We turn to the Hannya Shingyo (Heart Sutra)'s magical incantations ...
All/ past/, pre/sent/ and/ fu/ture/ Budd/has/
Live/ this/ Praj/na/ Pa/ra/mi/ta/*
And/ re/al/ize/ su/preme/ and/ com/plete/ en/light/en/ment/.
There/fore/ know/ that/ Praj/na/ Pa/ra/mi/ta/
Is/ the/ sac/red/ man/tra/, the/ lu/min/ous/ man/tra/,
the/ sup/reme/ man/tra/, the/ in/com/pa/ra/ble/ man/tra/
by/ which/ all/ suf/fe/ring/ is/ clear/.
This/ is/ no/ o/ther/ than/ Truth/.
There/fore/ set/ forth/ the/ Praj/na/ Pa/ra/mi/ta/ man/tra/.
Set/ forth/ this/ man/tra/ and/ pro/claim/:*
Gate! Gate! (Already Gone, Gone)
Paragate! (Already Gone Beyond)
Parasamgate! (Already Fully Beyond)
Bodhi! Svaha! * (Awakening, Rejoice)
In several of his writings, Dogen spoke of the true mystical powers of a Zen Master. The following is from my book manuscript ("The Zen Master Dances On" ... ), quoting a Dharma Hall Discourse in the Eihei Koroku:
A capable master must be endowed with the six spiritual powers. The first is the power to go anywhere; second is the power to hear everywhere; third is the power to know others’ minds; fourth is the power to know previous lives; fifth is the power to see everywhere; sixth is the power to extinguish outflows [attachments].
Everyone, do you want to see the power to go anywhere? The teacher Dogen raised his fist. Do you want to see the power to know others’ minds? Dogen let one of his legs hang down from his seat. Do you want to see the power of hearing everywhere? Dogen snapped his fingers once. Do you want to see the power of knowing previous lives? Dogen raised his whisk. Do you want to see the power of seeing everywhere? Dogen drew a circle in the air with his whisk. Do you want to see the power of extinguishing outflows? Dogen drew a single horizontal line [the character for “one”] with his whisk and said: Although this is so, ultimately, six times six is thirty-six. (EK 3-195)
Personally, I am always very skeptical of claims that holy men can actually read minds or see everywhere. And yet, based on the viewpoint that everything is everything, I do believe in such powers as Dogen describes them. How? Well, if everywhere is everywhere, and everything pours into everything, than moving a fist as he does, even an inch, travels everywhere and fills all space, and all space is held within his fist. Hearing one sound, even a single snap of the fingers, is all sounds and all silence too. All previous lives, both our life and all others’ lives, are known right now in this present instant of life when he raises a whisk, and are fully present in each hair of the whisk too. Seeing everywhere is seeing the emptiness flowing in and out of everywhere, marked by a whirling circle drawn in the air. Being free of attachments and all suffering is possible when we realize the “one” and wholeness which sweeps in all the ever multiplying things of this complicated world. You need not be a wizard or soothsayer to know such powers for yourself.
Gassho, J
STLah