“Zhaozhou’s Dog” from the Congronglu (Mark Bykoski)

The Chinese text is given in the top row. Below that is the modern Mandarin pronunciation spelled in the Pinyin system, and then English meanings for each word.

第	十八	則	趙	州	狗	子
dì [indicates ordinal number]	shíbā eighteen	zé rule, law, case	Zhào name of an ancient state in China	Zhōu state, region	gŏu dog	zĭ [suffix for nouns]
			趙州- name of a Zen ancestor; Japanese pronunciation: Joshu		狗子 - dog

The Eighteenth Case: Zhaozhou’s Dog

僧	問	趙州。
sēng monk (from sangha)	wèn ask	Zhào Zhōu

A monk asked Zhaozhou,

狗子	還	有	佛	性	也	無。
gŏuzi dog	hái even, also	yŏu have, there is	fó Buddha	xìng nature	yě [word separating clauses], also	wú not have, there is not (Japanese pronunciation: mu)

“Does even a dog have Buddha nature, or not?”

州	云。	有。
Zhōu	yún say	yŏu have (Japanese pronunciation: u)

Zhaozhou said, “It has.”

僧	云。	既	有。
sēng monk	yún say	jì since	yŏu have

The monk said, “If it has,

為	甚麼	卻	撞	入	這	箇	皮	袋。
wèi for, because	shénme what	què but, still	zhuàng knock against, collide	rù enter, into	zhèi this	ge [counting word], this	pí skin	dài bag, sack
why					this		bag of skin, the body

Why, then, does it fall into this bag of skin?”

州	云。	為	他	知	而	故	犯。
Zhōu	yún say	wèi for, because	tā he, she, it	zhī know	ěr but, and	gù reason, purpose	fàn transgress, offend

Zhaozhou said, “Because it knows, but purposefully transgresses.”

又	有	僧	問。
yòu again, additionally	yŏu there is, have	sēng monk	wèn ask

There was another monk who asked,

狗子	還	有	佛	性	也	無。
gŏuzi dog	hái even, also	yŏu have	fó Buddha	xìng nature	yě [word separating clauses], also	wú not have

“Does even a dog have Buddha nature, or not?”

州	曰。	無。
Zhōu	yūe say	wú not have (Japanese pronunciation: mu)

Zhaozhou said, “It does not.”

僧	云。	一	切	眾	生	皆	有	佛	性。
sēng monk	yún say	yī one	qiè all, entire	zhòng mass, crowd	shēng life, live, born, produce	jiē all	yŏu have	fó Buddha	xìng nature
		all		living beings, sentient beings

The monk said, “All living beings have Buddha nature;

狗子	為甚麼	卻	無。
gŏuzi dog	wèishénme why	què but, still	wú not have

Why, then, doesn’t a dog?”

州	云。	為	伊	有	業	識	在。
Zhōu	yún say	wèi for, because	yī he, she, it	yŏu have	yè business, work, action [translates Skt. karma]	shì recognize, consciousness [translates Skt. vijñana]	zài exist, present
					karmic consciousness, consciousness shaped by past conditioning

Zhaozhou said, “Because it has karmic consciousness.”

The Congronglu (Japanese: Shoyoroku, usually translated into English as Book of Serenity or Book of Equanimity) is a collection of koans with verse and prose commentaries written in China in the thirteenth century of the Common Era. A koan (Chinese: gong’an) is a teaching story in the Zen (Chinese: Chan) tradition of Buddhism. These stories are usually in the form of a dialogue between a teacher and student. While they take the form of language, koans are intended to point to truths that are not readily expressed in discursive language.

Above is the Chinese text of the eighteenth koan in the Congronglu, “Zhaozhou’s Dog.” To limit the scope of this presentation, only the actual story (or “case”) is given here, without the verses and prose commentary. There is a more widely known, shorter version of this koan in another collection called the Wumenguan (Japanese: Mumonkan, usually translated into English as the Gateless Gate). There Zhaozhou is asked once if a dog has Buddha nature, and he simply answers in the negative. In the Congronglu version here, he is asked the same question on two different occasions, and he gives apparently contradictory answers. In this version, the monks also ask follow-up questions and receive subsequent responses.

Zhoazhou’s statements regarding the dog may be more about the monks (and perhaps also the reader) than about the dog. According to standard Mahayana Buddhist doctrine, all sentient beings have Buddha nature, which is said to be our true nature, the interconnected nature of everything. Enlightenment or buddhahood is not a matter of getting something extra that we do not have, but of realizing what is already here.

Zhaozhou indicates to the first monk that yes, the dog has Buddha nature. The monk then asks, “Why, then, does it fall into this bag of skin,” meaning why is it reborn in a material body? A buddha is said to have escaped from the cycle of rebirth. If we are of the same nature as a buddha, why are we apparently caught in the cycle of rebirth? Why do we seem not to be buddhas? Rebirth can be taken literally as an individual’s thirst for selfhood transmigrating from lifetime to lifetime, or more figuratively as the ego arising from moment to moment.

Zhaozhou answers that “it knows, but purposefully transgresses.” It is sometimes said that deep down we know our true nature, and that realizing it is experienced as if it were something we knew all along. But ordinarily it is obscured by thoughts and actions driven by the (often hidden) purposes of the ego that cause suffering for ourselves and for others.

Zhaozhou indicates to the second monk that no, the dog does not have Buddha nature. (As an aside, the “no, it does not” is the famous “mu” / “wu” / “無” that the Gateless Gate version ends with.) The monk already knows that this is not the standard “correct” answer and asks for elaboration. Zhaozhou replies that it is because “it has karmic consciousness.” Karma is the past conditioning that has shaped those purposes of the ego that are causing our suffering and that cause our true nature not to be apparent to us.

So, does a dog have Buddha nature?