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Acceptance of the right Dharma is a gate of Dharma illumination; for it eradicates the afflictions of all living beings. 攝受正法是法明門、斷一切衆生煩惱故（攝受正法是れ法明門なり、一切衆生のの煩惱を斷ずるが故に）。 This acceptance of the right dharma or true dharma isn’t just a random phrase; it has a fairly large backstory, which comes from The Sutra of Queen Śrīmālā of the Lion’s Roar and connects this phrase with bodhisattva vows. Buddha empowers an Indian queen, Srimala, to teach the dharma, and she talks about buddha-nature and emptiness. One of the most important things about this sutra is that it includes three bodhisattva vows, spoken by Queen Srimala herself. They are:
Shortly, we'll consider the giving up of body, life and wealth, but first, let’s just notice that accepting the true dharma is part of a bodhisattva vow, and that means it’s about liberating all beings. The gate statement says that accepting the true dharma eradicates the afflictions of all living beings, so right away we know that we’re in realm of bodhisattva activity. I just noted that accepting the true dharma was part of the third vow, but The Buddha says in this sutra, “Just as all forms are contained in space, so likewise the bodhisattva vows, which are as numerous as the sands of the Ganges River, are all contained in these three great vows.” Accepting the true dharma is itself the broadest possible bodhisattva vow, or the great vow. The sutra goes on to say that the results and benefits of this great vow are immeasurable. They allow bodhisattvas to present teachings and vehicles appropriate to the needs of each practitioner,. so everyone is included The one accepting the true dharma is identical with the true dharma itself, and the person who accepts the true dharma is identical with the paramitas, or perfections. Let’s look at these last two. The one accepting true dharma is identical with true dharma itself, and that happens because this person abandons three thngs: body, life and wealth. That sounds pretty extreme -- harsh, ascetic, unrealistic. "Abandon” here doesn’t mean harming the body, ending your life or living in an unhealthy state of poverty. It means giving up attachment to body, life and wealth. With regard to the body, our focus changes from the old age, illness and death that come with our birth in this human form in world of samsara toward the dharma body or dharmakaya instead. The human body is limited and impermanent, but the dharma body is without boundaries in space and time. This dharma body is made up of Buddha’s teachings, or the true reality of all beings, so the Buddha is still here even though his physical body died 2500 years ago because the dharmakaya is ongoing. With regard to life, our focus changes from being worried about physical death, being worried about not getting everything done before we die, or what will happen to our possessions or our souls after we die, toward cultivating prajna, or wisdom, and our understanding of the buddha-dharma. This prajna is also without boundaries in space and time, like the dharmakaya. Finally wealth -- our habit changes from clinging to generosity. Our focus shifts from needing to get, keep and protect as much as we can to realizing that we’re receiving offerings from all beings all the time, and we’re also making offerings to all beings all the time. That’s because of jijuyu zammai, or total dynamic functioning. All dharmas are interpenetrated and functioning together, so it’s not possible for us to do anything in isolation. This one unified reality is a constant exchange between all of the elements within it, which is everything. Thus clinging to a limited set of stuff in an unwholesome or unskillful way doesn’t make sense. The one accepting the true dharma is identical with the true dharma itself because there’s a shift away from a limited human condition in which we’re worried about old age, sickness and death and clinging tightly to our stuff as a way to ward all that off. We move toward a much more expansive, openhearted, wise and compassionate point of view that’s less self-centered and makes it possible for us to think about liberating all beings. If you practice here on weekday mornings you know that after the liturgy we have a reading from the Shobogenzo Zuimonki. There, Dogen frequently talks about abandoning body, life and weath for the sake of practice. He’s constantly warning against attachment to these things as a real obstacle to practice and awakening. Of course, he’s talking to people who’ve left home for the sake of the Way, where the expectation really is that you give up just about everything, rely on the sangha for provisions, and practice in some conditions that are not comfortable for the body. He’s mostly not talking to householders and laity, however what he’s saying is still valuable for us. When he talks about dropping off body and mind, he’s talking about releasing our attachment to personal views. When he’s talking about living in poverty, he’s telling us to work with the three poisons of greed, anger and ignorance. His point is: put practicing the dharma at the center of whatever lifestyle you’re living. Don’t make it a weekend hobby or a self-improvement program. Make your bodhicitta the origin of your thoughts, words and actions. Some examples from the Zuimonki (and there are many others to be found throughout that text): Even though we might cherish our body and hold it dear, we cannot keep it forever. Abandoning our life which we must leave behind sooner or later, if only for a day or a few moments for the sake of the buddha-dharma, will surely be the cause of eternal happiness. (p. 94-95) A person of the buddha-dharma should not possess any treasure or property other than robes and a bowl. What is the need for a closet? You should not own things which have to be hidden from others. You try to hide things because you are afraid of thieves; if you abandon them you will be that much more at ease. (p. 115) The primary point you should attend to is detatching yourself from personal views. To detach yourself from personal views means to not cling to your body. Even if you have thoroughly studied the words and stories of the ancient masters and have been practicing zazen continuously and immovably like iron or rock, if you cling to your body and do not detach yourself from it you will be unable to attain the Way of the buddhas and patriarchs in ten thousand aeons or a thousand lifetimes. Even though you think you may have realized the provisional teachings and the true teachings or the authentic Exoteric and Esoteric scriptures, if you have not detached from the mind which clings to your body, it is like vainly counting another’s wealth without possessing even a half-penny of your own. I implore you to sit quietly and seek the beginning and the end of this body on the ground of reality. Your body, hair, and skin, were originally comprised of the two droplets from your father and mother. Once the breath stops, they scatter and finally turn into mud and soil on the mountains and fields. How can you cling co your body? (p. 136) The last benefit of accepting the true dharma, or the great vow is that the person who accepts the true dharma is identical with the paramitas, or perfections. These are giving, discipline, patience, perseverance, meditation and wisdom. The Queen Srimala Sutra explains them as follows: Giving: “Good sons and daughters who accept the True Dharma give even their body and limbs for those who respond to giving. By protecting these [living beings’] intentions, they teach them. When they are thus taught and caused to abide in the True Dharma, this is called the perfection of giving (dāna). (and each follows this form) Morality: “Good sons and daughters teach the protection of the six senses, the purification of body, speech, and mind, and the cultivation of the four correct postures [in walking, standing, sitting, and reclining] to those who respond to discipline. . . . Patience: “Good sons and daughters teach nonhatred, supreme patience, and neutrality in outer expression to those who respond to patience. . . . Perseverance: “Good sons and daughters do not teach indolence but the desire [to practice], supreme perseverance, and cultivation of the four correct postures to those who respond to perseverance. . . . Meditation: “Good sons and daughters teach tranquility, constant mindfulness not conditioned by external objects, and recollection of all actions and speech over long periods of time to those who respond to meditation. . . . and finally: Wisdom: “Good sons and daughters, when questioned concerning the meaning of all things, extensively teach all treatises and all arts, without trepidation, causing those who respond to wisdom to reach the ultimate in science and art. By protecting these [living beings’] intentions, they teach them. When they are thus taught and caused to abide in the True Dharma, this is the perfection of wisdom (prajñā).” Interestingly, in each case the bodhisattva activity is to protect living beings’ intentions, in other words, to help them cultivate their bodhicitta. Everyone has to do that for themselves -- no one can give you bodhicitta -- but we can help create the conditions that support others and ourselves in our practice, and support each other in making and carrying out vows. In order to do that, we have to accept the true dharma, and that takes courage. We have to accept this one unified reality in its entirety, and the sutra reminds us that that includes 84-thousand dharma gates. In this case, it’s referring to 84-thousand discourses of the Buddha, but sometimes we take it to mean an uncountable number of opportunities to practice in our everyday moment-by moment encounters with the world. It also takes courage because it means being willing to admit that a lot of the time, we manage our perceptions to make things more comfortable for ourselves. We can ignore the stuff that we wish wasn’t there, or find more acceptable reasons or justifications for the way things are. We just want things to be different, and that’s basis of suffering. To willingly choose to take the harder and more realistic path is not easy. To willingly put away the fairy tales and grow up goes against the habits of self-protection that we’ve had for our whole lives. If the true dharma leaves nothing out, then it also leaves no one out. All kinds of suffering beings get to come into our scope or sphere. They’re bringing in with them every kind of affliction: mental disturbance, emotional negativity, unwholesome views, three poisons, just delusion and confusion in general -- everything that results in suffering -- but we don’t get to ignore then and not help them. The sutra goes on to say that those who accepts the true dharma “become friends without being asked for the sake of all living beings. In their great compassion, they comfort and sympathize with living beings and become the Dharma mother of the world.” That sounds like parental mind. The three minds, or sanshin, that come from Dogen’s Tenzo Kyokun are joyful mnd, magnanimous mind, and the mind of kindnesss or nurturing, or parental mind, sometimes called grandmotherly mind. Later the sutra says those who accept the true dharma enter “into Dharma friendship when the [four groups of followers] (monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen) are forming rival factions that cause the destruction and dispersion [of the sangha]. Those who enter into Dharma friendship will certainly receive the prediction [of their future buddhahood] by all the buddhas.” The sutra ends by making the point that it’s better to accept the true dharma than to do all the good deeds in the world, because it’s larger and more extensive. A bodhisattva vow is bigger than any individual good action that we may take without the intention to save all beings. It’s still a good action and still good to do it, but how much more “virtuous” is it to take that action as part of bodhisattva activity? A good action can be connected to ego or reward. There can be some self-clinging or even just some trace of an idea about "me" and "them," or what these five skandhas are doing and what that makes us. Taking good action simply because it arises from the bodhisattva vow doesn’t create that separation and delusion. Actions are limited, but the bodhisattva vow is boundless. This gives us some things to consider with regard to the difference between the beneficial action of a secular nonprofit and the beneficial action of a bodhisattva. Is there any material difference in the world? Queen Srimala would say that while the nonprofit work was certainly good action, the bodhisattva vow was bigger, and when you think about a nonprofit mission statement, it usually includes a target constituency or defines a set of stakeholders. The standard bodhisattva vows and any personal vows we may write just say "all beings," Our constituency is unlimited! What does accepting the right dharma look like? It’s not just going along with something because the Buddha said so or because you read it in the latest Zen book. Accepting the right dharma is seeing the world the way Buddha sees it, based on prajna, Once you see things that way, once you have a direct, personal experience of what the buddhas and ancestors are talking about, you can’t un-see it. You can try to give up this practice and give up those insights and go back to your life the way it was before, maybe to make other people happy, but you can’t. If you try, you will be very unhappy and feel like your life is now a big lie. You can’t un-see the true dharma once it’s got you. Trust me. Once you develop some prajna and start to see what the buddhas and ancestors are talking about, there’s no other logical way to see things. You have to accept the true dharma because there it is, big as life, and there’s no getting around it. Yet as hard and uncomfortable as it is to accept the way things are, the good news is that according to this gate, that’s the start of dealing with the suffering of all beings, including ourselves. Uchiyama Roshi says: By accepting and properly understanding the true nature of both accidental and undeniable realities, and by living in accord with this understanding, the matter of living and dying will cease to be such a terrible problem. (1) In other words, if we clearly see and accept the reality of both our karmic circumstances and the three marks of existance, or both form and emptiness, we make less trouble for ourselves and things start to get easier. That’s the moment we can really start to dedicate ourselves to our vow. In his statement of his personal vows, Dogen includes accepting the true dharma: When I encounter the true dharma, I will discard mundane principles and accept and maintain the buddha-dharma. Like Queen Srimala, he’s vowing to abandon mundane attachments like body, life and wealth, and focus on right dharma as a life direction. Okumura Roshi also makes this connection between prajna and vow: To follow the bodhisattva path, we practice prajna paramita, the wisdom that sees impermanence, no-self, emptiness and interdependent origination. When we clearly see this reality, that we and other things exist together without fixed, independent entities, our practice is strengthened. We understand to live by vow is not to accept a fixed doctrine but is a natural expression of our life force. (2) This is an important point. We can memorize everything the buddhas and ancestors ever said or taught, but that won’t help us with accepting the true dharma, because we can’t pin down the true dharma. It’s moving and changing and functioning all the time. That’s another reason why this gate statement is not about just going along with something you read in a Zen book. We need to have the prajna to see it for ourselves as it happens all around us, and the courage to act on it as our vow. That is how we eradicate the afflictions of all living beings. Notes: 1) Uchiyama, K. (2005). Opening the Hand of Thought: Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice. Ukraine: Wisdom Publications, p. 11. 2) Okumura, S. (2012). Living by Vow: A Practical Introduction to Eight Essential Zen Chants and Texts. United Kingdom: Wisdom Publications, p. 9. 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
November 2025
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