Dhrtaka said, "One who renounces the world has no personal self, no personal possessions, so is mentally neither aroused nor oblivious.
This is the eternal Way. The Buddhas too are eternal. The mind has no shape or form, and its essence is also thus."

Upagupta said, "You should completely awaken and attain this in your own mind."

Dhrtaka was thereupon greatly enlightened.

When Dhrtaka was born, his father dreamed a golden sun came out from the house and illumined heaven and earth. In the foreground
was a huge mountain magnificently adorned with jewels,- at the summit of the mountain welled forth a spring, flowing in four directions.

When Dhrtaka first met Upagupta, he told him about this dream.
Upagupta interpreted it for him: "The great mountain is me; the welling spring means the pouring forth of your wisdom and truth
without end. The sun emerging from the house is a sign of your present entry into the Way. The illumination of heaven and earth is transcendence through wisdom."

Hearing Upagupta's explanation, Dhrtaka chanted a verse:

The magnificent mountain of jewels
Always produces the spring of wisdom;
It turns into the flavor of real truth
Liberating those with affinity.

Upagupta also chanted a verse:

My teaching is bequeathed to you;
You should show great wisdom,
As the sun emerging from the house
Illumines heaven and earth.

Henceforth Dhrtaka became a disciple of Upagupta and eventually sought to renounce the world to become a mendicant. Upagupta
asked him, "You are intent on renouncing the world. Do you renounce the world in body or mind?"

Dhrtaka said, "I came seeking to renounce the world, not for the sake of body or mind."

Upagupta said, "Since it is not for body or mind, then who renounces the world?"

Dhrtaka said, "One who renounces the world has no personal self. . ." and so on, and finally he was greatly enlightened.

Actually, one who renounces the world shows the self that has no personal self; therefore it cannot be understood in terms of body or
mind. This selfless self is the eternal Way; it cannot be fathomed in terms of birth and death. Therefore it is not the Buddhas, and it is not
living beings—how could it be material or psychological elements, realms of desire, form, or formlessness, or sundry states of existence?

Thus the mind has no shape or form; even though it be seeing and hearing, discerning and knowing, ultimately it does not come or go,

it is not moving or still.

One who sees in this way—that is, one who knows the mind—still must be said to understand on the basis of learning. For this reason,
even though Dhrtaka understood in this way, Upagupta rapped him by saying, "You should awaken completely and realize this in your
own mind."

It is like putting the imperial seal on an article of merchandise: when the imperial seal is on it, people know it is not poison, it is not
suspicious, and it is not government property; therefore people use it.
The merging of the paths of teacher and apprentice is like this: even if one understands all principles and comprehends all paths, one must
still become greatly enlightened before really attaining.

If you arc not greatly enlightened once, you will vainly become mere intellectuals and never arrive at the ground of mind. Because of
this you are not yet rid of views of Buddha and Dharma, so when will you ever get out of the bondage of self and others?

Thus even if you can remember all the sermons spoken by the Buddha over his forty-nine years of teaching, and do not misunder-
stand a single doctrine of the three and five vehicles of liberation, if you do not greatly awaken once, you cannot be acknowledged as a true Zen adept. So even if you can expound a thousand scriptures and ten thousand treatises, cause the Buddhas to shed their light, cause the earth to tremble and the sky to shower flowers, this is just the understanding of a professor, not that of a real Zen adept.

So you should not understand in terms of "the world is only mind," and you should not understand in terms of "all things are characteristics of reality." You should not understand in terms of all existence being the essence of buddhahood, nor should you understand in terms
of ultimate empty silence.

"The character of reality" is still involved in classification; "all is empty" is the same as decadent nihilism. "All existence" resembles spirit; "only mind" is still not free from conscious cognition. Therefore when those who would seek this matter seek it among the thousands of scriptures and myriads of treatises, unfortunately they are running away from their own progenitor.

So when you open up your own treasury in each case to bring forth the great treasure of the scriptures, you will naturally be able to have the holy teaching as your own. If you do not attain realization in this way, the Buddhas and Zen masters are all your enemies. That is why it is said, "What demon caused you to become a mendicant, what demon made you go traveling? Even if you can say, you will die on the hook; and if you cannot say, you will also die on the hook."

Thus it is said that the renunciation of the world is not for the sake of mind or body. But even though Dhrtaka had understood in this way, he was still not a true adept; he had to have it pointed out to him again before he was greatly enlightened and actually realized it.

So you should work on the Way carefully and continuously: without being literalists, and without interpreting spirituality subjectively, smash the universe completely. Without any obstruction even as you go back and forth between before and after, without any dispar-
ity even as you go in and out above and below, digging out a cave in space, rousing waves on level ground, see the face of Buddha, perceive
enlightenment clarifying the mind, experience the unity of being and spin the pearl of perfect light—when you know there is something in
the inner sanctum of Buddhas and Zen masters, then you will finally attain this.

I want to add a saying to this story:

When you attain the marrow, know the attainment is clear;
An adept still has an incommunicable subtlety.

Transmission Of Light

Denkoroku

Zen in the Art of Enlightenment

Zen Master Keizan, translated by Thomas Cleary

Shambala, Boston, 2002

We could not find any pictures or dates on Daitaka (Dhritaka) Daisho, however a chapter of the „Denkoroku“ (Transmission of light) is the story of his enlightenment and transmission of the light down from Upagupta to him. The sixth chapter goes like this: