On 'The Four Sacred Verses of Bodhidharma'

daruma no shisei ku — The Four Sacred Verses of Bodhidharma.

On the origin

The four verses that state the marrow of the Chan/Zen school — “a transmission outside the teachings; not founded on words and letters; pointing directly at the human mind; seeing one’s nature and becoming a buddha.” Traditionally ascribed to Bodhidharma; as a set of four the formula appears in the Song-dynasty Chan glossary Zuting shiyuan (compiled by Muan Shanqing, 1108). Not a direct quotation from a single sutra, but a phrasing handed down as Bodhidharma’s.

On the reading

There is something handed on outside the scriptures, not carried by words. Letters are the finger, never the moon. It is not received from elsewhere; it already rests in the mind as it is. See into one’s own nature, and the buddha is found nowhere apart.

On the garment

The seal for this phrase was hand-carved in Tokyo by the artist Satake Hōsen. The front carries this phrase’s seal; the back and inside label carry the Hōsen seal (寳千), printed in vermilion.

The garment is Bella + Canvas 3001 (short sleeve) or Gildan 2400 (long sleeve). A vessel for the word, not the subject itself.

― hosen, tokyo