''Sokushin zebutsu'' (), rendered in English as ''Mind is Itself Buddha'', is a book of the

Shōbōgenzō is the title most commonly used to refer to the collection of works written in Japan by the 13th century Buddhist monk and founder of the Sōtō Zen school, Eihei Dōgen. Several other works exist with the same title (see above), and it is som ...

by the 13th century Sōtō Zen monk Eihei Dōgen. It was written in the spring of 1239 at Dōgen's monastery

Kōshōhōrin-ji ''Kōshōhōrin-ji'' (), more commonly known by its abbreviated name ''Kōshō-ji'' () and sometimes by its full formal name ''Kannondori Kōshōhōrin-ji'' (), was the first independent zen temple in Japan. While Kennin-ji was established in 1202 ...

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

. The book appears as the fifth book in both the 75 and 60 fascicle versions of the

, and it is ordered sixth in the later chronological 95 fascicle ''Honzan'' editions. The title ''Sokushin zebutsu'' is an utterance attributed to the 8th century

Song Dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

Zen monk

Mazu Daoyi Mazu Daoyi (709–788) (, Japanese: Baso Dōitsu) was an influential abbot of Chan Buddhism during the Tang dynasty. The earliest recorded use of the term "Chan school" is from his ''Extensive Records''. Master Ma's teaching style of "strange wo ...

in a well known

kōan A (; , ; ko, 화두, ; vi, công án) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement which is used in Zen practice to provoke the "great doubt" and to practice or test a student's progress in Zen. Etymology The Japanese term is the Sino-Jap ...

that appears most notably as Case 30 in

The Gateless Barrier ''The Gateless Barrier'' (Mandarin: 無門關 ''Wúménguān''; Japanese: 無門関 ''Mumonkan''), sometimes translated as ''The Gateless Gate'', is a collection of 48 Chan (Zen) koans compiled in the early 13th century by the Chinese Zen master ...

, although Dōgen would have known it from the earlier

Transmission of the Lamp ''The Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp'' (), often referred to as ''The Transmission of the Lamp'', is a 30 volume work consisting of putative biographies of the Chan Buddhist and Zen Buddhist patriarchs and other prominent Buddhist ...

. In addition to this book of the Shōbōgenzō, Dōgen also discusses the phrase ''Sokushin zebutsu'' in several of his formal Dharma Hall Discourses, namely numbers 8, 75, 319, and 370, all of which are recorded in the

Eihei Kōroku ''Eihei Kōroku'' (), also known by its English translation ''Dōgen's Extensive Record'', is a ten volume collection of works by the Sōtō Zen monk Eihei Dōgen. The bulk of the text, accounting for volumes one through seven, are "Dharma hall d ...

. Dōgen's book ''Sokushin zebutsu'' lays out his understanding of this phrase, rendered in English as ''mind is itself Buddha''. He quickly notes that he views as incorrect the interpretation that the "ordinary thoughts and awareness of sentient beings" are already Buddha. He states that instead, "''Sokushin zebutsu'' is buddhas of aspiration, practice, awakening, and nirvana. Those who have not actualized aspiration, practice, awakening, and nirvana are not ''sokushin zebutsu''.” While aspiration, practice, awakening, and nirvana are a version of the four stages of enlightenment and are normally thought of a series of steps one must go through to achieve a final goal, Dōgen writes in the Shōbōgenzō book Gyōji, "Where aspiration is present, there is already practice. Practice is itself awakening. This practice-awakening is nirvana. Thus “aspiration, practice, awakening, and nirvana” are not sequential stages. All are one." Thus, for Dōgen, ''sokushin zebutsu'' is identical to practice, or

zazen ''Zazen'' (literally " seated meditation"; ja, 座禅; , pronounced ) is a meditative discipline that is typically the primary practice of the Zen Buddhist tradition. However, the term is a general one not unique to Zen, and thus technicall ...

. Further, at the conclusion of the essay, Dōgen writes, “The buddhas spoken of here are none other than Shakayamuni Buddha. Shakyamuni Buddha is ''sokushin zebutsu''. When all buddhas in the past, present, and future are buddhas, they unfailingly become Shakyamuni Buddha". Dōgen thus equates mind, Buddhas, Shakyamuni Buddha,

Bodhicitta In Mahayana Buddhism, bodhicitta, ("enlightenment-mind" or "the thought of awakening"), is the mind (citta) that is aimed at awakening ( bodhi), with wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all sentient beings. Bodhicitta is the defining quali ...

, practice or zazen, awakening, and enlightenment, offering a characteristic teaching in

nondualism Nondualism, also called nonduality and nondual awareness, is a fuzzy concept originating in Indian philosophy and religion for which many definitions can be found, including: nondual awareness, the nonduality of seer and seen or nondiffer ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sokushin Zebutsu Soto Zen Zen texts 1239 works