{"collection":"Buddhism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bud/tib/suttas.htm","path":"bud/tib/suttas.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bud/tib/suttas.htm","text":"The Seven Spikes [and Seven Metaphors]\nSarvasantikah\nHomage to the perfect transcendent awareness\nwhich is vacuous and clear\n[Prologue]\nEncompassing all, showing many disguises,\nVirgin ecstacy is everywhere, without pointing.\nTo drive a great spike into unchangingness,\nDrive seven great spikes into the difficult path between samsara and\nnirvana;\nThen the great unchanging happiness will arise in one's mind.\nThis spiritual guide to the meaning of life is like the sun's rays:\nIt awakens one from unconsciousness, it is the Buddha's secret;\nIt opens the door to the treasury of high, clear knowing.\nFathom the meaning, it is like a wish-fulfilling gem.\n[The Spikes]\nAttain the sameness of samsara and nirvana with the spike of unimpeded,\nclear, innocent brilliance.\nAttain the intertice between object and mind with the spike of\nself-illuminated awareness.\nAttain the intertice between intellect and thing with the spike of the\nself-pure quintessence.\nAttain the intertice between nihilism and eternalism with the spike of\nspeechless vision.\nAttain the intertice between subject and object with the spike of\nzesty reality.\nAttain the intertice between dullness and ebullience with the spike of\nrelaxing the five senses.\nAttain the intertice between appearance and vacuousness with the spike\nof the originally perfect stratum of being.\nIthih\n[The Metaphors]\nThe clear transcendent wisdom which is not obscured by its own personality\nfocuses on the self-liberation of other personalities, like fire\nmeeting dry grass.\nRecollection and contemplation do well understanding that naked appearance\nis liberated, like illumination entering a dark house.\nTruly understanding the ground of being is the spirit of virgin ecstacy\nlike the coupling of a man and woman with similar minds.\nTranscend neurotic accounting about what is good and bad with the prime\nlight that comes of its own, free from personal bias, like a face\nreflected in a mirror.\nThe various concepts, freed from a 'perspective' or 'meditation,' arise as\na joyful dance, like the sun's (rays) touching (morning) dew.\nThe spirit within ordinary experience and living beings is in fact the\nprimordial ground of everything, (this recognition is) like meeting\none's own child.\nSince life, the universal reality, is always effortless and neither\ngravitates nor disperses, environments and their inhabitants are\nliberated in their own domains, like poor people finding a treasure.\nIthih\nWhen Sri Simha's lifeforce entered complete nirvana, a mass of light rays came\nfrom the sky. Ye-shes mdo fainted and fell to the ground exclaiming, \"Oh,\nalas.\" From the sky came a great clamor. Hearing it he regained\nconsciousness. From the center of the light came a hand. To awaken Ye-shes\nmdo from his darkness a light blue jewel chest fell upon his palm. Merely by\nits falling, Ye-shes mdo achieved realization. These events took place in\nChina.\nSri Simha's last testament, \"The Seven Spikes,\" which is like a guide for the\nblind, is finished.\nOK (type a command or type opt for Options): dogensay\nGUIDELINES FOR STUDYING THE WAY\n[Gakudo yojin-shu]\n1\nYou should arouse the thought of enlightenment.\nThe thought of enlightenment has many names but they all refer to one\nand the same mind.\nAncestor Nagarjuna said, \"The mind that fully sees into the\nuncertain world of birth and death is called the thought of\nenlightenment.\"\nThus if we maintain this mind, this mind can become the thought\nof enlightenment.\nIndeed, when you understand the discontinuity the notion of self\ndoes not come into being, ideas of name and gain to not arise. Fearing\nthe swift passage of the sunlight, practice the way as though saving\nyour head from fire. Reflecting on this ephemeral life, make endeavor in\nthe manner of Buddha raising his foot.\nWhen you hear a song of praise sung by a kinnara god or a\nkalavinka bird, let it be as the evening breeze brushing against your\nears. If you see the beautiful face of Maoqiang or Xishi, let it be like\nthe morning dewdrops coming into your sight. Freedom from the ties of\nsound and form naturally accords with the essence of the way-seeking\nmind.\nIf in the past or present, you hear about students of small\nlearning or meet people with limited views, often they have fallen into\nthe pit of fame and profit and have forever missed the buddha way in\ntheir life. What a pity! How regrettable! You should not ignore this.\nEven if you read the sutras of the expedient or complete teaching,\nor transmit the scriptures of the exoteric or esoteric schools, without\nthrowing away name and gain it cannot be called arousing the thought\nof enlightenment.\nSome of these people say, \"The thought of enlightenment is the\nmind of supreme, perfect enlightenment. Do not be concerned with the\ncultivation of fame or profit.\"\nSome of them say, \"The thought of enlightenment is the insight\nthat each thought contains three thousand realms.\"\nSome of them say, \"The thought of enlightenment is the mind of\nentering the buddha realm.\"\nSuch people do not yet know and mistakenly slander the thought\nof enlightenment. They are remote from the buddha way.\nTry to reflect on the mind concerned only with your own gain.\nDoes this one thought blend with the nature and attributes of the three\nthousand realms? Does this one thought realize the dharma gate of being\nunborn? There is only the deluded thought of greed for name and love\nof gain. There is nothing which could be taken as the thought of\nenlightenment.\nFrom ancient times sages have attained the way and realized\ndharma. Although as an expedient teaching they lived ordinary lives,\nstill they had no distorted thought of fame or profit. Not even attached\nto dharma, how could they have worldly attachment?\nThe thought of enlightenment, as was mentioned, is the mind\nwhich sees into impermanence. This is most fundamental, and not at all\nthe same as the mind pointed to by confused people. The understanding\nthat each thought is unborn or the insight that each thought contains\nthree thousand realms is excellent practice after arousing the thought of\nenlightenment. This should not be mistaken.\nJust forget yourself for now and practice inwardly--this is one\nwith the thought of enlightenment. We see that the sixty-two views are\nbased on self. So when a notion of self arises, sit quietly and\ncontemplate it. Is there a real basis inside or outside your body now?\nYour body with hair and skin is just inherited from your father and\nmother. From beginning to end a drop of blood or lymph is empty. So\nnone of these are the self. What about mind, thought, awareness, and\nknowledge? Or the breath going in and out, which ties a lifetime\ntogether: what is it after all? None of these are the self either. How\ncould you be attached to any of them? Deluded people are attached to\nthem. Enlightened people are free of them.\nYou figure there is self where there is no self. You attache to\nbirth where there is no birth. You do not practice the buddha way,\nwhich should be practiced. You do not cut off the worldly mind, which\nshould be cut off. Avoiding the true teaching and pursuing the\ngroundless teaching, how could you not be mistaken?\n2\nOnce you see or hear the true teaching,\nyou should practice it without fail.\nOne phrase offered by a loyal servant can have the power to alter the\ncourse of the nation. One word given by a buddha ancestor cannot fail\nto turn people's minds. The unwise ruler does not adopt the servant's\nadvice. One who does not step forward cannot accept the buddha's\nteaching. If you are unbending, you cannot stop floating along in birth\nand death. If appropriate advice is not heeded, governing with virtue\ncannot be realized.\n3\nIn the buddha way, you should always\nenter enlightenment through practice.\nA worldly teacher says, \"Through study one can gain wealth.\" Buddha\nsays, \"Within practice there is enlightenment.\"\nIt is unheard-of that without studying someone should earn wealth\nor that without practicing someone should attain enlightenment. Though\npractice varies--initiated by faith or dharma knowledge, with emphasis\non sudden or gradual enlightenment--you always depend on practice to\ngo beyond enlightenment. Though study can be superficial or profound,\nand students can be sharp or dull, accumulated studying earns wealth.\nThis does not necessarily depend on the king's excellence or inability,\nnor should it depend on one's having good or bad luck. If someone were\nto get wealth without studying, how could he transmit the way in which\nancient kings, in times of either order or disorder, ruled the country?\nIf you were to gain realization without practice, how could you\ncomprehend the Tathagata's teaching of delusion and enlightenment.\nYou should know that arousing practice in the midst of delusion,\nyou attain realization before you recognize it. At this time you first know\nthat the raft of discourse is like yesterday's dream, and you finally cut\noff your old understanding bound up in the vines and serpents of\nwords. This is not made to happen by Buddha, but is accomplished by\nyour all-encompassing effort.\nMoreover, what practice calls forth is enlightenment; your treasure\nhouse does not come from outside. How enlightenment functions is through\npractice; how could actions of mind-ground go astray? So if you turn the eye\nof enlightenment and reflect back on the realm of practice, nothing in\nparticular hits the eye, and you just see white clouds for then thousand\nmiles. If you arouse practice as thought climbing the steps of enlightenment,\nnot even a speck of dust will support your feet; you will be as far from true\npractice as heaven is from earth. Now step back and leap beyond the buddha\nland.\nThis portion was written on the night day, third month, second year of\nTempuku [1234].\n4\nYou should not practice Buddha's teaching\nwith the idea of gain.\nThe practice of Buddha's teaching is always done by receiving the essential\ninstructions of a master, not by following your own ideas. In fact, Buddha's\nteaching cannot be attained by having ideas or not having ideas. Only when\nthe mind of pure practice coincides with the way will body and mind be calm.\nIf body and mind are not yet calm, they will not be at ease. When body and\nmind are not at ease, thorns grow on the path of realization.\nSo that pure practice and the way coincide, how should we proceed?\nProceed with the mind which neither grasps nor rejects, the m ind\nunconcerned\nwith name or gain. Do not practice buddha-dharma with the thought that it is\nto benefit others.\nPeople in the present world, even those practicing the buddha-dharma,\nhave a mind which is far apart from the way. They practice what others\npraise and admire, even though they know it does not accord with the way.\nThey reject and do not practice what others fail to honor and praise, even\nthough they know it is the true way. How painful! You should try to quiet\nyour mind and investigate whether these attitudes are buddha-dharma or not.\nYou may be completely ashamed. The eye of the sage illuminates this.\nClearly, buddha-dharma is not practiced for one's own sake, and even\nless for the sake of fame and profit. Just for the sake of buddha-dharma you\nshould practice it.\nAll buddhas' compassion and sympathy for sentient beings are neither\nfor their own sake nor for others. It is just the nature of buddha-dharma.\nIsn't it apparent that insects and animals nurture their offspring, exhausting\nthemselves with painful labors, yet in the end have no reward when their\noffspring are grown? In this way the compassion of small creatures for their\noffspring naturally resembles the thought of all buddhas for sentient beings.\nThe inconceivable dharma of all buddhas is not compassion alone, but\ncompassion is the basis of the various teachings that appear universally.\nAlready we are children of the buddhas. Why not follow their lead?\nStudents! Do not practice buddha-dharma for your own sake. Do not\npractice buddha-dharma for name and gain. Do not practice buddha-dharma to\nattain miraculous effects. Practice buddha-dharma solely for the sake of\nbuddha-dharma. This is the way.\n5\nYou should seek a true teacher to\npractice Zen and study the way.\nA teacher of old said, \"If the beginning is not right, myriad practices will be\nuseless.\nHow true these words are! Practice of the way depends on whether the\nguiding master is a true teacher or not.\nThe disciple is like wood, and the teacher resembles a craftsman. Even\nif the wood is good, without a skilled craftsman its extraordinary beauty is\nnot revealed. Even if the wood is bent, placed in skilled hands its splendid\nmerits immediately appear. By this you should know that realization is genuine\nor false depending on whether the teacher is true or incompetent.\nBut in our country from ancient times, there have not been many true\nteachers. How do we know this is so? We can guess by studying their\nsayings, just as we can scoop up stream water and find out about its source.\nIn our country from ancient times, various teachers have written books and\ninstructed their disciples, offering their teaching to human and heavenly\nbeings. Their words are immature, their discourse has not yet ripened. They\nhave not yet reached the peak of study; how could they have come close to\nthe state of realization? They only transmitted words and phrases or taught\nthe changing of Buddha's name. They count other people's treasure day and\nnight, not having half a penny themselves.\nPrevious teachers are responsible for this. They taught people to seek\nenlightenment outside mind, or to seek rebirth in another land. Confusion\nstarts from this. Mistaken ideas come from this.\nThough you give good medicine, if you do not teach a method of\ncontrolling its use it will make one sicker than taking poison. In our country\nsince ancient times it seems as though no one has given good medicine. There\nare as yet no masters who can control the poisonous effects of medicine.\nBecause of this, it is difficult to penetrate birth and death. How can old age\nand death be overcome.\nAll this is the teacher's fault, not at all the fault of the disciples. The\nreason is that those who are teachers let people neglect the root and go out\non\nthe limbs. Before they establish true understanding, they are absorbed only in\ntheir own thinking, and they unwittingly cause others to enter a realm of\nconfusion. What a pity! Those who are teachers do not yet understand this\nconfusion. How could students realize what is right and wrong?\nHow sad! In this small, remote nation buddha-dharma has not yet spread\nwidely. True masters have not yet appeared here. If you wish to study the\nunsurpassed buddha way, you have to travel a great distance to call on the\nmasters in Song China, and you have to reflect deeply n the vital road\noutside thought. Until you have a true teacher, it is better not to study.\nRegardless of his age or experience, a true teacher is simply one who\nhas apprehended the true teaching and attained the authentic teacher's seal\nof realization. He does not put texts first or understanding first, but his\ncapacity is outside any framework and his spirit freely penetrates the nodes\nin bamboo. He is not concerned with self-views and does not stagnate in\nemotional feelings. Thus, practice and understanding are in mutual accord.","title":"The Seven Spikes [and Seven Metaphors]","type":"page"}