] phenomenal world, [or words], are nothing but [the] manifestation of wisdom, 84,000 wisdoms.
15:12
“In the absence of defilement, wisdom is always present…
In the absence of defilement: the absence of defilement is simultaneously the presence of wisdom. The presence of wisdom doesn’t manifest after you experience the absence of defilement. So the presence of wisdom, where you accept all sentient beings as the manifestation of wisdom: deeply, very naturally, that is absence of defilement. You can be free from defilement, even though your consciousness is not conscious of it.
So that’s why [it says here], “In the absence of defilement, wisdom is always present…”
“… because it is not separate from the self-nature.
So one truth manifests itself as 84,000 defilements. Very naturally, it is always one. They work as one.
“Understand that this dharma is just no-thought, no-remembrance, non-attachment, and the non-production of falsehood and error.
Understanding that this dharma is just… I think the original text says, “those who awaken this dharma are of no thought, no remembrance, […] non-attachment and non-production of…” how can I say it… “cheat or swindle.” Here it says falsehood and error.
“Cheat or swindle”: […] This dharma is oneness of the phenomenal world and the truth. Okay? That is this dharma. If you awaken this dharma, there is no thought and no remembrance, no attachment, and non-production of cheat or swindle.
Thought is constantly thinking, arising toward objects – that is thought, it says here. Thinking has no fixed form or mark of its own. That’s why no thought: no form, no mark of thinking, no mark of thought. That is called […] form is emptiness.
“No-remembrance”: Here it says remembrance is […] present based on the memories [of] thousands [of] millions [of] years ago. That is [to pry] open the present of your remembrance. If you remember something, […] your consciousness always works connected with [myriad, myriad] memories, thousands of millions of years ago. So that’s why your consciousness is very complicated, very complicated.
So your remembrance or memories are not so simple. That’s why the more you practice meditation, the more practice becomes difficult for you. Because intellectual understanding can be solved a little easier, but the emotional aspect of human life is very difficult to deal with. It’s very difficult for us to “clear up” the emotional aspect of human life because… it’s not so simple to see your life based on, for instance, what is called enlightenment. Even though you attain enlightenment, still there are lots of things you have to deal with. So you cannot be arrogant, you cannot express yourself arrogantly. The more you practice deeply, the more your life becomes very gentle, compassionate and humble.
But people don’t notice this. That’s why if you practice deeply, people [are] mad at you. [He chuckles.] Because people don’t […] realize their own behavior – in many ways, with mouth, with body, with mind – [is] very [arrogant]. That is egoistic. That is the implication of not-realization of ignorance, how minutely your consciousness vibrates dualistically. If you see your object dualistically, very naturally self comes first, so you pretty much show yourself [very] proudly. That is arrogant. So the more you practice the buddha way, the more your behavior becomes very kind, compassionate, humble, because your consciousness is very complicated.
That is remembrance, but remembrance has no particular fixed form of its own. So, no-form of remembrance: that is called dharma is emptiness.
So [there are] three kinds of emptiness, do you remember? Form is emptiness, and dharma is emptiness, and one more emptiness is emptiness is emptiness.
So no attachment… […] Self-attachment means that the self – cognized by the senses of seeing, hearing and perceptions – is considered as a crucial being. Is that clear? The attachment means that [the] self [is] cognized. For instance if we see the microphone or tape recorder, very naturally there is self coming first. So self […] is produced by cognition of the object through the six senses.
Always the self is produced in our life. And also, the self is accepted as a crucial being, consciously or unconsciously. That’s why you always create greed, anger, hatred, arrogance, or sadness – whatever kind of emotion coming up, that is the implication of self-protection, or accepting yourself as a very crucial being. You cannot open yourself, so very naturally you confine yourself into your own shell, or you show yourself arrogantly.
That is attachment. Attachment is conscious attachment or unconscious attachment. But attachment has no fixed form of its own, because we call no form of attachment “emptiness is emptiness.” You attach [to] the self, based on relation between the subject and object, but subject and object both are impermanent, both are based on emptiness, no form. So emptiness is form, and also dharma is emptiness. So everything is emptiness. So the attachment produced by the relation between subject and object is also emptiness. So that’s why emptiness is emptiness.
That is three-fold emptiness.
So the finally, [it says] the non-production of cheat or swindle, which means achieve the completion of three-fold emptiness. Three-fold emptiness: no thought, no remembrance, no attachment. That is the three. Form is emptiness, dharma is emptiness, emptiness is emptiness.
Because if you say emptiness, you attach to emptiness, so finally, [we say] emptiness is emptiness. Constantly you have to say “emptiness is emptiness,” “emptiness is emptiness.” So what you have to do is constant practice of emptiness is emptiness. That is, achieve continuity of practicing emancipation, we say. Don’t stay in one stage, one position of human life.
That is pretty difficult for us. On the other hand, human life is exactly going like this. But we don’t actually practice that way, we don’t take care of human life exactly like this, that’s why [there is] always some big gap […], always there is are lots of problems by creation of a gap between.
So, very naturally, achieving the completion of the three-fold emptiness is simultaneously non-production of cheat or swindle. So how can you be free from cheat or swindle, or thought, or remembrance, or attachment, et cetera? Very naturally you have to see deeply into the state of human existence, by practice.
33:15
Use your own true-suchness nature…
… Which means use your own-nature of the truth.
Truth means a true quantity of existence, or in Buddhism we say true-suchness or thusness. We call shinnyo “true-suchness,” that’s [what is translated here as] true-suchness.
So, use your own-nature of the truth…
… and, by means of wisdom, contemplate and illuminate all dharmas without grasping or rejecting them. That is to see one’s own nature and realize the Buddha Way.
[…] So that means you have to take care of your object in your everyday life with compassion and with wisdom. Not only the human beings, but also inanimate beings. I always say, even a sheet of toilet paper. And your boots, your clothes, the water and the vegetables and the pan… whatever they are, we have to take care of them with compassion and wisdom. That is called “use your own nature of the truth.” Because phenomenon and the truth are one. That’s why Dogen Zenji [talks about] how to practice in the monastery. [He talks about this] in the text of the Eihei Shingi, “Regulation of the Monastery.”
“Use your own true-suchness nature, and by means of wisdom, contemplate and illuminate all dharmas without grasping or rejecting them.” […] We chant the Prajnaparamita every day, and in the first paragraph, according to the translation of The Heart Sutra by Doctor Conze, he [says]:
Avalokitesvara, Holy Lord and Bodhisattva, was moving in the deep course of the Wisdom which has gone beyond. He looked down from on high, He beheld but five heaps, and he saw that in their own-being they were empty.
(From Buddhist Wisdom: The Diamond Sutra and The Heart Sutra by Edward Conze, p. 82.)
So Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva was moving in the deep course of wisdom; this wisdom means wisdom which has gone beyond. So wisdom is that which has gone beyond. Because emptiness is emptiness, everything is emptiness. And then next what you have to do is practice of the emptiness which is emptiness. And then constantly we have to achieve continuity of practicing emptiness is emptiness. Constantly emptiness. So that is “Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva was moving in the deep course” of this wisdom. You have to participate in [it] – not only understand. You have to directly participate in the wisdom which has gone beyond.
How? Well, it’s not so difficult [a] practice. Every day, you have to deal with your object, your body, your mind, with compassion and [kindness]. That is a point Dogen Zenji teaches us. It’s a very simple practice.
But human beings, human consciousness is very greedy to get something, and you always want to have a big deal, [you] expect a big reward. We don’t want to practice without seeing any reward, without having a big deal. That’s why people complain, naturally. But this is a basic attitude, because we want to live in peace. How do we live? We have to practice like this: moving in the deep course of wisdom which has gone beyond.
So that’s why here it says it like this. In order to practice this, how do you do it? “Avalokitsvara looked down from on high” means not kind of [like] deities looking down on all sentient beings from the sky. No, it doesn’t mean this. I think you have to see deeply into human existence, sharing your life with the people. To take care of your life and a sheet of toilet paper with compassion or kindness, that is “to look down from high.” You are not existent in the same level as your object, not a middle. You become high. You look down [on] all living beings [from] on high like this.
That is, he says, “contemplate and illuminate.” Illuminate means you have to put yourself in the realm of dharma. That is simultaneously you are illuminated by the dharma.
But consciousness doesn’t agree. Consciousness does not agree with this because consciousness always sees [the] object dualistically. It’s very difficult for consciousness to put [itself] in the vastness of existence, so-called dharma, because it is oneness, practice [and] oneness simultaneously.
According to the Western way of thinking, you first always think something and then try to understand. [First] making your questions – “What is that?” – and then, please explain it. And then if you understand, you want to do it. That is [a] very natural course we want to take. But if you do [that], I think sooner or later, human beings always come to a dead end. That naturally comes. So very naturally, [the] Eastern way of thinking is to let you just be there, in the state of the oneness, before you analyze it. That’s difficult for us.
[Tape break.]
… So that’s why the Eastern way of thinking is opposite from the Western way of thinking. I don’t mean what is best, or what is good and what is bad. Okay? We need both. Otherwise, human life, modern civilization will come to an end, soon.
So that is to illuminate – “contemplate and illuminate all dharmas…”
“… without grasping or rejecting them.” What [does that] mean? To put yourself in the oneness of existence before you analyze. That means how you shouldn’t grasp it, you shouldn’t reject [it].
So what [does it] mean, “[…] to achieve continuity of emptiness?” If you face a sheet of [toilet] paper, you just deal [with it] with compassion and kindness. And [leave it]. Next, if you see water, we have to face [water] directly, and deal with water with compassion and kindness. Totally you should put yourself in the oneness, between you and water. That is called shikan, we say.
That is “contemplate and illuminate all dharmas.” That practice is based on not grasping and not rejecting. […] You cannot reject, because you exist in the stream of [the] moment. Even if the moment is the shortest period of time, as long as it exists, you are there. So you cannot ignore, you cannot reject your life, your object. But don’t stay with it – don’t grasp it. Don’t [be greedy]. Because [that’s] very individual, personal, okay? Personal is important, but I think first all, you should put yourself in the oneness, using [it] for all sentient beings.
So that’s why [it says], “use your own true-suchness nature.” Use true-suchness nature means put yourself in the realm of oneness.
That is “to see into one’s own original nature and realize the buddha way.”
So, what [does it] mean, to have a kensho? Rinzai mentions [kensho], and we say very often purpose of practice is to experience kensho. Are you familiar with the term? If you go to Rinzai, they always [say] you have to attain enlightenment; that is called kensho. You have to realize your own true nature, original nature. Otherwise, your life doesn’t make sense. Something like that.
So what do [we] mean by “seeing into your own original nature,” called kensho? I think we should understand this very deeply. That’s why [we say] kensho is not to try to grasp outwardly. First you have to put yourself in the oneness of existence. That’s always Dogen’s emphasis, called shikan.
48:11
“Good Knowing Advisors, if you wish to enter the extremely deep Dharma realm and the Prajna samadhi, you must cultivate the practice of Prajna. Hold and recite The Diamond Prajna Sutra and that way you will see your own nature.”
“If you wish to enter the extremely deep Dharma realm and the Prajna samadhi…”: dharma realm is the true oneness of phenomena and existence, that is the dharma realm. Beyond time, past, present, future; all are one. And also, all are based on emptiness: full function, total function, beyond your speculation. That is called prajna; wisdom. So wisdom is the state of understanding, state of realization, [in] which you achieve continuity of wisdom beyond wisdom. So constantly you achieve continuity of emptiness, day by day. You have to go deep into existence. That continuation of practice is so-called emancipation or liberation, we say.
So, “if you wish to enter the extremely deep Dharma realm and the Prajna samadhi, you must cultivate the practice of Prajna.” Very naturally, prajna is there. So if you take care of your zazen, your body and mind, with compassion, very naturally, there is wisdom.
“Hold and recite The Diamond Prajna Sutra and that way you will see your own nature”: because Diamond Sutra always [says] the mind is produced without [staying on anything], without relying on anything. So mind always [speaks] about the true state of human consciousness and its object.
Next page, page 103:
“You should know that the merit and virtue of this Sutra is immeasurable, unbounded, and indescribable, as the Sutra text itself clearly states.
“You should know that the merit and virtue of this Sutra is immeasurable, unbounded, and indescribable”: It describes what is indescribable. Indescribable is not indescribable, because already we know what indescribable [means]. So Diamond Sutra explains what is indescribable. And [also] what is unbounded, what is immeasurable.
If you say the truth or religion or God or buddhas, “all are immeasurable or indescribable,” [then] very naturally it may be regarded as something mysterious. But I don’t think so, because you already [spoke] about it! So it’s something clear. Very clearly, something clear and pure exists there. So indescribable is something clear, which [is not] indescribable.
So that is [what] the Diamond Sutra says. “As sutra text itself clearly states” – that’s why it clearly states [this].
53:41
“This Dharma-door is the Superior Vehicle, taught for people of great wisdom and superior faculties. When people of limited faculties and wisdom hear it, their minds give rise to doubt.
[…] Here it [talks] about the two kind of peoples: the people who have great wisdom and superior faculties, but on the other hand, limited faculties. So when the people of limited faculties and wisdom hear it, their minds give rise to doubt. Because it’s pretty difficult to receive it, because we are always greedy, [as] I mentioned before.
“Why is that? Take for example the rain which the heavenly dragons shower on Jambudvipa.
Jambudvipa means, the note says:
Every world system contains one sun, one moon, and one Mount Sumeru as well as four great continents. Jambudvipa is the continent located south of Mount Sumeru; it is the continent upon which we live.
In other words, the saha world.
So, “Take for example the rain which the heavenly dragons shower on Jambudvipa.” And also look at the last paragraph:
“Take for example the rain water. It does not come from the sky. The truth is that the dragons cause it to fall in order that all living beings, all plants and trees, all those with feeling and those without feeling may receive its moisture.
So here it says rain doesn’t come from the sky, but the truth is that dragons cause it to fall. That [is because] Buddhism tries to teach you that there is something beyond human senses, human perceptions. Which means total dynamism of myriad conditions, factors. Myriad, myriad conditions, factors, elements work together, and then there are lots of aspects of phenomena. That is [the] phenomenal world.
So, if we say “rain comes from the sky,” that is an idea, definite conclusions. [Understanding is] important: rain comes from the sky, that is [an] idea of rain. But if you take care of human life based on this idea of rain, you cannot see the rain in the universal perspective, you know? Very naturally you see the water only in terms of human eyes. You never know water in terms of fish and turtles and the boat. You have to understand the water in the universal perspective.
But human beings always look at the water just in terms of human ideas. So that’s why human beings always look at the human world deeply and immediately create [a] definite conclusion first, and then we put our life into definite conclusions. That means you always look at the human world in terms of your ideas. So [it’s] a particular color of glasses. Do you understand? That is selfish, very [selfish]. That’s why human beings [are] very clever, but on the other hand, very selfish. That’s why [we’re] always fighting. Birds look at the human world […] in terms of their own idea, their own life, but very simple, open. But human beings, very clever and smart, but selfish, very selfish.
That’s why we have to always practice liberation, emptiness. You see the microphone and take care of it, and then you should practice emptiness, liberation. You cannot stay long with it, good or bad, right or wrong. Anyway, we have to continue [to] practice like this. That is really understanding deeply how human beings, human life, [the] human world are structured.
So you cannot see the human world in terms of particular ideas, okay? So that’s why it says “dragons cause the rains.” Because dragons are legendary animals, you know, which [have] lots of stuff: [lakes], and fire… [He chuckles.] So [they are] completely beyond the usual sense of fish or humans, animals.
So that’s why [it says], “Why is that? Take for example the rain which the heavenly dragons shower on Jambudvipa.” That is […] interdependent co-origination, according to the teaching. “Interdependent co-origination causes rain to fall” – that is [what it is saying here, by] “Dragons shower on Jambudvipa.”
1:02:07
“Cities and villages drift about in the flood like thorns and leaves.
Very naturally, we understand the rains as [troubles], separate [from] human life, the human [world]. [We understand] in terms of particular ideas. So very naturally, rains create [floods], [all the trees] drift [about]… […] It creates [something miserable]. So here it says, “cities and village drift about in the flood, like thorns and leaves…”
“But if the rain falls on the great sea, its waters neither increase nor decrease.
So all become one.
“If people of the Great Vehicle, the Most Superior Vehicle, hear The Diamond Sutra, their minds open up, awaken, and understand. They then know that their original nature itself possesses the wisdom of Prajna. Because they themselves use this wisdom constantly to contemplate and illuminate, they do not rely on written words.
So very naturally, people who have wisdom can continue [to] practice emptiness – liberation, emancipation.
“Take for example the rain water. It does not come from the sky. The truth is that the dragons cause it to fall in order that all living beings, …
So that is the dragon; dragon means dependent co-origination or emptiness. That is the truth. So it is not used for particular beings, but for all living beings. That’s why, “in order that all living beings…”
“… all plants and trees, all those with feeling and those without feeling may receive its moisture. In a hundred streams it flows into the great sea and there unites in one substance. The wisdom of the Prajna of the original nature of living beings acts the same way.”