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看脚下 kankyakka Look Under Your Feet

看脚下, look under your feet, is a Chinese Zen master's shout, printed in a book given its imperial preface in 1101. The story that carries it is Yuanwu's answer in the dark to his teacher, who said that this disciple would destroy his school. In Japan it is written at temple entrances, as is its kin 脚下照顧, read at the door as care for the shoes left there.

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Japanese Scroll of Look Under Your Feet (kankyakka) — Calligraphy by Eri Takase
Look Under Your Feet看脚下kankyakka

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Abstract

看脚下, read kankyakka, look under your feet, is three words of Chinese Zen, and the oldest dated witness found among the texts of the Chinese canon searched at CBETA is a shout of Xuedou Chongxian 雪竇重顯 (980–1052), in a book given its imperial preface in 1101 [1][2][3]. The story that carries it is Yuanwu Keqin's answer to his teacher Wuzu Fayan, who asked three disciples for a word in the dark and said of this one that he would destroy his school; it is told in the 宗門武庫, a book listed among Dahui's works, and in Song books dated 1183 to 1254, one of them with Yuanwu lifting his foot and saying instead 看脚趯, look at the kick [4][5][6][7]. In Japan Nanpo Shōmyō answers questions about the Way with it at Dazaifu from 1272, the Zen phrase books carry it from their print of 1645, read 脚下ヲ看ヨ, look under your feet, and the reading kankyakka is printed by 1910 [8][9][10]. It is written large in an entrance in 1910, and by witnesses to 2013 often at temple entrances, as is 脚下照顧, kyakka shōko, a Japanese order of the close of a Song sermon [10][11][12][13]; at the door the words, in either order, are read as care for the shoes one leaves behind, and the board as a call to see where one stands [14][15].

Overview

The sense. None of the Japanese dictionaries read heads 看脚下: kotobank returns no entry for it, or for 照顧脚下. The デジタル大辞泉 enters instead 脚下照顧, kyakka shōko: 禅家で、足もとに気をつけよの意。自己反省、または日常生活の直視を促す語, in Zen, "watch your feet"; words that urge one to reflect on oneself, or to look squarely at daily life; the 日本国語大辞典 gives the same sense in nearly the same words, 禅宗で、足元に気をつけよ、の意, and as its source the record of the Song master Dachuan Puji 大川普濟 [13]. That record writes the four characters in the other order, 照顧脚下 [16]. The two phrases share 脚下, under the feet, but they are two texts with two histories, and this history follows 看脚下, with 脚下照顧 beside it where the two meet.

The words. 看 is look, 脚下 under the feet or at one's feet. Read as Japanese, the phrase book of 1645 marks it 脚下ヲ看ヨ, kyakka o miyo, look under your feet [9]. In Japan's Zen records the phrase is often an answer, and its sense depends on the question: where is the road? (it is under your feet), or a monk's boast (watch your step).

The text in English. Katsuki Sekida gives Xuedou's shout in 1977 as Look out beneath your feet! [17]; Thomas Kirchner gives Yuanwu's answer in 2013 as Watch where you step! [12]. The oldest English telling of the night talk found in the English books read here and in the Internet Archive's full text, by Miura and Sasaki in 1966, translates the version without the phrase: Raising his leg, Bukka (Engo) said, "Look at my uplifted foot!" [18].

The historical record

Before the story, Xuedou's shout. The Jianzhong jingguo xudeng lu 建中靖國續燈錄, given its imperial preface on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of 1101 [2], prints Xuedou Chongxian's verses on old cases. After his verse on Xuefeng's turtle-nosed snake on South Mountain, which ends 如今藏在乳峯前，來者一一看方便, now it hides before Milk Peak; you who come, look each of you for the way, the book adds 師高聲喝云：看脚下, the master shouted aloud: "Look under your feet!" [1]. Xuedou died in 1052 [3]. The same verse and shout are case 22 of the Blue Cliff Record, the collection Yuanwu built on Xuedou's hundred verses [19], where Sekida renders the shout Look out beneath your feet! and notes that it is a popular Zen saying … often shouted by a master to his students, meaning Watch your step. The serpent is under your feet; keep your footing [17]. The same book of 1101 has other masters give the phrase as an answer, one of them to what is the first phrase? [20]. So the phrase was in Chan use before the story that made it famous.

The night talk of the three Buddhas. Wuzu Fayan 五祖法演 (1024?–1104) had three disciples whose names or titles carry buddha: Fojian Huiqin 佛鑑慧懃, Foyan Qingyuan 佛眼清遠, and Foguo, Yuanwu Keqin 圜悟克勤 (1063–1135) [21][19][12]. The Zongmen wuku 宗門武庫, compiled by Daoqian 道謙 and listed by the ブリタニカ among the works of Dahui Zonggao 大慧宗杲, who died in 1163, tells it so [22]: 三佛在五祖時，甞於一亭上夜話歸方丈，燈已滅，五祖乃於暗中曰：各人下轉語。佛鑑對曰：彩鳳舞丹霄。佛眼曰：鐵蛇橫古路。佛果云：看脚下。五祖云：滅吾宗者，乃克勤爾, when the three Buddhas were with Wuzu, they once talked into the night at a pavilion; when they went back to the abbot's quarters the lamp was already out, and Wuzu said in the dark: "Each of you, give a turning word." Fojian answered: "A painted phoenix dances in the red sky." Foyan said: "An iron snake lies across the old road." Foguo said: "Look under your feet." Wuzu said: "The one who will destroy my school is Keqin" [4]. Wuzu's reply is, in Kirchner's note, an expression of the highest praise [12]. The Liandeng huiyao 聯燈會要, whose compiler dated his preface 1183, tells it with the lamp out [5][23]. The Wujia zhengzong zan 五家正宗贊, prefaced in 1254, has no lamp but a moonless night, 夜坐欲歸，月黑, and its eulogy of Yuanwu says 看脚下，已受滅宗之記, "Look under your feet": with that he received the prophecy that he would destroy the school [7][24]. The Wudeng huiyuan 五燈會元, a compilation made at the end of the Song by the reprint preface of 1364, tells the lamp version and follows it with Wuzu's last sermon, in the sixth month of 1104 [25][26].

A third telling: the lifted foot. The Jiatai pudeng lu 嘉泰普燈錄, presented to the throne by its compiler Zhengshou in the Jiatai era, a hundred and one years after the book of 1101 by his own count [27], tells another scene: 一日，顧問門人曰：諸子已後如何荷負吾宗？佛鑑曰：彩鳳舞丹霄。佛眼曰：鐵虵橫古路。佛果舉足曰：看脚趯。師曰：滅吾宗者，克勤也, one day, looking round at his disciples, he asked: "After this, how will you carry my school?" Fojian said: "A painted phoenix dances in the red sky." Foyan said: "An iron snake lies across the old road." Foguo lifted his foot and said: "Look at the kick." The master said: "The one who will destroy my school is Keqin" [6]. No night, no lamp, and not 看脚下 but 看脚趯, though the same book has Yuanwu say 看脚下 at his own door (below); the phrase 看脚趯 occurs once in the Chinese canon as searched at CBETA, here. A Japanese print of 1682, read at the page image, has the same words, with 趯 clear [28]. That print and the canon's text may stand in one line of transmission, so they are counted as one witness to this book's reading. This is the telling Miura and Sasaki translate in 1966 [18].

Yuanwu at his own door. In the Jiatai pudeng lu of about 1202, the monk Nanfeng Yunbian 南峰雲辯 comes to Yuanwu for an interview, and 纔踵門，悟曰：看脚下, just as he set foot in the door, Yuanwu said: "Look under your feet!" [29]; the Wudeng huiyuan tells it in the same words [30]. The Pudeng lu's is the oldest dated witness read here of the phrase said at a threshold.

照顧脚下, the close of a Song sermon. The other phrase is also Song, in the order 照顧脚下. Fojian, one of the three, ends a sermon 若會得，一任依而行之；若未會，各各照顧脚下, if you have understood, go and act on it; if not, each of you, look to your feet [31]. Dachuan Puji ends one 巡堂喫茶，各各照顧脚下, we have made the round of the hall and had our tea; each of you, look to your feet [16]; the reprint preface of 1364 names the same Dachuan as the compiler of the Wudeng huiyuan [26]. The order 脚下照顧, the dictionaries' headword, is not in the Chinese canon at CBETA or the Japanese Zen records at the SAT database as searched.

Japan's Zen records: where the road is, and watch your step. Nanpo Shōmyō 南浦紹明 (1235–1308), the National Teacher Daiō [32], entered Sōfukuji at Dazaifu in the twelfth month of 1272 by the Japanese calendar, and in his record answers with the phrase five times, four of them at Sōfukuji. On the Buddha's birthday a monk asks 卽今佛在什麽處, where is the Buddha right now?, and he says 看脚下 [8]; at the end of a summer retreat he asks the assembly 且道路頭在什麽處, say: where is the road?, and answers himself, 看脚下 [33]; to a monk who concludes 恁麽則家家門首透長安, then every house's gate opens through to Chang'an, he says 看脚下 [34]; on Zhaozhou's the great road runs through to Chang'an he says 大衆還知大道麽。看脚下, do you all know the great road? Look under your feet [35]; and at Manjuji 萬壽寺 in Kyoto, where he was abbot from 1305 [32], asked where does the road to nirvana begin?, 看脚下 [36]. In Nanpo's use the phrase says that the Way is where one stands. His heir Shūhō Myōchō 宗峰妙超 (1282–1337), Daitō [37], at Daitokuji from the twelfth month of 1326 by the Japanese calendar, uses it the other way: a monk ends an exchange with a boast, 不行尊貴路。爭踏上頭關, if one does not walk the noble road, how can one tread the top barrier?, and bows, and Daitō says 好看脚下 or 且看脚下, now, watch your step: three times to that boast in his record [38][39][40]. Hakuun Egyō 白雲慧暁 (1223–1298) [41], writing a farewell for a monk setting out, closes his words with 看脚下 and, in the note that follows, glosses it himself: 切冀脚下一段之事勉旃力行。跟下自有通霄路在, I earnestly hope you will work hard at the one matter under your feet; at your heels there is a road through the sky [42].

1645 and 1688, the phrase book. The Zen phrase book printed in 1645 has 看脚下 among its three-character phrases, marked 脚下ヲ看ヨ, with no source note [9]. The annotated print of 1688 has it in the same place, with the same marks and a small note, 正宗賛圓悟章, the chapter on Yuanwu in the Wujia zhengzong zan: the moonless-night telling of 1254 [43][7]. Neither gives the Sino-Japanese reading.

The kōan collection. The Japanese kōan collection Shūmon kattōshū 宗門葛藤集, whose first edition Kirchner dates to 1689 [12], carries the night talk in its 1890 typeset as the case its contents list heads 三佛夜話, the three Buddhas' night talk. Read at the page image, it gives the lamp telling: 夜語及歸燈已滅演於暗中曰各下一轉語 … 佛果曰看脚下, they talked into the night, and when they went back the lamp was out; Fayan said in the dark, "Each of you, give a turning word" … Foguo said, "Look under your feet" [44]. Kirchner translates the case as no. 77, The Three Buddhas' Night Talk, with the talk at an inn [12].

1763, a skylark. A haikai topic book of 1763 sets 照顧脚下 as a topic, marked 脚下ヲ照顧セヨ, and prints under it a verse signed 麦林, a name of the Ise poet Nakagawa Otsuyū 中川乙由 (1675–1739): 行あたりそなたも告天子見る人か, bumping into you: are you too a man watching the skylark? [45][46]. Two people with their eyes on the bird walk into each other. The topic is read in its plain sense.

1908 to 1922, the doorway. Takeda Mokurai's 竹田黙雷 Zenki of 1908 prints a reporter's account of the winter retreat at Tokugen-ji, its narrator calling himself 記者 and 僕 (p. 37), read at the page image: 道塲の玄關には脚下照顧とあつてキチンと下駄が鴛鴦の沓のやうに穿き揃えてある, at the entrance of the training hall it says 脚下照顧, and the clogs are set neatly side by side, like a pair of mandarin-duck shoes [11]. The same year Sokotsu 鼠骨, arriving late at a temple for a memorial, writes 脚下照顧と張紙がしてあるから謹んで足元を氣をつけて見る, there is a paper notice, 脚下照顧, so I look carefully at my feet [47]. In 1910 the journal Zenshū 禅宗 has its reporter, visiting a Zen teacher, note that 玄關に看脚下の三字が大書されてある, the three characters 看脚下 are written large in the entrance, glossed かんきやくか [10]. In 1915, in a book of the talks of Nakahara Tōshū 中原鄧州 (1839–1925), Nantenbō, read at the page image: 禪寺の入口に、照顧脚下は、足下に氣を付ろといふ意味。圜悟の故事から出た。五祖が火を吹き消して三佛をして各一句をいはしめた。佛果圜悟が、照顧脚下というた事があつた。履物は必ず向うへ向けて上がるもの, at the entrance of a Zen temple, 照顧脚下 means "mind your feet". It comes from the story of Yuanwu: Wuzu blew out the light and had the three Buddhas each say a phrase, and Foguo Yuanwu said 照顧脚下. Footwear must always be turned to face out before you step up [14]. In the Song books read, Yuanwu says 看脚下, or 看脚趯; Nantenbō gives the doorway's words to the story. In 1922 Yamanaka Minetarō 山中峯太郎, at the house of a Zen priest, sees on the wall a small slip with 「脚下照顧」 in regular script, and the clogs below it 亂雑に脫ぎ散らされてゐる, kicked off in disorder: すこしも脚下照顧になつてゐないではないか, this is not 脚下照顧 at all [48].

1922, a scroll; undated, a frame. The tea master Takahashi Sōan 高橋箒庵 (1861–1937), in the volume of his record of tea gatherings for the year 壬戌, 1922, printed in 1923, read at the page image, sent a prize to the man who drew his lot at a morning tea: 拙筆看脚下三大字の横物一幅, a horizontal scroll of my poor brush, the three large characters 看脚下. Its winner, the tea-room architect Ōgi Rodō 仰木魯堂 [49], at once held a morning tea in his three-mat room, and 床には此程余より寄贈した看脚下三大字一軸を掛けられた, in the alcove hung the scroll of the three large characters 看脚下 I had lately given him; the guests, the writer among them, could only congratulate the host [50]. The priest Mibu Yūshun 壬生雄舜 (1877–1950), at Sensōji, asked the calligrapher Bundō Shunkai 豊道春海 (1878–1970) [51] for two or three characters for a frame, and received この看脚下の三大文字, these three large characters, 看脚下; he had them mounted over a lintel and preached from them: too many people look only upward and do not look at their feet, and fall into the ditch. The essay is undated; it is printed in his collection of 1941, just before an essay on the earthquake of 1923 [52].

1931 and after. The 四字熟語を知る辞典 quotes, as its example of 脚下照顧, the diary of the poet Taneda Santōka 種田山頭火 for 1931: his clogs swapped at a bathhouse, he follows the brand on the worn pair to their inn and changes them back, and writes まことに脚下照顧はむつかしい（此句は足元御用心とでも訳すべきだろう）, truly, 脚下照顧 is hard (the phrase should probably be rendered 足元御用心, "mind your footing") [13]. Akino Kōdō 秋野孝道 (1858–1934), in a book printed in 1934, the year the Library gives for his death, writes that 禪院の玄關などによく『照顧脚下』と云ふ札が張つてある, in the entrances of Zen temples there is often a placard, 照顧脚下 [53]. In the Library's snippet view, a police journal of 1982 says that a board reading 看脚下 or 照顧脚下 is often set at a Zen temple's entrance [54]; and a 1999 journal, in a window that begins mid-sentence, says that something, its subject cut off, often hangs in entrances and is also seen in the tea room, and names beside it the words 看脚下（かんきゃっか） or 脚下照顧（きゃっかしょうこ） [55]. In 2004 a paper on empathy by Itō Akemi 伊藤明美, read at the page image, gives 看脚下 itself the shoes reading and goes past it: 禅には看脚下（かんきゃっか）という教えも存在するが、これは、履物をきちんとそろえて脱ぐという意味にとどまらず、自己をよく見つめよということが真意である, Zen also has the teaching 看脚下 (kankyakka); it does not stop at the meaning of taking off one's footwear and setting it neatly side by side: its true intent is "look well at yourself", citing 松原 for 1987 [56].

The reading. The phrase books of 1645 and 1688 give only the Japanese reading, 脚下ヲ看ヨ [9][43]. The Sino-Japanese reading is printed by 1910, かんきやくか, the older spelling of kankyakka, in the Library's snippet view of the 禅宗 report [10], and in modern kana, 看脚下（かんきゃっか）（きゃっか・を・みよ）, in Itō Kokan's 伊藤古鑑 Cha to zen of 1966 [57].

The line in English

1966, Miura and Sasaki. Zen Dust tells the night talk from the Jiatai pudeng lu, by name: Raising his leg, Bukka (Engo) said, "Look at my uplifted foot!" "He who will destroy my sect is Kokugon," the Master said [18]. The English reception of the story begins with the version that does not have the phrase.

1970 and 1974, Shibayama. Zenkei Shibayama tells of a famous Zen Master Sanko, teacher to an emperor about 600 years ago, who answered a monk asking for the essence of Zen, "Look under your feet!" [58]; which master, and which Japanese words, he does not say. In 1974 he writes that in the entrance hall of a Japanese Zen temple one will find a small wooden board on which is written: "Look under your feet." It asks you to see clearly the very place where you stand; he does not name the characters [15].

1977, Sekida. Xuedou's shout in case 22, Look out beneath your feet!, a popular Zen saying [17].

1981, Shigematsu. A Zen Forest enters 照顧脚下 as no. 560, Shōko kyakka, and renders it Watch your own steps! [59].

1998, Seo. Many Zen temples in Japan have a sign that says, "shōkokyakka" ("Look under your feet"), and Shibayama's story follows, now seven hundred years ago, with Master Sankō replied, "shōkokyakka." [60]. Seo names no source; the anecdote matches Shibayama's of 1970, with the sign's words now in the master's mouth.

2013, Kirchner. The night talk from the Shūmon kattōshū, Foguo said, "Watch where you step!", with the note that the expression is frequently written on boards and placed in the entrance halls of Zen temples as a reminder to remain always aware [12].

1962 and 2024, Yamada Mumon. In Mumon's lectures on Hakuin's Song of Zazen, published in Japanese in 1962 and in Norman Waddell's English in 2024: You will notice a plaque in the entrance hall of a Zen temple that is engraved with the words shōko-kyakka, "Look carefully down at your own feet!", and the monks step up from the entrance facing backward so that the sandals left behind face toward the door [61].

A reading

The phrase is older than its story, and the story outlived the version that gave the phrase to Yuanwu: by 1101 it was a master's shout, and in one Song book of about 1202, in a telling with no night and no lamp, Yuanwu does not say it but lifts his foot, though the same book has him say it at his door. What the story kept, in every telling, is that a plain answer about one's own feet was the one that went beyond the teacher.

Two senses run through the witnesses, and I hold them together. In Nanpo's answers and Hakuun's farewell, the Way is right where you stand: there is no road to look for. In Xuedou's shout and Daitō's reply to a boasting monk, watch your step: the snake is under your feet, and the top barrier is not yet passed. At the temple door, the reporter in Mokurai's book of 1908, Nantenbō and Yamada Mumon read the doorway's words, 脚下照顧 or, in Nantenbō's and Mumon's order, 照顧脚下, as care for the shoes one leaves behind, and Nantenbō's lesson in 1915 joins that care to Yuanwu's answer; Shibayama reads the board as a call to see clearly where one stands. Itō in 2004 gives the shoes reading to 看脚下 itself, as a meaning its true intent goes beyond. I read the scroll as both at once: look at the place you are standing, because that is where the matter is, and mind how you stand there.

On the reading, I sign kankyakka, the Sino-Japanese reading in print from 1910 and in the modern guides read in the Library's snippet view; kyakka o miyo is the older Japanese reading of the phrase books.

Notes

The Chinese texts write 脚 and 腳; CBETA's search does not treat them as one character, and the Song and Yuan witnesses read here all write 脚. The Jiatai pudeng lu's 鐵虵, in the canon text, is a form of 鐵蛇, which its 1682 print writes.

In the 1763 verse, 告天子 carries the ruby ひばり, skylark; the verse's last character is read as か in the Library's full text, and is not certain at the page image.

Shūhō Myōchō's dates are the ニッポニカ's and the 世界大百科's; the デジタル大辞泉 and the 日本人名大辞典+Plus give 1283–1338. The +Plus has him born in the twelfth month of 弘安5 (1282), and the ブリタニカ and the +Plus give his death on the twenty-second day of the twelfth month of 建武4 (1337); a twelfth-month day of the Japanese calendar can fall in the next Western year, which I take to be the source of the difference [37]. Nanpo Shōmyō's dates are likewise the ニッポニカ's, the 世界大百科's and the 日本国語大辞典's; the デジタル大辞泉 and the +Plus give 1235–1309, and the ブリタニカ and the +Plus give his death on the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth month of 延慶1 (1308) [32]. Hakuun Egyō's are the デジタル大辞泉's and the +Plus's, 1223–1298; the ブリタニカ and the +Plus give his death on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of 永仁5 (1297) [41].

The 古尊宿語錄 has Zihu 子湖, at his gate, shout 看脚下犬, look under your feet, dog!, at a monk lifting the curtain to come in [62]; the book is not dated by anything read, so it is not set against the Pudeng lu's threshold.

The 日本国語大辞典 gives 脚下照顧 the source 〔大川普済禅師語録〕 [13]; the record read at CBETA writes 照顧脚下 [16].

Shibayama's Master Sanko is not identified in what was read; Nanpo's answer to where is the Buddha right now? is the nearest exchange found, and nothing read ties the name to him.

The 1910 Zenshū passage is read only in the Library's snippet view; the teacher visited is not named in the windows read, and the page image is served in Japan only.

Japanese Scrolls by Master Calligrapher Eri Takase

Japanese Scroll of Look Under Your Feet (kankyakka) in a block font by Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase
看脚下VB5JBlock
Japanese Scroll of Look Under Your Feet (kankyakka) in a cursive font by Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase
看脚下VC5JCursive
Japanese Scroll of Look Under Your Feet (kankyakka) in Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase's own style (jiun)
看脚下VD5JJiun
Japanese Scroll of Look Under Your Feet (kankyakka) in a semi-cursive font by Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase
看脚下VS5JSemi-Cursive

Sources not seen

The page image of the 1910 Zenshū report, which would show whose entrance carried 看脚下 and confirm its ruby; it is served in Japan only.

A Chinese print of the Jiatai pudeng lu, which would show whether 看脚趯 is the book's own reading apart from the Japanese print and the canon text.

The Japanese original of Shibayama's story of Master Sanko, and of his 1974 sentence on the board.

Three prints titled 宗門葛藤集 that the National Diet Library catalogues as 明暦3 (1657), Kyoto, under 桂文 (1600–1673): whether they are the collection Kirchner dates from 1689 or another book of the same title is not settled by what was read, and the case was not located in them. Kirchner's 2004 first edition.

The 1925 phrase-book commentary 禅林句集和訓略解, whose ruby for 看脚下 is not legible in the text layer read.

The 1981 禅文化 board and the 2002 茶道雑誌 article 看脚下(きやつかをみよ), read only as a snippet and a title.

The Japanese wording of Yamada Mumon's 1962 lecture.

The 1987 book by 松原 that Itō cites for her reading of 看脚下.

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

References

  1. 惟白 集, 『建中靖國續燈錄』 卷二十八, 頌古門, 明州雪竇山重顯明覺禪師, the verse on 南山鼈鼻蛇 and 師高聲喝云：看脚下, at CBETA (X78n1556, p. 809a19 the heading, p. 809c23 the shout). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X78n1556_p0809c23
  2. 『建中靖國續燈錄』, the imperial preface, 建中靖國元年八月十五日賜序 (1101), at CBETA (X78n1556, p. 641a19). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X78n1556_p0641a19
  3. 「雪竇重顕」, 日本大百科全書 (ニッポニカ) (980–1052), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%9B%AA%E7%AB%87%E9%87%8D%E9%A1%95-87371
  4. 道謙 編, 『大慧普覺禪師宗門武庫』, the 三佛 night talk, at CBETA (T47n1998B, p. 949c23–c26). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/T47n1998Bp0949c23
  5. 悟明 集, 『聯燈會要』 卷十六, 五祖法演, at CBETA (X79n1557, p. 140a10). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X79n1557_p0140a10
  6. 正受 編, 『嘉泰普燈錄』 卷八, 五祖法演: 佛果舉足曰：看脚趯, at CBETA (X79n1559, p. 337b01–b04). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X79n1559_p0337b01
  7. 『五家正宗贊』 卷二, 圓悟 (夜坐欲歸，月黑 … 看脚下), at CBETA (X78n1554, p. 594b18–b20; the eulogy p. 594c21). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X78n1554_p0594b18
  8. 『圓通大應國師語錄』 卷上, 太宰府萬年崇福禪寺語錄, 浴佛上堂: 卽今佛在什麽處 … 看脚下, at the SAT database (T80n2548, p. 98c27–99a07; the entry 文永九年臘月, p. 97c02). https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/ddb-sat2.php?mode=detail&useid=2548_,80,0098
  9. 『句雙紙』, 正保2 (1645), 西村又左衛門, 三字, canvas 7. 国書データベース. https://doi.org/10.20730/100103433
  10. 『禅宗』 17 (11), no. 188, 15 November 1910, snippet view, National Diet Library (the item's images served in Japan only). https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/11006161
  11. 竹田黙雷『禅機』, 1908, 参禅余録, p. 36, scan 113 (page image), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/823227/1/113
  12. Thomas Yūhō Kirchner, trans., Entangling Vines: A Classic Collection of Zen Koans, Wisdom, 2013 (first published by the Tenryu-ji Institute, 2004), case 77, notes 1–5 (the shelf copy).
  13. 「脚下照顧」, デジタル大辞泉, 精選版 日本国語大辞典 and 四字熟語を知る辞典, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E8%84%9A%E4%B8%8B%E7%85%A7%E9%A1%A7-476204
  14. 中原鄧州 (南天棒)『南天棒禅話』, 1915, pp. 198–199, scan 112 (page image), National Diet Library; the item record gives 中原鄧州 1839–1925. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/943887/1/112
  15. Zenkei Shibayama, Zen Comments on the Mumonkan, Harper & Row, 1974, pp. 15 and 72–73 (the shelf copy).
  16. 元愷 編, 『大川普濟禪師語錄』: 巡堂喫茶，各各照顧脚下, at CBETA (X69n1369, p. 759a07). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X69n1369_p0759a07
  17. Katsuki Sekida, Two Zen Classics: Mumonkan and Hekiganroku, Weatherhill, 1977, Hekiganroku case 22, pp. 206–207 (the shelf copy).
  18. Isshū Miura and Ruth Fuller Sasaki, Zen Dust: The History of the Koan and Koan Study in Rinzai (Lin-chi) Zen, Harcourt, Brace & World, 1966, p. 284 (the shelf copy).
  19. 「圜悟克勤」, デジタル大辞泉 (1063–1135), 精選版 日本国語大辞典 and 日本大百科全書 (ニッポニカ) (五祖法演 1024?–1104), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%9C%9C%E6%82%9F%E5%85%8B%E5%8B%A4-38117
  20. 『建中靖國續燈錄』 卷二十五, 仲易: 問：如何是最初一句？師云：看脚下, at CBETA (X78n1556, p. 796c21). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X78n1556_p0796c21
  21. 「三仏」, 精選版 日本国語大辞典, sense 二, 三, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%B8%89%E4%BB%8F-2044489
  22. 「大慧宗杲」, at kotobank (世界大百科事典 1089–1163; ブリタニカ 隆興1 (1163), 著書に『大慧武庫』). https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%A4%A7%E6%85%A7%E5%AE%97%E6%9D%B2-90822
  23. 『聯燈會要』, the compiler's preface, 時淳熈十年解制後五日，偃谿真懶子悔明 (1183), at CBETA (X79n1557, p. 11c23). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X79n1557_p0011c23
  24. 『五家正宗贊』, the preface signed 寶祐甲寅 (1254), at CBETA (X78n1554, p. 576a05). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X78n1554_p0576a05
  25. 普濟, 『五燈會元』 卷十九, 五祖法演: the night talk (三佛侍師於一亭上夜話。及歸燈已滅), p. 393c12–c15, and the sermon of 崇寧三年六月二十五日 (1104), p. 393c15–c16, at CBETA (X80n1565). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X80n1565_p0393c12
  26. 『五燈會元』, 釋廷俊's preface to the reprint, signed 至正二十四年 (1364): 宋季靈隱大川禪師濟公 … 作五燈會元, at CBETA (X80n1564, p. 1c10–c12). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X80n1564_p0001c10
  27. 『嘉泰普燈錄』, 正受, 進聖宋嘉泰普燈錄上皇帝書: 續燈百有一年之後而有普燈 (the date line reads 月日, blank), at CBETA (X79n1558, p. 269b18 onward). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X79n1558_p0269b18
  28. 『嘉泰普燈録』, 1682 print, 卷八, 五祖法演, scan 38 (page image), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2559796/1/38
  29. 『嘉泰普燈錄』 卷十五, 南峰雲辯: 後造圓悟，值入室，纔踵門，悟曰：看脚下, at CBETA (X79n1559, p. 385a16–a19). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X79n1559_p0385a19
  30. 『五燈會元』 卷十九, 南峯雲辯: 參圓悟。值入室。纔踵門。悟曰。看脚下, at CBETA (X80n1565, p. 407c15–c16). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X80n1565_p0407c15
  31. 『拈八方珠玉集』, 佛鑑 (慧懃): 若未會，各各照顧脚下, at CBETA (X67n1310, p. 646b06). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X67n1310_p0646b06
  32. 「南浦紹明」, 日本大百科全書 (ニッポニカ) (1235―1308; 京都万寿(まんじゅ)寺), 改訂新版 世界大百科事典 (1235-1308; 1305年（嘉元3）… 京都五山の万寿寺に住持), 精選版 日本国語大辞典 (一二三五‐一三〇八), デジタル大辞泉 and デジタル版 日本人名大辞典+Plus (1235–1309; 延慶元年12月29日死去), ブリタニカ国際大百科事典 (延慶1(1308).12.29), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%8D%97%E6%B5%A6%E7%B4%B9%E6%98%8E-108986
  33. 『圓通大應國師語錄』, 崇福寺, 解夏 (且道路頭在什麽處。看脚下), at the SAT database (T80n2548, p. 102a14–a22). https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/ddb-sat2.php?mode=detail&useid=2548_,80,0102
  34. 『圓通大應國師語錄』, 崇福寺 (恁麽則家家門首透長安。師云。看脚下), at the SAT database (T80n2548, p. 110b05–b08). https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/ddb-sat2.php?mode=detail&useid=2548_,80,0110
  35. 『圓通大應國師語錄』, 崇福寺 (大衆還知大道麽。看脚下), at the SAT database (T80n2548, p. 111a27–b02). https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/ddb-sat2.php?mode=detail&useid=2548_,80,0111
  36. 『圓通大應國師語錄』 卷下, 洛陽萬壽禪寺語錄 (開堂 嘉元三年, 1305), 佛涅槃上堂 (未審路頭在甚處 … 看脚下), at the SAT database (T80n2548, p. 119b10–b18). https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/ddb-sat2.php?mode=detail&useid=2548_,80,0119
  37. 「宗峰妙超」, 日本大百科全書 (ニッポニカ) and 改訂新版 世界大百科事典 (1282–1337), デジタル大辞泉 (1283–1338), デジタル版 日本人名大辞典+Plus (1283–1338; 弘安5年12月生まれ; 建武4=延元2年12月22日死去), ブリタニカ国際大百科事典 (延元2＝建武4(1337).12.22), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%AE%97%E5%B3%B0%E5%A6%99%E8%B6%85-77410
  38. 『大燈國師語録』, 大徳寺 (開堂 嘉暦元年十二月, p. 191a06): 不行尊貴路。爭踏上頭關。但禮拜。師云。好看脚下, at the SAT database (T81n2566, p. 197b29). https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/ddb-sat2.php?mode=detail&useid=2566_,81,0197
  39. 『大燈國師語録』, 大徳寺, 解夏: 便禮拜。師云。且看脚下, at the SAT database (T81n2566, p. 202c13). https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/ddb-sat2.php?mode=detail&useid=2566_,81,0202
  40. 『大燈國師語録』, 洛陽龍寶山大徳禪寺語録 〔退横岳歸本寺〕 (p. 209c06), 端午: 不行尊貴路。爭踏上頭關。便禮拜。師喝云。且看脚下, at the SAT database (T81n2566, p. 216a27–a28). https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/ddb-sat2.php?mode=detail&useid=2566_,81,0216
  41. 「白雲慧暁」, at kotobank (デジタル大辞泉 and デジタル版 日本人名大辞典+Plus 1223–1298, the +Plus 永仁5年12月25日死去; ブリタニカ国際大百科事典 没 永仁5(1297).12.25). https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%99%BD%E9%9B%B2%E6%85%A7%E6%9A%81-113628
  42. 『佛照禪師語録』, 示聖仁上人: 看脚下 … 切冀脚下一段之事勉旃力行。跟下自有通霄路在, at the SAT database (T80n2546, p. 38c17–39a02). https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/ddb-sat2.php?mode=detail&useid=2546_,80,0038
  43. 東陽英朝 集『増補首書 禪林句集』, 京師 小川多左衞門, 貞享5 (1688), the copy of 神戸大学附属図書館, canvas 10. 国書データベース. https://doi.org/10.20730/100272428
  44. 雲嶠智道 編『宗門葛藤集』, 1890, 三佛夜話, scan 18 (page image), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/816676/1/18
  45. 建部綾足 編『古今俳諧明題集』, 宝暦13 (1763), 巻之五, 照顧脚下, scan 9 (page image), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2568541/1/9
  46. 「中川乙由」, ブリタニカ国際大百科事典 小項目事典 (1675–1739; 別号 麦林), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%B8%AD%E5%B7%9D%E4%B9%99%E7%94%B1-17199
  47. 鼠骨「帰省雑事」, in 高浜虚子 編『新写生文』, 1908, p. 44, scan 28 (page image), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/889112/1/28
  48. 山中峯太郎『我れ爾を救ふ』 序編, 1922, pp. 44–45, scan 26 (page image), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/968035/1/26
  49. 「仰木魯堂」, 20世紀日本人名事典 (オウギ ロドウ, 1863–1941, 数寄屋建築家, 茶人) and デジタル版 日本人名大辞典+Plus, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%BB%B0%E6%9C%A8%E9%AD%AF%E5%A0%82-1059470
  50. 高橋箒庵『大正茶道記』, the volume 壬戌 (1922), printed 1923, 朝茶二則, pp. 226–227, scan 124 (page image), National Diet Library; the item record gives 高橋箒庵 1861–1937. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1183135/1/124
  51. 「豊道春海」, 改訂新版 世界大百科事典 (ぶんどうしゅんかい, 1878–1970), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E8%B1%8A%E9%81%93%E6%98%A5%E6%B5%B7-1107173
  52. 壬生雄舜『一滴の水』, 1941, 隨想, pp. 272–273, scan 150 (page image), National Diet Library; the item record gives 壬生雄舜 1877–1950. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1040583/1/150
  53. 秋野孝道『修養禅味』, 1934, scan 90, National Diet Library (the Library's full text, read at the window). https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1210840/1/90
  54. 『警察時報』 37 (10), 1982, snippet view, National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2671037
  55. 『証券アナリストジャーナル』 37 (10), 1999, snippet view, National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2730956
  56. 伊藤明美 (Akemi H. Ito), 「異文化コミュニケーションにおける共感：二元論的自己理解を超えて」, 『多文化関係学』 1, 2004, pp. 3–14, p. 9 (page image of the J-STAGE PDF). https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jsmrejournal/1/0/1_KJ00008933213/_article/-char/ja/
  57. 『茶と禅』, 1966, the index, snippet view, National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2512964
  58. Zenkei Shibayama, A Flower Does Not Talk: Zen Essays, Tuttle, 1970, p. 128 (the shelf copy).
  59. Sōiku Shigematsu, A Zen Forest: Sayings of the Masters, Weatherhill, 1981, no. 560, p. 75 (the English) and p. 144 (the romaji) (the shelf copy).
  60. Audrey Yoshiko Seo with Stephen Addiss, The Art of Twentieth-Century Zen: Paintings and Calligraphy by Japanese Masters, Shambhala, 1998, p. 168 (the shelf copy).
  61. Yamada Mumon, Hakuin's Song of Zazen, trans. Norman Waddell, Shambhala, 2024, from Zazen Wasan Kōwa (1962), section 35, A Sliding Shuffle (the shelf copy, an EPUB without page numbers).
  62. 『古尊宿語錄』 卷十二, 子湖: 以手揭簾，欲起未起，被師喝云：看脚下犬, at CBETA (X68n1315, p. 75c07–c08). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/X68n1315_p0075c07

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.

Not yet reviewed.

Cite as: Tim Jackowski and Ten, "Philology of 看脚下 (kankyakka)," Takase Studios, 2026, https://takase.com/library/philology/kankyakka.