hachi-dainingaku
The Eight Truths of a Great Human Being
Hachi means “eight.” Dainin means “great human being,” that is, a buddha. And kaku, pronounced here as gaku, means “an intuitive reflection or truth.” Gautama Buddha preached the eight truths of a great human just before he died, and they are recorded in the Yuikyōgyō (Sutra of Bequeathed Teachings); they were his last teachings. Master Dōgen preached this chapter when he felt his death was not far away, and in his case, too, it was his last teaching. This chapter thus forms the last chapter in the ninety-five–chapter edition of the Shōbōgenzō.