just sit zendo Just Sit Sōtō Zen Sutras Robe Verse / Takkesa Ge ...............1 Opening the Sutra ......................... .22 Repentance Verse .......................... 2 Closing the Sutra ........................ ...22 Three Refuges Verse ..................... 2 Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyō ............23 Four Vows ......................................... 2 Ten-Verse Eternal Life Heart of Great Perfect Wisdom Kannon Sutra .................................23 Sutra (Mahā Prajñā Pāramitā Dai Hi Shin Dhāranī .......... ............24 Hrdaya Sūtra) ................................ 3 Maka Hannya Haramitta Shin Great Compassion Dhāranī .......25 Gyō (Heart of Great Perfect Fukanzazengi: Universally Wisdom Sutra) .............................. 4 Recommended Instructions Hymn to the Perfection of for Zazen ..........................................26 Wisdom ........................................... 4 Genjō Kōan: Actualizing the Sandōkai: Harmony of Fundamental Point ......................28 Difference and Sameness ........... 5 Eihei Kōso Hotsuganmon: Sōanka: Song of the Grass Hut .. 7 Eihei Dōgen’s Vow ..................... .3 1 Hōkyō Zanmai: Song of the Mahāparinirvāna Sūtra ...... .......32 Precious Mirror Samadhi ..............8 Inconceivable Lifespan of the Names of the Buddhas and Thus Come One ......................... ..36 Ancestors ....................................... 10 Liberation from All Names of Women Ancestors ......12 Obstructions ...................................39 Shō Sai Myō Kichijō Dhāranī ..... 14 Shari Raimon: Verse of Dhāranī for Removing Homage to Buddha’s Relics .....40 Disasters ........................................ 14 Ryaku Fsatsu: Precepts Itasonten Kompon Dhāranī ....... 14 Renewal Ceremony ................... ...41 Shinjinmei: Verses on the Sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts .. 43 Faith Mind ..................................... 15 Formal Meal Verses ....................... 44 Jijuyū Zanmai: Self-fulfilling Verses for Daily Life .................. ... 46 Samadhi ........................................ 19 Work and Dedication ................... 47 Metta Sutta (Loving- Tisarana: Three Refuges ............ 48 Kindness Sutra) ........................... 21 Universal Dedication of Merit ...48 1 ROBE VERSE / TAKKESA GE How great, the robe of liberation! A formless field of merit, Wrapping ourselves in Buddha’s teaching We free all beings. DAI SAI GEDAPPUKU MUSŌ FUKU DENE HIBU NYORAI KYO KŌDO SHO SHU JO 2 REPENTANCE VERSE All my past and harmful karma, Born from beginningless greed, hate, and delusion, Through body, speech, and mind, I now fully avow. THREE REFUGES VERSE I take refuge in Buddha. May all beings embody the great Way, resolving to awaken. I take refuge in Dharma. May all beings deeply enter the sutras, wisdom like an ocean. I take refuge in Sangha. May all beings support harmony in the community, free from hindrance. FOUR VOWS Beings are numberless; I vow to free them. Delusions are inexhaustible; I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless; I vow to enter them. Buddha’s Way is unsurpassable; I vow to realize it. 3 HEART OF GREAT PERFECT WISDOM SUTRA (MAHĀ PRAJÑĀ PĀRAMITĀ HRDAYA SŪTRA) Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, when deeply practicing prajñā pāramitā, clearly saw that all five aggregates are empty and thus relieved all suffering. Śāriputra, 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. Śāriputra, 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, or no consciousness; no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, or no mind; no sights, no sounds, no smells, no tastes, no touch, or no objects of mind; no realm of sight, and so forth, down to no realm of mind consciousness. There is neither ignorance nor extinction of ignorance, and so forth, down to 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 prajñā pāramitā, 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 prajñā pāramitā and thereby attain unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment. Therefore, know the prajñā pāramitā 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 prajñā pāramitā mantra, the mantra that says: “Gaté Gaté Pāragaté Pārasamgaté Bodhi Svāhā.” All buddhas throughout space and time, All honored ones, bodhisattvas, mahāsattvas, Wisdom beyond wisdom, mahā prajñā pāramitā. (trans. Sōtō Zen Text Project) 4 MAKA HANNYA HARAMITTA SHIN GYŌ (HEART OF GREAT PERFECT WISDOM SUTRA) KAN JI ZAI BO SATSU 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 DO SHU NO JO IS SAI KU SHIN JITSU FU KO KO SETSU HAN NYA HA RA MI 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 JI HO SAN SHI I SHI FU SHI SON BU SA MO KO SA MO KO HO JA HO RO MI HYMN TO THE PERFECTION OF WISDOM 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 the 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. (trans. E. Conze) 5 SANDŌKAI: HARMONY OF DIFFERENCE AND SAMENESS 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 it 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, according to the 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. ➛ 6 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? Walking forward 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. (by Shítóu Xīqiān / Sekitō Kisen, 700–790, trans. Sōtō Zen Text Project) 7 SŌANKA: SONG OF THE GRASS HUT 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, she 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 Mahāyāna 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.