DAI ZAI GE DA PU KU
MU SO FU KU DE NE
HI BU NYO RAI KYO
KO DO SHO SHU JO

Great robe of liberation,
Field far beyond form and emptiness;
Wearing the Tathagata's teaching,
Saving all beings

All my ancient twisted karma
From beginningless greed, hate, and delusion
Born through body, speech, and mind
I now fully avow

I take refuge in Buddha
Before all being
Immersing body and mind deeply in the Way,
Awakening true mind.

I take refuge in Dharma
Before all being,
Entering deeply the merciful ocean
Of Buddha’s Way.

I take refuge in Sangha
Before all being,
Bringing harmony to everyone,
Free from hindrance.

Buddham saranam gacchami
Dhammam saranam gacchami
Sangham saranam gacchami

Dutiyampi buddham saranam gacchami
Dutiyampi dhammam saranam gacchami
Dutiyampi sangham saranam gacchami

Tatiyampi buddham saranam gacchami
Tatiyampi dhammam saranam gacchami
Tatiyampi sangham saranam gacchami

All buddhas, ten directions, three times
All honored ones, bodhisattva-mahasattvas
Wisdom beyond wisdom
Maha Prajna Paramita

We reflect on the effort that brought us this food, and consider how it comes to us.
We reflect on our virtue and practice, and vow to be worthy of this offering.
We regard it as essential to keep the mind free from excesses such as greed.
We regard this food as good medicine to sustain our life.
For the sake of enlightenment we now receive this food.
First, this is for the three treasures.
Next, for the four benefactors.
Finally, for the beings in the six realms.
May all be equally nourished.
The first portion is to end all evil.
The second is to cultivate all good.
The third is to free all beings.
May we all realize the buddha way.

OM KA KA KABI SAN MA E SOWA KA

Kan ji zai bo satsu gyo jin han nya

ha ra mit 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 ze 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 mit 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 mit ta

o 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 do shu no jo is

sai ku shin jitsu fu ko ko setsu han

nya ha ra mit ta shu soku setsu shu

watsu gya te gya te ha ra gya te

hara so gya te bo ji sowa ka han

nya shin gyo

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

shifu ra shifu ra

hara shifu ra hara shifu ra

chishu sa chishu sa

chishu ri chishu ri

soha ja soha ja

sen chi gya

shiri ei so mo ko

(*Dharanis have no English Translation. The meaning is not in the words!)

Namu kara tan no tora ya ya namu ori ya boryo ki chi shifu 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 shifu ra rin 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 te cho to ji to en o bo ryo ki ru 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 shifu ra ya sha ro sha ro mo mo ha mo ra ho chi ri yuki yuki 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 O kin ji chiri shuni no hoya mono somo ko shido ya somo ko moko shido ya somo ko shido yu ki shifu ra ya somo ko nora O 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 shifu ra ya somo ko shite do modo ra hodo ya so mo ko

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

Translation:

Bodhisattva of Compassion!

Bowing to Buddha!

With the Buddha I have origin

With the Buddha I have affinity

Affinity with Buddha, Dharma, Sangha

Constancy, happiness and purity

In the morning I think of the Bodhisattva of Compassion

At the night I think of the Bodhisattva of Compassion

Thought after thought arises in my mind

Thought after thought is not separate from the mind

Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, when deeply practicing prajna paramita, clearly saw that all five aggregates are empty and thus relieved all suffering.

Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form.

Form itself is emptiness, emptiness itself form.

Sensations, perceptions, formations, and consciousness are also like this.

Shariputra, all dharmas are marked by emptiness; they neither arise nor cease, are neither defiled nor pure, neither increase nor decrease.

Therefore, given emptiness, there is no form, no sensation, no perception, no formation, no consciousness; no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no sight, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no object of mind; no realm of sight, no realm of mind consciousness.

There is neither ignorance nor extinction of ignorance; neither old age and death, nor extinction of old age and death; no suffering, no cause, no cessation, no path; no knowledge and no attainment.

With nothing to attain, a bodhisattva relies on prajna paramita, and thus the mind is without hindrance.

Without hindrance, there is no fear. Far beyond all inverted views, one realizes nirvana.

All buddhas of past, present, and future rely on prajna paramita and thereby attain unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment.

Therefore, know the prajna paramita as the great miraculous mantra, the great bright mantra, the supreme mantra, the incomparable mantra, which removes all suffering and is true, not false.

Therefore we proclaim the prajna paramita mantra, the mantra that says:
“Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha.”

Homage to the Perfection of Wisdom, the lovely, the holy.

The Perfection of Wisdom gives light.

Unstained, the entire world cannot stain her.

She is a source of light and from everyone in the triple world she removes darkness.

Most excellent are her works.

She brings light so that all fear and distress may be forsaken and disperses the gloom and darkness of delusion.

She herself is an organ of vision.

She has a clear knowledge of the own being of all dharmas for she does not stray away from it.

The Perfection of Wisdom of the buddhas sets in motion the wheel of dharma.

This is what should be accomplished by the one who is wise, who seeks the good, and has obtained peace.

Let one be strenuous, upright, and sincere, without pride, easily contented, and joyous.

Let one not be submerged by the things of the world.

Let one not take upon oneself the burden of riches.

Let one's senses be controlled.

Let one be wise but not puffed up, and

Let one not desire great possessions even for one's family.

Let one do nothing that is mean or that the wise would reprove.

May all beings be happy.

May they be joyous and live in safety.

All living beings, whether weak or strong, in high or middle or low realms of existence, small or great, visible or invisible, near or far, born or to be born,

May all beings be happy.

Let no one deceive another nor despise any being in any state.

Let none by anger or hatred wish harm to another.

Even as a mother at the risk of her life watches over and protects her only child, so with a boundless mind should one cherish all living things, suffusing love over the entire world, above, below, and all around without limit.

So let one cultivate an infinite good will toward the whole world.

Standing or walking, sitting or lying down, during all one's waking hours, let one practice The Way with gratitude.

Not holding to fixed views, endowed with insight, freed from sense appetites, one who achieves The Way will be freed from the duality of birth and death.

PART 1

Attaining the Way is not difficult,

Just avoid picking and choosing.

If you have neither aversion nor desire,

You’ll thoroughly understand.

A hair’s breadth difference

Is the gap between heaven and earth.

If you want it to come forth,

Let there be no positive and negative,

For such comparisons

Are a sickness of the mind.

Without knowing the Great Mystery

Quiet practice is useless.

The great perfection is the same as vast space,

Lacking nothing, nothing extra.

Due to picking up and discarding

You will not know it.

Don’t chase the conditioned

Nor abide in forbearing emptiness.

In singular equanimity

The self is extinguished.

Ceasing movement and returning to stillness,

This is complete movement.

But only suppress the two aspects

How can you realize unity?

Not penetrating the one,

The two lose their life. 

Reject existence and you fall into it,

Pursue emptiness and you move away from it.

With many words, and thoughts

You miss what is right before you.

Cutting off words and thought

Nothing remains unpenetrated.

Return to the root and attain the essence,

For if you chase the light you’ll lose the Way.

But if you reflect the light for but a moment,

All previous shadows are dispelled.

All previous shadows are transformed

Because they were all due to delusive views.

It’s no use to seek truth,

Just let false views cease.

Don’t abide in duality

And take care not to seek,

For as soon as there is yes and no,

The mind is lost in confusion.

Two comes forth from one,

But don’t hold even the one,

For when even the one mind is unborn,

The myriad things are flawless

Without flaws, without things.

With no birth, no mind,

Function is lost to conditions,

Conditions perish in function,

Conditions arise from function,

Function is actualized from conditions.

You should know that duality 

Is originally one emptiness, 

And one emptiness unifies duality,

Encompassing the myriad forms.

Not perceiving refined or vulgar

Is there any prejudice?

The Great Way is vast,

With neither ease nor difficulty.

If you have biased views and doubts,

And move too fast or slow,

Grasping the world without measure,

Then your mind has taken a wayward path.

Let it all naturally drop away

And embody no coming or going.

In accord with your fundamental nature unite with the Way

And wander the world without cares.

PART 2

Being tied by thought runs counter to Truth,

But sinking into a daze is not good.

Don’t belabor the spirit.

Why adhere to intimate or distant?

If you want to experience the one vehicle,

Don’t malign the senses,

For when the senses are not maligned

That itself is perfect awakening.

The wise do not move,

But the ignorant bind themselves.

Though one Dharma differs not from another

The deluded self desires each,

Objectifying the mind to realize mind.

Is this not a great error?

Delusion gives rise to quietness or chaos,

But enlightenment has not positive and negative.

The duality of existence

Is born from false discrimination,

Flourishing dreams and empty illusions.

Why try to grab them?

Gain and loss, true and false,

Drop them all in one moment.

If the eyes don’t sleep

All dreams disappear.

If the mind does not go astray

The myriad dharmas are but One,

And the One encompasses the Mystery.

In stillness, conditioned existence is forgotten,

And the myriad things are seen equally,

Naturally returning to each one’s own nature.

When all dharmas are extinguished

It is immeasurable.

Cease movement and no movement exists,

When movement stops there is no cessation.

Since two are not manifest

How is there even one?

Finally, ultimately,

Principles do not exist.

Bring forth the mind of equanimity

And all activities will be put to rest,

All doubts extinguished.

True faith is upright,

And nothing then remains,

Nothing is remembered,

And the empty brightness shines naturally

Without effort of mind.

There, not a thought can be measured,

Reason and emotion can’t conceive it.

In the Dharma realm of true thusness

There is neither other, nor self;

One should hasten to behold it.

Just say, “Not two,”

For in “not two” all things are united,

And there is nothing not included.

The wise ones of the ten directions

Have entered this great understanding,

An understanding that neither hastens nor tarries.

In ten thousand years, a single thought,

Not to be found within “existence and nonexistence,”

But meeting the eye in the ten directions.

The smallest is no different from the largest.

Eliminating boundaries,

The largest is the same as the smallest.

Not seeing divisions,

Existence is but emptiness,

Emptiness, existence.

That which is not of this principle

Must not be preserved.

The one is everything,

Everything, the one.

If your understanding is thus,

What is left to accomplish?

Faith and mind are undivided,

Nonduality is both faith and mind.

The way of words is cut off,

Leaving no past, no future, no present.

I’ve built a grass hut where there’s nothing of value.

After eating, I relax and enjoy a nap.

When it was completed, fresh weeds appeared.

Now it’s been lived in – covered by weeds.

The person in the hut lives here calmly,

Not stuck to inside, outside, or in between.

Places worldly people live, he doesn’t live.

Realms worldly people love, he doesn’t love.

Though the hut is small, it includes the entire world.

In ten feet square, an old man illumines forms and their nature.

A bodhisattva trusts without doubt.

The middling or lowly can’t help wondering;

Will this hut perish or not?

Perishable or not, the original master is present,

not dwelling south or north, east or west.

Firmly based on steadiness, it can’t be surpassed.

A shining window below the green pines —

Jade palaces or vermilion towers can’t compare with it.

Just sitting with head covered, all things are at rest.

Thus, this mountain monk doesn’t understand at all.

Living here he no longer works to get free.

Who would proudly arrange seats, trying to entice guests?

Turn around the light to shine within, then just return.

The vast inconceivable source can’t be faced or turned away from.

Meet the ancestral teachers, be familiar with their instruction,

Bind grasses to build a hut, and don’t give up.

Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely.

Open your hands and walk, innocent.

Thousands of words, myriad interpretations,

Are only to free you from obstructions.

If you want to know the undying person in the hut,

Don’t separate from this skin bag here and now.

The mind of the great sage of India is intimately transmitted from west to east.

While human faculties are sharp or dull, the Way has no northern or southern ancestors.

The spiritual source shines clear in the light; the branching streams flow on in the dark.

Grasping at things is surely delusion; according with sameness is still not enlightenment.

All the objects of the senses interact and yet do not.

Interacting brings involvement.

Otherwise, each keeps its place.

Sights vary in quality and form, sounds differ as pleasing or harsh.

Refined and common speech come together in the dark, clear and murky phrases are distinguished in the light.

The four elements return to their natures just as a child turns to its mother;

Fire heats, wind moves, water wets, earth is solid.

Eye and sights, ear and sounds, nose and smells, tongue and tastes;

Thus with each and every thing, depending on these roots, the leaves spread forth.

Trunk and branches share the essence; revered and common, each has its speech.

In the light there is darkness, but don’t take it as darkness;

In the dark there is light, but don’t see it as light.

Light and dark oppose one another like the front and back foot in walking.

Each of the myriad things has its merit, expressed according to function and place.

Phenomena exist; box and lid fit; principle responds; arrow points meet.

Hearing the words, understand the meaning; don’t set up standards of your own.

If you don’t understand the Way right before you, how will you know the path as you walk?

Progress is not a matter of far or near, but if you are confused, mountains and rivers block your way.

I respectfully urge you who study the mystery, do not pass your days and nights in vain.

Now, all ancestors and all buddhas who uphold buddha-dharma have made it the true path of enlightenment to sit upright practicing in the midst of self-fulfilling samadhi. Those who attained enlightenment in India and China followed this way. It was done so because teachers and disciples personally transmitted this excellent method as the essence of the teaching.

In the authentic tradition of our teaching, it is said that this directly transmitted, straightforward buddha-dharma is the unsurpassable of the unsurpassable. From the first time you meet a master, without engaging in incense offering, bowing, chanting Buddha's name, repentance, or reading scriptures, you should just wholeheartedly sit, and thus drop away body and mind.

When even for a moment you express the Buddha's seal in the three actions by sitting upright in samadhi, the whole phenomenal world becomes the Buddha's seal and the entire sky turns into enlightenment. Because of this all buddha tathagatas as the original source increase their dharma bliss and renew their magnificence in the awakening of the way. Furthermore, all beings in the ten directions and the six realms, including the three lower realms, at once obtain pure body and mind, realize the state of great emancipation, and manifest the original face.

At this time, all things realize correct awakening; myriad objects partake of the buddha body; and sitting upright under the bodhi tree, you immediately leap beyond the boundary of awakening. At this moment you turn the unsurpassably great dharma wheel and expound the profound wisdom, ultimate and unconditioned. Because such broad awakening resonates back to you and helps you inconceivably, you will in zazen unmistakably drop away body and mind, cutting off the various defiled thoughts from the past, and realize essential buddha-dharma. Thus you will raise up buddha activity at innumerable practice places of buddha tathagatas everywhere, cause everyone to have the opportunity of ongoing buddhahood, and vigorously uplift the ongoing buddha-dharma.

Because earth, grass, trees, walls, tiles, and pebbles all engage in buddha activity, those who receive the benefit of wind and water caused by them are inconceivably helped by the Buddha's guidance, splendid and unthinkable, and awaken intimately to themselves. Those who receive these water and fire benefits spread the Buddha's guidance based on original awakening. Because of this, all those who live with you and speak with you will obtain endless buddha virtue and will unroll widely inside and outside of the entire universe, the endless, unremitting, unthinkable, unnamable buddha-dharma.

All this, however, does not appear within perception, because it is unconstructedness in stillness-it is immediate realization. If practice and realization were two things, as it appears to an ordinary person, each could be recognized separately. But what can be met with recognition is not realization itself, because realization is not reached by a deluded mind. In stillness, mind and object merge in realization and go beyond enlightenment; nevertheless, because you are in the state of self-fulfilling samadhi, without disturbing its quality or moving a particle you extend the Buddha's great activity, the incomparably profound and subtle teaching.

Grass, trees, and lands which are embraced by this teaching together radiate a great light and endlessly expound the inconceivable, profound dharma. Grass, trees, and walls bring forth the teaching for all beings, common people as well as sages. And they in accord extend this dharma for the sake of grass, trees, and walls. Thus, the realm of self-awakening and awakening others invariably holds the mark of realization with nothing lacking, and realization itself is manifested without ceasing for a moment.

This being so, the zazen of even one person at one moment imperceptibly accords with all things and fully resonates through all time. Thus in the past, future, and present of the limitless universe this zazen carries on the Buddha's teaching endlessly. Each moment of zazen is equally wholeness of practice, equally wholeness of realization. This is not only practice while sitting, it is like a hammer striking emptiness: before and after, its exquisite peal permeates everywhere. How can it be limited to this moment?

Hundreds of things all manifest original practice from the original face; it is impossible to measure. Know that even if all buddhas of the ten directions, as innumerable as the sands of the Ganges, exert their strength and with the buddhas' wisdom try to measure the merit of one person's zazen, they will not be able to fully comprehend it.

The teaching of thusness has been intimately communicated by buddhas and ancestors.

Now you have it, so keep it well.

Filling a silver bowl with snow, hiding a heron in the moonlight –

Taken as similar 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.

Move and you are trapped; miss and you fall into doubt and vacillation.

Turning away and touching are both wrong, for it is like a massive fire.

Just to depict it in literary form is to stain it with 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, in truth it is you.

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 illumination hexagram: relative and ultimate interact -

Piled up, they make three, the complete transformation makes five.

It is like the taste of the five-flavored herb, like a diamond thunderbolt.

Subtly included within the true, inquiry and response come up together.

Communing with the source, travel the pathways, embrace the territory and treasure the road.

Respecting this is fortunate; do not neglect 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 which teachings and approaches arise.

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 sages 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 sages of former times.

When about to fulfill the way of Buddhahood, one gazed at a tree for ten eons.

Like a battle-scarred tiger, like a horse with shanks gone gray.

Because there is the common, 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 dancing;

It’s not within reach of feeling or discrimination – how could it admit of consideration in thought?

Ministers serve their lords, children obey their parents;

Not obeying is not filial and not serving is no help.

Practice secretly working within, like a fool, like an idiot.

Just to continue in this way is called the host within the host.

Universally Recommended Instructions for Zazen

The Way is originally perfect and all-pervading. How could it be contingent on practice and realization? The true vehicle is self-sufficient. What need is there for special effort? Indeed, the whole body is free from dust. Who could believe in a means to brush it clean? It is never apart from this very place; what is the use of traveling around to practice?

And yet, if there is a hairsbreadth deviation, it is like the gap between heaven and earth. If the least like or dislike arises, the mind is lost in confusion. Suppose you are confident in your understanding and rich in enlightenment, gaining the wisdom that knows at a glance, attaining the Way and clarifying the mind, arousing an aspiration to reach for the heavens. You are playing in the entranceway, but you still are short of the vital path of emancipation.

Consider the Buddha: although he was wise at birth, the traces of his six years of upright sitting can yet be seen. As for Bodhidharma, although he had received the mind-seal, his nine years of facing a wall is celebrated still. If even the ancient sages were like this, how can we today dispense with wholehearted practice?

Therefore, put aside the intellectual practice of investigating words and chasing phrases, and learn to take the backward step that turns the light and shines it inwards. Body and mind of themselves will drop away, and your original face will manifest. If you want such a thing, get to work on such a thing immediately.

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?

At your sitting place, spread out a thick mat and put a cushion on it. Sit either in the full-lotus or half-lotus position. In the full-lotus position, first place your right foot on your left thigh, then your left foot on your right thigh. In the half-lotus, simply place your left foot on your right thigh. 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 and lips together, both 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? Non-thinking. This is the essential art of zazen.

The zazen I speak of is not meditation practice. It is simply the Dharma gate of joyful ease, the practice-realization of totally culminated enlightenment. It is the koan realized, traps and snares can never reach it. If you grasp the point, you are like a dragon gaining the water, like a tiger taking to the mountains. For you must know that the true Dharma appears of itself, so that from the start dullness and distraction are struck aside.

When you arise from sitting, move slowly and quietly, calmly and deliberately. Do not rise suddenly or abruptly. In surveying the past, we find that transcendence of both mundane and sacred, and dying while either sitting or standing, have all depended entirely on the power of zazen.

In addition, triggering awakening with a finger, a banner, a needle, or a mallet, and effecting realization with a whisk, a fist, a staff, or a shout – these cannot be understood by discriminative thinking, much less can they be known through the practice of supernatural power. They must represent conduct beyond seeing and hearing. Are they not a standard prior to knowledge and views?

This being the case, intelligence or lack of it is not an issue; make no distinction between the dull and the sharp-witted. If you concentrate your effort single-mindedly, that in itself is wholeheartedly engaging in the way. Practice-realization is naturally undefiled. Going forward is, after all, an everyday affair.

In general, in our world and others, in both India and China, all equally hold the buddha-seal. While each lineage expresses its own style, they are all simply devoted to sitting, totally engaged in resolute stability. Although they say that there are ten thousand distinctions and a thousand variations, they just wholeheartedly negotiate the way in zazen. Why leave behind the seat in your own home to wander in vain through the dusty realms of other lands? If you make one misstep you stumble past what is directly in front of you.

You have gained the pivotal opportunity of human form. Do not pass your days and nights in vain. You are taking care of the essential activity of the buddha way. Who would take wasteful delight in the spark from a flint stone? Besides, form and substance are like the dew on the grass, the fortunes of life like a dart of lightning – emptied in an instant, vanished in a flash.

Please, honored followers of Zen, long accustomed to groping for the elephant, do not doubt the true dragon. Devote your energies to the way that points directly to the real thing. Revere the one who has gone beyond learning and is free from effort. Accord with the enlightenment of all the Buddhas; succeed to the samadhi of all the ancestors. Continue to live in such a way, and you will be such a person. The treasure store will open of itself, and you may enjoy it freely.

Acharya Mahapajapati Acharya Mitta Acharya Yasodhara Acharya

Tissa Acharya Sujata Acharya Sundari-nanda Acharya Vaddhesi

Acharya Patachara Acharya Visakha Acharya Singalaka-mata Acharya

Khema Acharya Uppalavanna Acharya Samavati Acharya Uttara

Acharya Chanda Acharya Uttama Acharya Bhadda Kundalakesa

Acharya Nanduttara Acharya Dantika Acharya Sakula Acharya Siha

Acharya Dhammadinna Acharya Kisagotami Acharya Ubbiri Acharya

Isidasi Acharya Bhadda Kapilani Acharya Mutta Acharya Sumana

Acharya Dhamma Acharya Chitta Acharya Anopama Acharya Sukka

Acharya Sama Acharya Utpalavarna Acharya Shrimala Devi Acharya

Congchi Acharya Lingzhao Acharya Moshan Liaoran Acharya Liu

Tiemo Acharya Miaoxin Acharya Daoshen Acharya Shiji Acharya

Zhi' an Acharya Huiguang Acharya Kongshi Daoren Acharya Yu

Daopo Acharya Huiwen Acharya Fadeng Acharya Wenzhao Acharya

Miaodao Acharya Zhitong Acharya Zenshin Acharya Zenzo Acharya

Ezen Acharya Ryonen Acharya Egi Acharya Shogaku Acharya Ekan

Acharya Shozen Acharya Mokufu Sonin Acharya Myosho Enkan

Acharya Ekyu Acharya Eshun Acharya Soshin Acharya Soitsu

Acharya Chiyono

Listen to the deeds of the Cry Regarder, who well responds to every quarter;

Her vast vow is deep as the sea, inconceivable in its eons.

Serving many thousands of kotis of buddhas, she has vowed a great pure vow.

Let me briefly tell you. 

He who hears her name, and sees her,

And bears her unremittingly in mind, will be able to end the sorrows of

existence.

Though others with harmful intent throw him into a burning pit,

Let him think of the Cry Regarder’s power and the fire pit will become a pool.

Or driven along a great ocean, in peril of dragons, fishes, and demons,

Let him think of the Cry Regarder’s power and waves cannot submerge him.

Or if from the peak of Sumeru, people would hurl him down,

Let him think of the Cry Regarder’s power and like the sun he will stand firm

in the sky.

Or if pursued by the wicked and cast down from Mount Diamond,

She thinks of the Cry Regarder’s power, not a hair shall be injured.

Or if meeting with encompassing foes, each with sword drawn to strike her,

She thinks of the Cry Regarder’s power, all their hearts will turn to kindness.

Or if meeting suffering by royal command, her life is to end in execution,

And she thinks of the Cry Regarder’s power, the executioner’s sword will

break in pieces.

Or if imprisoned, shackled and chained, arms and legs in gyves and stocks,

She thinks of the Cry Regarder’s power, freely she shall be released.

Or if by incantation and poisons one seeks to hurt her body,

And she thinks of the Cry Regarder’s power, all will revert to their originator.

Or if, meeting evil rakshasas, venomous dragons and demons,

He thinks of the Cry Regarder’s power, at once none will dare to hurt him.

If encompassed by evil beasts, tusks sharp and claws fearful,

He thinks of the Cry Regarder’s power, they will flee in every direction.

If scorched by the fire-flame of the poisonous breath of boas, vipers and

scorpions,

He thinks of the Cry Regarder’s power, instantly at her voice they will retreat.

Clouds thunder and lightning flashes, hail falls and rain streams;

He thinks of the Cry Regarder’s power and all instantly are scattered.

The living, crushed and harassed, oppressed by countless pains;

The Cry Regarder with her mystic wisdom can save such a suffering world.

Perfect in supernatural powers, widely practiced in wisdom and tact,

In the lands of the universe there is no place where she does not manifest

herself.

All the evil states of existence, hells, ghosts and animals,

Sorrows of birth, age, disease, death, all by degrees are ended by her.

True regard, serene regard, far-reaching wise regard, regard of pity,

compassionate regard,

Ever longed for, ever looked for!

Pure and serene in radiance, wisdom’s sun destroying darkness,

Subduer of woes of storm and fire, who illumines all the world!

Law of pity, thunder quivering, compassion wondrous as a great cloud,

Pouring spiritual rain like nectar, quenching the flames of distress!

In disputes before a magistrate, or in fear in battle’s array,

If she thinks of the Cry Regarder’s power all her enemies will be routed.

Hers is the wondrous voice, voice of the world-regarder,

Brahma-voice, voice of the rolling tide, voice all world-surpassing, 

Therefore ever to be kept in mind, with never a doubting thought.

Regarder of the World’s Cries, pure and holy, in pain, distress, death,

calamity,

Able to be a sure reliance, perfect in all merit,

With compassionate eyes beholding all, boundless ocean of blessings!

Let us bow in reverence to the Regarder of the Cries of the World.