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Teisho 5: Big Kasyapa
Wednesday, October 10, 2001
from the series “Turning the Wheel of the Way"
Commentaries of Dogen's "Gyoji: Continuous Practice"
Presented by Ven. Anzan Hoshin roshi
© Copyright 2001 White Wind Zen Community
Dogen zenji says,
The Eighth Ancestor, Mahakasyapa, was Sakyamuni’s true heir.
Throughout his life he had engaged in the practice of the twelve austerities¹
as his continuous practice and never neglected them. The twelve austerities
are as follows:
1. Not to accept invitations to eat at the homes of laypeople, but every
day to begged for food, and not to accept money in place of food.
2. To live in the mountains and never stay in peoples’ houses,
populous areas, or villages.
3. Not to beg for robes when meeting people, nor take them if they
are offered but instead to strip the clothes off dead bodies, mend
them, and wear them.
4. To stay in fields and beneath trees.
5. To eat one meal a day. This is called “sunkasunnai”.²
6. To not lie down in the day or the night but continue to sit, and if
sleepy to walk around.³ This is called “sunnaisashakyu”.
4
7. To have only three robes and not use bedclothes.
8. To stay in charnel grounds, not in temples, or among people. Do
zazen while gazing at the skulls and bones of the dead, always seeking
the truth.
9. To desire only to be by oneself and not want to be with people;
also, not to sleep among others.
10. To eat fruit only before a meal, to never finish a meal with fruit.
11. To desire to only live in wild places, not sheltering under the trees.
12. To eat neither meat nor cream, and to never rub the body with
flax oil.
                                                
1
Juni-zuda in Japanese, dhutanga in Sanskrit. This means “shaking off.” Ascetic practices to produce tapas
(purification) were a mainstay of Indian spirituality. Most of these were disapproved of by the Buddha who
saw them as a grandiose indulgement contributing only to pride and to useless weakening of the body.
Nonetheless he approved of twelve that could be engaged in by those who found asceticism to be an
appropriate expression of simplification. Another list of the twelve dhuta or zuda is: 1) wearing only
patched robes; 2) wearing a robe made of three pieces; 3) eating only begged food; 4) not omitting any
house while begging; 5) eating only once a day; 6) refusing any further food; 7) living in seclusion; 8)
living in a charnel ground; 9) living beneath a tree; 10) living in the open; 11) living in whatever place
presents itself; 12) sitting only and never lying down to sleep. 
2
A phonetic representation of a Sanskrit term, perhaps “ekasanika”.
3
Kinhin.
4
Another Sanskrit term, perhaps “naisadika”.