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A11 Ippyakuhachi-hōmyōmon

一百八法明門

ippyakuhachi-hōmyōmon

One Hundred and Eight Gates of Dharma Illumination

Ippyakuhachi means “one hundred and eight.” Hō means Dharma; that is, the Buddha’s teachings or the universe. Myō means “clarity,” “brightness,” or “illumination.” Mon means “gate”; that is, a means to something, or a partial aspect of something. So ippyakuhachi-hōmyōmon means “one hundred and eight gates of Dharma illumination.” In compiling this chapter, Master Dōgen quoted two long paragraphs from the Butsuhongyōjikkyō, a biographical sutra about Gautama Buddha. This chapter forms the eleventh chapter in the twelve-chapter edition of the Shōbōgenzō, but it is not included in either the ninety-five–chapter edition or the seventy-five–chapter edition.