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洗鉢盂去 hatsu u o araisare Go Wash Your Bowl

洗鉢盂去, go and wash your bowl: Zhaozhou's answer to a new monk, followed from the oldest telling found through the Mumonkan and Dōgen into English.

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Japanese Scroll of Go Wash Your Bowl (hatsu u o araisare) — Calligraphy by Eri Takase
Go Wash Your Bowl洗鉢盂去hatsu u o araisare

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Abstract

洗鉢盂去 hatsu u o araisare, go and wash your bowl, is the answer the Tang Chan master 趙州從諗 Jōshū Jūshin (Zhaozhou Congshen, 778–897) gives in case 7 of the Mumonkan 無門關, compiled by 無門慧開 Mumon Ekai in 1228, to a monk newly come to the monastery who asks for instruction and has just eaten his gruel; at the words the monk has an awakening [1][2][3][4]. The story is older than the book: its oldest telling found in the canon texts searched at CBETA and SAT, the 祖堂集 among them, is in the Transmission of the Lamp of 1004, and has the monk say I am confused and the master answer in three characters, 洗鉢去; the four characters as brushed are recorded by 1076, in the recorded sayings of the master 雲門, whose preface is of that year and who asks of them whether there was an instruction in them or not [5][6][7][8]. In Japan Dōgen 道元 took the case up three times, and in one talk made of it a bowl with no bottom, never washed [9][10][11]. The earliest English known here, in the books read for this history, is of 1934, in two books: then you had better wash your bowl (Senzaki and Reps) and go and get your bowls washed (Suzuki); the earliest go wash your bowl known here is of 1953 [12][13][14].

Overview

The sense. 鉢盂 is the bowl a monk eats from: 【鉢盂】はつう 僧の食器, hatsuu, a monk's eating vessel [15]. The four characters tell a man who has eaten his gruel to wash that bowl. No general dictionary opened enters the phrase: none at kotobank, Weblio or JMdict, each checked against headwords it does enter [16]. A Zen dictionary of 1915 does, under the case's name 趙州洗鉢, read デウシウ センパツ, Jōshū senpatsu, Zhaozhou washes the bowl: it calls it 公案, a kōan, and quotes the case from the Mumonkan with the master's words read 鉢盂を洗ひ去れ [17].

The words. 洗 wash, an ordinary word. 鉢盂 the monk's bowl: 鉢 is short for 鉢多羅, the Sanskrit pātra, and the temple word best known in Japan for the bowl is 応量器 ōryōki, which デジタル大辞泉 glosses 仏道修行者の食器, the eating vessel of one who trains in the Buddhist way; it was a word of the Sōtō school first, as 講談社's 食器・調理器具がわかる辞典 says: 元来は曹洞宗で用いる語で、他の宗派にはそれぞれの用語がある, originally a word used in the Sōtō school; the other schools each have their own [18]. The dictionary reads 鉢盂 はつう, hatsuu [15]; a book of 1908 prints it はちう, hachiu [19]. 去 on its own is the verb さる, to leave (its dictionary entry is quoted under A reading). After a verb it is the word the history of 喫茶去 in this Library takes up at length: it can send a man off to do the thing [20]. The Japanese reading of the Edo commentator 天桂伝尊 keeps it as a verb, 去れ, the imperative of 去る, go: 鉢盂ヲ洗ヒ去レ [21].

The reading. Hatsu u o araisare is that reading, 鉢盂を洗い去れ, said aloud. It is the reading of the Edo commentator 天桂伝尊 Tenkei Denson in his books printed in 1883 and 1885, of the Zen dictionary of 1915, and of the title of a tea journal's column on the phrase in 2022, 洗鉢盂去 (はつうをあらいされ) [22][21][17][23].

The historical record

The master and the oldest telling

趙州. The Transmission of the Lamp records that 趙州 died on the second day of the eleventh month of 乾寧 4 (897), at an age of a hundred and twenty: 唐乾寧四年十一月二日右脇而寂。壽一百二十 [4]. Counted in the East Asian way, that is a life from 778 to 897.

952, not in the Zutang ji. The Zutang ji 祖堂集, which dates itself to 952, has an entry for 趙州, but this story was not found in it. CBETA's text of the whole work was searched for 洗鉢 and 鉢盂 and, since CBETA also writes the bowl 缽, for 洗缽, 缽盂 and 盋: 洗鉢, 洗缽, 鉢盂 and 盋 have no hit; 缽盂 stands only in other stories, in chapters 4 and 6; and in chapter 18, which holds his entry, 洗鉢, 喫粥 and 指示 have no hit and every 缽 is the robe and bowl of the Sixth Patriarch or the word 三摩缽底, while 趙州 returns his entry there as the control. The newcomer's question itself is in the work, written with 藂 for 叢, in three places outside 趙州's chapter: exactly as 學人乍入藂林，乞師指示, I have just entered the monastery; I beg the master for instruction, in chapter 7; as 乍入藂林，乞師指示個徑直之路 in chapter 10; and as 學人乍入藂林，乞和尚指示個入路 in chapter 11; none is answered with the bowl [24][25][26].

1004, the Transmission of the Lamp. The Jingde chuandeng lu 景德傳燈錄, completed in 1004 [6], gives the oldest telling found in the canon texts searched: 僧問。學人迷昧乞師指示。師云。喫粥也未。僧云。喫粥也。師云。洗鉢去。其僧忽然省悟, a monk asked: "I am confused; I beg the master for instruction." The master said: "Have you eaten your gruel?" The monk said: "I have." The master said: "Go and wash the bowl." The monk suddenly awoke [5]. Here the monk does not say he is new, and the bowl is 鉢 alone.

The sold form, recorded by 1076

雲門's question. The recorded sayings of 雲門文偃 Unmon Bun'en (Yunmen Wenyan, d. 949; born 864 by 日本大百科全書 and Britannica, 862 or 864 by 世界大百科事典, 869 by 精選版 日本国語大辞典) [27], whose preface is dated 熙寧丙辰, the third month of 1076 [8], quote the case in the form the scroll carries, and ask a question of it: 舉：「僧問趙州：『某甲乍入叢林。乞師指示。』州云：『喫粥了也未？』僧云：『喫粥了也。』州云：『洗鉢盂去。』」師云：「且道有指示？無指示？若道有指示，向他道什麼？若道無指示，者僧何得悟去？」, "A monk asked 趙州: 'I have just entered the monastery; I beg the master for instruction.' 趙州 said: 'Have you eaten your gruel?' The monk said: 'I have.' 趙州 said: 'Go and wash your bowl.'" The master said: "Tell me: was there an instruction, or not? If there was, what did he tell him? If there was not, how did this monk come to awaken?" [7]. 雲門 died in 949; the words are his as his book records them, and the book is of 1076.

雪竇. The recorded sayings of 雪竇重顯 Setchō Jūken (Xuedou Chongxian, 980–1052) [28] quote the case with 雲門's question and answer it: 我不似雲門為蛇畫足，直言向爾道，問者如蟲蝕木，答者偶爾成文, I will not draw legs on the snake as 雲門 did; I tell you straight: the question is a worm eating wood, and the answer happened to make a pattern [29].

Three forms. Later records tell the story in 雲門's form: the 聯燈會要, compiled by 悟明, ends it 其僧言下大悟, the monk awoke greatly at the words [30], and the Wudeng huiyuan 五燈會元, whose colophon is dated the winter of 1252, sets the sold form in the place of the 1004 telling [31][32]. A third form is in the record of 趙州 himself, as printed in the 古尊宿語錄 with its preface of 1267: there the question is 如何是學人自己？, what is my own self?, and the answer the same, 洗鉢盂去 [33][34].

The verses on the case

白雲守端. 白雲守端 Hakuun Shutan (Baiyun Shouduan), who died in 1072 aged forty-eight [35], answers the case with a spring verse: 梅花落盡杏花披，未免春風著出褫。一氣不言含有象，萬靈何處謝無私。, the plum blossoms have all fallen and the apricot blossoms open; still the spring wind cannot help stripping them. The one breath, saying nothing, holds every form; where do the ten thousand spirits thank it for its selflessness? [36] Its third line became an entry of its own in the Japanese phrase book 禅林句集: in the print of 1889 the National Diet Library's full-text index, searched for 洗鉢盂, leads to a headnote giving that source, 白雲端禅師洗鉢盂頌云, 白雲守端's verse on washing the bowl says, and the leaf it is on (scan 46) shows no entry for 洗鉢盂去, as far as its small print can be read; the index finds no 洗鉢盂去 in the book [37].

宏智. 宏智正覺 Wanshi Shōgaku (Hongzhi Zhengjue, 1091–1157 by 日本大百科全書's entry on him and Britannica, 元祐 6 to 紹興 27 [38]; the same encyclopedia's entry on the 従容録 prints 1090 [39]) raised the case before his assembly and said: 喫粥了洗鉢去。法爾圓成正規矩。, the gruel eaten, go and wash the bowl: the true rule, complete as things are of themselves [40]. His verse on the case is the one the Book of Serenity 從容錄 sets as its case 39, under the same title 趙州洗鉢, with the commentary of 萬松行秀, whose student wrote its preface in 1224 [41][39]: 粥罷令教洗鉢盂　豁然心地自相符　而今參飽叢林客　且道其間有悟無, the gruel finished, he has him wash the bowl; suddenly the mind-ground matches of itself. Now the guest who has trained his fill in the monasteries: tell me, is there awakening in it or not? Beside the third line 萬松 writes 依舊喫粥了洗鉢盂去, as before: eat the gruel, go and wash the bowl [41].

Twenty-eight verses. The anthology of verses on the old cases compiled by 法應, whose note on it is dated 淳熙 2 (1175), with a continuation whose preface, by 普會, is dated 1318, prints twenty-eight verses on this case: seventeen in the first collection, and eleven after the marker 【續收】, collected in the continuation; two of the twenty-eight have their author unclear [42][43]. One asks 喫粥了，洗鉢盂，何曾指示曹溪路？, eat the gruel, wash the bowl: when did that ever point out the road to 曹溪?, and one in the first collection, signed 長靈卓, ends at the tea table: 鉢盂洗了相逢著，又得濃烹一椀茶, the bowl washed, we meet, and there is a bowl of strong tea besides [42].

1228, the Mumonkan

The book. The preface by 習菴 is dated the last day of the seventh month of the first year of 紹定, 1228, and Mumon's memorial says the book was printed in the twelfth month of that year [2]; the dictionaries date it 1228 [3].

Case 7. Under the title 趙州洗鉢, Zhaozhou washes the bowl: 趙州因僧問。某甲乍入叢林。乞師指示。州云。喫粥了也未。僧云。喫粥了也。州云。洗鉢盂去。其僧有省, a monk asked 趙州: "I have just entered the monastery; I beg the master for instruction." 趙州 said: "Have you eaten your gruel?" The monk said: "I have." 趙州 said: "Go and wash your bowl." The monk had an awakening [1]. Mumon's comment: 趙州開口見膽。露出心肝。者僧聽事不真。喚鐘作甕, 趙州 opens his mouth and shows his gall, lays bare his heart and liver. If this monk did not hear it truly, he calls the bell a jar. And the verse: 只為分明極。翻令所得遲。早知燈是火。飯熟已多時, only because it is so plain, it takes the longer to get. Had you known the lamp was fire, the rice would long since have been cooked [1]. The verse stands again, signed 無門開, among the eleven after 【續收】, with two characters different: 反令 for 翻令, and 飯熟也多時 for 飯熟已多時 [42].

A monk who woke on it

The stupa inscription of 偃溪廣聞 Enkei Kōmon (Yanxi Guangwen), who died in 1263 after seventy-five years in the world, 住世七十五年 [44], tells how his own awakening came. One night, going into the hall at the third watch, he stumbled and woke as from a dream; then 翌朝造室，翁舉趙州洗鉢話，師將啟吻，翁扯止之，平生疑情篦下氷釋, the next morning he went to his teacher's room. The old man raised the case of 趙州 washing the bowl; as he was about to open his lips, the old man stopped him, and the doubt of his whole life melted like ice under the stick [44]. The stick, 篦, is read here as the 竹篦 shippei, the bent split-bamboo staff 禅宗で、師家が参禅者の指導に用いる法具, the implement a Zen teacher uses in guiding those who come to him [45].

In Japan

Dōgen, three times. 道元 (1200–1253) [46] took the case up in two talks recorded in his Eihei kōroku 永平廣錄, and in both he uses the name 永平, Eihei, which his temple took in 1246; the record runs to 1252, the year before his death [47][48]. The name puts both talks within the span from 1246 to the record's end in 1252. In one (numbered 436), read at the page in a printing of 1909, he tells the case and then says 趙州古佛既恁麼道。永平今有山偈, the old buddha 趙州 spoke like this; now I, Eihei, have a mountain verse, and the verse ends on the case's own words: 喫粥了兮洗鉢盂, the gruel eaten, wash the bowl [9][11]. In another (numbered 210), read in the same printing, he makes a sermon of the case's two questions without naming it: 兄弟喫粥了也未。乃云。喫粥了也。喫粥了也。粥是喫得。洗箇鉢盂也未。鉢盂未曾洗。且作麼生未曾洗。良久曰。鉢盂無底未曾洗。敵勝瞿曇親授記, "Brothers, have you eaten your gruel?" Then he said: "Eaten it, eaten it. The gruel you could eat. Have you washed the bowl? The bowl has never been washed. Then how is it never washed?" After a long silence he said: "The bowl has no bottom and has never been washed: that is better than receiving the prediction from Gautama himself" [10][11]. Leighton and Okumura note that he also set the case as number 67 in his Mana Shōbōgenzō 真字正法眼藏, his collection of cases [11].

The 語録. 無学祖元 Mugaku Sogen (1226–1286), who came to Japan from Song China in 1279 [49], has a talk on the case in his recorded sayings, which in the lines read do not say where it was given: 趙州只解順水推舟致令後代兒孫箇箇死在句下, 趙州 only knew how to push the boat downstream, and so his heirs, every one, die under his words [50]. 大休宗休 Daikyū Sōkyū (1468–1549) [51], asked by a monk what it meant that 趙州 told a monk go and wash your bowl and the monk woke at once, answered with a couplet: 掬水月在手弄花香滿衣, scoop up water and the moon is in your hands; play with flowers and their scent fills your robe [52].

天桂. 天桂伝尊 (1648–1736; he died on the tenth day of the twelfth month of 享保 20, which 日本大百科全書 counts as 1735) [53], in a commentary on the Book of Serenity printed in 1883, read at the page, gives the master's words two ways. On the case: 夫レナラバ鉢盂ヲ洗テ仕舞ヒヤレ, if so, then get your bowl washed; on the verse: 今日趙州ノ粥了ラバ鉢盂ヲ洗イ去レト云ワレタレバ此ノ僧ハ直下ニ豁然ト, when 趙州 said to him, if you have finished your gruel, go and wash your bowl, this monk at once opened out [22]. In another of his books, printed in 1885, the master's words are 鉢盂ヲ洗ヒ去レ [21].

Meiji and after. 浜口恵璋, in 1908, writes that the monk did not wake at the gruel and woke, a little late, at the words 鉢盂(はちう)を洗へ, wash your bowl, with the ruby はちう [19]. 山田孝道's 禅宗辞典 of 1915 enters the case, as above, and adds 趙州は從諗禪師にして南泉普願の法嗣なり, 趙州 is the Chan master 從諗, heir of 南泉普願 [17]. In 2022 the tea journal 『遠州』 ran a column titled 「茶の湯の禅語 (224回) 洗鉢盂去 (はつうをあらいされ)」, Zen phrases of the tea ceremony, no. 224, known here by its title only [23].

Into English

1934, Senzaki and Reps. In The Gateless Gate, first published in Los Angeles in 1934 and read here in its reprint in Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: Joshu said: "Then you had better wash your bowl." At that moment the monk was enlightened. Mumon's comment begins Joshu is the man who opens his mouth and shows his heart [12].

1934, Suzuki. D. T. Suzuki's An Introduction to Zen Buddhism, whose preface is dated Kamakura, August 1934, tells the story and has the master answer: "Go and get your bowls washed," was the immediate response; he gives 雲門's question after it, Was there any special instruction in this remark by Joshu, or was there not? [13] Which of the two books came first within 1934 is not known here.

1935 to 1957. Alan Watts, The Spirit of Zen, whose acknowledgments are dated December 1935 (the copy read gives no year on its title page): "Then wash your bowls." [54]. R. H. Blyth, 1942: Jōshu says, "Wash your bowls," and these words have more significance than … (read in the Internet Archive's search window) [55]. In Heinrich Dumoulin's study of 1953, translated by Ruth Fuller Sasaki, the line is given in Japanese and in English: "Hau o arai-sare!" "Go wash your bowl!" (read in the Internet Archive's search windows on two copies, one of which shows the page heading QUOTATIONS, 59) [14]. Watts again, in The Way of Zen, 1957: he had eaten his gruel, and then added, "Go wash your bowl!" (read in the same way) [56].

1966, Blyth. "Then", said Jōshū, "go and wash your bowl (s)." The monk was enlightened. And on what it means: If Jōshū had asked the monk if he had washed his bowl, and said, "Then put some rice in it!" there is no difference [57].

From 1967. John Wu, 1967: "Go wash your bowl," said the master [58]. Shibayama Zenkei, 1974: "Then," said Joshu, "wash your bowls." [59]. Thomas Cleary, for case 39 of the Book of Serenity, 1988: "Then go wash your bowl." [60]. Robert Aitken, 1991: "Wash your bowl." The monk understood, and in comment, That's the blow that killed Buddha! [61]. Yamada Kōun: "Then wash your bowls." [62]. Leighton and Okumura, for Dōgen's verse: Having eaten breakfast, wash your bowls [11]. Randolph Whitfield, in his third volume, 2016, for the telling of 1004: 'The student is confused and ignorant and begs the master for a pointer' … 'Then go and wash your bowls' [63]. David Hinton, 2018: "Hurry then, wash your bowl!" [64]. The English divides as the Japanese does on the last word: go, or go and, is in Suzuki, Dumoulin and Sasaki, Watts in 1957, Blyth in 1966, Wu, Cleary and Whitfield; Senzaki and Reps, Watts in The Spirit of Zen, Blyth in 1942, Shibayama, Aitken, Yamada and Hinton leave it out, as do Leighton and Okumura for Dōgen's verse.

A reading

The answer is the meal. The monk asks to be taught, and 趙州 asks him about breakfast. Then he tells him the next thing a monk does after breakfast. 雲門's question, was there an instruction or not?, is the right one, and 無門 answers it: 趙州 opens his mouth and shows his gall, so nothing was held back, and what he said was too plain to be heard [7][1]. That is the reading I sign: the four characters are the whole of the answer, and the answer is the meal as it is, the gruel eaten and the bowl to wash. 宏智 says the same before his assembly, the true rule, complete as things are [40], and Blyth in English: had 趙州 asked whether the monk had washed his bowl, and then said put some rice in it, there would be no difference [57]. Dōgen's bowl with no bottom, never washed is the same answer turned inside out, the bowl that the sermon cannot get hold of [10].

去. The dictionary gives 去 on its own as the verb さる: デジタル大辞泉 その場から離れていく。さる, to move away from the place; the entries for 去 at kotobank do not give its use after a verb [65], which rests on the usage the 喫茶去 history sets out [20] and on the Edo reading [21]. I read the last character with the Edo reading and most of the English: go and wash, an order with a direction in it, as in 喫茶去 [21][20]. 天桂, on one page, also gives get it washed, where 去 finishes the act rather than sending the man off [22], and Suzuki's English of 1934, go and get your bowls washed, carries both [13]. Both are in the text's own tradition, and the scroll's English, go wash your bowl, is the first of these.

The reading. I sign hatsu u o araisare, the Edo reading, the dictionary's of 1915, and the tea column's of 2022 [21][17][23], with はつう for the bowl as the dictionary has it [15], and hold はちう, the ruby of 1908, beside it [19].

Notes

The oldest telling, of 1004, writes 洗鉢去 and 喫粥也未, without 盂 and without 了; the sold form writes 洗鉢盂去 and 喫粥了也未 [5][1]. CBETA's texts also write the bowl 缽盂, with the variant character 缽; the reading is the same.

CBETA's catalogue dates the Mumonkan to 1246, the year of a later edition; the book's own preface and memorial are of 1228 [2].

The 聯燈會要's date is not given here: its preface was not found in the text read [30].

法應's note is dated 淳熙二年乙未臘八日, the eighth day of the twelfth month of 淳熙 2; the year is given here by its reign year, 1175, and the day has not been converted to the Western calendar [43].

The dictionary of 1915 reads the case's name デウシウ センパツ in the old kana spelling, which is Jōshū senpatsu today [17]. Dumoulin and Sasaki's Hau o arai-sare is quoted as the Internet Archive's search window shows it, not from the page [14].

The library's text layer of 朝比奈宗源's lectures on the Mumonkan of 1957 rubies 鉢盂 はつう; that page was not read at the leaf.

In Dōgen's talk numbered 210, the closing words 敵勝瞿曇親授記 are read with Leighton and Okumura's rendering, better than receiving a prediction from Gautama [11][10].

The numbers 436 and 210 are those of the 祖山本 text of the Eihei kōroku, as two post-war word indexes give them and as Leighton and Okumura number the talks; the printing of 1909 read at the page does not number them [11].

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Japanese Scrolls by Master Calligrapher Eri Takase

Japanese Scroll of Go Wash Your Bowl (hatsu u o araisare) in a block font by Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase
洗鉢盂去VB5JBlock
Japanese Scroll of Go Wash Your Bowl (hatsu u o araisare) in a cursive font by Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase
洗鉢盂去VC5JCursive
Japanese Scroll of Go Wash Your Bowl (hatsu u o araisare) in Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase's own style (Eri's Choice)
洗鉢盂去VD5JEri's Choice
Japanese Scroll of Go Wash Your Bowl (hatsu u o araisare) in a semi-cursive font by Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase
洗鉢盂去VS5JSemi-Cursive

Sources not seen

The Japanese of Dōgen's case 67 in the 真字正法眼藏, in the 定本道元禅師全集 of 1944: readable only in Japan; read here only in the library's search window, and its date not established.

金嶽宗信's column in 『遠州』, 2022: a magazine, known here only by its title.

The 禅学大辞典 (1978, 1985) and the 日本国語大辞典 (served online by JapanKnowledge): whether either enters 洗鉢盂去 or 趙州洗鉢 is not known here.

The post-war editions of the Eihei kōroku (1989 to 1999), readable only in Japan or at the National Diet Library; their indexes were read in search windows.

R. H. Blyth's Zen in English Literature, 1942, Heinrich Dumoulin and Ruth Fuller Sasaki, 1953, and Alan Watts, The Way of Zen, 1957, at the page: all three are lending-restricted at the Internet Archive and were read only in its search windows.

A reader with access to any of these is invited to write to Takase Studios at Tim@Takase.com.

References

  1. 無門慧開, 『無門關』, case 7 趙州洗鉢, Taishō vol. 48 no. 2005, p. 293c26–294a05, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/T48n2005_p0293c26
  2. 『無門關』, the preface of 習菴陳𡎖 (紹定改元七月晦, p. 292b02) and the memorial (p. 292b03–05), Taishō vol. 48 no. 2005, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/T48n2005_p0292b02
  3. 「無門関」, デジタル大辞泉, 精選版 日本国語大辞典, 日本大百科全書 and others, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%84%A1%E9%96%80%E9%96%A2-140791
  4. 道原, 『景德傳燈錄』, 卷10, 趙州從諗, his death and age (唐乾寧四年十一月二日 … 壽一百二十), Taishō vol. 51 no. 2076, p. 278b11, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/T51n2076_p0278b11
  5. 道原, 『景德傳燈錄』, 卷10, 趙州從諗, Taishō vol. 51 no. 2076, p. 277c05–06, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/T51n2076_p0277c05
  6. 「景徳伝灯録」, デジタル大辞泉 and others, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%99%AF%E5%BE%B3%E4%BC%9D%E7%81%AF%E9%8C%B2-489122
  7. 守堅 集, 『雲門匡真禪師廣錄』, 卷中, Taishō vol. 47 no. 1988, p. 554b17–19, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/T47n1988_p0554b17
  8. 『雲門匡真禪師廣錄』, 蘇澥's preface, dated 熙寧丙辰三月二十五日, Taishō vol. 47 no. 1988, p. 545a11–12, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/T47n1988_p0545a11
  9. 道元, 『永平廣錄』, 上堂 (numbered 436 in the 祖山本), in 『承陽大師聖教全集』 第3巻, 1909, p. 251 (scan 129), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/823141/1/129
  10. 道元, 『永平廣錄』, 上堂 (numbered 210 in the 祖山本), in 『承陽大師聖教全集』 第3巻, 1909, p. 171 (scan 89), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/823141/1/89
  11. Taigen Dan Leighton and Shohaku Okumura, tr., Dōgen's Extensive Record: A Translation of the Eihei Kōroku, Wisdom Publications, 2010, vol. 3 p. 221 (discourse 210, "The Virtue of Unwashable Bowls") and vol. 6 pp. 392–393 (discourse 436, "Washing a Painting of Breakfast", and note 51).
  12. Paul Reps, comp., Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, Tuttle (a later printing of the 1957 compilation), p. 122, The Gateless Gate, tr. Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps, case 7, "Joshu Washes the Bowl"; the foreword: The Gateless Gate was first published in 1934 by John Murray, Los Angeles.
  13. D. T. Suzuki, An Introduction to Zen Buddhism, the preface dated Kamakura, August 1934, read in the Grove Press Evergreen Black Cat edition, 1964 (fourth printing), pp. 87–88.
  14. Heinrich Dumoulin, The Development of Chinese Zen after the Sixth Patriarch in the Light of Mumonkan, tr. Ruth Fuller Sasaki, First Zen Institute of America, New York, 1953, as shown in the Internet Archive's full-text search on two copies (the romaji and the English on developmentofchi0000dumo; the English under the page heading QUOTATIONS, 59, on developmentofchi0000hein_r8k8); the book is lending-restricted there. https://archive.org/details/developmentofchi0000dumo
  15. 「鉢盂」, 普及版 字通, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%89%A2%E7%9B%82-1392627
  16. kotobank, the /word/ pages for 洗鉢盂去, 洗鉢, 趙州 and 趙州洗鉢 (no page), with 鉢盂 and 無門関 at the same address form as controls (both found); Weblio, the headwords 洗鉢盂去, 洗鉢, 鉢盂 and 趙州洗鉢 (no entry), with 趙州 (the master and the place) and 応量器 as controls (both found); JMdict, in the local copy of the dictionary, by kanji form (no entry for 洗鉢盂去, 洗鉢 or 鉢盂; 鉢 and 応量器 found as controls). https://kotobank.jp/search?q=%E6%B4%97%E9%89%A2%E7%9B%82%E5%8E%BB
  17. 山田孝道, 『禅宗辞典』, 光融館, 1915, p. 766 (scan 519), the headword 趙州洗鉢, National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/936741/1/519
  18. 「応量器」, デジタル大辞泉, 精選版 日本国語大辞典, ブリタニカ国際大百科事典 and 講談社 食器・調理器具がわかる辞典, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%BF%9C%E9%87%8F%E5%99%A8-38929
  19. 浜口恵璋, 『他力義と禅味』, 1908, p. 88 (scan 53), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/823357/1/53
  20. 典, 「喫茶去」, Takase Studios Library. https://takase.com/library/philology/kissako
  21. 天桂伝尊, 『天桂老人報恩編』, printed 1885, scan 24, National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/823384/1/24
  22. 天桂伝尊, 『従容録弁解』, printed 1883, scan 58 (read on the library's viewer page; the image server did not return the frame), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/823147/1/58
  23. 金嶽宗信, 「茶の湯の禅語 (224回) 洗鉢盂去 (はつうをあらいされ)」, 『遠州』, 2022-08, the title as recorded at CiNii Research. https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1520574588635115264
  24. 『祖堂集』, 卷18, 趙州, the entry's opening (大藏經補編 vol. 25 no. 144, p. 630a02), at CBETA; the work searched for 洗鉢, 鉢盂, 洗缽 and 盋 (0 each) and 缽盂 (卷4 and 卷6 only, in other stories), and 卷18 for 洗鉢, 喫粥 and 指示 (0 each) and 缽 (衣缽 and 三摩缽底 only), with 趙州 in the same 卷 as the control. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/B25n0144_p0630a02
  25. 『祖堂集』, the question with 乍入藂林 (written 藂): 學人乍入藂林，乞師指示 in 卷7, 乍入藂林，乞師指示個徑直之路 in 卷10 and 學人乍入藂林，乞和尚指示個入路 in 卷11, 大藏經補編 vol. 25 no. 144, p. 443a03, p. 495a05–06 and p. 522a10–11, at CBETA (a search of the work for 乍入藂林 returns these three; 乍入叢林 returns none). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/B25n0144_p0443a03
  26. 『祖堂集』, 卷1, the count of years to 保大十年, 大藏經補編 vol. 25 no. 144, p. 311b13–14, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/B25n0144_p0311b13
  27. 「雲門文偃」, 精選版 日本国語大辞典, 世界大百科事典, 日本大百科全書 and others, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%9B%B2%E9%96%80%E6%96%87%E5%81%83-35743
  28. 「雪竇重顕」, 日本大百科全書 and others, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%9B%AA%E7%AB%87%E9%87%8D%E9%A1%95-87371
  29. 『明覺禪師語錄』, 卷2, Taishō vol. 47 no. 1996, p. 683a20–24, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/T47n1996_p0683a20
  30. 悟明 集, 『聯燈會要』, 卷6, Zokuzōkyō vol. 79 no. 1557, p. 59c12–16, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X79n1557_p0059c12
  31. 普濟 編, 『五燈會元』, 卷4, 趙州從諗, Zokuzōkyō vol. 80 no. 1565, p. 93a20, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X80n1565_p0093a20
  32. 『五燈會元』, 寛永12 (1635), 普濟's colophon 淳祐壬子冬 (scan 4), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2543930/1/4
  33. 『古尊宿語錄』, 卷14, 趙州真際禪師語錄, Zokuzōkyō vol. 68 no. 1315, p. 84c04–05, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X68n1315_p0084c04
  34. 『古尊宿語錄』, 物初大觀's preface, dated 咸淳丁卯 (written 咸湻), Zokuzōkyō vol. 68 no. 1315, p. 2c04–05, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X68n1315_p0002c04
  35. 居頂 輯, 『續傳燈錄』, 卷13, 白雲守端 (熙寧五年遷化。壽四十八), Taishō vol. 51 no. 2077, p. 548a15, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/T51n2077_p0548a15
  36. 『白雲守端禪師語錄』, 卷2, Zokuzōkyō vol. 69 no. 1351, p. 298b13, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X69n1351_p0298b13
  37. 東陽英朝 編, 『禅林句集』, the print of 1889, scan 46, National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/899716/1/46
  38. 「天童正覚」, 日本大百科全書 and ブリタニカ国際大百科事典, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%A4%A9%E7%AB%A5%E6%AD%A3%E8%A6%9A-102620
  39. 「従容録」, 精選版 日本国語大辞典 and 日本大百科全書 (永井政之), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%BE%93%E5%AE%B9%E9%8C%B2-79949
  40. 集成 等 編, 『宏智禪師廣錄』, 卷4, 示眾, Taishō vol. 48 no. 2001, p. 54a20–22, at CBETA (its catalogue dates the compilation 1166). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/T48n2001_p0054a20
  41. 萬松行秀, 『萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄』 (從容錄), 卷3, case 39 趙州洗鉢, Taishō vol. 48 no. 2004, p. 253a20–b07, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/T48n2004_p0253a20
  42. 法應 集, 普會 續集, 『禪宗頌古聯珠通集』, 卷19, Zokuzōkyō vol. 65 no. 1295, p. 591a19–592a06, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X65n1295_p0591a19
  43. 『禪宗頌古聯珠通集』, 法應's note (淳熙二年, p. 476b14–15) and 普會's preface (延祐戊午, p. 475c10–11), Zokuzōkyō vol. 65 no. 1295, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X65n1295_p0476b14
  44. 林希逸, 「塔銘」, in 『偃溪廣聞禪師語錄』, 卷2, Zokuzōkyō vol. 69 no. 1368, p. 753b07–c23, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X69n1368_p0753b23
  45. 「竹篦」, デジタル大辞泉, at Weblio (しっ‐ぺい【竹篦】 禅宗で、師家が参禅者の指導に用いる法具 … 割り竹で作った弓状の棒). https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E7%AB%B9%E7%AF%A6
  46. 「道元」, デジタル大辞泉 and others, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%81%93%E5%85%83-103480
  47. 「永平寺」, デジタル大辞泉 and others, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%B0%B8%E5%B9%B3%E5%AF%BA-35993
  48. 「永平広録」, 日本大百科全書, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%B0%B8%E5%B9%B3%E5%BA%83%E9%8C%B2-1509455
  49. 「無学祖元」, デジタル大辞泉 and 日本大百科全書, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%84%A1%E5%AD%A6%E7%A5%96%E5%85%83-16997
  50. 『佛光國師語録』, Taishō vol. 80 no. 2549, p. 135c03–06, at SAT. https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/T2549_.80.0135c03:0135c06.cit
  51. 「大休宗休」, 日本人名大辞典+Plus, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%A4%A7%E4%BC%91%E5%AE%97%E4%BC%91-1086423
  52. 大休宗休, 『見桃録』, Taishō vol. 81 no. 2572, p. 419c21–420a02, at SAT. https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/T2572_.81.0419c21:0420a02.cit
  53. 「天桂伝尊」, 日本大百科全書 (鈴木格禅; 1648–1735) and 日本人名大辞典+Plus (1648–1736, 享保20年12月10日死去), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%A4%A9%E6%A1%82%E4%BC%9D%E5%B0%8A-1093233
  54. Alan W. Watts, The Spirit of Zen, John Murray, London, "First Edition" (no year on the title page; the acknowledgments dated Bromley, Kent, December 1935), read in the Digital Library of India copy at the Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.283774
  55. R. H. Blyth, Zen in English Literature and Oriental Classics, 1942, as shown in the Internet Archive's full-text search (the book is lending-restricted there). https://archive.org/details/zeninenglishlite0000rhbl
  56. Alan W. Watts, The Way of Zen, Pantheon Books, 1957, as shown in the Internet Archive's full-text search (the book is lending-restricted there). https://archive.org/details/wayofzen0000alan
  57. R. H. Blyth, Zen and Zen Classics, vol. 4, Mumonkan, Hokuseido Press, Tokyo, first printing 1966 (read in the sixth printing, 1974), pp. 81–83, case 7, "Jōshū's Washing the Bowl".
  58. John C. H. Wu, The Golden Age of Zen, first published Taipei, 1967 (read in the World Wisdom printing of 2003), chapter on 趙州.
  59. Zenkei Shibayama, Zen Comments on the Mumonkan, copyright 1974, read in the New American Library printing of 1975, case 7, "Joshu Says 'Wash Your Bowls'".
  60. Thomas Cleary, tr., Book of Serenity, copyright 1988, read in the Shambhala first paperback edition (published by arrangement with Lindisfarne Press), case 39, "Zhaozhou's 'Wash Your Bowl'".
  61. Robert Aitken, The Gateless Barrier, North Point Press, 1991, case 7, "Chao-chou: 'Wash Your Bowl'".
  62. Kōun Yamada, The Gateless Gate, Wisdom Publications, 2004 (a new edition; the first was printed in 1979), case 7.
  63. Randolph S. Whitfield, tr., Records of the Transmission of the Lamp, vol. 3 (Books 10–13), Books on Demand, © 2016, Book Ten, 趙州從諗.
  64. David Hinton, tr., No-Gate Gateway, Shambhala, 2018, case 7.
  65. 「去」, デジタル大辞泉 (〈キョ〉 1 その場から離れていく。さる), 精選版 日本国語大辞典 and 普及版 字通, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%8E%BB-477522

Authors

Tim Jackowski (Systems Architect, Takase Studios, LLC) · 典 Ten (Anthropic Claude Opus 5.5, Takase Studios, LLC)

AI written · Ten wrote the history. Tim Jackowski commissioned it and answers for it.

Checked · Takase Studios (an address check by script), 2026-10-29, citations — every reference with a web address opened and the quoted words looked for at each, with controls that must fail and did; every address answered as the history states once each was read at its source, four canon references had their line ranges corrected, and the dictionary pages were checked live and found not to enter the phrase, against headwords the same dictionaries do enter; the books lent only under restriction at the Internet Archive could be read only in its search windows, and the history says so · two fresh-context readers (Claude), 2026-10-29, every claim in the page's summary block traced to its source, claim by claim: round 1 failed on one wrong fact, which was corrected (the anthology of 1175 is dated by its compiler's note, not begun that year); the second round passed from both readers with no wrong fact, with wordings corrected in the pass, among them the Zutang ji searched again in its own spellings of the question and of the bowl, the oldest telling scoped to the texts searched, Dōgen's talks dated by the temple's name, and the English renderings sorted by how each treats the last character

Research depth: step 3 of our 10-step ladder, foundation complete · October 2026

Cite as: Tim Jackowski and Ten, "Philology of 洗鉢盂去 (hatsu u o araisare)," Takase Studios, 2026, https://takase.com/library/philology/hatsu-u-o-araisare.