One Bright Pearl

Sesshin today was from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and was long and hard and exhausting and deeply satisfying.

"The whole Universe in ten directions is one bright pearl." The point is that the whole Universe in ten directions is not vast and great, not meager and small, not square or round, not centered or straight, not in a state of vigorous activity, and not disclosed in perfect clarity. Because it is utterly beyond living-and-dying, going-and-coming, it is living-and-dying, going-and-coming. And because it is like this, the past has gone from this place, and the present comes from this place. When we are pursuing the ultimate, who can see it utterly as separate moments? And who can hold it up for examination as a state of total stillness?

The expression "The whole Universe in ten directions is one bright pearl" originates with Gensa (835-907). After he had attained the truth at last, he taught people with the words that the whole Universe in ten directions is one bright pearl. One day a monk asks him, "I have heard the Master's words that the whole Universe in ten directions is one bright pearl. How should the student understand this?" The Master says, "The whole Universe in ten directions is one bright pearl. What use is understanding?" On a later day the Master asks the question back to the monk, "The whole Universe in ten directions is one bright pearl. How do you understand this?" The monk says "The whole Universe in ten directions is one bright pearl. What use is understanding?" The Master says, "I see that you are struggling to get inside a demon's cave in a black mountain."
- Dogen Zenji, 1238