Chinese Original: https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2017/01/precious-mirror-samadhi.html
English Translation (translation updated: 28/9/2025):
“Jeweled Mirror Samādhi,”
a talk by Teacher Hong in the Cameron Highlands; Gleanings
on the Song of the Jeweled Mirror Samādhi, by Zen Master Iida (Japan),
rendered into Chinese by Shaozhuo; a Chan retreat in the Cameron Highlands,
November 2005, with guidance and dharma instruction from Teacher Hong Wenliang.
This time I will introduce to everyone the Song of the
Jeweled Mirror Samādhi. “Song” indicates a text cast as prose or verse;
“Jeweled Mirror Samādhi” is anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.
The Song of the Jeweled Mirror Samādhi was composed by Chan Master Dongshan.
Shitou Xiqian wrote the Harmony of Difference and Sameness; these two texts are
sister works. This one explains things more fully than the Harmony of
Difference and Sameness, though the manner of writing is the same. The present
explanation follows the Japanese Master Iida’s rendering. The commentary on the
Harmony of Difference and Sameness given previously also adopted Master Iida’s
exposition. There are many annotations on the Jeweled Mirror Samādhi; Master
Iida’s essay is concise and to the point. Another is by Master Menzan, written
at the venerable age of eighty-six. Because time is limited, in this retreat we
can only present Master Iida’s explanation. In Sōtō temples these two texts are
chanted morning and evening without fail, which shows their importance.
The Jeweled Mirror Samādhi is walls and tiles; it is
walking, standing, sitting, and lying down; it is the coming and going of birth
and death; it is the rise and fall of suffering and happiness.
“The Jeweled Mirror Samādhi is walls and tiles; it is
walking, standing, sitting, and lying down; it is the coming and going of birth
and death; it is the rise and fall of suffering and happiness”—this single line
states the crux completely. Walls are it; stones are it. Your sneezing,
walking, sleeping—every moment of walking, standing, sitting, and lying is the
Jeweled Mirror Samādhi. What then remains to be said? What troubles us most is
birth and death and their comings and goings: where does the intermediate state
go? Are there six destinies of rebirth? Is there a hell? Is there a Pure Land
to which one may go? Is there a heaven to ascend to? These questions of the
comings and goings of birth and death are crucial, and their answer can be
given with a single phrase: “the Jeweled Mirror Samādhi.” Does this seem
strange? “The rise and fall of suffering and happiness” includes pain,
numbness, itchiness—these are all it. This means there is not some special
samādhi into which those who have cultivated may enter while those who have not
may not; nor is it that only those of attainment have the Jeweled Mirror
Samādhi. No! Whether buddha or ordinary person, sentient or insentient, steamed
bun, diamond, singing, walking—all are it. What does this mean?
Seen with a true eye, the whole universe is a single
Jeweled Mirror Samādhi. Because it is a single one, there is no seer and
nothing seen.
“Seen with a true eye” means without muddled confusion. We
often look through colored lenses and then take things to be red, green, white,
and so on. To see with a true eye is to add no bias to what we see. The entire
universe is a single Jeweled Mirror Samādhi. Precisely because the entire
universe is one Jeweled Mirror Samādhi, of course walking, standing, sitting,
lying; walls and tiles; the comings and goings of birth and death are all one
Jeweled Mirror Samādhi. Because “a single one” is “one piece”—there is just
one piece—because “the whole” is a single piece, there is no seer and nothing
seen. Your whole body is yourself—could your left foot be me while your right
foot is not me? Could the right foot look at the left foot and say it is not
you, or the left foot look at the right foot and say it is not you? Could it be
like that? The whole of it is oneself. If you step outside and look back, then
you divide it. Since the whole of it is one, can it be divided? It cannot. Can
water divide into “this water” looking at “that water”? All water is water. Can
you take the taste of it?
Ordinarily we look and at once divide into you, I, and he.
In truth, when I look at you and you look at him, he, I, and you are one and
the same thing, a single jeweled mirror. Hearing this, we get confused: you
are you, a stone is a stone, a stone is not me. How can a stone and I be one
thing? Do you agree? If a tiger appears right in front of you—am I the tiger?
No, right? How could a tiger be me? In the Harmony of Difference and Sameness
this is the principle of “interfusion” and “non-interfusion.” “Interfusion” is
that the whole universe is one Jeweled Mirror Samādhi; “non-interfusion”
points to the other as tiger while I am I—this is non-interfusion. The Harmony
of Difference and Sameness emphasizes that in our world our thoughts all take
the tiger to be over there about to eat me and I must flee, and so on—each one
independent and non-interfusing. Seen with a true eye, originally the whole of
it is the manifestation of a single dharma-realm, the dharma-nature. How to
accord with it? Rather than explaining doctrine endlessly, better that you
simply sit cross-legged. Put simply, that is all. It is not the case that you
think, “Ah! That’s it!”—that is merely your conceptual consciousness thinking
it is right.
If you take “meeting and understanding” to be a mirror, you
will enter hell as swiftly as an arrow. The saying is not to be heard of:
mountains and rivers are not seen in a mirror; mountains, rivers, grasses, and
trees are the mirror.
Master Kokan said, “Do not set my hands in motion—there is a
person like jade. Do not set my feet in motion—the whole body appears as
accomplished. Just look, just look.”
The meaning of Master Kokan’s words is that you must not add
anything extra; once hands or feet move, it is no longer so. In other words, if
you think this out in the realm of discriminating consciousness, you have
erred. “At this very moment it is perfectly accomplished”—there is no need to
move hands or feet; the whole of it is so. Therefore, in what you see and hear
do not imagine that these are what the great mirror-like wisdom manifests, as
if a mirror of the dharma-realm and dharma-nature were showing reflections that
vary with your karmic conditions and retributions. Explaining it this way is
entirely wrong. What you see, hear, touch, and think are all the mirror itself,
including you yourself: the whole of it is the mirror. Do not misunderstand this
point.
“Lovers in fervent passion, even if sleeping alone, are as
if sharing one quilt; the mist disperses and the mountain hides” (a Japanese
tanka). This poem has been hard to understand since ancient times. The Way
cannot be left even for an instant. Husband and wife were originally one body;
sleeping alone does not differ from two sleeping together—it is this intimate.
Who would dare be ashamed before the grace of the shared pillow?
Next comes a Japanese tanka. Lovers passionately in love,
even sleeping alone, are as if sleeping together. “The mist disperses and the
mountain hides”—when the mist disperses, the mountain cannot be seen. Since
ancient times this has been hard to understand. How can the mountain hide when
the mist has dispersed? One sleeping alone equals two sleeping together—what is
this saying? Master Iida explains: “The Way cannot be left even for a moment.”
You yourself are it; you yourself divide it. Therefore, seeking the Way, you do
not know that you yourself are the Way. If you yourself are the Way, how can
you leave it? How can it be divided? Naturally, it cannot be left even for an
instant. “Husband and wife were originally one body. Sleeping alone does not
differ from two sleeping together. So intimate is it.” This indicates that we
ourselves, or the outer stones and tiles, are all the Jeweled Mirror; thus it
is this intimate. “Who would dare be ashamed before the grace of the shared
pillow?”—are you not the Way?
The mist is self-view. When looking at a mountain, the
mountain enters the eye, and the eye becomes the mountain.
“The mist disperses and the mountain hides” requires special
attention. With mist one cannot see clearly. The mist is “self-view”: our
opinions and views. When we see and hear, at once we add “self-view,” as if
mist arises. “The mist is self-view. When looking at a mountain, the mountain
enters the eye, and the eye becomes the mountain.” When you look at a mountain,
the mountain’s appearance enters the eye. Within the eye there is the
mountain’s image now present upon the retina. On the retina the whole image of
the mountain appears; the eye is the entire mountain. Whatever you see, the eye
becomes what is seen. “Seer and seen are both extinguished.” When things are in
accord, is there still a seer and a seen? I see a mountain, a tree, clouds, the
sun, the moon. In seeing, the eye becomes a cloud or becomes a mountain. Is
there any seer and seen there? The seer and seen arise when you stir a thought,
“My eyes see a mountain.” Only when your conceptual consciousness adds this
does it appear. In the moment itself, all are appearances; all are images. The
eye becomes a flower; the eye becomes a microphone. Is there any seer and seen?
Seer and seen are produced when you think and talk. Thus it says, “When looking
at a mountain, the mountain enters the eye, and the eye becomes the mountain.”
That seer and seen are both extinguished ought originally to
be explained as mutual accommodation; but fearing it might be mistaken for a
doctrine of two, it is said that the mountain hides—this is the rationale for
“hides.”
Heaven and earth share one root; the myriad things are of
one body; nothing is more intimate than “one.” Therefore the Jeweled Mirror
Samādhi can also be called great love.
Just sit and see; take up kōans until you are of one piece
with them; there will surely be a time you clap your hands and laugh without
knowing it.
This principle, said in words, is hard to understand.
Therefore: “just sit and see; take up kōans until you are of one piece with
them.” Master Iida, somewhat under the influence of the Linji lineage, approves
of investigating kōans, unlike Takuan Kōdō or Dōgen, who advocated constantly
just sitting; but Master Iida’s point is that when investigating kōans you
become one with the kōan. “There will surely be a time you clap your hands and
laugh without knowing it.” After endless talk, there is no need to use your
wits—just sit and see. Like talking at length about what salty is or sweet
is—once you put it in your mouth, you know. Therefore, just sit and see.
The Jeweled Mirror Samādhi is truly the work of Dongshan.
On the authorship there have been many conflicting views since ancient times,
which risk being overly forced. This is because in the Record of the Thirteen
Chapters of Dongshan in the Compendium of Essentials there is the passage:
“When the Master took leave of Caoshan, he charged him, saying, ‘At my late
master Yunyan’s place I personally sealed the essentials of the Jeweled Mirror
Samādhi; now I transmit them to you.’” From this some have taken it to be
Yunyan’s work, originating from Yaoshan.
Here, what is called “Jeweled Mirror Samādhi” is not a book
title; it points straight to the directly transmitted succession, the “this” of
the Treasury of the True Dharma Eye, or the meaning of “accord between teacher
and student.”
Master Huiran called this text the Song of the Precious
Mirror Samādhi; Master Chuandeng also added the word “Song” to indicate
distinction. This song is indeed the samādhi secretly entrusted by the buddhas
and patriarchs, set down in writing by Great Master Dongshan. May it be chanted
and transmitted without differentiating monks from laypeople, so that all can
realize and enter the buddha-way.
“This song harmonizes in metre with the Harmony of
Difference and Sameness,” sharing its rhyme. “It elaborates it closely and
fully. The intention within differs slightly in scope and brevity,” but in fact
the main purport of the two is the great gist that the buddhas wished to
transmit. Thus the opening line of the Harmony of Difference and Sameness, “The
mind of the great sage of India,” is the “Jeweled Mirror Samādhi,” the
“wondrous mind of nirvāṇa”
transmitted by the World-Honored One, and the “facing the wall” transmitted by
Bodhidharma. The words differ and their presentation differs, but all point to
“this.” If “this” were easy to state, it would simply be said openly; but this
“this” cannot be put into words, is hard to depict, and cannot be grasped by
feeling and sentiment as “Oh! That’s it! A sudden opening.” That is merely a
feeling. Therefore it is called difficult—very difficult! And yet it is not
difficult, for right now you yourself are it; only you are unwilling to
undertake it. If you are willing, is the matter then finished?
If you are willing yet cannot put down the one thought that
affirms yourself as right, then from the fault of self-affirmation you fall
into the sickness of realization. This sickness of realization is hardest to
remove. Nevertheless, the experience of “feeling it is right” must be
personally verified; without personal verification it does not count. But this
experience is so wondrous and so joyous that old habits rise up and seize it
and will not let go. Thus self-affirmation is still a fault—we call this the
“fault of permanence.”
This piece still follows the “Yu rhyme”; the rhyme used is
that of the state of Yu. “Those who truly hear are few indeed”: those who
understand are far too few. Understanding is necessary, lest the direction of
practice be mistaken; but understanding is not sufficient—understanding does
not mean you are right. “If you first read the Harmony of Difference and
Sameness and then this piece, you will naturally discover how the two are
subtly and spiritually contiguous”—it is hoped everyone will read this Song of
the Jeweled Mirror Samādhi alongside the previous commentary on the Harmony of
Difference and Sameness; you will naturally find where the two connect.
When the self is forgotten, nothing is not self. Regard the
universe as a single mirror, and then every affair, every thing, without
exception, is the mirror itself: when a barbarian comes, a barbarian appears;
when a Han comes, a Han appears.
He uses one line to explain: “When the self is forgotten,
nothing is not self.” When the self is forgotten, nothing is not oneself. If
the self is not forgotten, then you, he, sentient, and insentient are divided.
The “self” is erected by deluded thought; the thought “I am I” persists—“I am
listening,” “I am practicing the Way”—that “I” needs to be forgotten. If
forgotten, can one no longer act? Can one no longer live? One still drinks tea;
one still breathes and the heart still beats; one still thinks. Just do not
take thinking as the self, and you are right. When thoughts and currents of
thought arise, even if you would stop them, you cannot—because they do not
belong to you. “When the self is forgotten, nothing is not self”—this comes
from Venerable Zeng Zhao’s “The sage has no self and yet nothing is not self.”
Shitou Xiqian, reading that line and moved, wrote the Harmony of Difference and
Sameness.
When the self is forgotten, there is nothing that is not
oneself—do not let this go in one ear and out the other. Turn back and reflect
within and taste whether you can glean a little flavor. Even if you have a
little, in an instant it is gone; in a kṣaṇa
you return to that “I”—this shows how powerful habitual tendencies are. If you
try to figure out this habit with reasoning, you cannot; if you try to bow it
away, you cannot. What to do? Just sit. This is what the Buddha transmitted: as
soon as you sit and set yourself there, the whole universe is you and you are
the whole universe, present right now. With the body of an ordinary person you
can immediately verify the body of a sage—only this method. Without changing
the ordinary body, suddenly become the sacred body. Because you are originally
the Jeweled Mirror Samādhi, set there you are the Jeweled Mirror. Do not sit
there and occupy yourself with private business—wanting to become a buddha,
wanting to eliminate afflictions, wanting to open the two channels of
conception and governor. That would be a pity.
“Regard the universe as a single mirror; every affair and
thing without exception is the mirror.” This must be thoroughly verified in
sitting. It is originally like this—do not think askew. “When a barbarian
comes, a barbarian appears; when a Han comes, a Han appears.” Thoughts
come—what of it? Thought is the movement of the dharma-realm. Thoughts arise
and pass; what the mind thinks are all “when a barbarian comes, a barbarian
appears; when a Han comes, a Han appears.” Who says that when sitting, thoughts
coming and going are bad? Who says so?
The one that illuminates is the mirror; what is illuminated
is also the mirror. There is no “other,” no “self.” There is none that can hate
or love. Originally it is one emptiness.
Suddenly it is in front; in an instant it is behind. At
first like a maiden; in the end like a fleeing hare. It begins as a great
merchant, exhausting luxury; in the end it declines and begs in the lanes,
knowing no shame.
You must be able to be the host wherever you are; then,
wherever you turn, it can truly be subtle and profound. Abiding settled in your
own share is “truly subtle and profound.” Only when non-interfusion is thorough
can “wherever you turn be truly subtle and profound.” “The jeweled mirror is
oneself, and oneself is the jeweled mirror.” Do not divide into “I am the
jeweled mirror” or “I am a reflection appearing in the jeweled mirror”—that
is wrong. The jeweled mirror itself is you, and you are the jeweled mirror;
all the transformations upon the mirror are yourself—nothing is not self.
“‘Precious’ carries the meaning of omnipotent freedom. ‘Jeweled mirror’ is a
metaphor; ‘samādhi’ is the dharma.” If we reluctantly divide this song into two
parts as jeweled mirror and samādhi, the jeweled mirror is the comparison and
samādhi is the dharma. Samādhi is right absorption. What is right absorption?
It is not adding one’s own opinions, not adding inexplicable wrong views and
biases. Samādhi is right reception. Well then, after speaking so much
principle, what is actual practice?
Samādhi is right absorption: honestly receive, become one
with conditions, and forget oneself.
“Honestly receive, become one with conditions, and forget
oneself”—only this line; everyone should remember it. Jeweled mirror is the
metaphor; samādhi is the true teaching; “no self” and “not self”—these are the
principles. In actuality? Just now you sit here listening to my teaching. What
are your conditions? You hear what I say, and so the mind moves, thinking and
judging—these are conditions. Are you one with the conditions? At every moment
you are moving your mind: “I hear what you are saying; you say it well, you say
it poorly.” At once a “someone” appears and moves there. Have you become one?
No. If one has become one, does it mean you do not know what I am saying? Have
you no opinions? Are you confused? Is that being one? After hearing, thoughts churn
above. You must know: “thinking itself is ultimately non-thinking.” It is “I”
that thinks; do not insert that “I,” and you are right. If you do not insert
“I,” can you not discriminate what I am saying? Thus “deluded thought is
ultimately the dharma-nature.” You say “become one with conditions”—do you then
become the sound so that only sound is ringing and you cannot understand
anything? Buddhas and great Chan masters do not teach you this.
Suppose you pull the teeth of a thoroughly enlightened Chan
master and refuse anesthesia, thinking that feeling no pain is to be one with
conditions—does this accord with the principle? Many think practice is like
this: “My practice is so advanced that I have teeth pulled without
anesthesia.” Really? Even if you merely endure, it is “you” who endure—it is
the skill of enduring. “Becoming one with conditions” is “pain is precisely
pain”: you will cry out; how could there be no pain? Even if you do not want
pain, there will be pain. Could Śākyamuni Buddha have his teeth extracted
without anesthesia and feel no pain? If there were no pain, that would be
strange indeed.
“Honestly receive, become one with conditions, and forget
oneself”—this does not mean that all feeling disappears, that thought does not
move, that you do not know what is being said. You clearly know what is being
said, but above it there is no discriminating deluded thought called “I.” That
is all. Therefore “thought itself is ultimately not deluded thought.” Hence in
Yongjia’s Song of Realizing the Way there is the line, “Ignorance is truly the
buddha-nature.”
What matters most is, moment by moment, “honestly receive,
become one with conditions, and forget oneself.” To be able never to deviate
from this is “practice after awakening.” It is not that after great
awakening one will never drift or deviate and thus may be careless—no. At all
times and everywhere, to be “one with conditions and forget the self” without
deviation is to be right. To see clearly that you yourself are the precious
mirror is awakening. After awakening, is there still practice? “Practice does not terminate.” This is the place in Sōtō that is hardest for people to
understand, causing students to turn and study under Linji or Pure Land.
“Awakening has no beginning; practice has no end.” Hearing this, one cannot
bear it. “Practice does not end? Then why should I awaken? I thought once
awakened there would be nothing more to do—yet I must continue practicing without end? ‘Awakening has no beginning’? Then I will not awaken; originally
it is awakening.” At once the mind is muddled. Using intellection to ponder the
true dharma taught by the Buddha—this is deadly.
He gives another way to state “becoming one with
conditions”: “At the time of death, die equably, with absolutely no thought of
prolonging life; therefore there is liberation and ease.” At the end of life,
die equably. At such a time have no thought to prolong life—“to live just one
more day,” “two more days”—for then there is suffering. This is the principle
of being one with conditions; thus there is liberation and ease. Another
translation of samādhi is “not receiving,” because there is no reception and no
receiver. Because it is the jeweled mirror, there is no relation of agent and
object; thus it is called “not receiving.” Samādhi—right absorption—is
sometimes translated “not receiving.” Why? “A sweet melon is sweet through its
stem; a bitter gourd is bitter down to its root.” Is there any reasoning here?
When you eat a bitter gourd, the root is bitter and the leaves are bitter. A
sweet melon is entirely sweet. Is there a part here sweet and a part there not
sweet, or sweeter here and less sweet there? Is there such a thing? What does
this mean? It means there is originally no subject and object. Why? Because all
is a single Jeweled Mirror.
Just now everyone heard the bell—it is the end of the
session. Ordinarily we think, “I myself heard the bell.” Is it divided? Is
there a single jeweled mirror? No. Everywhere it is divided: I am I; the bell
sound is the bell sound—this is non-interfusion. Yet because non-interfusion is
thorough, therefore there is interfusion. Is the sound resounding here in me,
or over there? If it resounds only here, then without a bell it should resound
as I please—impossible. The bell must be struck; everyone must be set in
motion—only then, with conditions, does it occur.
For example, I look in a mirror. Is there my image in the
mirror? There is. Without me, is there an image? There is not. There must be a
mirror, and there must be me. Some may say it is the person holding the mirror
who produces the image. Then let the one holding the mirror go away and set the
mirror down by itself—will that do? Is it the one holding the mirror who
produces the image? Is it space in between that produces the image? Who
produces the image? It is not the mirror that produces it; it is not the space;
it is not the one holding the mirror. Yet without me, it will not do; without
the mirror, it will not do; without space, it will not do. Without these, there
is no image. Then from where does this image come? See: the mirror and I are
independent, but what of the image? In non-interfusion, is there an image?
There is no image. If you try to understand this with the head, it is like
this. As for actual practice, it is still hoped everyone will sit cross-legged
more. Sit and relax the six faculties; let the six faculties be at ease: this
is to return to natural law. “Oh, so this is natural law…”—do not add your own
opinion again. Set yourself there. Thoughts moving here and there are not moved
by you, nor is it you who drives them away; without your driving them away,
they go of themselves. When thoughts move, just do not add another “I am
thinking,” and that is enough. In his whole preface Master Iida speaks at
length to one point: the whole of it is one Jeweled Mirror Samādhi revealing
itself; above it there is no you, no I, no she. How does this accord with the
realities of life? It is to become one with the scenes and situations you see,
hear, and meet—to “become one with conditions.” This is an excellent method of
practice for daily life.
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