What is 後唄文 (Gobai-mon)?: Keeping an Untainted Mind in the Secular World and Aiming for the Buddha's Realm

後唄文 (Gobai-mon): Do not let your heart be colored by this world, like a lotus flower.

What is 後唄文 (Gobai-mon)? : It is a verse which we chant after a meal

Key Point: 後唄文 (Gobai-mon, a verse chanted at the end of a meal in the Zen tradition) is a verse chanted at the end of a meal in a Zen Dojo. This verse means “to maintain a mind untainted by the world, like a lotus flower, and to aspire to the state of Buddhahood.” This verse is found in 集諸経礼懺儀 (Ritual of Repentance and Prostrations to the Sutras), which was compiled by the Tang dynasty monk Zhishang.

I introduce a verse here. We chant it at the end of a meal in a Zen Dojo. At the temple where I trained, this verse had no name. Later, I found the name 後唄文 (Gobai-mon) in a book from the Showa period(Reference: Kodo Sawaki (1941). Zazen no Shikata to Kokoroe: Fu-Gyohatsu no Shikata [How to Practice Zazen and Its Principles: With a Guide to Gyohatsu]. Yoyogi Shoin.).

Gobai-mon is a verse which we chant after a meal. After we put away 応量器 (Oryoki,the Oryoki Bowls), a monk called 浄人 (Jonin) comes to wipe the edge of the Tan. The Tan is the place for Zazen. When the cleaning is finished, we chant this verse and go back to our own dormitories. We chant this verse not only after a meal but also during 略布薩 (Ryaku-fusatsu,Short Recitation for Self-Reflection). The way of chanting is different depending on whether we use 明朝唐音 (the Ming dynasty To-on) or 宋朝唐音 (the Song dynasty To-on).

Glossary

• 処世界如虚空: 処世界 means living in this world. 如虚空 means to be like the vast, empty sky that is not caught by anything.
  It means that while we live in this world, our hearts are not caught by anything and have no attachments.
• 如蓮華不著水: 如蓮華 means to be like a lotus flower. 不著水 means not to hold water.
  This means that just as a lotus flower blooms in a swamp without being stained by the water or mud, we should not be stained by the desires or the dirt of this world.
• 心清浄超於彼: 心清浄 means that the heart is completely pure without any clouds. 超於彼 means to go beyond 彼(that,the world of illusion).
  This means that with such a pure heart, we go far beyond the worldly world full of illusions and attachments, and we stand in the state of a Buddha.
• 稽首礼無上尊: 稽首礼 means to bow deeply with one’s head touching the floor. 無上尊 means the most noble existence.
  This means we bow deeply to the most noble Buddha (or the Buddha-nature within ourselves).

In short, this verse means that we should keep our hearts unstained by this world like a lotus flower, and aim for the state of a Buddha. This verse is in the Shushokyo Raisangi, which was edited by a monk named Zhishang in the Tang dynasty of China. It is a manual for repentance and bowing (Reference: Zhishang (Ed.). 集諸経礼懺儀 [Ritual of Repentance and Prostrations to the Sutras], Vol. 1. SAT Daizokyo Database No. 1982.).

The Core

• Gobai-mon teaches us that it is important to keep our hearts unstained by this world, like a lotus flower, and to aim for the state of a Buddha.
• Gobai-mon is found in 集諸経礼懺儀 (Ritual of Repentance and Prostrations to the Sutras) which was edited by Zhishang.
• Gobai-mon is a verse chanted at the end of a meal in the Zen tradition.

My experience: The way this world exists is like a void

Key Point: My attachment to the belief that I am the sole agent driving the world.

Until recently, I had been plagued by guilt. I believe it stemmed from my attempt to control everything through my own efforts. However, in a single moment, I realized that the nature of this world is without substance. Everything is interconnected, and cause and effect are not fixed. While I am the agent of my own actions, I am not the master of the entire world. In that moment, I felt that the world is “void” (empty). With that understanding, my guilt simply vanished.

Through observing my own mind in this way, I sometimes transcend the attachment or belief that I am the sole agent driving the world. Such realizations do not change the objective reality before my eyes, yet they lighten the burden of every step I take in daily life.