Gate 87: Dana paramita

The dāna pāramitā is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it], in every instance, we cause features to be pleasant, we adorn the Buddhist land, and we teach and guide stingy and greedy living beings.
檀度是法明門、念念成就相好、莊嚴佛土、化慳貪衆生故。

We 're moving into a part of the 108 gates text that takes up the paramitas, and in each case the statement ends with us teaching and guiding a specific kind of deluded being.  First we need to talk about what a paramita is, and what dana paramita is, and then consider  pleasant features, adorning a Buddha land and what it means to teach deluded beings.  Paramita is often translated as “perfection,” sometimes “accomplishment.”  There are various lists of paramitas depending on the sect or tradition; they have between five and ten elements.  Suffice it to say that the list most common to Zen is generosity or giving, ethical discipline, patience, diligence or effort, concentration or meditation, and wisdom.

If we arouse bodhicitta, take bodhisattva vows and carry out these six paramitas, we can become bodhisattvas ourselves.  We don’t have to be Shakyamuni or anything particularly special.  If we practice paramitas like bodhisattvas, we are bodhisattvas.  It makes sense to me that paramita is perfection and accomplishment; there's a sense that we’re doing something thoroughly and completely without any gaps.  The bodhisattva practices patience or morality or whatever with a complete understanding of interpenetration or non-separation, and if so, there’s nowhere that patience or morality doesn’t reach.  That’s real bodhisattva activity.

The first paramita, no matter what list you’re looking at, is dana (giving, generosity, offering).  There are two kinds of offerings: offering of materials, like food, clothing or medicine to other beings that need them, and offering of dharma, spiritual teachings we study and practice.  Historically, laypeople gave material offerings and clergy offered the dharma, so these two groups supported each other.  However, these days there are many ways to be generous, because the real basis or teaching here is not being greedy.  It’s the opposite of craving, one of the three poisons and, as we’ll see, both laypeople and clergy that act as bodhisattvas are engaged in offering the dharma to others.

The gate statement says that with dana paramita, in every instance we cause certain things to happen.  The kanji for “in every instance” are actually something like “moment by moment,” a continuous practice.  This isn’t about instances here and there or waiting for the perfect opportunity to do something.  The first result of dana according to the gate statement is that moment by moment we cause features to be pleasant.  That doesn’t mean that we always look beautiful or we’re always smiling or looking happy; it’s not talking about our features as ordinary human beings but the features of a Buddha.  Buddha’s physical body is said to have 32 primary marks and 80 secondary marks, things like long fingers and toes, 40 even white teeth, blue eyes, flat soles of the feet, and hair that curls clockwise.  Even before Buddha, these were supposed to be the 32 marks of a great person, but the new wrinkle with Buddha is that with him, each mark came from a particular dharma practice in a previous life.  He has smooth golden skin because he always gave clothing, food and drink, medicine, incense, flowers, and light.  He has long fingers and heels because took joy in non-harming and non-stealing.  He has good elbows because he earned his wealth ethically and gave it away to others.  

Not all of 32 marks are related to generosity, but you can see how relationship builds between dana and causing features to be pleasant.  The appearance of a Buddha is supposed to make a positive mental impression on others.  Maybe we feel inspired to live the way he did, or maybe we just feel a sense of equanimity.  We cause features to be pleasant because engaging in wholecome actions like not being greedy enables a good result for ourselves and others.  Behaving like a bodhisattva makes us bodhisattvas.  If we practice generosity, a bodhisattva with pleasing looks appears and something good happens for others when they see us.   

According to the gate statement, the second thing that results from dana paramita is that we adorn Buddha lands.  Now we have to get a little bit technical and talk about the three bodies of Buddha.  The nirmanakaya is his life as a human being called Gautama or Shakyamuni.  The samboghakaya is his body as an awakened being which is the result of his practice for 500 previous lifetimes, but there are many Buddhas besides Shakyamuni who practiced life after life, and not only in this world but in all the other worlds of the universe.  Thus samboghakaya isn’t really about one person but about all the buddhas who reached awakening and are teaching in all the various Buddha lands.  The dharmakaya is a Buddha’s eternal life within the complete dynamic functioning of reality; the dharma itself is Buddha.  This is his life before Shakyamuni was born.

We can't see the dharmakaya, and the nirmanakaya looked like an ordinary person, but it’s the samboghakaya that displays 32 marks and 80 extra marks, and this is the body that appears simultaneously in various forms throughout all the universes to help numberless suffering beings.  According to the Lotus Sutra, each of these Buddhas has taken certain vows, and as a result each has created a particular Buddha land.  Each Buddha-land is influenced by teaching of its particular Buddha, and each of these Buddhas is a reflection of all the others, so they’re not really separate.  Each Buddha pervades all Buddha-lands and all the Buddha-lands appear in every pore of each body.

The gate statement says that when we practice opening the hand and stop clinging and chasing after things, we adorn Buddha lands.  The Sanskrit for “adorn” can mean to arrange or decorate something splendidly, but this is getting at something else.  The adornments being referred to aren’t decorations, like jewels or flowers; they’re sila (ethics), samadhi (concentration) and prajna (wisdom), as well as the cultivating of wholesomeness and the prevention of unwholesomeness.  This is basic Buddhism.  Prajna, sila and samadhi are the three divisions of the eightfold path, and doing good and avoiding evil are what the threefold pure precepts are about.  If we’re doing even basic practice, generosity is at the heart of it.  If we have wisdom, we see the true nature of self.  If we’re living ethically, we’re not putting self first all the time.  If we’re sitting zazen, we’re directly experiencing non-separation, and if we’re doing good and avoiding evil, we’re not clinging to our stuff or our ideas.

Now, another way to read “adorn” besides arrange and decorate is to set up.  By practicing dana, we turn wherever we are into a Buddha land filled with wisdom, morality, concentration and wholesomeness.  When we give like bodhisattvas, we become bodhisattvas, and when we behave like we’re in a Buddha land, we create a Buddha land even in the midst of a hell realm.  There’s nowhere the Buddha way doesn’t reach and nowhere the samboghakaya doesn’t go, so this right here is a buddha land complete with a buddha.  Each of those buddhas took vows, practiced and created a particular buddha land. and we also take bodhisattva vows, practice, and create our own buddha land.

The gate statement says third result of practicing dana is that we teach and guide stingy and greedy living beings.  This kind of teaching is not intellectual teaching or book study.  The feeling of this particular word is helping something or someone to transform.  The idea is that a great sage transforms ignorant sentient beings into sages like him or herself.  That’s real bodhisattva work, ferrying people across to other shore.

Of course we can’t do the work for anyone else.  We can’t arouse bodhicitta for somebody or sit zazen for somebody or save them from themselves.  We’re all responsible for our own practice and our own choices, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have an impact on others or on the universe as a whole.  It makes a difference whether we put wholesomeness into the world or unwholesomeness.  If you put a drop of medicine or poison or something into a bucket of water, there’s no part of that bucket of water that doesn’t contain medicine or poison.  If someone sees you moving through the world as a generous bodhisattva and gets some feeling from that, you don’t have to say anything or “teach” anybody, and yet some transformation happens.  Stingy and greedy living beings can have some experience of not clinging and being selfish.

I don’t think this gate statement is saying that we help only beings we identify as stingy and greedy.  I think its saying that because of the three poisons, we’re all stingy and greedy to some degree.  We’re teaching and guiding living beings, who are all caught up in grasping and clinging.  As bodhisattvas, we’re open for business to everybody because everyone is suffering because of delusion.  When we practice generosity and give up greed, we make things better for everyone because we lead and inspire by example, and we create good conditions and circumstances where people can live in a wise and compassionate way.  Not only does suffering lessen for individuals, things get better for the community as a whole.

In Japan, Ohigan happens for three days before and after the spring and autumn equinoxes.  It’s an observance that goes back to the 8th century.  Ohigan literally means “the other shore.”  One of its meanings is the other shore reached after death, so it’s a time to visit graves and remember ancestors and family members who’ve passed, but it also refers to the other shore of nirvana.  It’s a reminder that samsara and nirvana are not separate or somewhere else.  There’s a renewed focus on the paramitas during Ohigan because practicing paramitas is a means of experiencing nirvana in this life.  The change of seasons is seen as a reminder that we need to take time to look at the way we’re living and make some changes there, to think about our habits and renew our aspiration to practice.

Now as soon as I read this gate I thought immediately of the Kanromon, or Ambrosia Gate.  This is a text we chant for the evening service in the senmon sodo.  It’s about satisfying hungry ghosts (segaki) and unconnected spirits (muenboke), and it pulls together all the stuff I’ve just been talking about.  Kanromon is a series of daranis, or spells.  There are various elements of the origin story of the Kanromon; it’s said that Ananda had a terrible dream, in which he saw his mother hanging upside down in a hell realm and suffering terribly.  He went to the Buddha and asked him what he could do to relieve his mother’s suffering; Buddha gave him this service. 

As a piece of liturgy, it has some roots in Zhenyan/Shingon rites in Tang China, but the text we use is derived from Tendai or Tiantai ritual manuals from Song China.  In 18th century Japan, Soto Zen reformer Menzan arranged it into the Kanromon we recognize today.

We need to say something about kanro, what we’re calling ambrosia.  It’s an aromatic decoction distilled from flowers, fruit, or herbs.  Kanro is a translation from Chinese, which is a translation of the Sanskrit amta: “nectar of immortality.”  In ancient India this is the drink of the devas (gods).  Dharma was said to be like amta because if you drink it you’re freed from suffering in the round of rebirth.  Kanromon is a way to offer ambrosia to suffering spirits.  In China, hungry ghosts are called “burning mouths” because their bad karma causes their food to burst into flames before they can eat it.  Making a ritual offering of ambrosia puts out the fire so they can receive the same offerings as connected spirits who have people to take care of them.  They can take in the same food, drink and merit.  Thus we chant the Kanromon to offer some help and solace to suffering spirits.  The Kanromon is itself a dose of ambrosia.  We’re not chanting this thing for our own benefit; it is itself an act of generosity for others.

When you look at the text you can see that it starts by invoking the three treasures, then there are several sets of texts and daranis followed by eko, or dedications of merit, so this thing is a complete piece of liturgy.  Here I want to focus on the middle section, "Dharani for Invoking the Precious Names of the Five Tathagatas."  These five tathagatas are samboghakaya, emanations of Buddha that appear in Buddha lands to help beings.  They are:

• Tathagata Abundant Treasures (South)
• Tathagata Wondrously Hued Body (East)
• Tathagata Ambrosia King (Center) [Vairocana]
• Tathagata Expansive Body (West) [Amitabha]
• Tathagata Freedom from Fear (North)

You can look up these five Buddhas and read more about them if you like; there’s a lot of information about that particular cosmology.  In each of these five daranis, after homage to the name of the Tathagata, there’s a statement of what we’re asking for. 

Tathagata Abundant Treasures: Quell deeds of greed; let blessings and wisdom be replete.
We already have abundant treasures; we don’t need to be greedy for more if we have the wisdom to see with Buddha’s eyes.

Tathagata Wondrously Hued Body: Remove ugly forms; endow with pleasing looks.
The body is wondrously hued because of the 32 marks.

Tathagata Ambrosia King: Anoint bodies and minds, giving joy and ease.
Again, the ambrosia puts out the fire of suffering.

Tathagata Expansive Body
Throats opened wide, with drink and food be satisfied.
- sometimes hungry ghosts are depicted as having big bellies but very narrow throats, so they can never get enough to eat

Tathagata Freedom from Fear: Fear utterly eradicated, be freed from the state of hungry ghost
It’s a reminder that the three poisons are really not separate.  We grasp and cling and chase after stuff because the small self is afraid that without it we won’t exist or we won’t be happy.

Here’s what the Kanromon sounds like, explained and chanted by our friend Gyokei Yokoyama from Sozenji in Montebello, CA.

Now we've taken a trip into something a bit esoteric and filled with ritual and Buddhist culture as a frame for dana or offering, and it gives us some context for what the gate statement is pointing to.  Although we don’t do the Kanromon here at Sanshin every evening and we don’t often talk about the various Buddhas and Buddha lands, these are things that are very much alive in our tradition.  

Okumura Roshi has frequently taught that according to Dogen, dana or generosity is simply being free from greed.  Even if we don’t feel like we’re actively offering something to others, just not being greedy and selfish is practicing dana paramita.  It’s good for others, and it helps us to undo and be free from greed as one of the three poisons.  He also reminds us that even when we are actively offering something, we have to be careful about getting stuck.  When I offer something to you, is there something at the bottom that says I want something in return?  Is the small self looking for praise or love or obligation?  Almost always, we have some idea about who we are when we’re making an offering, and what kind of identity that gives us.   

Dana as a perfection or accomplishment means we do it completely.  It’s clear all the way to the bottom.  If we let ourselves get in the way, we’ve not completely accomplished dana as a practice.  When we go out on takuhatsu and someone puts something in the bowl, we recite a verse:
Zaiho nise kudoku muryo / danbramitsu gusoku enman  / naishi hokkai byodo riyaku.
(The virtue of two kinds of offering, the offering of materials and offering of Dharma, is boundless. The perfection of generosity (dana paramita) is completed and it benefits all living beings in the entire dharma world.)

At the beginning of this essay I mentioned that traditionally, laypeople offered material goods and clergy offered the dharma.  We can see in this verse how that circular movement of offerings is a complete practice of dana, but it’s not limited to this very specific kind of exchange.  We’re already completely supported by all beings and by the system of interconnectedness in the universe, and our moment by moment practice is already an offering that penetrates everywhere, creating pleasing looks and Buddha lands and helping to guide suffering beings to liberation.

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Questions for reflection and discussion:

• How do you think behaving like a bodhisattva makes us more attractice and more pleasant to be around? 
• How can we engage in bodhisattva activity without the arousing the desire for popularity?
• How do you think behaving generously sets up this very place and time as a buddha land?
• In what ways might you offer ambrosia to the hungry spirits around you to liberate them from suffering?