On 'Grasses, Trees, and the Land'

sou moku koku do — Grasses, Trees, and the Land.

On the origin

The opening of “sōmoku kokudo shikkai jōbutsu” — grasses, trees, and the land all attain Buddhahood. It rests on the Nirvana Sutra’s teaching that all beings hold the Buddha-nature, but does not appear verbatim in any extant sutra; it took shape in Tendai thought and was first set down by the Heian monk Annen, later recurring in Noh libretti.

On the reading

Grasses, trees, and the land itself are counted in. The nature said to wake is not reserved for what feels and chooses. What is looked at is held to carry the same nature as the one who looks. Here nothing is left outside.

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