Gathering Together the Three Pure Beings

I vow to do no harm
This is the cave where all buddhas live, this is the source of their teachings.

I vow to do good
This is the way of perfect enlightenment, and the path that everyone walks.

I vow to do good for others  
This is going beyond any distinction between ordinary or awakened people, freeing yourself and others. 

—PZI Refuge Ceremony: The Three Pure Vows, each followed by Dogen Zenji’s commentary
 
Last week we talked about the experience of taking refuge in awakening, the Way, and our companions. This week we investigate the second set of vows, the Three Pure Vows: sanjujou 三 聚 浄, which means “gathering together the three pure beings.”

Spending time with these vows as koans, we find that the simplest but deepest questions naturally arise: What does “pure” mean? What is “harm,” or “good,” and doing “good for others”?

The imagery in Dogen’s commentaries is rich in instruction: The Buddha’s cave is the source of all teachings; the path of perfect enlightenment is one which everyone walks; in going beyond distinction we bring freedom to ourselves and others.

These, of course, are the very pictures of our own lives: The cave of the buddhas is our cave; perfect enlightenment is my path; we and all others were free from the very beginning. 

In his commentary, our ancestral teacher Yasutani Hakuun is relentless in urging us to personally experience rather than comprehend, in our minds, the meaning of the vows. After a long discussion he writes, 

What I have just told you is merely an explanation, and idea …You must bring forth the true fact for yourself and we shall investigate it in the dokusan room!

A wonderful invitation.

—Jon Joseph

Art: “Breath I” by Mayumi Oda, the original goddess. See her beautiful art here www.mayumioda.net