Ānanda and the Flagpole

Keizan's commentary

Venerable Ānanda was from Rājagṛha. He belonged to the kṣatriya caste, and his father was King Droṇodana. He was truly the World-Honored One's younger relative and disciple. In Sanskrit his name is Ānanda; here it means “Gladness” or “Joy.” He was born on the night the Tathāgata awakened to the Way. His face was so handsome that no one in the sixteen great kingdoms could compare with him. Everyone who saw him rejoiced; hence his name. He was foremost in learning, intelligent, and widely informed. During his twenty years as the Buddha's attendant, there was no teaching of the Buddha that he could not recite and no aspect of the Buddha's conduct that he had not learned. When the World-Honored One transmitted the treasury of the true Dharma eye to Kāśyapa, he also charged Ānanda: “Assist him as his second in carrying on the teaching.” Ānanda accordingly followed Kāśyapa for another twenty years. There was nothing in the treasury of the true Dharma eye that he did not penetrate. Take this as proof that the ancestral way is unlike other schools. Ānanda was already foremost in learning, widely read, and thoroughly informed. He had received a great deal of instruction directly from the Buddha. Even so, he had not yet upheld the true Dharma or opened and illuminated the ground of mind. When Kāśyapa was about to compile the Tathāgata's remaining teachings at Pippala Cave, he refused to let Ānanda enter because Ānanda had not yet realized the fruit. Ānanda silently reflected and quickly realized arhatship. When he then tried to enter, Kāśyapa said, “If you have realized the fruit, you should display spiritual power.” Ānanda made his body small and entered through the keyhole. At last he was inside Pippala Cave. All the disciples said, “Ānanda attended the Buddha. He is learned and widely informed. It is as if water were poured from one vessel into another, without spilling a drop. Let us ask him to recite the teachings again.” Kāśyapa told him, “The whole assembly looks to you. Mount the seat again, please, and recite them.” Ānanda inwardly guarded the Tathāgata's charge and accepted Kāśyapa's request. He rose, bowed at the feet of the assembly, mounted the seat, and proclaimed, “Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was dwelling....” Then he recited the sacred teaching of the Buddha's whole lifetime. Kāśyapa asked the disciples, “Does this differ from what the Tathāgata taught?” They answered, “Not one character differs.” These disciples were all great arhats endowed with the three knowledges and six spiritual powers. Nothing escaped their hearing. With different mouths they spoke in one voice: “We cannot tell whether the Tathāgata has returned or Ānanda is speaking.” They praised him: “The waters of the Buddha-Dharma's great ocean have flowed into Ānanda's body.”¹ The Tathāgata's teachings circulate even now because Ānanda recited them. Yet this very story demonstrates that the way does not depend upon learning or even upon realizing the fruit. Ānanda still followed Kāśyapa for twenty years and first greatly awakened in the present encounter. He was born on the night of the Tathāgata's awakening, so he had not heard such teachings as the Flower Ornament Sutra. Yet by attaining the samādhi of the Buddha's awakening, he recited what he had not heard. Even so, his failure to enter the ancestral way was exactly the same as our own failure to enter it. Long ago in a past life, under King of Emptiness Buddha, Ānanda and the present Śākyamuni Buddha raised the mind of unsurpassed complete awakening at the same time. Ānanda delighted in learning and therefore had not yet accomplished full awakening. Śākyamuni cultivated vigorous effort and therefore did accomplish it. This truly proves that learning can obstruct the way. Thus the Flower Ornament Sutra says: It is like a poor person Who counts another person's treasure But does not possess half a coin. Much learning is just the same.² If you wish to settle this way intimately, do not delight in learning. Practice with direct, courageous vigor. Ānanda was nevertheless certain that there must be some matter beyond transmission of the robe. So on one occasion he asked, “Elder brother, the World-Honored One transmitted the gold-brocade robe. Apart from it, what else did he transmit?” Kāśyapa knew that the time had come and called, “Ānanda!” Ānanda answered. Matching his voice, Kāśyapa said, “Take down the flagpole in front of the gate!” Matching that voice, Ānanda greatly awakened. The Buddha's robe came of itself onto the crown of his head. #### Source annotation on the robe The gold-brocade robe is precisely the robe transmitted by the seven buddhas. The following lines should be an annotation. Because they occur in one copy, they are included here.³ There are three accounts of this robe. One says that the Tathāgata brought it from the womb. One says that the gods of the Pure Abodes presented it. One says that a hunter presented it. There are also several other kinds of Buddha-robes. The robe transmitted from Bodhidharma to Sōkei Huineng was dark blue-black cloth. After it reached China, it was lined with blue. It is now kept at the Sixth Ancestor's memorial temple as a national treasure. This is what the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom calls “the coarse-cloth saṃghāti worn by the Tathāgata.” The gold-brocade robe was gold cloth. A scripture says, “The Buddha's maternal aunt personally spun the gold cloth and offered the robe to the Buddha.” These are only one or two among the many kinds. Many scriptures and records tell of their numinous effects. Long ago, when Venerable Vāśiṣṭa suffered persecution by an evil king, five-colored light shone from the fire. After the fire went out, the Buddha-robe remained unharmed. This proved that it was the Buddha's robe. The preceding lines are probably Keizan's own annotation. It is this robe that will be handed on to Maitreya. #### Keizan's commentary resumes The treasury of the true Dharma eye was not entrusted to two people. Kāśyapa alone received the Tathāgata's entrustment. Yet Ānanda attended Kāśyapa for twenty years and upheld the true Dharma. You should therefore know that this school has a separate transmission outside the teachings. People lately have become careless and identify the two. If they were identical, Ānanda was already an arhat with the three knowledges and six spiritual powers. He had received the Tathāgata's charge and could have been called the Second Ancestor then and there. Who could surpass Ānanda in understanding the scriptures and teachings? If someone surpasses Ānanda, I will allow that person to say that the intention of the teachings and the ancestral way are one. But if you merely say that they are one, why did Ānanda go to the trouble of attending Kāśyapa for twenty years and clarify the matter only here, at “Take down the flagpole”?⁴ Know that the intention of scripture and doctrine must not automatically be made into the ancestral way. This does not mean that the Buddha is not Buddha. But even if you attend the Buddha as his personal attendant, how could you transmit the mind-seal without a place that penetrates the Buddha-mind? Know that it does not depend upon wide learning. Even if you are intelligent and quick of hearing, and hear and retain every book and sacred teaching recited from every mouth without losing a single character, if your heart does not penetrate, you are only counting your neighbor's treasure. I do not mean that the scriptures lack this heart. The problem was that Ānanda had not penetrated it. How much more is this true of people in China and Japan who interpret meaning by leaning on the written text and fail to obtain the sutras' heart. Know once more that the Buddha-way is not a casual matter. Ānanda penetrated the sacred teaching of the Buddha's whole lifetime. When he recited it as the Tathāgata's disciple, who would not follow him? Yet know that he attended and followed Kāśyapa, greatly awakened, and only then recited it anew. It was exactly like fire joining fire. If you wish to investigate the real way clearly, discard private views, old feelings, conceit, and self-importance. Turn the beginner's mind around and meet Buddha-wisdom. In the present encounter, Ānanda had long thought that there was nothing beyond receiving the gold-brocade robe and being the Buddha's disciple. But after following and personally serving Kāśyapa, he learned that there was a further penetration. Kāśyapa knew that the time was ripe and called, “Ānanda!” It was as if the valley spirit called and an echo followed. Ānanda answered at once, as a spark leaps from stone. Calling “Ānanda!” did not call Ānanda. The reverberation did not merely answer. What does “Take down the flagpole in front of the gate” mean? In India, when Buddhist disciples and outsiders held a debate, both sides raised flags. When one side lost, it lowered its flag. By not sounding drum or bell, the defeated side signaled its defeat. In the present encounter, Kāśyapa and Ānanda appear to stand opposite one another with their flags raised. Once Ānanda has emerged, Kāśyapa ought to lower his flag: one emerges and one goes under. But this encounter is not like that. Kāśyapa is the flagpole. Ānanda is the flagpole. So long as they remain flagpoles, this principle cannot appear. When the flagpole falls once, the flagpole itself appears. When Kāśyapa pointed it out by saying, “Take down the flagpole in front of the gate,” the way between teacher and heir passed through. Ānanda greatly awakened at the words. After that awakening, Kāśyapa too fell. Mountains and rivers all collapsed. The Buddha's robe therefore came of itself onto Ānanda's crown. Even so, do not use this encounter to stop at the bare lump of flesh standing like a thousand-fathom wall. Do not stop at purity. Go on and know that there is a valley spirit. The buddhas appear one after another, and ancestral teachers point it out generation after generation. It is only this matter. It is never a place reached by seeking mind with mind. The exposed lump of flesh, Kāśyapa, and Ānanda are each a face of “that person.” Though that person appears in two faces, do not make Kāśyapa and Ānanda into that person. Each one of you, standing like a ten-thousand-fathom wall, is one of that person's thousand changes and ten thousand transformations. If you recognize that person, every one of you will be buried at once. If this is so, do not seek the fallen flagpole outside yourself. Today I want to append a word for the descendants of Mahāyāna. Do you wish to hear it?