Fukanzazengi by Master Dogen

Introduction to Master Dogen’s Fukanzazengi

In 1227, when Dogen returned from China to Japan, he felt burdened with a heavy responsibility, that of teaching his fellow citizens the true dharma, of which he had acquired knowledge during his four years spent on the continent. This would occupy him relentlessly for the last twenty-five years of his life. His first step in this direction was the writing of the Fukanzazengi (for the universal promotion of the principles of zazen). It is a short treatise in Chinese, which he completed at the age of twenty-seven, the year of his return to Kyoto. As he tells us at the end of the Bendowa, which he wrote about four years later: the practice and principle of this zazen must rest on the Fukanzazengi that I composed during the previous Koraku period.

One may wonder if any other writing by Dogen has exerted a more penetrating or profound influence on his disciples of the soto school; and this is, of course, exactly what he had wished. By sticking largely to the traditional genre of the Zazengi, by also exploiting other zen texts, by employing a declamatory prose, Dogen, we can be certain, was perfectly aware of the fundamental role that such a work would play in the diffusion of zazen. We can measure the success of this short text, but of difficult approach, by the fact that it was for a long time the venerated text of the soto school, the one recited in soto zen temples, at evening meditation sessions, and in other appropriate circumstances.

Naturally, there already existed zazen manuals (Zazengi) similar to Dogen’s. In China, four and perhaps more were commonly used. One of them was included in histories of zen, of which the Ching-te ch’uan teng lu (Keitoku Dentor-oku) is the most famous. A contemporary of Dogen, Lan-Ch’i (Rankei: 1203-1268), a rinzai monk of the Song period who landed in Japan in 1246 and became the first superior of Kencho-ji in Kamakura, was the author of a **Zazenron, another short treatise on zazen ** . One of the most widespread in ancient times was the one found in the Po-chang ch’ing-kuei (Hyakujo Shingi), the first collection of monastic precepts concerning the life of monks and discipline in zen monasteries. It was compiled and published by Po-chang (Hyakujo: 720-814), a well-known religious figure of the Tang period. It marked an important stage in the history of zen in China, and for years afterwards, it was studied in almost all zen monasteries and temples. It played an essential role in the formation and development of an independent zen school. It is said, however, that the original text of these rules was lost at the end of the Song period and that this resulted in a profound alteration of the rule in zen monasteries.

In 1103, in an attempt to recover the original thought of Po-chang, a monk of the Yun-men lineage, Chang-lu Tsung’i (Choro Soi), composed a new collection of rules, the Ch’an-yuan ch’ing-kuei (Zennen Shingi). To compose his Fukanzazengi, Dogen drew inspiration from the Zazengi inserted in Tsung’i’s work, but he modified it somewhat and added his personal views on zazen at the beginning and at the end. Reading the Fukanzazengi Senjutsu Yurai (Arguments in favor of the Fukanzazengi), a short handwritten note by Dogen that is still preserved at Eihei-ji, teaches us that Dogen felt that Tsung’i’s Zazengi had failed to transmit the true meaning of Po-chang’s zazen. Here is this document in its entirety.

Fukanzazengi - full text in English

The Way is fundamentally perfect. It penetrates everything. How could it depend on practice and realization?

The vehicle of the dharma is free and unhindered. Why is man’s concentrated effort necessary? In truth, the Great Body is far beyond the dust of the world. Who could believe that there is a means to dust it off? It is never distinct from anyone, always exactly where one is. What is the use of going here or there to practice?

However, if there is a gap, however narrow, the Way remains as far away as heaven from earth. If one manifests the slightest preference or the slightest antipathy, the mind gets lost in confusion. Imagine a person who flatters himself on understanding and who deludes himself about his own awakening, glimpsing the wisdom that penetrates all things, joins the Way and clarifies the mind, and gives rise to the desire to climb the sky itself. That one has undertaken the initial and limited exploration of the border areas but is still insufficiently on the vital Way of absolute emancipation. Need I speak of the Buddha, who was in possession of innate knowledge? One still feels the influence of the six years he lived, sitting in lotus in total immobility. And Bodhidharma, the transmission of the seal to this day has preserved the memory of his nine years of meditation facing a wall.

Since it was so with the saints of old, how can the men of today dispense with negotiating the Way? You must therefore abandon a practice based on intellectual understanding, running after words and sticking to the letter. You must learn the backward step that directs your light inward, to illuminate your true nature. Body and soul will fade away of themselves, and your original face will appear. If you want to attain awakening, you must practice awakening without delay.

For sanzen, a quiet room is suitable. Eat and drink soberly. Reject all commitments and abandon all affairs. Do not think: this is good, that is bad. Do not take sides for or against. Stop all movements of the conscious mind. Do not judge thoughts and perspectives. Have no desire to become a Buddha. Sanzen has absolutely nothing to do with sitting or lying down. At the place where you usually sit, spread a thick mat and place a cushion on it. Sit in lotus or half-lotus. In the lotus posture, you first place your right foot on your left thigh, and your left foot on your right thigh. In the half-lotus posture, you simply press your left foot against your right thigh. Be sure to loosen your clothes and your belt, arrange them properly.

Then place your right hand on your left leg and your left hand (facing upwards) on your right hand; the tips of the thumbs touch. Sit up straight, in the correct bodily attitude, neither leaning to the left, nor leaning to the right, neither forward, nor backward. Make sure your ears are in the same plane as your shoulders and your nose is on the same vertical line as your navel. Place the tongue forward against the palate; the mouth is closed, the teeth touch. The eyes must always remain open, and you must breathe gently through the nose. When you have taken the correct posture, breathe deeply once, inhale and exhale. Sway your body to the right and left; and immobilize yourself in a stable sitting position.

Think of not thinking. How does one think of not thinking? Beyond thinking (hishiryo). This in itself is the essential art of zazen. The zazen I speak of is not learning meditation, it is nothing other than the dharma of peace and happiness, the practice-realization of a perfect awakening. Zazen is the manifestation of ultimate reality. Traps and nets can never reach it. Once you have grasped its heart, you are like the dragon when it enters the water and like the tiger when it enters the mountain. For you must know that at this precise moment (when practicing zazen), the true dharma manifests itself and that, from the beginning, physical and mental slackness, and distraction are set aside. When you get up, move gently and without haste, calmly and deliberately. Do not get up suddenly or abruptly. When one casts a glance at the past, one realizes that transcendence of both awakening and non-awakening, that dying sitting or standing, have always depended on the vigor of zazen.

Furthermore, the opening to awakening on the occasion provided by a finger, a banner, a needle, a mallet, the accomplishment of realization thanks to a fly whisk, a fist, a stick, a shout, all this cannot be entirely grasped by the dualistic thought of man’. In truth, it cannot be known any better by the exercise of supernatural powers. This is beyond what man hears and sees — is it not a principle prior to knowledge and perceptions? That said, it matters little whether one is intelligent or not. There is no difference between the fool and the wise.

When one concentrates one’s effort with a single mind, that, in itself, is negotiating the Way. Practice-realization is pure by nature. Advancing is a matter of everyday life. On the whole, this world and others, both in India and in China, respect the seal of the Buddha. The particularity of this school prevails: devotion to sitting meditation quite simply, sitting still in total commitment. Although it is said that there are as many souls as men, all negotiate the Way in the same manner, by practicing zazen.

Why abandon the seat reserved for you at home to wander in the dusty lands of other kingdoms’? A single false step, and you stray from the Way laid out straight before you. You have had the unique chance to take human form. Do not waste your time. You bring your contribution to the essential work of the Way of the Buddha. Who would take vain pleasure in the spark struck from flint?

Form and substance are like dew on the grass, destiny like a flash of lightning - vanished in an instant. I beg you, honored disciples of zen, long accustomed to feeling the elephant in the dark, do not fear the true dragon. Devote your energies to the Way that indicates the absolute without detours. Respect the realized man, who is situated beyond the actions of men. Put yourself in harmony with the illumination of the Buddhas; succeed to the legitimate dynasty of the satori of the patriarchs. Always conduct yourself thus, and you will be as they are. Your treasure chamber will open of itself, and you will use it as you see fit.

Download the full text of the Fukanzazengi in Kanji.