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The wisdom pāramitā is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] we eradicate the darkness of ignorance, together with attachment to views, and we teach and guide foolish living beings. 智度是法明門、斷無明黒暗及著見、化愚癡衆生故。 This time we're considering the sixth and final paramita, the wisdom or prajna paramita. This is a tough one, because there’s just so much teaching on it, and on the other hand there’s really nothing we can say about it! This is the supreme, perfect wisdom of emptiness that allows the bodhisattva to perceive reality -- in other words, awakening. Prajna paramita is said to be consummation of all six pāramitās. It includes, underlies and interpenetrates them all. Uchiyama Roshi says it’s the foundation of Buddhism. Since prajna paramita is about emptiness, we can’t really pin it down with descriptions. We can say that it’s about seeing reality clearly, understanding where delusion is and what that’s about, but buddhas don’t know they’re buddhas, and when we have some experience of prajna we might not even be aware of it. It’s easier to talk about its opposite, which is ignorance. The gate statement calls it the darkness of ignorance. The kani for ignorance 無明 (mumyo) literally mean “no illumination.” Interestingly, in this tradition, sometimes the darkness of ignorance is bad and sometimes it’s good, so we have to know which one we’re dealing with. In this case, it’s the bad kind. It’s delusion, a fundamental misunderstanding of reality that’s at the heart of all suffering and the first step in the chain of interdependent origination. We probably all know something about the 12-fold chain, but a quick review never hurts. It’s related to cause and effect, and emptiness, which are really important teachings for us. Everything is dependent on something for its existence, and nothing exists independently. It might seem like things happen randomly, but nothing appears or happens without a cause. There is nothing outside of this functioning of causes and conditions. If there’s a cause and the conditions are right, something happens. That sets up the causes and conditions for the next thing, so everything interpenetrated and everything affects everything else. The beginning of the cycle of interdependent origination is ignorance, which gives rise to the rest of the list: action; consciousness or discernment; name and form, or the objects of discernment; the six sense gates; the senses have contact with things; that causes sensations; desire; attachment. birth, aging and death. This is how we get caught in samsaric cycle of delusion and suffering. This ignorance isn’t about not having factual knowledge. It’s a mistake in how we see and understand the world, so we don’t see things as they really are. It’s when we don’t get that all things are impermanent or that there is no fixed and permanent self, and it’s the basis for all other delusions and afflictions that get in the way of our understanding suffering or the four noble truths. The positive kind of darkness of ignorance is when we stop using the discriminating mind and stop making distinctions and value judgements about people and things. In daylight we can see differences and start having opinions about what we like and don’t like, but in darkness we can’t tell one thing from another. We encounter everything without judgements, preferences, craving and aversion. We’re sort of intentionally ignorant, if you will, but that’s not what the gate statement is talking about. We turn our delusion and ignorance around with pranja paramita, the wisdom that sees emptiness and sees how the world really is. So how is the world, really? It’s full of the three marks of existence:
If we ignore these three marks, or don’t understand them, we have delusion and unhappiness. If instead we shine the light of prajna on the world, we see clearly and dispel the darkness of ignorance. Then, because of cause and effect, we undo the chain of interdependent origination. If we dissolve ignorance, the next steps don’t happen, all the things that lead to pleasant and unpleasant sensations and the three poisons and various kinds of suffering. This stuff is so central for us that we can see why prajna paramita is considered the basis for all the others and Uchiyana Roshi thinks it’s the foundation of Buddhism. The gate statement says we also give up our attachment to views. In other words, we stop taking our own perceptions and opinions as the one true way and the only possible reality. It’s not that we can’t form conclusions about our experiences or have a set of beliefs, but we can hold them lightly and be ready to change our thinking when new information comes along. Usually our refusal to let go of views is bound up with our need to convince ourselves and others that the self really exists. We kind of think we’re made up of our thoughts, ideas and views. Without those, what’s left? Well, we don’t have to give them up entirely, but we do need to be able to see through them or beyond them and know them for what they are -- fabrications we created by ourselves. Views can get in the way and become hindrances. In the Mahayana, there are five evil views; these amount to five kinds of mistaken perceptions. The first is reifying view, or identity-view. We think the objects we encounter as well as the self are inherently real. This is the only one of the five view that operates on a subconscious as well as a conscious level; it’s really deeply held. The second is extreme view. This is an attachment either to the idea that everything has an inherent self-nature and persists in some unchanging way through time (and Buddha countered this idea with his teachings about impermanence), or to the view that there is nothing that unfolds moment after moment. Buddha said that because of karma and interdependent origination, something which disappears in this moment is not cut off from the next moment. This was sometimes talked about in terms of life after death. The nihilist view is that there is no life after death, but the Buddha said that although there is no “soul” that persists, there is a continued “becoming” if you will, a chain of forces or events that continues to unfold. We could have a long philosophical debate about these things, and they did back in the day, but overall the Buddha said: don’t waste your time speculating. Just work on the problem of suffering! The third evil view is erroneous view, not properly acknowledging the relationship of cause and effect. As we’ve seen, cause and effect is a huge teaching in this tradition. Without it we don’t understand suffering at all. Cause and effect was also huge for Dogen -- he wrote a whole fascicle of the Shobogenzo on deep faith in cause and effect. If there’s no cause and effect, then interdendent origination doesn’t work, karma doesn’t work, and important elements of our practice start to fall apart. Also. traditionally this was considered the most dangerous of the false views because it undermines the foundations of morality: it doesn’t matter what I do, so I can do whatever I want. It also meant that religious practice was meaningless because there wouldn’t be any way of liberating beings. This is where we have to be careful not to confuse “zazen is good for nothing” with “zazen has no result.” The fourth evil view is attachment to views, holding rigidly to one opinion over all others, taking our own opinion or theory or perception of the world to be correct and clinging to it. In this fourth one, not only to we have delusiion, we refuse to give it up, either because we don’t think we’re deluded or because our delusions are comfortable. The fifth one is rigid attachment to the precepts, misunderstanding the role of the precepts in our practice and considering them to be the true cause of the cessation of suffering. If I just live an ethical life and use the precepts as my yardstick to measure myself and others , I will be liberated from suffering. Yeah, that won’t work. There’s a reason that the eightfold path includes wisdom and concentration as well as morality. These three things have to be in balance. Ethics without wisdom can actually lead to more suffering. Sometimes bodhisattvas have to break precepts in order to save beings, so passing judgement is risky. Just waving the precepts around isn’t enough to end suffering. Without settlling down in zazen and letting compassion and clarity arise, they're just a set of dead rules. However, the precepts are very much alive, moment after moment unless we cut off their life by clinging to them in an ignorant, rigid way and use them for purposes for which they were never intended. Okumura Roshi had something useful to say that really covers all of these five views. When we practice buddha’s action like a burglar breaking into an empty house, letting go of self-centered, hunting mind, each moment manifests the eternal Dharma body of the the tathagata. This is what Sawaki Roshi means when he says it’s pointless to live a life that lasts only seventy or eighty years. Our five aggregates last as an individual at most several decades and then disperse. When we drop off body and mind as Mara and express prajna, or wisdom, then our impermanent, conditioned bodies and minds manifest the eternal Dharma body, Living this way us becoming a person who will never die. (1) When we stop acting like Mara and start acting like Buddha, or let go of delusion and manifest prajna, the five views stop being problems. We stop clinging to the five skandhas. We stop worrying about whether or not anything lasts forever. We can see cause and effect. We get that our opinions are only our opinions. We can practice properly with the precepts. Then the gate statement says we can teach and guide foolish beings as bodhisattvas. These foolish beings are folks who don’t yet understand the three marks of existence and just go along accepting that this samsaric world is the whole story, people who are misled by appearances and take illusion for reality. This is exactly the same foolishness or ignorance as the one in the three poisons (greed, anger and ignorance), and it’s the root of every kind of mistake and suffering. Without prajna, we can’t help other beings without getting stuck in our own delusion. We get attached to the idea of what we’re doing and how great we are for doing it, or we pick and choose who deserves our help and who doesn’t, or maybe we give something to someone who needs it, but secretly we’re really attached to that thing we just gave away. With wisdom, we see the emptiness of self, and the people we’re helping, and whatever we’re using to do that work, so prajna paramita isn’t a special state of awareness only for mystical buddhas and sages. Dogen wrote a fascicle called Maka Hannya Haramitsu, which is his commentary on the Heart Sutra. The Heart Sutra is a distillation of a much larger text on prajna paramita. To me, one of the most useful things Dogen reminds us in his commentary is that prajna paramita is not something entirely abstract. We hear a lot about how prajna is awakening and involves an ability to see with some clarity that can sound kind of magical. Dogen says there are things we do every day to manifest prajna. Everything we encounter and everything we do is an instance of prajna, even our senses and our suffering and the natural elements. Everything is an example of awakening. He tells the story of a monk who understood how important prajna paramita was and said he should make prostrations to it, but that the way to venerate it was to make prostrations to all things. Buddha said, that’s exactly right! Dogen says: In this very moment of veneration and prostration, prajna manifests itself in practical approaches such as keeping the precepts, quietly meditation, manifesting wisdom and so forth, and saving various sentient beings. This moment of veneration is called nothingness. The appropaches to nothingness thus become practical. This veneration is the most profound prajna paramita, subtle and difficult to fathom. (2) So you think there’s no gateway into prajna, that it’s just something abstract out there? It’s actually the reality of your moment by moment daily life. Uchiyama Roshi says it’s choosing the actual reality of your life as reality, in other words, not your idea of how things should be or an incomplete picture of how the universe works. Having that realistic outlook is exactly how we help teach and guide foolish beings, but we have to be really careful about thinking that prajna is a tool separate from ourselves and our activity that we use to save beings. With real prajna, you know that you and your activity and the person you’re helping are one piece. Okumura Roshi says: We usually think prajna (wisdom) is a kind of device that helps us to see the reality we usually cannot see. When we have some problem with our eyesight, we use a pair of glasses. . . . We think wisdom is the same as a pair of reading glasses. Without them, I cannot see what is written but with the help of that device, I can see and read the sentences. However, . . . the prajna and the reality, are one and the same thing. . . . The wholeness of subject, action and object is itself the practice of prajna paramita. This is another way to say that the way to venerate prajna paramota is to make prostrations to all things. Wisdom is the bodhisattva and the activity and the recipient, without any idea of what that means or who’s doing something or what they’re doing. Okumura Roshi goes on to remind us that zazen is also not a tool to gain something so we can use it to help others. It is not a matter that when we practice zazen (action), the sitter (subject) attains prajna (wisdom) and is enabled to see the truth of emptiness of the five aggregates (objects). The sitter, the five aggregates, prajna, and emptiness are simply one reality. We can see how, if prajna = emptiness = reality, everything is prajna the way Dogen said, even our mistakes and preconnceptions. The reality is that we make mistakes. Can we see them clearly, or do we write stories about them or deny their existence? Wisdom doesn’t negate the existence of suffering. If I see clearly, I see everything, including suffering and delusion, and that’s the only way to carry out bodhisattva work: from a firm footing in actual reality. Now I’ve said some things about how we need wisdom in order to engage the other paramitas because it’s the quintessential one of six, but in typical Zen fashion, that’s not a one-way street. We also need to engage with the other paramitas to support our practice of prajna. Offering or giving reminds us that giver, receiver and gift are not three separate things, and also, that it’s good to put our craving and attachment to one side once in awhile and see clearly that it’s not possible to possess something forever. Causes and conditions change, and there’s really no self that we can create and defend with our belongings or our knowledge. Keeping precepts shows us how the world actually works. Our desire to break precepts decreases when we stop wishing our lives and the universe were different than they are and ignoring the reality of this moment, even if we can see it. Patience, as we saw several gates ago, is closely tied up with cause and effect. We can see that things arise because of causes and conditions, rather than being random occurances I should take personally. Being patient with people or circumstances I find difficult is an exercise of pranja, taking action based on actual reality and not on my ego or the preferences of this illusory self. Diligence, as we also saw a few gates ago, is about putting careful, steady energy toward something. It’s not enough to just read about prajna, or consider it something out there that we'll have someday. We have to actually practice it and manifest it moment by moment. All of our acts of body, speech and mind can be instances of prajna if we’re paying attention and taking care of our lives. And finally, dhyana or concentration (or zazen) -- well, what part of zazen isn’t prajna? It’s a complete manifestation of emptiness, where we drop separation and ego building, and just return to the complete functioning of the universe in this moment. Again, we’re not doing zazen in order to cultivate wisdom. We’re completely doing prajna in the act of sitting zazen. Notes: (1) Uchiyama Roshi, K. (2014). Zen Teaching of Homeless Kodo. United States: Wisdom Publications, p. 206. (2) Deepest Practice, Deepest Wisdom: Three Fascicles from Shobogenzo with Commentary. (2018). United States: Wisdom Publications, p. 5. Questions for reflection and discussion:
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About the text
The Ippyakuhachi Homyomon, or 108 Gates of Dharma Illumination, appears as the 11th fascicle of the 12 fascicle version of Dogen Zenji’s Shobogenzo. Dogen didn't compile the list himself; it's mostly a long quote from another text called the Sutra of Collected Past Deeds of the Buddha. Dogen wrote a final paragraph recommending that we investigate these gates thoroughly. Hoko talked about the gates one by one between 2016 and 2024. She provides material here that can be used by weekly dharma discussion groups as well as for individual study. The 108 Gates of Dharma Illumination
[1] Right belief [2] Pure mind [3] Delight [4] Love and cheerfulness The three forms of behavior [5] Right conduct of the actions of the body [6] Pure conduct of the actions of the mouth [7] Pure conduct of the actions of the mind The six kinds of mindfulness [8] Mindfulness of Buddha [9] Mindfulness of Dharma [10] Mindfulness of Sangha [11] Mindfulness of generosity [12] Mindfulness of precepts [13] Mindfulness of the heavens The four Brahmaviharas [14] Benevolence [15] Compassion [16] Joy [17] Abandonment The four dharma seals [18] Reflection on inconstancy [19] Reflection on suffering [20] Reflection on there being no self [21] Reflection on stillness [22] Repentance [23] Humility [24] Veracity [25] Truth [26] Dharma conduct [27] The Three Devotions [28] Recognition of kindness [29] Repayment of kindness [30] No self-deception [31] To work for living beings [32] To work for the Dharma [33] Awareness of time [34] Inhibition of self-conceit [35] The nonarising of ill-will [36] Being without hindrances [37] Belief and understanding [38] Reflection on impurity [39] Not to quarrel [40] Not being foolish [41] Enjoyment of the meaning of the Dharma [42] Love of Dharma illumination [43] Pursuit of abundant knowledge [44] Right means [45] Knowledge of names and forms [46] The view to expiate causes [47] The mind without enmity and intimacy [48] Hidden expedient means [49] Equality of all elements [50] The sense organs [51] Realization of nonappearance The elements of bodhi: The four abodes of mindfulness [52] The body as an abode of mindfulness [53] Feeling as an abode of mindfulness [54] Mind as an abode of mindfulness [55] The Dharma as an abode of mindfulness [56] The four right exertions [57] The four bases of mystical power The five faculties [58] The faculty of belief [59] The faculty of effort [60] The faculty of mindfulness [61] The faculty of balance [62] The faculty of wisdom The five powers [63] The power of belief [64] The power of effort [65] The power of mindfulness [66] The power of balance [67] The power of wisdom [68] Mindfulness, as a part of the state of truth [69] Examination of Dharma, as a part of the state of truth [70] Effort, as a part of the state of truth [71] Enjoyment, as a part of the state of truth [72] Entrustment as a part of the state of truth [73] The balanced state, as a part of the state of truth [74] Abandonment, as a part of the state of truth The Eightfold Path [75] Right view [76] Right discrimination [77] Right speech [78] Right action [79] Right livelihood [80] Right practice [81] Right mindfulness [82] Right balanced state [83] The bodhi-mind [84] Reliance [85] Right belief [86] Development The six paramitas [87] The dāna pāramitā [88] The precepts pāramitā [89] The forbearance pāramitā. [90] The diligence pāramitā [91] The dhyāna pāramitā [92] The wisdom pāramitā [93] Expedient means [94] The four elements of sociability [95] To teach and guide living beings [96] Acceptance of the right Dharma [97] Accretion of happiness [98] The practice of the balanced state of dhyāna [99] Stillness [100] The wisdom view [101] Entry into the state of unrestricted speech [102] Entry into all conduct [103] Accomplishment of the state of dhāraṇī [104] Attainment of the state of unrestricted speech [105] Endurance of obedient following [106] Attainment of realization of the Dharma of nonappearance [107] The state beyond regressing and straying [108] The wisdom that leads us from one state to another state and, somehow, one more: [109] The state in which water is sprinkled on the head Archives
December 2025
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