Verse of Opening the Sutra
July 23, 1986 Dharma Talk by Dainin Katagiri Roshi
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Summary
Katagiri Roshi explains the deep meaning of the Verse of Opening the Sutra, which is usually chanted before a dharma talk. He connects the Verse to related passages from the Lotus Sutra and the Samadhi Sutra, and also draws a connection with the psychologist Alice Miller.
Transcript
Listen to this talk on mnzencenter.org
0:00
Katagiri Roshi: I want to study tonight the Verse of Opening the Sutra, that we chanted a few minutes ago. Would you get the sutra card, please? […]
“On Opening the Sutra.” Would you read together? In English. Please.
Group chanting:
An unsurpassed, penetrating, and perfect dharma
is rarely met with, even in a hundred thousand million kalpas.
Having this to see and listen to, remember and accept,
I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata’s words.
Katagiri Roshi: [This verse is found] in the [section of] “Daily Used Statements, Verses, and Dharani” which occurs in the […] various ekos – final dedications – compiled by [Hu-yen] (or possibly Huayan?) in 1565 (CE) or so. (Transcriber’s Note: This paragraph is difficult to transcribe, and so far I have been unable to track down the reference. It should be noted that the Verse of Opening the Sutra is traced to origins in China around 500-700 CE; accounts vary.)
So, the “unsurpassed, penetrating, and perfect dharma.”
Well, in Japanese, [the verse is titled] Kaikyō ge: the “Verse of Opening [the] Sutra” (開經偈).
Now sutra means “scriptures,” but a sutra originally means “interwoven of strings in vertical and horizontal.” Is that clear? Interwoven; that is a meaning of the term sutra in Sanskrit.
So sutra as a Buddhist scripture means “interwoven of strings in vertical [and] horizontal.” That means human life, the human world, is exactly interwoven by time and space. The huge network of interwoven time and space: this is the human world, human life. Even though you see the moment [or] instant [that] you exist day to day, it consists of a huge network of interwoven time and space. This is the structure of the instant.
So opening that sutra means [to] completely open, [which] means you have to see that huge network of interwoven time and space. We have to see it clearly, and then taste it. This is [to] open.
If you even slightly have your own prejudice, or your own desires, or your education, it’s very difficult to open your life. So completely open ourselves: that is opening the sutra. Because we have to see the real picture of human life.
And, if you open the sutra, the huge network of [interweaving] time and space is exactly “the unsurpassed, penetrating, and perfect dharma.”
06:06
Dharma means that which is constantly supporting [or] upholding all beings, completely beyond human speculation.
Inside is hollow, nothing to grasp: this is a meaning of dharma. So dharma means that which is constantly supporting, upholding, helping, nurturing all beings, [and] on the other hand, dharma means the inside is hollow; nothing. Because that dharma is a state of the being which is really functioning; functioning and moving at super-speed. That is dharma.
That dharma is exactly unsurpassed and penetrating, and also perfect. The original says “supreme” – that dharma is exactly supreme. [There is] nothing more than that; it is completely the highest level of beings. So that is supreme.
And jin jin also means “profound,” very profound. We say “penetrating,” but originally it says “profound,” profundity. So it’s very deep; unfathomable. You cannot touch it. But you can be there, constantly. If you open your heart, if you open yourself, you can see it, you can be present there, exactly in peace and harmony. This is profundity.
And next we say “perfect,” but literally [it is] subtle, or wondrous. Inconceivable. You cannot pin down what it is, but it is working with us. If you see it objectively, you cannot know what it is, you cannot explain it. But practically speaking, subjectively, you can experience it. Exactly you can know: “Yes, it is with us.” But if you see [it] objectively, you cannot explain it; it’s very difficult [to say] what it is. That is so-called subtle, very subtle.
So dharma is supreme, and profound, and subtle, very subtle. This is dharma in Buddhism. So I think in Buddhism, dharma is… not exactly, but almost corresponding to God in Christianity. So Indian people and some Buddhists say, “I believe in dharma.”
Dharma is a very technical Buddhist term, and very popular. It’s a philosophical term, but it’s not philosophical, [it’s a] very spiritual term. So it’s a very complicated term. At the least, it has three meanings. If you use dharma, it is the principle of existence. And second, it is phenomena: all phenomena, visible and invisible. And also [it is] teaching. Dharma has at least those three meanings: principle of existence, and also all phenomena, and also teaching. Because you can experience it and you can teach it to people. This is our responsibility: we have to transmit this dharma to the next generation. So, we can teach. That is dharma.
11:15
So, the supreme, profound, subtle dharma “is rarely met with.” The second [line] is,
is rarely met with, even in a hundred thousand million kalpas.
I think […] it is very rare for us to be born as a human being. And also, this kind of opportunity is very rare for us, to meet together and to practice together. Very rare.
And also I [always say], the opportunity to express your compassion – complete kindness, Buddha’s compassion toward others – is very rare. Usually we don’t pay attention to that opportunity to express the real true meaning of compassion, like a person who sees a baby is going to fall into a well or a lake, et cetera, runs and saves him before he thinks. This is the true meaning of compassion. But that opportunity in our daily life is very rare, because usually there are lots of choices.
So that’s why zazen is very good for us, to realize that rare opportunity to express yourself. That’s [where] you can open yourself. To open yourself is completely prior to the functioning of your desire, or thinking, or speculation. That is perfect opening. So if you do zazen, you can do it.
But still, we don’t understand that: how important the opportunity to do zazen is. Because still we are always groping for something in the realm of many choices, alternatives. That’s why we don’t [understand]. That’s why every day we have to repeat this kind of practice.
So, “is rarely met with” [as each other]. […] Listening to the Buddha’s teaching is very rare.
“… [even] in a hundred thousand million kalpas”: kalpas is a term of time, eternal time. Completely boundless time, countless time – that is kalpas. And in a hundred thousand million kalpas – for a long, long time – this opportunity we see is very rare. This opportunity to sit together now is very rare, for a long, long time. We cannot get this opportunity for a long time, for a hundred million kalpas.
I think in Buddhism we have to see human life for the long run, and also we have to treat ourselves as a buddha, as a dharma, as a greatness of being beyond human speculation.
In a magazine, a journal called New Age, I think in the new issue you will see an interview with Alice Miller, the psychologist. I think she’s pretty famous in the United States too. Do you know [her]? Alice Miller. I think read that journal, New Age, there is an essay there. [There is some interaction with the audience.] Alice Miller. Psychologist. Not American; [Swiss]. She is quite a different psychologist from Freud and Jung, et cetera. Very interesting psychology established by her.
And in that magazine [it says], she was asked by many people, what should we do to be better parents, et cetera? And she said, “I would like you to be free to enjoy the children for themselves, not as a creature to control or change, but as a messenger from the world which we once knew but we have long forgotten.” Do you understand that? Pretty interesting! This is exactly this Buddhistic sense. You know?
So if you deal with the children always in terms of […] a certain [paradigm] of psychology – Freud or Jung, et cetera – then we try to put the children’s life in a certain scale or frame, and then deal with [them]. At that time, a human being becomes a creature! So we try to change [them], we try to control [them]. But she said [to see them] “as a messenger from the world we once knew but we have long forgotten.”
The Saddharma Puṇḍarīka (the Lotus Sutra) […] is a very interesting sutra. The Saddharma Puṇḍarīka [explains] why the Saddharma Puṇḍarīka must be [taught] by Buddha: because it tries to remind us of our past life, [in] which we have served many buddhas [and] bodhisattvas, but when we were born in this world we completely forgot. The moment when you were born, you forgot your past life. So in order to remind you of your past life, the Saddharma Puṇḍarīka has to be taught by Buddha. That’s interesting!
We don’t understand what the past life is. If you try to know what you did in the past in detail, you don’t know. But I think through the present life you can see […] a dim image of your past life. The present life is – more or less – linked with the past, and also the future. We know.
So life is not thin, like a piece of paper! It’s very thick, and very long, very long. That’s why Alice Miller mentions we should treat children and human beings as messengers from the world we once knew before, but we forgot completely.
Now Dogen Zenji – the founder of Soto Zen – also [says], “We practice like this together […] because temporarily we say teacher and student.” Katagiri [and] you. Japanese and American. Parents and children. Temporarily. But sooner or later, we will be buddha. Temporarily, now, for a certain period of time, we have a certain relationship between the teacher and a student. But originally we are buddha. Okay?
So we are what? We are not a creature; we are a messenger from the buddha. We knew in the past… but we completely forgot, for [a long time]. That’s why we always create certain discrimination between.
So constantly we have to listen to this kind of teaching. And then, gradually, your mind becomes magnanimous. Gradually. Again and again you have to listen to this kind of teaching.
That’s why it says here, “… is rarely met with, even in a hundred thousand million kalpas.”
23:25
Having it to see and listen to, remember and accept, …
Now we can have the opportunity to listen to, and to accept, and to maintain, to keep it.
And then finally we say,
I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata’s words.
This is firm resolve, […] arousing one’s vow, saying, “I am resolved to do so, to listen to Buddha’s teaching, to try to understand the true meaning of Buddha’s teaching.” Forever. Forever we try to move in the deep course of practicing Buddha’s teaching.
In the Sutra of Samadhi, there is a pretty similar verse there. The Samadhi Sutra was translated by the Chinese between 290 and 306 (CE). So in this sutra it says:
How profound the dharma is – rare to meet with, rare to listen to. How lucky we are. In virtue of quality accumulated in the past, I now have it to listen to. What a joy it is!
… This a verse which occurs in the sutra of samadhi, concentration.
“How profound the dharma is”: this is almost the same as the first line of the Verse of Opening the Sutra, “The unsurpassed, penetrating, and perfect dharma.” But in the Sutra of Samadhi it says, “How profound the dharma is – rare to meet with, rare to listen to. How lucky we are.”
“In virtue of quality accumulated in the past”: I think the life in the present is the result from the virtue which you have accumulated in the past. This is a result of your life: the result of your life [that] you can have opportunity to listen to the Buddha’s teaching, or to listen to your heart, to listen to the significance of human life, to listen to the meaning of [the] compassion you want to share. This is a great opportunity for you, as a result of your past life – in which you had served many, many buddhas and bodhisattvas. That’s then why you can have this opportunity. That is the meaning of this line, “in virtue of quality accumulated in the past.”
So that’s why your life is quite different from others’. Many people don’t pay attention to spiritual life. Many people, even though we call them to listen to us, to listen to Buddha’s teaching, they don’t turn to us, they don’t look at us. Very naturally they are going on their own way, always. But you can do this. It is quite different from others’ lives.
So that’s why it says here, “in virtue of quality” – this is your quality – “accumulated in the past… I now have it to listen to.”
And then, “What a joy it is!” This is really [an] expression of your joy: how grateful I am for having this great opportunity to listen to and practice together, and sharing our life with people.
In the Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sutra it also [says]:
[Of] yore, I [followed] countless buddhas, and perfectly trod the right ways of the profound and the wonderful law, […] which are difficult to perceive and perform.
This is exactly the same as the first and second lines of the Verse of Opening the Sutra. The translation of the words is different, but originally it’s the same meaning, same letters. So here it says, “perfectly trod the right ways of the profound and wonderful law.” That means “unsurpassed, penetrating and perfect dharma”; that is translated here as “the profound and wonderful law.”
“… which are difficult to perceive and perform”: that means “which are very rare to see, or to listen to, or to keep it.”
And also, the Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sutra says:
Again, I say to Shariputra, the [faultless] and inscrutable, profound and mysterious [law], […] I now have wholly attained.
Here it uses a different term, “profound and mysterious law,” that is “profound, perfect, and penetrating dharma.”
We chant the first and second and third lines, and finally we say, “I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata’s words,” because this vow [is] coming from the total expression of joy – the expression of your gratitude for how lucky you are, how lucky we [are] as human beings [to] exist, sharing our lives with all sentient beings. And then naturally there is a vow coming up: “I vow to taste the truth of the Tathagata’s words” – Buddha’s teaching.
Buddha’s teaching is really vast and magnificent, so we have to constantly study and listen to it. Even though we don’t understand the meaning of the Buddha’s teaching exactly, [still] we shouldn’t stop, we shouldn’t quit. [We should] try to move in the deep course of listening and practicing Buddha’s teaching.
33:34
This is a vow. So finally, in the Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sutra it says:
Of those who hear the law, not one fails to become buddha. This is the original vow of the buddhas: ‘By the Buddha Way I walk, I desire universally to cause all creatures to attain the same way along with me.’”
And also it says:
The buddhas, the honored ones, know that nothing has an independent existence, and that the buddha seeds spring from conditions, so they reveal the one vehicle. All things abide in their fixed order, hence the world abides forever.
So, “Of those who hear the law, not one fails to become a buddha.” This is a buddha’s vow: no one or nothing is out of Buddha’s teaching, out of Buddha’s compassionate hands. Always they exist [and] they are supported by Buddha’s compassionate hands and heart. Wherever they may go, or whoever they are, this is Buddha’s compassion.
So constantly, that’s why Buddha’s compassion is extending [into] every inch of the world. That is a buddha’s vow.
Buddha’s vow means if you really see deeply the source of existence, or total picture of the universe, including all sentient beings, you really see how important we are, how important human life is. And we really see we are supported by Buddha’s vow – that means the ultimate nature of the universe is omnipresent. That is, temporarily we say, Buddha’s vow, because that ultimate nature of the universe is constantly working to support us, to support and nurture trees, birds, all sentient beings, beyond human speculation.
So that’s why we say, if you realize the ultimate nature of existence which is working constantly, that becomes Buddha’s vow. It really hits your heart. And then you really appreciate that ultimate nature of existence, which is always supporting and helping us. So we temporarily say this is a buddha’s vow.
So Buddha’s vow is kind of [like] mother’s existence for a baby. Baby doesn’t know who the mother is, or what the mother is. The baby doesn’t know, but I think the baby is present in peace and harmony because there is a mother exactly, regardless of whether she or he is conscious of her or not. That’s why the baby is growing, naturally. So even if the mother isn’t holding the baby, the mother is always holding the baby, with warm hands, whatever she does, wherever she is.
So that is the relationship between the baby and the mother. And the human beings and the universe are just like identical twins. Exactly identical twins. Only one, but [they] are two. Always supporting.
We don’t understand, but still constantly the universe is like this, helping us like this. And when you realize that universe, we say, “That is a buddha’s vow.” Because “that is a buddha’s vow” is just like spring water coming up from the well, constantly. We are supported by that energy of the water, coming up constantly.
So, “This is the original vow of the buddhas.” […] What is the original vow of the buddhas? It says, “‘By the buddha way I walk…’” “I walk” means I or you walk in the path of the Buddha Way. In other words, we walk in the path of the universe, together. Completely supported, with warm hands. Just like identical twins; you and the universe are completely identical twins.
That’s why it says [Buddha’s vow is], “‘I desire universally to cause all creatures to attain the same way along with me.’” We are already supported, we are walking there. But many people don’t pay attention to [this], that’s why […] Buddha’s original vow is to desire to cause all sentient beings to walk hand in hand. Even though they try to go in a different way, Buddha always calls them. And Buddha always expresses his compassion over them.
41:20
So that is because “the buddhas, the honored ones, know that nothing has an independent existence, and that the buddha seeds spring from conditions.” Buddhas know pretty well that nothing has an independent existence. What is the universe? The universe is exactly the vastness of existence, in which all sentient beings walk in peace and harmony, without discrimination. That naturally happens. This is the universe.
So, I think there is nothing special we try to depend on – in terms of Katagiri’s ideas, in terms of Americans’ ideas. Anyway, if we realize the original nature of the universe, we are exactly living and walking hand in hand together in peace and harmony, without discriminations. That’s why [there is] nothing to depend on personally. Let’s walk together.
So, nothing has an independent existence, “and that buddha seeds spring from conditions.” And also the functioning of the universe is constantly working at super-speed, dynamically. And then when the time is ripe, conditions are arranged, something happens. We don’t know why the time is ripe. We don’t know why conditions are arranged! We don’t know. Because there are many conditions, visibly [or] invisibly.
That’s why biologists and scholars in [our day] always try to see the origin of life [as] like chemical elements. Maybe so, chemical elements. But when the time is ripe, the conditions arranged, not only one thing arises. When the time is ripe, conditions arranged, many things happen simultaneously. This the beginning of the world, exactly.
For instance, if this Katagiri as chemical elements arises, simultaneously trees arise, and the skies arise, birds arise. So all sentient beings arise. That is the beginning of the world. We don’t believe [this], but this is true. Not only one [thing]. No.
So when you are born, the whole world is born. The whole world arises with you. But when you die, you should die with the whole world. [He chuckles.] Okay? That’s really true.
[Tape change.]
… Truth is one. [There is] no secondary. Whoever looks at the truth, truth is whatever it is. In whatever situation it may be, truth is one.
But we always create many, many, many kinds of truth. In terms of Buddhism, in terms of Christianity, in terms of Judaism… Even in the realm of Christianity, we are fighting with each other under the beautiful flag of the term God. God must be one exactly. But we create lots of kinds of God.
46:10
So “all things abide in their fixed order, hence the world abides forever.”
“All things abide in their fixed order” means [that] Katagiri exists, right now right here, is completely beyond human speculation. Because Katagiri is produced by time which is ripe, conditions which have been arranged, beyond my speculation.
For instance: I have a certain type of character. And then, [right] now I am peaceful. But if immediately a certain situation is coming up… for instance, you put the Katagiri on the top of a cliff, okay? [Laughter.] And let him see the bottom of the ocean, exactly. I don’t like that high level. [He laughs.] So immediately I create fear.
So right now, I am very peaceful, but in a certain situation, I create… something. So Katagiri comes up in a different way. But I don’t know why – why those conditions are arranged and time is ripe. I don’t know. We can create a condition, we can create a time – but not always. There are lots of times, lots of conditions you cannot control.
For instance, if you drive a car. That means you create time, you create wonderful conditions. But sometimes, somebody hits your car, you know? You don’t expect it. So that time and conditions: who creates them? We don’t know. At that time, Katagiri’s existence is completely different.
So, I am Katagiri in peace, now, is completely something produced by time which is ripe, conditions arranged, beyond human speculation. So that’s why now is very important.
For instance, if I see this time and condition. Some times can be controlled by me; some conditions can be controlled, created, produced by me. But most of the time and conditions cannot be produced by me. You know? Because sometimes I don’t like to be here. [He laughs.] When my emotions are not peaceful, and my body is sick, at that time, I don’t like to be here and to talk. And when I look at my English, et cetera, I hate my English, you know? Something like that. So very naturally, emotionally, I cannot be here. But, you always give me the conditions and time, beyond my speculation: “Katagiri, you are [our] teacher. Please come here and sit down.” So I sit down. But personally, [it’s] not exactly, I love it. [A couple people laugh, and he chuckles.] Do you understand what I mean?
So, now I can see time and conditions, which are ripe and arranged perfectly, is what? [It’s a] very important now. Now is very important, because it is really something produced by time and conditions which have been handed down from generation to generation, from the past, to the present, to the future. Many, many, myriad conditions exist.
That’s why it says here, “So they reveal the one vehicle. All things abide in their fixed order, [hence the world abides forever].” That’s why now is eternal. […] The instant, right now, right here, is exactly eternal. So that is exactly “abiding forever.”
So what is eternal being? Eternal being is right now. And then, next right now. [And] next right now.
But if you see this instant which seems to be separate, […] if you take care of this instant, right now, right here, with wholeheartedness, it’s linked naturally with the next instant. So it is separated, but it’s not separated, it’s linked.
So that’s why [we say] “continuation in discontinuation, discontinuation in continuation.” (Transcriber’s Note: He might mean “continuity in discontinuity.”) It is the total picture of the reality you live in now. So, the contents of real true reality is based on continuation in discontinuation, discontinuation in continuation. That’s why you have to take care of now, and then, it’s connected to next.
Okay. Do you have a question?
53:35
Question: Roshi, when you talked about Katagiri and the universe being born, do you mean that’s continuous, happening all the time, or do you mean a historic event, a one-time event?
Katagiri Roshi: I think the universe cannot be seen easily, because it’s vast. But what you can see is now, and the moment, and the present time. So through the present time, what you can do is, to take care of the present time. But that present time is not the present only, it is exactly connected with the universe. In other words, it is backed by the whole universe.
[…] How can you see that universe? That’s why you have to penetrate the present time, with clear mind. So with your mind, you have to research deeply [the] microphone, Katagiri, in the present, and see something behind me, above me, something more than to the right, to the left, something more than beneath my feet. So the whole vast and open space around me.
And then, very naturally, with your mind you have to research this. That is [what the teaching always talks about]. And also, practically, with your body, you have to practice this.
So that’s why sitting zazen is you do zazen, but simultaneously you do zazen but your body and mind extend [to] every inch of the universe. Because you become samadhi. Exactly one.
So practically, with your body, you can practice this. And with your mind, you have to make your mind calm, and research carefully, and continually see the trees, birds, human beings with deep insight. This is our important practice.
Is that alright?
56:24
Question: Roshi, when you talked about the parent [seeing] the child: isn’t it also reversed, the child [seeing] the parent?
Katagiri Roshi: Mm-hmm. Sure. [The] child must […] deal with the parents exactly as the messenger of the world we knew.
Particularly parents’ and children’s relationships are very deep, you know?
[Silence.]
I think that the book written by Alice Miller – I forgot the title. If you want to know, I will tell you. (Transcriber’s Note: Probably The Drama of the Gifted Child.) I think you can buy her book in the United States. I think it’s a pretty good book.