On 'The Four Wisdoms'

shi chi — The Four Wisdoms.

On the origin

A term from the Yogācāra (Consciousness-Only) tradition, systematized in the Cheng Weishi Lun. It names the four wisdoms that arise when the eight consciousnesses are transformed: the Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom, the Wisdom of Equality, the Wisdom of Wondrous Observation, and the Wisdom of Accomplishing What Is to Be Done. It also appears in Hakuin’s Song of Zazen.

On the reading

The deluded mind is not destroyed but turned — and in turning, becomes wisdom. A mind that mirrors all things without sorting them. A mind that sees self and other as one. A mind that meets each thing as the thing it is. A mind that does what is to be done, as it is to be done.

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