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Zanmai-O-Zanmai:
The Samadhi That is Sovereign of Samadhis
by
Eihei Dogen zenji
translated by Yasuda Joshu Dainen roshi
and Anzan Hoshin roshi
(excerpted from the forthcoming book Dogen: Zen Writings on the Practice of
Realization)
Sitting in the full lotus posture is
transcending the universe as a whole and is living a life that is priceless and great in
the realm of the Buddhas and Awakened Ancestors. Sitting in full lotus steps over the
heads of views and demons, and enters fully into the most intimate place of the Buddhas
and Ancestors. To move past even the supremacy of the Buddhas and Ancestors
supremacy, this is the only method. Thus this is the only practice of Buddhas and Awakened
Ancestors and there is no other practice.
The universe of zazen is very different from other universes. Through understanding this
fact the Buddhas and Ancestors resolved and followed through on the aspiration of true
practice, Awakening, and nirvana. In this moment of sitting look into whether the universe
is vertical or is it horizontal. In this moment of sitting look into what sitting in
itself is. Is it turning a somersault? Is it a state of vigorous activity? Is it thinking?
Is it not thinking? Is it doing something? Is it not doing anything? Is there sitting
inside of sitting? Is sitting inside of the bodymind? Is sitting free of "sitting
inside" and "inside of the bodymind"? And so on. You should investigate
thousands, tens of thousands, of points such as these. Sit in the full lotus posture with
the body. Sit in the full lotus posture with the mind. Free of "body" and
"mind", sit in the full lotus posture.
My late Master, the Old Buddha, said, "Practising Zen is dropping through the
bodymind. Just sitting is primordial realization. Offering incense and worshipping the
images of the Awakened Ones, chanting the names of the Awakened Ones, repentance, reciting
the Discourses and other religious rituals are not necessary." Surely, over the last
four or five hundred years only my late Master has been the one to scoop out the Eye of
the Buddhas and Ancestors and to sit inside this Eye of the Awakened Ancestors; few have
equaled him, even in China. Very few people have realized that the activity of sitting is
the Buddha Dharma and that Buddha Dharma is the activity of sitting. Even if some have
physically realized that sitting is the Buddha Dharma, few have realized sitting as
sitting. So how can the Buddha Dharma then be upheld and supported as the Buddha Dharma?
As this is so, there is sitting with the mind, which is not the same as sitting with the
body. There is sitting with the body, which is not the same as sitting with the mind. And
there is sitting absent of body and mind which is not the same as "sitting dropped
through the bodymind." Being like this already brings together the practice and
realization of the Buddhas and Ancestors. Continually and brightly investigate this
thought, this mind, will, consciousness.
Sakyamuni said to the vast assembly, "Through sitting in the lotus posture then
samadhi is realized in the bodymind and its virtue and dignity can be recognized by the
people. Just as the sun illumines the world so the mind is cleared of dullness, laziness,
and indolence. The body is bright and not dull. Perception and cognition are also bright
and supple. You should sit like dragons coiled. Just the image of the lotus posture brings
fear to king of the demons of delusion. How much more so should he see someone sitting
without collapsing or leaning but actually experiencing the truth?
So, on seeing even a drawing of the lotus posture shocks, worries, and frightens the
sovereign of the demons of delusion. Further, if we actually and complete sit in lotus
posture, its virtue is unimaginable. Sitting every day is limitless joy and virtues.
Sakyamuni said to the vast assembly, "This is why we sit in the full lotus
posture." Then the Thus Come, the Generous One, teaches his disciples to sit like
this. Sometimes those outside of the Way seek for truth by standing on the tips of their
toes, sometimes they seek the truth by ceaseless standing, sometimes they seek the truth
by wrapping their legs around their shoulders. Through silliness like this their minds
sink into a sea of delusions and the body is never left in peace. For this reason, the
Buddha teaches his students to sit in the full lotus posture with upright minds. Why? If
the body is upright, it is easy for the mind to be upright. When the body sits up
straight, the mind is not weary, the mind is evened, intention is aligned and attention is
woven with what is just present. If the mind is agitated or distracted or if the body
wavers or leans they are restored and balanced. If you want to experience samadhi or enter
samadhi, or even if the mind is just distracted and following various images, all such
states can be completely balanced. Practising in this way, we experience and enter the
samadhi that is sovereign of all samadhis.
Clearly, sitting in full lotus posture is the samadhi that is sovereign of all samadhis
and is experience and entry. All samadhis are the retinue of this, the sovereign of
samadhis. Sitting in full lotus posture straightens the body, straightens the mind,
straightens the bodymind, straightens the Buddhas and Ancestors, straightens
realized-practice, straightens the brain, and straightens the thread of living. Sitting
with this human skin, meat, bone, and marrow in full lotus posture, we sit the samadhi
that is the sovereign over samadhis: the full lotus posture. The seal of Awareness
authentically transmitted by the Seven Buddhas is just this. Sakyamuni Buddha sits in
lotus posture beneath the bodhi tree for fifty lesser eons, sixty eons, numberless eons.
Sitting in full lotus posture for three weeks, or for hours, turns the wondrous Wheel of
Dharma and is the Teaching of the Buddha throughout his life. It lacks nothing. It is a
yellow sutra scroll on a red stick. Buddha meets Buddha in this moment. This is the time
when living beings become Buddhas.
The First Ancestor, the Venerable Bodhidharma, arrived from the west and spent nine years
facing the wall at Shaolin-si on Su-san sitting Zen in the lotus posture. From that time
to this day, brains and eyes [the essence and view of Dharma] have pervaded China. The
life blood of the First Ancestor is just this practice of sitting in full lotus posture.
They have known about this since the Ancestral Master came from the west. And so, just
sitting in full lotus posture, day and night, from the beginning to the end of this life
and for tens of thousands of lives without leaving the monastery grounds, without
practising anything else, is the samadhi that is sovereign of all samadhis.
(Presented to the
assembly at Kippo-ji in Etsu-u, on the 15th of February, 1244.
Transcribed that night in the head monks quarters by Ejo.)
 
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White Wind Zen Community. All rights reserved.
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