Chapter 7: Merits of the Kesa
It naturally follows that with a correctly made kesa, the correct virtues of the kesa manifest; the aforementioned questions of material, color, and amount also become factors in the kesa’s virtues. That is, when everything is nyohō, then the true virtues of the kesa are established.
Needless to say, if it is not nyohō, then those virtues are not present.
Material, color, and size are all, essentially, components of “not arousing desire, separating from fame and fortune”; clearly, a kesa isn’t intended to satisfy our thirst for status. If a kesa does fulfill that human part of us that wants status, then perhaps something is actually wrong in the material, color, or size—or it may be that something is wrong with how we’re seeing the kesa. So the virtues of the kesa are completely distinct from how we ordinarily think about worldly virtues. Rather, when we speak of the virtues of the kesa, we’re speaking of something that doesn’t satisfy our expectations, either spiritually or materially. It’s a virtue that brings no reward. What, then, is a virtue with no reward?
This profitless virtue is the essence of both the kesa and the buddhadharma itself. This virtue of the kesa that in no way satisfies the desire for status has a functioning that is both boundless and infinitely unfathomable—through it, the true value of the kesa and of the buddhadharma is revealed.
Tōzan Daishi asked a monk, “What is it that brings the most suffering?” The monk said, “Hell brings the most suffering.” Tōzan replied, “No, to not clarify the great matter is the first suffering.”
Of this, Sawaki Kōdō-rōshi said, “It is the original rule of the robe tradition.” Indeed, it reveals the essential spirit of one who wears the robe. For us, to wear the robe is itself the attainment of realization, it is becoming a buddha, it is great peace of mind. Therefore, the virtue of the kesa is never something we should seek in some far-off place. For disciples of the Buddha to put on the kesa and still seek something outside, to be lost in that way, is the greatest suffering—the wearing of the kesa holds the entirety of the virtue of the kesa.
Do zazen regularly with your kesa on. There is a precedent for attaining the way in the next lifetime as the result of wearing a kesa in this lifetime. It is the robe of all buddhas in the past, present, and future. Its merit is immeasurable. Zazen is not a method of the three realms. It is the method of buddha ancestors.
--Shobogenzo Dōshin (translation by Kazuaki Tanahashi)
In that spirit, Sawaki-rōshi said, “Wearing the kesa and sitting zazen—just this is to have arrived at wherever you were headed.”
Zazen is the most direct way to the place of the tathagatha; wearing the kesa is no different. Putting on the kesa is itself the wearing of the buddha body, the buddha mind. It is to be covered in the great dharma.
For someone who cannot escape the world of fame and fortune even if they try, to still be wrapped in the wondrous dharma—this is truly joyous. Nothing surpasses it. This is the virtue of the kesa.
If we take up wearing the kesa yet feel there is something lacking or that there is something else to seek, then that is nothing more than the desperation of the secular self. When one puts on the kesa and sits in zazen, the dharma of the buddha ancestors is complete. Without question, wearing the kesa is the buddha eye turning on itself. In this way, when one puts on the kesa, one’s own self is wrapped in the buddhadharma. Without measure, all things are painted in the color of the buddhadharma; they have always been wearing the kesa.
As the dharma descendants who have authentically transmitted buddha’s kashaya, not only have we met with the buddha dharma that is extremely difficult to meet, we also have been able to see, hear, study, receive and maintain kashaya. This is nothing other than respectfully seeing the Tathagata. It is hearing Buddha’s expounding the Dharma; it is being illuminated by Buddha’s radiant light; it is receiving what buddhas have received. It is singularly transmitting the buddha mind; it is attaining the buddha’s marrow. We are intimately covered by Shakyamuni Buddha’s kashaya. Shakyamuni Buddha personally bestows the kashaya to us. We have been following the Buddha himself and have received this kashaya.
—Dogen Zenji, Shobogenzo Kesa Kudoku (translation by Shohaku Okumura)
We should understand that the substance and form of all buddhas is nothing other than this kāṣāya.
—Dogen Zenji, Shobogenzo Den-e (Okumura)
The other people who are not the ancestral masters who transmitted the Buddha’s true dharma, have never seen the virtue of this buddha robe even in their dreams. How much less could they clarify its material, color, and measurement. If we should yearn for the traces of all buddhas, we should sincerely yearn for this kashaya.
—Dogen Zenji, Shobogenzo Den-e (Okumura)
First of all, we should understand that the kashaya is the buddha body, is the buddha mind. It is also called the robe of liberation, called the robe of a field of blessing, called the robe of patience, called the robe of formlessness, called the robe of compassion, called the robe of the Tathagata, called the robe of the unsurpassable, ultimate awakening. We should sincerely receive and keep it in this way.
—Dogen Zenji, Shobogenzo Den-e (Okumura)
Needless to say, if it is not nyohō, then those virtues are not present.
Material, color, and size are all, essentially, components of “not arousing desire, separating from fame and fortune”; clearly, a kesa isn’t intended to satisfy our thirst for status. If a kesa does fulfill that human part of us that wants status, then perhaps something is actually wrong in the material, color, or size—or it may be that something is wrong with how we’re seeing the kesa. So the virtues of the kesa are completely distinct from how we ordinarily think about worldly virtues. Rather, when we speak of the virtues of the kesa, we’re speaking of something that doesn’t satisfy our expectations, either spiritually or materially. It’s a virtue that brings no reward. What, then, is a virtue with no reward?
This profitless virtue is the essence of both the kesa and the buddhadharma itself. This virtue of the kesa that in no way satisfies the desire for status has a functioning that is both boundless and infinitely unfathomable—through it, the true value of the kesa and of the buddhadharma is revealed.
Tōzan Daishi asked a monk, “What is it that brings the most suffering?” The monk said, “Hell brings the most suffering.” Tōzan replied, “No, to not clarify the great matter is the first suffering.”
Of this, Sawaki Kōdō-rōshi said, “It is the original rule of the robe tradition.” Indeed, it reveals the essential spirit of one who wears the robe. For us, to wear the robe is itself the attainment of realization, it is becoming a buddha, it is great peace of mind. Therefore, the virtue of the kesa is never something we should seek in some far-off place. For disciples of the Buddha to put on the kesa and still seek something outside, to be lost in that way, is the greatest suffering—the wearing of the kesa holds the entirety of the virtue of the kesa.
Do zazen regularly with your kesa on. There is a precedent for attaining the way in the next lifetime as the result of wearing a kesa in this lifetime. It is the robe of all buddhas in the past, present, and future. Its merit is immeasurable. Zazen is not a method of the three realms. It is the method of buddha ancestors.
--Shobogenzo Dōshin (translation by Kazuaki Tanahashi)
In that spirit, Sawaki-rōshi said, “Wearing the kesa and sitting zazen—just this is to have arrived at wherever you were headed.”
Zazen is the most direct way to the place of the tathagatha; wearing the kesa is no different. Putting on the kesa is itself the wearing of the buddha body, the buddha mind. It is to be covered in the great dharma.
For someone who cannot escape the world of fame and fortune even if they try, to still be wrapped in the wondrous dharma—this is truly joyous. Nothing surpasses it. This is the virtue of the kesa.
If we take up wearing the kesa yet feel there is something lacking or that there is something else to seek, then that is nothing more than the desperation of the secular self. When one puts on the kesa and sits in zazen, the dharma of the buddha ancestors is complete. Without question, wearing the kesa is the buddha eye turning on itself. In this way, when one puts on the kesa, one’s own self is wrapped in the buddhadharma. Without measure, all things are painted in the color of the buddhadharma; they have always been wearing the kesa.
As the dharma descendants who have authentically transmitted buddha’s kashaya, not only have we met with the buddha dharma that is extremely difficult to meet, we also have been able to see, hear, study, receive and maintain kashaya. This is nothing other than respectfully seeing the Tathagata. It is hearing Buddha’s expounding the Dharma; it is being illuminated by Buddha’s radiant light; it is receiving what buddhas have received. It is singularly transmitting the buddha mind; it is attaining the buddha’s marrow. We are intimately covered by Shakyamuni Buddha’s kashaya. Shakyamuni Buddha personally bestows the kashaya to us. We have been following the Buddha himself and have received this kashaya.
—Dogen Zenji, Shobogenzo Kesa Kudoku (translation by Shohaku Okumura)
We should understand that the substance and form of all buddhas is nothing other than this kāṣāya.
—Dogen Zenji, Shobogenzo Den-e (Okumura)
The other people who are not the ancestral masters who transmitted the Buddha’s true dharma, have never seen the virtue of this buddha robe even in their dreams. How much less could they clarify its material, color, and measurement. If we should yearn for the traces of all buddhas, we should sincerely yearn for this kashaya.
—Dogen Zenji, Shobogenzo Den-e (Okumura)
First of all, we should understand that the kashaya is the buddha body, is the buddha mind. It is also called the robe of liberation, called the robe of a field of blessing, called the robe of patience, called the robe of formlessness, called the robe of compassion, called the robe of the Tathagata, called the robe of the unsurpassable, ultimate awakening. We should sincerely receive and keep it in this way.
—Dogen Zenji, Shobogenzo Den-e (Okumura)
