佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄

CASE 91: YANGUAN’S RHINOCEROS-HORN FAN

INTRODUCTION: Transcending feelings and departing from views, untying bonds and loosening what is sealed, raising up the vehicle of the supreme teaching, and upholding the treasury of the true Dharma eye—one must respond in unison throughout the ten directions, exquisitely lucid on all eight sides, and go straight to that ground. Tell me, is there still the same attainment and the same realization, the same death and the same birth? Let us examine this case.

PUBLIC CASE: One day, Yanguan called to his attendant, “Bring me the rhinoceros-horn fan.” The attendant said, “The fan is broken.” Yanguan said, “Since the fan is broken, return the rhinoceros to me.” The attendant could not answer. Touzi said, “I do not refuse to bring it out, but I fear its head and horns are incomplete.” Xuedou commented, “I want the one whose head and horns are incomplete.” Shishuang said, “If I returned it to the Venerable, it would not be there.” Xuedou commented, “The rhinoceros is still present.” Zifu drew a circle and, inside it, wrote the character “ox.” Xuedou commented, “Why did you not bring it out just now?” Baofu said, “The Venerable is advanced in years;

it would be better to invite someone else.” Xuedou commented, “What a pity—to labor without accomplishing anything.”

EXPLANATION: One day, Yanguan called to his attendant, “Bring me the rhinoceros-horn fan.” Although this matter does not lie in words and phrases, it is necessary to test a person’s usual strategy, spirit, and mettle; moreover, one must borrow words such as these in order to understand it. Even on the thirtieth day of the twelfth month, one must still be able to exercise mastery: though the myriad phenomena appear everywhere before one’s eyes, one remains unmoved. This may rightly be called accomplishment without accomplishment, power without power.

Yanguan was Chan Master Qi’an. In ancient times, rhinoceros horn was used to make fans. At that moment, could Yanguan not have known that the rhinoceros-horn fan was broken? Yet he deliberately asked his attendant for it. The attendant said, “The rhinoceros-horn fan is broken.” Observe how, throughout the twelve periods of the day, the ancients were always probing and making contact within this matter. Yanguan said, “Since the fan is broken, return the rhinoceros to me.” Tell me, what did the Master want the rhinoceros for? He only wished to test whether the man knew where the matter came down.

Touzi replied, “I do not refuse to bring it out, but I fear its head and horns are incomplete.” Xuedou said, “I want the one whose head and horns are incomplete.” This too is immediately meeting the opportunity beneath the words. Shishuang said, “If I returned it to the Venerable, it would not be there.” Xuedou said, “The rhinoceros is still present.” Zifu drew a circle and, inside it, wrote the character “ox.” Because he was a Dharma successor of Yangshan, throughout his life he liked to use objects and circumstances to receive people and clarify this matter. Xuedou said, “Why did you not bring it out just now?” Once again, he pierced that man’s nostrils.

Baofu said, “The Venerable is advanced in years; it would be better to invite someone else.” These words are sound and fitting. The first three statements are easy to see, but this one statement has a far-reaching meaning. Xuedou had already demolished it completely. In the past, when this mountain monk was with Rector Qing, I understood it this way: “The Venerable is old and decrepit, getting the head but forgetting the tail. Just now he asked for the fan, and now he asks for the rhinoceros. He is difficult to attend upon; therefore, it would be better to invite someone else.” Xuedou said, “What a pity—to labor without accomplishing anything.” These are all methods of giving turning words.

The ancients penetrated this matter completely. Although each response was different, whenever they spoke, every shot struck the mark. There had to be a road by which to emerge, and not one statement lost the vital lineage. When people today are questioned, they merely try to construct principles and reason them out. Therefore, throughout the twelve periods of the day, one must chew this over, allowing each drop to condense distinctly, and must reach the place of realization. Observe how Xuedou’s verse runs through it in one continuous thread.

VERSE: The rhinoceros-horn fan was used for a long time;

When asked about it, as before, no one knows.

The boundless pure breeze, together with the head and horns,

Have all gone like the clouds and rain, difficult to pursue.

TRANSLATION: The rhinoceros-horn fan was used for a long time;

When asked about it, as before, no one knows.

The boundless pure breeze, together with the head and horns,

Have all gone like the clouds and rain, difficult to find.

Xuedou further said, “If you wish the cool breeze to return and the head and horns to appear, I ask each Chan guest to offer a turning word.” He asked, “The fan is broken; return the rhinoceros to me.” A monk came forward and said, “Great assembly, go to the Chan hall and meditate.” Xuedou shouted and said, “I cast the hook for a whale but caught a frog.” Then he descended from the seat.

COMMENTARY ON THE VERSE: As for the two lines, “The rhinoceros-horn fan was used for a long time; when asked about it, as before, no one knows”: everyone inherently possesses the rhinoceros-horn fan and, throughout the twelve periods of the day, relies entirely upon its power. Why, when questioned about it, does no one know? The attendant, Touzi, and even Baofu did not know. Tell me, did Xuedou know?

Have you not heard that when Wuzhuo went to consult Manjusri, as they were drinking tea, Manjusri raised a crystal cup and asked, “Is there also this in the South?” Wuzhuo said, “No.” Manjusri asked, “What do you ordinarily use to drink tea?” Wuzhuo could not answer. If you know where this public case comes down, you will know that the rhinoceros-horn fan possesses a boundless pure breeze, and you will also see the rhinoceros’s head and horns standing majestically. The four elders spoke as they did, but like morning clouds and evening rain, once gone, they are truly difficult to find.

Xuedou further said, “If you wish the cool breeze to return and the head and horns to appear, I ask each Chan guest to offer a turning word.” He asked, “The fan is broken; return the rhinoceros to me.” A Chan guest replied, “Great assembly, go to the Chan hall and meditate.” This monk seized the authority of the host, but in speaking to the utmost he expressed only eighty percent. If he wished to reach one hundred percent, he should immediately have overturned the Chan seat.

Tell me, did this monk understand the rhinoceros or not? If he did not understand, how did he know to speak in that way? If he understood, why did Xuedou not accept him? Why did he say, “I cast the hook for a whale but caught a frog”? Tell me, ultimately, how is it? When you are free of affairs, try bringing it forth and see.

CASE 92: THE WORLD-HONORED ONE ASCENDS THE SEAT

INTRODUCTION: A fine melody in its original mode is difficult to encounter even in a thousand years; to release the hawk upon sighting the rabbit is genuine skill in the moment. Gather all language into a single phrase; collect the great trichiliocosm, with its worlds numerous as grains of sand, into a single speck of dust. Dying together and living together, pierced through seven times and penetrated eight—yet is there anyone who can bear witness? Let us examine this case.

PUBLIC CASE: One day, the World-Honored One ascended the seat. Manjusri struck the gavel and announced, “Contemplate carefully the Dharma of the Dharma King; the Dharma of the Dharma King is thus.”

EXPLANATION: Long before, when the World-Honored One held up a flower, there was already news of this. From the beginning at the Deer Park until the end at the Badi River, when did he ever need to employ the precious sword of the Vajra King? If someone in the assembly at that time, bearing the scent of a Chan monk, had recognized it, the World-Honored One would have been spared from later holding up the flower and causing a whole scene of confusion.

While the World-Honored One remained silent, Manjusri gave him a push, and he immediately descended from the seat. At that moment, there was also news of this. Shakyamuni closed the door to his chamber; Vimalakirti kept his mouth shut. Both were just like this: all had already been spoken. It is also like Emperor Suzong asking National Teacher Huizhong about the seamless stupa, and like the non-Buddhist who questioned the Buddha, asking neither about speech nor about no speech.

Observe the conduct of those who follow the supreme path: when have they ever entered a demon’s cave to make a livelihood? Some say the meaning lies in remaining silent. Some say it lies in keeping silent for a while. They use words to clarify the wordless matter and the wordless to clarify what is expressed in words. Yongjia said, “When silent, speaking; when speaking, silent.” If you understand it in all these ways, then even through sixty kalpas in the three times you will not see it in a dream.

If you can accept and assume it directly at this very point, you will see neither ordinary beings nor sages. This Dharma is equal, with neither high nor low, and every day you will walk hand in hand with the Buddhas of the three times. In what follows, observe how Xuedou naturally saw it and expressed it in verse.

VERSE: Among the ranks of sages, an adept knows;

The Dharma King’s Dharma decree is not like this.

If within the assembly there had been a Sendhava guest,

Why would Manjusri have needed to strike the gavel?

TRANSLATION: Among the ranks of sages, an adept knows;

The Dharma King’s Dharma decree is not like this.

If within this assembly there had been a Sendhava guest,

Why would Manjusri have needed to strike the gavel?

COMMENTARY ON THE VERSE: The line, “The eminent sages and adepts of the Chan monasteries know,” refers to the eighty thousand members of the assembly at Vulture Peak, all of whom were eminent sages—Manjusri, Samantabhadra, Maitreya, and the rest, host and companions gathered together. Only one who is supremely skillful and extraordinarily wondrous could know where that matter comes down. Xuedou’s meaning is that among the eminent sages of the Chan monasteries, not a single person “knows that it is.” Only an adept would know that it is not so.

Why? Manjusri struck the gavel and announced: “Clearly contemplate the Dharma of the Dharma King; the Dharma of the Dharma King is thus.” Xuedou said, “The Dharma King’s Dharma decree is not like this.” Why is it so? If someone in the assembly at that time had possessed an eye at the crown of the head and held the sacred tally in hand, that person would have seen through it before the World-Honored One ascended the seat.

What need would there have been for Manjusri to strike the gavel? The Nirvana Sutra says that the single term saindhava has four meanings:

1) Salt, 2) Water, 3) A vessel, 4) A horse.

There was a clever minister who skillfully understood all four meanings. If the king wished to wash his hands and called for saindhava, the minister immediately offered water. When the king was eating and called for saindhava, he offered salt.

After the meal, when the king called for saindhava, he offered a vessel for drinking water. When the king wished to depart and called for saindhava, he offered a horse. He responded according to the king’s intent without the slightest error.

Indeed, only a keen-witted person could do this. A monk asked Xiangyan, “What is it when the king calls for saindhava?” Xiangyan replied, “Come over here.” The monk came over, and Xiangyan said, “Stupid enough to kill a man!” The monk then asked Zhaozhou, “What is it when the king calls for saindhava?” Zhaozhou stepped down from the meditation platform, bowed his head, and folded his hands. If there had been a saindhava adept at that time who had penetrated it before the World-Honored One ascended the seat, that still would have been somewhat comparable.

But the World-Honored One ascended the seat and then immediately descended; already this was not expedient. How could it bear Manjusri striking the gavel once again? This truly obscured the course of the World-Honored One’s presentation.

Now tell me: where did it obscure it?

CASE 93: DAGUANG—THIS IS A WILD FOX SPIRIT

PUBLIC CASE: A monk asked Daguang, “Changqing said that, on the occasion of a vegetarian feast, he expressed praise and gratitude. What was his essential meaning?” Daguang immediately danced. The monk bowed in homage. Daguang said, “What did you see that made you bow?” The monk immediately danced. Daguang said, “This is a wild fox spirit.”

EXPLANATION: The twenty-eight patriarchs of India and the six patriarchs of China transmitted only this. Do you know its place? If you know, you escape this fault.

If you do not know, you are merely a wild fox spirit, just as before. Some say, “He was leading him around by the nose and deceiving people.” If it were really so, what kind of principle would that be? Daguang was truly skillful in guiding people.

Within his words was a road by which one could emerge. A master of the lineage must pull out nails and draw out pegs for people, remove what is stuck, and untie their bonds; only then is he called a good spiritual friend. Daguang immediately danced, and the monk bowed in homage.

Finally, the monk himself immediately danced, whereupon Daguang said, “This is a wild fox spirit.” He did not succeed in turning the monk around; ultimately, the monk did not know the true point. You merely know how to dance at once, taking turns like this—when will it ever come to an end? Daguang said, “This is a wild fox spirit.” This saying cuts off Jinniu; it is truly extraordinary.

Therefore it is said, “He investigates the living phrase, not the dead phrase.” Xuedou especially delighted in the master’s words, “This is a wild fox spirit,” and therefore composed a verse on them. Now tell me: are “This is a wild fox spirit” and “Zang’s head is white; Hai’s head is black” the same or different? Do you know?

Is it the same as or different from “lacquer bucket” and “fine monk”? At the point where he encountered him, Xuedou composed his verse.

VERSE: Xian jian you qing hou jian shen

Shui yun huang ye shi huang jin

Caoxi bo lang ru xiang si

Wuxian ping ren bei lu chen.

TRANSLATION: The first arrow was still light; the second struck deep.

Who says that withered leaves are pure gold?

The waves rising at Caoxi seem much the same;

Countless ordinary people are drowned and sunk.

COMMENTARY ON THE VERSE: In the line, “The first arrow was still light; the second struck deep,” Daguang’s immediate dance was the first arrow, while his later statement, “This is a wild fox spirit,” was the second arrow. These are the fangs and claws handed down from ancient times to the present. As for the line, “Who says that withered leaves are pure gold?” Yangshan instructed the assembly, saying: “Each of you should turn the light around and illuminate yourselves; do not memorize my words.

Since beginningless time, you have turned away from the light and joined with darkness. The roots of your deluded thinking are deep and dense and are extremely difficult to uproot quickly. Therefore, as a temporary expedient, I seize your coarse consciousness, like using yellow leaves to soothe a crying child, or like offering sweet fruit in exchange for bitter fruit.” The ancients provisionally established expedient means for people.

Once the crying had ceased, the yellow leaves were no longer regarded as gold. The World-Honored One’s lifelong teaching of the Dharma was likewise only speech used to still crying. The words, “This is a wild fox spirit,” were meant simply to transform that monk’s karmic consciousness.

Within them were both the provisional and the real, illumination and function; only then could one see a Chan monk’s nostrils. If you understand, it is like a tiger gaining wings. As for the line, “The waves rising at Caoxi seem much the same,” suddenly students throughout the four quarters and eight directions concern themselves only with immediately dancing in this manner.

If they remain one-sidedly like this, then “countless ordinary people are drowned and sunk.” Where could they possibly be saved?

CASE 94: THE SURANGAMA—NOT SEEING

INTRODUCTION: Before the sound, a single phrase that a thousand sages cannot transmit; right before your face, not even a hair’s breadth of separation. Stripped bare and revealed openly, the white ox stands fully exposed. Open your eyes wide and prick up your ears. Set aside the golden-haired lion for the moment—tell me, what is the white ox standing fully exposed?

PUBLIC CASE: The Surangama Sutra says: “When I do not see, why do you not see the place of my not seeing? If you see what I do not see, naturally it is not the characteristic of that not-seeing. If you do not see the place where I do not see, naturally it is not an object; why is it not you?”

EXPLANATION: The Surangama Sutra says: “When I do not see, why do you not see the place of my not seeing? If you see what I do not see, naturally it is not the characteristic of that not-seeing. If you do not see the place where I do not see, naturally it is not an object; why is it not you?” Here Xuedou cited the scripture but did not quote it in full.

If the whole passage is cited, the point can be seen. The sutra says: “If seeing were an object, then you would also be able to see my seeing. If we see the same thing, that might be called ‘seeing my seeing.’ When I do not see, why do you not see the place of my not seeing?

If you see what I do not see, naturally it is not the characteristic of that not-seeing. If you do not see the place where I do not see, naturally it is not an object; why is it not you?” Because the passage is lengthy, it was not copied in full. Venerable Ananda’s meaning was: “The world, lanterns, and pillars all have names.

I earnestly ask the World-Honored One to point out what this wondrous, essential, luminous awareness is called as an object, so that I may perceive the Buddha’s intent.” The World-Honored One said, “I see the incense stand.” Ananda said, “I too see the incense stand; this, then, is the Buddha’s seeing.” The World-Honored One said, “When I see the incense stand, that is easy to know. But when I do not see the incense stand, how can you see it?” Ananda said, “When I do not see the incense stand, that is seeing the Buddha.” The Buddha said, “When I say that I do not see, I myself know it.

When you say that you do not see, you yourself know it. How could you know the place where another person does not see?” An ancient said: Arriving here, one can only know it for oneself; it cannot be explained to others. Thus the World-Honored One said, “When I do not see, why do you not see the place of my not seeing?

If you see what I do not see, naturally it is not the characteristic of that not-seeing. If you do not see the place where I do not see, naturally it is not an object; why is it not yours?” If you say that seeing is an object, then you still cannot wipe away the traces of “when I do not see.” It is like an antelope hanging by its horns: sound, tracks, and scent are all cut off. Where could you seek it?

The sutra’s meaning first lets go in order to refute, and afterward takes away in order to refute. Xuedou opened the eye of the teaching and composed his verse. He did not versify the object, nor did he versify seeing and not seeing; he directly versified seeing the Buddha.

VERSE: Quan xiang quan niu yi bu shu

From of old, adepts have all sought to fathom him.

If now you wish to see the old yellow-headed one,

In every land and every mote of dust, he is halfway along the road.

TRANSLATION: The whole elephant, the whole ox—alike are eyes afflicted with cataracts;

From of old, adepts have all sought to fathom him.

If now you wish to see the old man of India,

In every land and every mote of dust, he is halfway along the road.

EXPLANATION OF THE VERSE: Regarding the line, “The whole elephant, the whole ox—alike are eyes afflicted with cataracts”: the blind men felt the elephant, and each described it differently. This comes from the Nirvana Sutra. A monk asked Yangshan, “Whenever the Master sees someone asking about Chan or the Way, you immediately draw a circle and write the character ‘ox’ in its center.

What is your meaning?” Yangshan replied, “This too is an idle matter. If you understand, it does not come from outside; if you do not understand, you certainly will not know. Let me ask you: when the venerable adepts everywhere point something out within your own person, what is your Buddha-nature?

Is speaking correct? Is silence correct? Is neither speaking nor remaining silent correct?

Or are all of them correct? Are none of them correct? If you accept speaking as correct, you are like a blind man who has felt the elephant’s tail.

If you accept silence as correct, you are like a blind man who has felt the elephant’s ear. If you accept neither speaking nor remaining silent as correct, you are like a blind man who has felt the elephant’s trunk. If you say that every single thing is correct, you are like a blind man who has felt the elephant’s four legs.

If you say that none of them is correct, you abandon the elephant and fall into the view of emptiness. Thus, what the blind men perceive is only upon the elephant, while the names, forms, and appearances differ. It is essential that you not feel about for the elephant; do not say that seeing and awareness are correct, and do not say that they are incorrect.” The Patriarch said:

“Bodhi originally has no tree;

The bright mirror also has no stand.

Originally there is not a single thing—

Where could dust alight?”

He also said, “The Way originally has no shape or form; wisdom itself is the Way. To give rise to such an understanding is called true prajnaparamita.” A clear-eyed person sees the entire elephant, just as the Buddha sees the nature. “The whole ox” comes from Zhuangzi.

When Cook Ding carved up an ox, he never saw that whole ox; he merely followed its natural principles while cutting it apart. His knife wandered freely, without laborious effort, and in the blink of an eye, head, horns, legs, and flesh were all completely separated. After nineteen years, his knife was still as sharp as though it had just come from the whetstone.

This is called “the whole ox.” Yet, extraordinary though this may be, Xuedou says that even if one attains the whole elephant and the whole ox, it is no different from having cataracts in one’s eyes. As for the line, “From of old, adepts have all sought to fathom him,” even an adept who came here to search would not succeed. From the Patriarch Kasyapa down through all the patriarchs of India and China, all the venerable old masters beneath heaven can only be said to have felt about blindly.

Xuedou says directly, “If now you wish to see the old man of India.” The reason he says “wish to see” is that one must see immediately; if one waits to seek before seeing, one is already thousands upon thousands of miles away. “The old yellow-headed one” means the yellow-faced old man. If you now wish to see him, then “in every land and every mote of dust, he is halfway along the road.” Ordinarily it is said, “In one mote of dust, one Buddha-land; on one leaf, one Sakyamuni.” However many motes of dust there are throughout the entire trichiliocosm, one sees them all within a single mote of dust.

Yet at that very moment, one is still halfway along the road. Is there another half of the road beyond? Tell me, where is it?

Even old Sakyamuni does not know; how could you expect this mountain monk to say?

CASE 95: CHANGQING—AN ARHAT’S THREE POISONS

INTRODUCTION: Do not abide where there is a Buddha; if you abide there, horns will grow on your head. Pass quickly through where there is no Buddha; if you do not pass through, the grass will grow a fathom high. Even if you strip everything bare and reveal it plainly, so that outside the matter there is no functioning and outside the functioning there is no matter, you still cannot avoid embracing a tree stump while waiting for a rabbit. Tell me: if none of these will do, how should you proceed? Let us see it brought forth.

PUBLIC CASE: Changqing once said, “I would rather say that an arhat has the three poisons than say that the Tathagata has two kinds of speech. I do not say that the Tathagata does not speak, only that he does not have two kinds of speech.” Baofu asked, “What is the Tathagata’s speech?” Changqing replied, “How could a deaf person hear it?” Baofu said, “I clearly know that you are speaking from the secondary level.” Changqing asked, “What is the Tathagata’s speech?” Baofu replied, “Go drink tea.”

EXPLANATION: In Xuefeng’s assembly, Changqing and Baofu would often bring up the public cases of the ancients and discuss them together. One day, as usual, Changqing said, “I would rather say that an arhat has the three poisons than say that the Tathagata has two kinds of speech.” The Sanskrit term “arhat” is translated into Chinese as “slayer of thieves.” The name is established according to the arhat’s function: one is able to cut off the eighty-one classes of afflictions; the outflows have been exhausted, and the holy life has been fulfilled.

This is an arhat beyond training. The three poisons are greed, anger, and delusion, the fundamental afflictions. If even the eighty-one classes have all been cut off, how much more so the three poisons?

Changqing said, “I would rather say that an arhat has the three poisons than say that the Tathagata has two kinds of speech.” His general intention was to point out that the Tathagata’s speech is certainly true. The Lotus Sutra says, “There is only this one reality; any second is not true.” It also says, “There is only the Dharma of the One Vehicle; there is neither a second nor a third.” In more than three hundred assemblies, the World-Honored One observed capacities and taught the Dharma, prescribing medicine according to the illness.

Though he expounded myriad kinds and thousands of varieties of Dharma, ultimately he did not have two kinds of speech. How do you perceive the meaning of his coming to this point? It is not that the Buddha does not expound the Dharma with a single sound, but Changqing had still not even dreamed of the Tathagata’s speech.

Why? It is like a person talking about food: in the end, it cannot make one full. Seeing him expound doctrine on level ground, Baofu immediately asked, “What is the Tathagata’s speech?” Changqing replied, “How could a deaf person hear it?” This fellow knew how to make a living in a demon’s cave at other times.

Baofu said, “I clearly know that you are speaking from the secondary level.” His words indeed struck the mark. Changqing then asked his elder Dharma brother, “What is the Tathagata’s speech?” Baofu replied, “Go drink tea.” The spear shaft was reversed and snatched away by another. Altogether, Changqing lost his money and incurred punishment.

Let me ask you: how many kinds of speech does the Tathagata have? You must know how to see in this way before you can perceive the flaws of these two men. On careful examination, both ultimately deserve a beating.

Yet let us relax a step and discuss the matter with them. Some say, “Baofu spoke correctly; Changqing did not.” They merely follow the words and give rise to interpretations, saying that one gained and the other lost. Little do they know that the ancients were like sparks struck from stone, like flashes of lightning.

People today do not examine the pivot upon which the ancients turned; they merely run about beneath their words, saying that Changqing’s application at that moment was inept and therefore fell into the secondary level, whereas Baofu’s “Go drink tea” was the primary level. If you view it only in this way, even when Maitreya Buddha descends to be born, you still will not perceive the ancients’ meaning. An adept does not give rise to this kind of understanding.

Leaping clear of that den, there is naturally a path beyond. If you say, “A deaf person cannot hear it,” where is this incorrect? When Baofu said, “Go drink tea,” where is this correct?

It is even further from the point. Therefore it is said, “He seeks the living phrase, not the dead phrase.” This encounter is of the same kind as “It is all over the body” and “It is throughout the entire body.” There is no place for you to calculate right and wrong. Only when the ground beneath your feet is stripped bare will you see where the ancients met one another.

The old teacher Wuzu said, “It is like fighting before mounted horses: your eyes must see while your hands seize.” If this public case is viewed with the true eye, there is no place where gain and loss can be distinguished as gain and loss, and no place where intimacy and estrangement can be distinguished as intimacy and estrangement. Changqing should also have bowed to Baofu. Why?

This subtle point was handled with great skill, like a flash of lightning or a shooting star. Baofu indeed grew fangs upon fangs and claws upon claws.

VERSE:

The head! The first and the second;

A sleeping dragon does not heed stagnant water.

Where there is nothing, the moon is present and the waves are clear;

Where there is something, though there is no wind, waves arise.

Chan traveler Ling! Chan traveler Ling!

In the third month, at the Dragon Gate, you suffer a mark upon the brow.

TRANSLATION:

First, ah, and second

A hidden dragon does not regard still water.

Where there is none, the moon is present and the waves subside;

Where there is one, the waves rise though there is no wind.

Chan traveler Ling! Chan traveler Ling!

In the third month, at the Gate of Yu, his forehead was marked.

COMMENTARY ON THE VERSE: The line “First, ah, and second” means that one need only understand the first and the second: it is precisely to devise a living strategy within dead water. With this subtle mechanism, if you merely give rise to an understanding of first and second, you will never fathom it. Xuedou said, “A hidden dragon does not regard still water.” How could a dragon lurk in dead water?

If it concerns the first and the second, it is precisely to devise a living strategy within dead water. Only where the water surges in great waves, with billows sweeping across and inundating the sky, can a dragon lurk. This is like the earlier saying, “A placid pool does not allow a great dragon to dwell.” Have you not heard it said, “Dead water harbors no dragon”?

It is also said, “A hidden dragon is ever wary of the limpid waters of a pool.” Therefore it is said, “Where there is no dragon, the moon is present and the waves subside”: the wind is still and the waves are calm. “Where there is a dragon, the waves rise though there is no wind.” Baofu’s saying, “Go drink tea,” is precisely waves rising though there is no wind. Arriving here, Xuedou finished the verse for you in one stroke amid layer upon layer of conceptual interpretation.

The Master employed his poetic gift to form a composition of coherent principle; as before, he placed an eye at the very beginning, which was indeed extraordinary. He further said, “Chan traveler Ling! Chan traveler Ling!

In the third month, at the Gate of Yu, his forehead was marked.” Although Changqing was a dragon that had leapt through the Dragon Gate, Baofu struck a mark directly upon his forehead.

CASE 96: ZHAOZHOU’S THREE TURNING WORDS

PUBLIC CASE: Zhaozhou instructed the assembly with three turning words.

COMMENTARY: After instructing the assembly with three turning words, Zhaozhou finally added, “The true Buddha sits within the chamber.” This one sentence is altogether too explicit. The ancients opened one eye and extended a hand to receive people, provisionally borrowing these words to communicate the message, essentially for the sake of others. If you were solely to raise the true command in its entirety, the grass before the Dharma hall would grow ten feet high.

Xuedou was displeased that the Master’s final sentence revealed his tail; therefore he omitted it and versified only the three sentences. If an earthen Buddha passes through water, it disintegrates. If a golden Buddha passes through the foundry furnace, it melts.

If a wooden Buddha passes through fire, it burns. What is difficult to understand about this? Xuedou composed verses on one hundred old cases, comparing vines and creepers, yet only these three verses truly possess the flavor of a Chan monk.

These verses alone are indeed difficult to understand. If you can penetrate these three verses, I will grant that you need study no further.

VERSE:

An earthen Buddha does not pass through water.

Shenguang illuminates heaven and earth.

Standing in the snow, if he had not yet ceased,

Who would not be deceitful?

TRANSLATION:

An earthen Buddha does not pass through water.

Shenguang illuminates heaven and earth.

Standing outside in the snow, he had not yet ceased;

Who would not be deceitful?

COMMENTARY ON THE VERSE: “An earthen Buddha does not pass through water; Shenguang illuminates heaven and earth.” These two lines have already completed the verse. Tell me, why does he then bring up Shenguang? When the Second Patriarch was first born, a divine light illuminated the house and reached straight up into the heavens.

Again, one night, a divine being appeared and told the Second Patriarch, “What are you doing here? You shall attain the Way. The time has come; you should go south.” Because the Second Patriarch encountered this divine being, he was called Shenguang, “Divine Light.” He dwelt in the region of Yi and Luo and read all the books, often lamenting, “Confucius and Laozi teach the arts of social propriety.” When he heard that the Great Master Bodhidharma was at Shaolin, he went there and inquired of him morning and evening.

Patriarch Bodhidharma sat upright facing the wall, and Shenguang received no instruction from him. He reflected, “Those of old who sought the Way split their bones to extract the marrow, drew their blood to aid the hungry, spread their hair over mud, and cast their bodies before tigers to be eaten. The ancients were like this—what of me?” On the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month that year, snow fell deeply during the night.

The Second Patriarch stood below the steps until dawn, and the snow reached his knees. Patriarch Bodhidharma took pity on him and asked, “What do you seek by standing in the snow like this?” The Second Patriarch wept sorrowfully and replied, “I only beseech you, in your compassion, to open wide the gate of the sweet dew and universally deliver sentient beings.” Patriarch Bodhidharma said, “The wondrous Way of all Buddhas is attained through diligent effort over many kalpas, doing what is difficult to do and enduring what is difficult to endure.

How could one hope to obtain the true vehicle through slight virtue and slight wisdom, with a frivolous and arrogant mind? There is no such principle.” Upon hearing this admonition, the Second Patriarch’s aspiration for the Way became still more earnest. Secretly taking a sharp knife, he cut off his left arm and presented it before Patriarch Bodhidharma.

Bodhidharma knew that he was a vessel of the Dharma and said, “You stood outside in the snow and cut off your arm. For what purpose?” The Second Patriarch replied, “My mind is not at peace. I beg the Master to pacify my mind in accordance with the Dharma.” Bodhidharma said, “Bring me your mind, and I will pacify it for you.” The Second Patriarch replied, “I have searched for my mind, but ultimately it cannot be found.” Bodhidharma said, “I have finished pacifying your mind.” Bodhidharma later changed his name to Huike.

Later, Huike encountered the Third Patriarch Sengcan and transmitted the Dharma to him. Sengcan then lived in seclusion on Mount Huangong in Shuzhou. During the Later Zhou dynasty, when Emperor Wu destroyed the Buddhist teachings and expelled monks and nuns, the Third Patriarch traveled about Taihu County and the Sikong Mountains.

He had no fixed abode, and for more than ten years no one knew of him. The account of the Second Patriarch in Vinaya Master Daoxuan’s Biographies of Eminent Monks is unclear. The biography of the Third Patriarch says, “The wondrous Dharma of the Second Patriarch was not transmitted in the world; only later, through encountering such a person, was the place where he stood in the snow understood as before.” Therefore Xuedou said, “Standing outside in the snow, if he had not yet ceased, who would not be deceitful?” If his standing outside in the snow had not ceased, it would have been enough to make deceitful people imitate him; all at once, they would merely become deceitful—people belonging to the deceitful crowd.

Xuedou was versifying “An earthen Buddha does not pass through water”; why did he bring up this episode for use here? The Master’s investigation reached the point where not a single thing remained beneath the root of cognition. Only when stripped utterly bare could he compose such a verse.

Wuzu Fayan regularly instructed people to contemplate these three verses. Have you not seen the verse with which Venerable Shouchu instructed the assembly?

“On Mount Wutai, clouds cook rice;

Before the ancient Buddha’s house, a dog urinates against the sky.

Atop the banner pole, one intends to bake cakes;

Three foreign children scatter coins at night.”

Venerable Dushun versified:

“In Huaizhou, an ox eats the grain;

In Yizhou, the horse is fully fed.

Everyone seeks the physician

To lance this pig’s left thigh.”

Layman Fu versified:

“Empty-handed, I grasp the hoe;

Walking on foot, I ride the ox.

People pass back and forth upon the bridge;

The bridge flows, but the water does not.”

It is also said:

“A stone puppet resembles you

And also knows how to sing songs.

If you resemble the stone man,

The white snow should be sung in harmony.”

If you understand these words, you understand Xuedou’s verse:

VERSE:

A golden Buddha does not pass through the furnace.

A man comes to inquire of Zihu.

How many characters are on the stele?

Where is there no refreshing breeze?

TRANSLATION:

A golden Buddha does not pass through the furnace.

A man comes to inquire of Zihu.

How many characters are on the stele?

Where is there no refreshing breeze?

COMMENTARY ON THE VERSE: “A golden Buddha does not pass through the furnace; a man comes to inquire of Zihu.” These two lines have also completed the verse. Why then does he bring up the man who came to inquire of Zihu? One must be an adept who has undergone refinement and tempering.

Venerable Zihu erected a stele on the road leading up the mountain. On it was written: “Zihu has a dog. Above, it bites a person’s head; in the middle, it bites a person’s waist; below, it bites a person’s legs.

If you deliberate, you will lose your body and forfeit your life.” Whenever he saw a newcomer, he would immediately shout, “Watch out for the dog!” As soon as the monk turned his head to look, Zihu returned to the abbot’s quarters. Tell me, why could it not bite Zhaozhou? Again, one night at midnight, the Master shouted loudly from his room, “Catch the thief!

Catch the thief!” In the pitch darkness, he encountered a monk, seized him by the chest, and shouted, “I have caught him! I have caught him!” The monk said, “Venerable sir! It is I, not the thief.” Zihu said, “You are indeed the one; you simply refuse to admit it.” If you understand these words, I acknowledge that you can bite everyone to death, and everywhere the refreshing breeze will blow briskly.

If you have not yet attained this, you will certainly be unable to comprehend “How many characters are on the stele?” If you wish to see the Master, only by penetrating completely can you see him.

VERSE:

A wooden Buddha does not pass through fire.

I often think of Pizao Duo.

The staff suddenly struck him;

Only then did he know he had failed me.

TRANSLATION:

A wooden Buddha does not survive the fire;
I often recall P’o-tsao-to.

When the staff suddenly strikes,
Only then do I know he has failed me.

COMMENTARY ON THE VERSE: “A wooden Buddha does not survive the fire; I often recall P’o-tsao-to.” These two lines complete the verse. Because of this wooden Buddha that does not survive the fire, Hsueh-tou often thought of P’o-tsao-to. The monk P’o-tsao-to lived on Mount Sung. His name and family were unknown, and his words and conduct were difficult to fathom. He usually lived in seclusion on Mount Sung.

One day, the Master led the assembly deep into the mountains. There was a shrine there reputed to be highly efficacious. Within its sanctuary stood only a single hearth deity. People from near and far came continually to make offerings and pay homage, slaughtering and taking the lives of many creatures. The Master entered the shrine, took his staff, and struck the hearth three times, saying, “Fool! You are originally composed of clay and bricks. From where does your numinous power come? From what place does your holiness appear, that you cause such slaughter and taking of life?” He struck it three more times, whereupon the hearth toppled over and shattered.

A moment later, a man wearing a cap and blue robes suddenly appeared before the Master, bowed, and said, “I am the hearth deity. For a long time I have undergone karmic retribution. Today, through the Master’s teaching of the Dharma of non-arising, I have been released from this place and reborn in a heavenly realm. I have come to bow in gratitude.”

The Master said, “That is your originally inherent nature; it is not something I labored to explain.” The deity bowed again and disappeared.

The attendant said, “We have attended the Venerable for a long time, yet have never received such instruction. What direct and essential principle did the hearth deity attain that he was immediately reborn in a heavenly realm?”

The Master replied, “I merely said to him: ‘You are originally composed of clay and bricks. From where does your numinous power come? From what place does your holiness appear, that you cause such slaughter and taking of life?’”

The attendant was unable to respond.

The Master asked, “Do you understand?”

The attendant said, “I do not understand.”

The Master said, “Bow.”

The attendant bowed.

The Master said, “Shattered! Shattered! Fallen! Fallen!”

The attendant suddenly attained great awakening.

Later, someone related this story to National Teacher Hui-an. The National Teacher praised it, saying, “This man thoroughly understood that things and self are one in suchness. It was fitting that the hearth deity awakened to this principle. That monk, too, was composed of the five skandhas; when the Master likewise said, ‘Shattered and fallen,’ both attained awakening.”

Now then, are the four great elements and five skandhas the same as roof tiles, bricks, mud, and clay, or are they different? Since this is so, why did Hsueh-tou cite the words, “When the staff suddenly strikes, only then do I know he has failed me”? How did it become a failure? It is simply that he had not yet received the staff. Tell me: in versifying “A wooden Buddha does not survive the fire,” why did Hsueh-tou cite the case of P’o-tsao-to? This old monk will tell you directly: its meaning is simply to cut off gain and loss and strip bare the dusts of emotion and the imaginings of thought; then you will naturally see that intimate place.

CASE 97: THE DIAMOND SUTRA—THE DISSOLUTION OF SINFUL KARMA

POINTER: Grasping one and releasing one is still not the work of an adept; raising one and understanding three still runs contrary to the essential principle. Even if heaven and earth suddenly transformed, all four directions fell silent, thunder pealed and lightning flashed, clouds raced and rain swept on, lakes overturned and mountains toppled, basins broke and pots capsized, not even half could be brought forth. Is there anyone who can skillfully turn the gate of heaven or shift the axis of the earth? Let us see by bringing it forth.

CASE: The Diamond Sutra says: “If one is despised by others, that person’s sinful karma from previous lives should cause rebirth in the evil paths; but because one is despised by others in this life, one’s sinful karma from previous lives will surely be extinguished.”

COMMENTARY: The Diamond Sutra says: “If one is despised by others, that person’s sinful karma from previous lives should cause rebirth in the evil paths; but because one is despised by others in this life, one’s sinful karma from previous lives will surely be extinguished.” According to ordinary study and exposition, this is a conventional teaching in the sutra. Hsueh-tou raised it and composed a verse on it because he wished to demolish the interpretations of the sutra lecturers who seek a means of survival inside a demon’s cave.

Crown Prince Chao-ming classified this section under the heading “Able to Purify Karmic Obstructions.” The general meaning of the sutra is that this scripture possesses miraculous efficacy. Such a person created karma for hell in a previous life, but because its powerful force has not yet brought its result, that person is despised by others in the present life, and the sinful karma from previous lives will surely be extinguished. This sutra can extinguish sinful karma accumulated throughout immeasurable kalpas down to the present, transforming the heavy into the light and freeing one even from undergoing the light, and it further enables one to attain the Buddha-fruit of bodhi.

According to the exponents of sutras and treatises, reciting more than twenty chapters of this sutra is called “upholding the sutra.” What relevance does that have? Some say that the sutra itself possesses miraculous efficacy. If so, try placing a copy of the sutra in an empty place and see whether it produces any response.

Fa-yen said, “One who realizes the stage of Buddhahood is called one who upholds this sutra.” The sutra says, “All Buddhas, together with the Dharma of unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment attained by all Buddhas, arise from this sutra.” Tell me, what is meant by “this sutra”? Surely it does not mean a book with a golden spine and red covers. Do not mistakenly take the weight from a balance scale.

“Diamond” is a metaphor for the indestructibility of the Dharma-body, which no object can destroy. Its sharp function can shatter and subdue all things: when it turns toward a mountain, the mountain collapses; when it turns toward the sea, the sea dries up. The name is established on the basis of this metaphor, and the Dharma is likewise. Prajnaparamita is of three kinds:

1)- Prajnaparamita of True Reality.

2)- Prajnaparamita of Contemplative Illumination.

3)- Prajnaparamita of Written Words.

The true mark of prajna is true wisdom. This one great matter is right beneath your feet—supremely radiant throughout past and present, utterly transcending seeing and knowing, stripped bare and plainly revealed. Contemplative prajna is the true realm; throughout the twelve hours of the day, it radiates light everywhere, hearing sounds and seeing forms.

Literary prajna is the spoken word, just as there are now one who speaks and others who listen. Tell me, is this prajna or is it not prajna? An ancient said, “Each person naturally possesses a scroll of scripture.” He also said, “Though the hands hold no scripture scroll, one constantly recites it thus.” Judged by the efficacious power of this scripture, it does far more than turn grave karma into light karma and spare one from undergoing light karma; even if its efficacy equaled that of the sages, this would still not be extraordinary.

Layman Pang was listening to an exposition of the Diamond Sutra when he asked the Dharma master, “This layman has a small matter he would like to ask about. May I?” The Dharma master replied, “If you have a doubt, please ask.” Pang Yun asked, “There is no mark of self and no mark of person. Since there is neither the mark of self nor of person, whom do you tell to lecture, and whom to listen?” The Dharma master could not answer and said, “I explain the meaning according to the text; I do not understand this point.” Pang Yun composed a verse:

This verse is excellent; it clearly says everything at once. Guifeng analyzed a four-line verse, saying: “Whatever has marks is entirely false and illusory. If one sees that all marks are not marks, one thereby sees the Tathagata.” This is the meaning of a four-line verse, like the statement, “One who realizes the ground of Buddhahood is called one who upholds this scripture.” Again it says: “If one sees me through form, or seeks me through sound, that person practices a deviant path and cannot see the Tathagata.” This too is a four-line verse. It is correct if one grasps its meaning therein.

A monk asked Huitang, “What is the four-line verse?” Huitang replied, “Once the words have fallen, I do not know.”

Xuedou points it out in relation to “this scripture”: if anyone upholds “this scripture,” it is your original ground’s scenery, your original face. Yet when the ancestral command is in force, even the original ground’s scenery and the original face are cut into three sections; the Buddhas of the three times and the twelve divisions of the teachings are not worth a single press of the finger. On arriving here, even if one possessed myriad kinds of efficacy, one still could not scrutinize it.

People today merely concern themselves with reciting scriptures and never understand the principle involved. They only like to say how much or how little they can recite in a day, clinging to yellow covers and red bindings and chasing after rows of black characters. Little do they know that it all arises from their own fundamental mind; this precisely is the place of recitation.

Great Master Dazhu said, “Pile several chests of scriptures in a room and see whether they emit light. It is solely because one thought within oneself gives rise to the resolve that there is merit. Why? Because the myriad dharmas all issue from one’s own mind. One thought is numinous; being numinous, it penetrates; penetrating, it transforms.”

An ancient said, “The luxuriantly green bamboo is entirely true thusness; the profusely blooming yellow flowers are all prajna.” If you see through completely, it is true thusness. If you have not yet seen it, tell me: what is true thusness?

The Avatamsaka Sutra says: “If one wishes to clearly know all the Buddhas of the three times, one should contemplate the nature of the Dharma realm: everything is created by mind.” If you understand this, then whenever you encounter objects and meet conditions, you act as master and sovereign. If you are not yet able to understand, listen carefully to the explanation. Xuedou opens his eyes and broadly versifies it, intending to reveal the efficacy of “this scripture.”

VERSE:

TRANSLATION:

He further said: “The examination is finished.”

EXPLANATION OF THE VERSE: The two lines, “The bright pearl is in the palm; those with merit are surely rewarded,” mean that if someone upholds “this scripture” and manifests its efficacy, the pearl is brought forth as a reward. Once that person obtains this pearl, he naturally knows how to use it: when a Hu comes, a Hu appears; when a Han comes, a Han appears. The myriad phenomena, dense and profuse, manifest freely in every direction. This is meritorious achievement. Fayan said, “One who realizes the ground of Buddhahood is called one who upholds this scripture.” These two lines finish versifying the koan.

With the two lines, “When neither Hu nor Han comes, there is utterly no contrivance,” Xuedou twists your nose around. If a Hu or a Han comes, he tells you to manifest him; but when neither Hu nor Han comes, what then? On arriving here, even the Buddha-eye cannot see it. Tell me: is it meritorious achievement or sinful karma? Is it Hu or Han? It truly resembles an antelope hanging by its horns. Do not speak merely of echoes or traces—even its scent is absent. Where could you search for it? Even if the devas offered flowers, they would have no way to reach it; demons and outsiders secretly peering at it would find no gate.

Thus, although Master Dongshan presided over a monastery throughout his life, the local earth deity could find no trace of him. One day, seeing rice and noodles scattered carelessly in front of the kitchen, the master gave rise to a thought and said, “How could the property of the permanent Sangha be treated with such contempt?” The earth deity was then able to see him and immediately bowed in homage.

Xuedou says, “Since there is no contrivance.” If, on arriving here, there is nowhere to scrutinize, even Mara Papiyan must lose his way. The World-Honored One regards all sentient beings as his own infant children. If even one person gives rise to the resolve to practice, Papiyan’s palace cracks apart, and he immediately comes to vex and disturb the practitioner. Xuedou says that even if Mara Papiyan should come in this manner, he would still be made to lose every path and would be unable to approach the practitioner.

Xuedou then strikes his own chest and says, “Gautama! Gautama! Do you know me or not?” Do not speak merely of Mara Papiyan; even if the Buddha came, would he know me or not? Even old Shakyamuni cannot see it—where will you search? He further says: “The examination is finished.” Tell me: did Xuedou see through Gautama, or did Gautama see through Xuedou? Those with eyes should try to judge.

CASE 98: TIANPING GOES ON PILGRIMAGE

POINTER: “All summer long, bustling about and producing entangling vines, he seemed to have bound the monks of the Five Lakes. When the precious Diamond Sword cuts directly at the head, only then does one understand that for a long time one has been incapable in a hundred ways.” Tell me, what is the precious Diamond Sword? Raise your gaze to your eyebrows and try to display its sharp point.

KOAN: When Master Tianping was traveling on pilgrimage, he went to visit Xiyuan. He habitually said to himself, “Do not speak of understanding the Buddhadharma; there is not even anyone who can utter a saying.”

One day, Xiyuan called from afar, “Tungyi!” Tianping raised his head. Xiyuan said, “Wrong!” Tianping walked two or three steps. Xiyuan said, “Wrong!” Tianping approached. Xiyuan said, “Regarding those two ‘wrongs’ just now, was Xiyuan wrong, or was the senior monk wrong?” Tianping replied, “Tungyi was wrong!” Xiyuan said, “Wrong!” Tianping departed. Xiyuan said, “Stay here for the summer retreat, and I shall discuss these two ‘wrongs’ with you, senior monk.” Tianping, however, left at once.

Later, when Tianping presided over a monastery, he told the assembly: “When I first went traveling on pilgrimage, the winds of karma blew me to Elder Siming’s place. He successively brought down two ‘wrongs’ upon me and then tried to detain me for the summer retreat, saying that he would discuss them with me. I did not say at the time that it was wrong. When I lifted my feet and headed south, I had already known it was wrong.”

COMMENTARY: Siming first studied under Dajue and later succeeded the former Baoshou. One day he asked, “What is it like when one arrives after trampling the transformed city to pieces?” Baoshou replied, “A sharp sword does not cut a dead man.” Siming said, “Cut!” Baoshou immediately struck him. Siming said “Cut!” ten times, and Baoshou struck him ten times, saying, “This fellow is in desperate haste to die, bringing a dead corpse to withstand painful blows,” and then shouted and drove him out.

At that time, a monk said to Baoshou, “The monk’s question just now was quite reasonable. The Venerable should employ skillful means to receive him.” Baoshou also struck this monk and drove him out. Tell me: Did Baoshou strike and drive out this monk because he had spoken rightly or wrongly, or was there another principle involved?

What was his meaning? Later, both men succeeded Baoshou. One day Siming went to pay his respects to Nanyuan.

Nanyuan asked, “Where have you come from?” Siming replied, “From Xuzhou.” Nanyuan asked, “What have you brought?” Siming replied, “I have brought a razor from Jiangxi to offer to the Venerable.” Nanyuan asked, “Since you have come from Xuzhou, why do you have a razor from Jiangxi?” Siming seized Nanyuan’s hand and pinched it. Nanyuan said, “Attendant, take it.” Siming flicked his robe once and departed. Nanyuan said, “Ah, how delightful!

How delightful!”

Ah, how delightful! How delightful! Tianping had once gone to study under Master Xiyuan.

Because he had gone about to various places and acquired a bellyful of vegetable-patch Chan, wherever he went he opened his great mouth and declared that he understood Chan and understood the Way. He often said, “Do not even speak of understanding the Buddha-Dharma; one cannot find anyone who can utter a saying.” Reeking dung fumigated everyone as he concerned himself only with pouring forth his frivolity. Now, before the buddhas appeared in the world and before the Patriarch came from India, before there were questions and answers or public cases, was there still Chan and the Way?

The ancients, compelled by circumstances, taught according to the capacities before them; later people called these teachings “public cases.” Once the World-Honored One held up a flower, and Mahakasyapa smiled faintly. Later, Ananda asked Mahakasyapa, “Besides transmitting the golden brocade robe, did the World-Honored One separately transmit any Dharma?” Mahakasyapa called, “Ananda!” Ananda answered, “Yes!” Mahakasyapa said, “Take down the banner pole before the gate.” Before the flower had been raised and before Ananda asked his question, where could a public case be found?

Yet people merely allow themselves to be certified everywhere with a winter-melon seal and then say, “I understand the wondrous Buddha-Dharma; do not let others know.” Tianping was precisely like this. When Xiyuan twice in succession called him “Wrong!” he became frightened, alarmed, and confused, neither reaching the village ahead nor returning to the lodging behind. Some say that speaking of the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West was already wrong.

Yet they do not know where Xiyuan’s two utterances of “Wrong!” actually fell. All of you, tell me: Where did they fall? Therefore it is said, “He studied the living phrase, not the dead phrase.” As soon as Tianping raised his head, he had already fallen two or three times.

Xiyuan said, “Wrong!” Yet Tianping could not advance to the point of present functioning; he merely thought that he had Chan in his belly and needed no one, and walked another two or three steps. Xiyuan said, “Wrong!” Tianping was still as utterly benighted as before. Tianping approached, and Xiyuan said, “Regarding those two utterances of ‘Wrong!’ just now, was Xiyuan wrong, or was the Senior Monk wrong?” Tianping said, “Congyi was wrong.” How laughable and irrelevant!

He was already at the seventh or eighth level. Xiyuan said, “Stay here for the summer retreat, and I shall discuss those two utterances of ‘Wrong!’ with you.” At that, Tianping immediately departed. It resembles it, to be sure, but it is not yet right.

Nor can it be said that Tianping was wrong; it is simply that he could not advance. Even so, he still had a faint trace of the spirit of a Chan monk. Later, when Tianping presided over a monastery, he told the assembly, “When I first set out on pilgrimage, the winds of karma blew me to the place of the Venerable Siming, where he twice in succession brought down the word ‘Wrong!’ He also asked me to remain for the summer retreat so that he might discuss it with me.

I do not say that I was wrong at that time. The moment I set out toward the South, I already knew that I was wrong.” Although this fellow said it to the utmost, he had merely fallen into the seventh or eighth level; beginning and end did not connect. Nowadays, when someone hears Tianping say, “The moment I set out toward the South, I already knew that I was wrong,” he may immediately reason, “Before setting out on pilgrimage, there was not so much Buddha-Dharma or the Chan Way; once he went on pilgrimage, he was rebuked and deceived everywhere.

It was better before he set out, when he called earth heaven and mountains water—happily, there was not a single matter.” If you give rise to such a commonplace interpretation, why not buy everyone a hat to wear and merely pass the time? What use would that be? The Buddha-Dharma is not this sort of principle.

If this matter is discussed, how could there be so many entangling vines? If you say, “I understand, but he does not,” you carry a load of Chan and run throughout the world. When a clear-eyed person exposes you, you will be unable to employ even a single speck of it.

Xuedou brought this out in verse precisely as follows:

VERSE: Those of the Chan school delight in simplicity;

With bellies full from study, they cannot put it to use.

How pitiable, how laughable, old Tianping—

He even said that at first he regretted going on pilgrimage.

Wrong! Wrong!

Xiyuan’s pure wind suddenly swept everything away.

TRANSLATION: The Chan lineage delights in simplicity;

With bellies full from study, they cannot put it to use.

How pitiable, how laughable, old Tianping—

He even said that at first he regretted going on pilgrimage.

Wrong! Wrong!

Xiyuan’s beneficent wind blew everything completely away.

He further said: Suddenly a Chan monk came forward and said, “Wrong!” Xuedou’s wrongness—how could it be the same as Tianping’s wrongness?

COMMENTARY ON THE VERSE: Regarding the two lines, “Those of the Chan school delight in simplicity; with bellies full from study, they cannot put it to use”: this fellow understood, to be sure, but simply could not put it to use. Ordinarily he gazed up at the clouds in the sky and proclaimed how much Chan he understood, but when he encountered a furnace just beginning to blaze, he could not employ even a single speck of it.

My late teacher Wuzu said, “There is a group of people who study Chan like glutinous-rice cakes placed in a crystal jar: they cannot roll around, cannot be poured out, and if touched, they shatter. If you need freedom of movement, study only the Chan of a torn outer shell; even if you go straight up a high mountain and hurl it down, it will neither break nor be damaged.” An ancient said, “Even if you can advance before words are spoken, you are still confined within the shell and stuck to its resin;

even if you thoroughly comprehend beneath the phrase, you have still not escaped encountering the path and becoming confused by what you see.” Regarding the two lines, “How pitiable, how laughable, old Tianping—he even said that at first he regretted going on pilgrimage”: Xuedou said that Tianping was pitiable because he could not express it before others, and laughable because he understood a kind of belly-skin Chan yet could not employ even a little of it.

“Wrong! Wrong!” Some say these two wrongs meant that Tianping’s failure to understand was wrong. Others say that having no such words would be wrong.

What relevance does any of this have? They do not know that these two wrongs are like stones striking together and flashing fire, like a flash of lightning; they are the provisions of one who proceeds toward the highest. It is like taking up a sword to cut someone down: you must sever the person’s neck at once, and only then will the root of life perish.

If you can proceed upon this sharp sword, you will immediately move freely in every direction. If you understand these two wrongs, you can see how “Xiyuan’s pure wind suddenly swept everything away.” After Xuedou ascended the hall and raised this story, he deliberately said, “Wrong!” I ask you: Is Xuedou’s wrongness the same as Tianping’s wrongness? Study this for thirty years.

CASE 99: NATIONAL TEACHER ZHONG’S TEN BODIES OF THE TAMER

POINTER: When the dragon chants, mists arise; when the tiger roars, the wind is born. The lineage of the world-transcending Way emerges, and gold and jade strike against each other. The working methods of those who penetrate everywhere are like two arrowheads meeting in flight. Throughout the entire realm, it has never been concealed; far and near, it is equally revealed; past and present, it is clearly discerned. Tell me: Whose realm is this? Let us see it brought forth.

PUBLIC CASE: Emperor Suzong asked National Teacher Huizhong, “What are the ten bodies of the Tamer?” The National Teacher replied, “Benefactor, tread upon the crown of Vairocana’s head and walk.” The Emperor said, “I do not understand.” The National Teacher said, “Do not mistakenly regard your own pure Dharma-body as the ultimate.”

EXPLANATION: When Emperor Suzong was still Crown Prince, he consulted National Teacher Huizhong. After ascending the throne, he showed him even greater reverence; whenever the National Teacher came or went, the emperor personally helped him into his carriage. One day, the emperor posed this question to the National Teacher: “What are the ten bodies of the Tamer?” The National Teacher replied, “Patron, walk upon Vairocana’s crown.” Ordinarily, the National Teacher’s backbone was as hard as iron, yet before the emperor he was just like soft mud.

Nevertheless, though his answer was commonplace, it had an excellent point. The Teacher was saying: If you wish to understand, patron, you must walk upon Vairocana’s crown. The emperor made no further progress and said, “We do not understand.” Thereafter, the National Teacher became exceedingly verbose and fell into the weeds, adding another statement on top of the first: “Do not mistakenly recognize your own pure Dharma-body.” Thus it is said that everyone possesses it fully and each is perfectly complete.

Observe how the Teacher first releases and then gathers in, meeting adversaries on all eight sides. Have you not heard that one skilled in being a teacher expounds the teaching according to the capacity of those before him, setting sail according to the wind? If one merely clings defensively to a single corner, how could one know how to turn freely?

Observe how that old Huangbo was exceptionally gifted in receiving people. When he met Linji, he bestowed sixty blows upon him on three occasions, and Linji immediately understood. Yet when he met Chancellor Pei Xiu, there were far too many entangling vines.

Is this not skill in being a teacher? National Teacher Huizhong used skillful means to receive Emperor Suzong because the Teacher possessed methods capable of meeting adversaries on all eight sides. The ten bodies of the Tamer are ten kinds of bodies for the enjoyment of others.

The three bodies—the Dharma-body, Reward-body, and Transformation-body—are the Dharma-body. Why? Because the Reward-body and Transformation-body are not the true Buddha, nor do they expound the Dharma.

The Dharma-body is a single expanse of empty stillness, numinously luminous, quiescent, and illuminating.

When Senior Fu of Taiyuan resided at Guangxiao Monastery in Yangzhou, he lectured on the Nirvana Sutra. There was a traveling monk—the cook of Jiashan—who, being hindered by snow, temporarily lodged at the monastery and consequently attended the lecture. When the lecture reached the three causes of Buddha-nature and the three virtues of the Dharma-body, Senior Fu spoke extensively about the wondrous principle of the Dharma-body. The cook suddenly burst out laughing. Senior Fu saw this and, after finishing the lecture, sent an attendant to invite the Chan master to come and asked him, “My wisdom and understanding are meager; I merely explain the meaning according to the text. During my lecture, I saw you laugh. If there was some deficiency, I ask that you instruct me.”

The cook said, “Had the lecturer not asked, I would not have dared to speak. Since you have asked, I cannot remain silent. In truth, I laughed because you do not know the Dharma-body.”

Senior Fu asked, “When I explain it in this way, what is incorrect?”

The cook said, “Please state it once more.”

Senior Fu said, “The principle of the Dharma-body is like empty space: vertically, it exhausts the three times; horizontally, it pervades the ten directions; it fills the eight extremities and embraces the two cosmic principles. Responding to conditions and according with stimuli, where does it not extend everywhere?”

The cook said, “I am not saying that the lecturer’s exposition is wrong. You merely know matters on the quantitative side of the Dharma-body; in truth, you do not yet know the Dharma-body.”

Fu said, “Since that is certainly so, Chan practitioner, please explain it to me.”

The cook said, “If so, stop lecturing for one week. Sit upright in a quiet chamber and contemplate in stillness. Gather in the mind and collect your thoughts; all wholesome and unwholesome conditions must be relinquished at once. Investigate for yourself to the utmost and see.”

Fu followed his instruction. From the beginning of the night until the fifth watch, he sat; upon hearing the sound of the drum, he suddenly attained accord and realization. He immediately ran to knock on the Chan practitioner’s door.

The cook asked, “Who is it?”

Fu said, “It is I.”

The cook rebuked him: “You were told to transmit the great teaching and expound the Dharma on behalf of the Buddha. Why are you drunk in the middle of the night, lying outside in the road?”

Fu said, “In the past, when lecturing on the sutras, I twisted the nostrils given to me by my parents. From now on, I shall never again dare to act like that.”

Look at him—he was an extraordinary person. How could one merely recognize that shining, numinous awareness, fall before the donkey and behind the horse, and consider that sufficient? What connection would that have? Even if one shatters karmic consciousness so that not a single strand remains, that still amounts to only half. An ancient said:

“Without giving rise to the slightest thought of cultivation or learning,
Within formless radiance one is ever free and at ease.”

Simply know that which is eternally quiescent and extinguished; do not recognize sights and sounds as it. Simply know that numinous awareness; do not recognize deluded thought as it. Therefore it is said:

“Even if an iron wheel revolves upon one’s head,
The bright perfection of samadhi and wisdom is never lost.”

Bodhidharma asked the Second Patriarch, “You stand in the snow outside and have cut off your arm—precisely for what matter?”

The Second Patriarch said, “My mind is not yet at peace. I beg the Master to pacify my mind.”

Bodhidharma said, “Bring forth your mind, and I shall pacify it for you.”

The Second Patriarch said, “I have searched for the mind, but ultimately it cannot be found.”

Bodhidharma said, “I have pacified your mind.”

The Second Patriarch suddenly received realization. Tell me: precisely at that moment, where was the Dharma-body?

Changsha said:

“Because students of the Way do not recognize the truth,
They have always merely recognized the conscious spirit.
Through measureless kalpas it has been the root of birth and death;
Fools call it the person as he has always been.”

People nowadays merely recognize that shining, numinous awareness, then stare fixedly with bulging eyes and toy with their spirit. What connection does that have? As for the National Teacher saying, “Do not recognize your own pure Dharma-body,” you have not even dreamed of your own Dharma-body, so how can you speak of not recognizing it?

The schools of the sutras and treatises regard the pure Dharma-body as the ultimate; why, then, would he tell people not to recognize it? Have you not heard it said, “Even if you recognize it as before, it is still not right. Dolt!

You deserve a beating”? Only upon understanding this meaning can you understand the National Teacher’s statement: “Do not recognize your own pure Dharma-body.” Xuedou did not appreciate the National Teacher’s earnest grandmotherly kindness, not realizing that there were thorns even in the mud.

Have you not seen that Master Dongshan had three roads for receiving people: the mysterious road, the bird path, and extending the hands? Those newly beginning to study the Way must travel these three roads. A monk asked, “Ordinarily, Master, you instruct students to travel the bird path. I do not yet know: what is the bird path?”

Dongshan replied, “Not encountering a single person.”

The monk asked, “How does one travel it?”

Dongshan replied, “You must travel with no personal concerns beneath your feet.”

The monk asked, “Is traveling the bird path the Original Face?”

Dongshan replied, “Why are you, Acarya, turned upside down?”

The monk asked, “Where am I turned upside down?”

Dongshan replied, “If you were not turned upside down, why would you recognize the servant as the master?”

The monk asked, “What is the Original Face?”

Dongshan replied, “Not traveling the bird path.”

One must see as far as this realm before gaining a small measure of accord. To apply one’s efforts directly there, concealing one’s traces and hiding one’s voice, is still merely the understanding of a novice traveling together with others within the house of Chan. One must turn one’s head and return amid the dust and toil, bringing forth thousands upon thousands of great functions. Only then will it do. Xuedou versifies:

VERSE:

Nhất quốc chi Sư diệc cưỡng danh

Nam Dương độc hứa chấn gia thanh

Đại Đường phù đắc chân Thiên tử

Tằng đạp Tỳ-lô đảnh thượng hành

Thiết chùy kích toái hoàng kim cốt

Thiên địa chi giang cánh hà vật

Tam thiên sát hải dạ trầm trầm

Bất tri thùy nhập thương long huyệt.

TRANSLATION:

Teacher of a nation—this too is but a forced name;

Nanyang alone was acknowledged for making the family’s renown resound.

He assisted the Great Tang in gaining a true Son of Heaven,

Who once walked upon Vairocana’s crown.

An iron hammer smashes the golden bones to fragments;

Within the expanse of heaven and earth, what thing could remain?

The seas of lands throughout the three-thousandfold world sink into the deep night;

Who knows who has entered the fierce dragon’s cave?

COMMENTARY ON THE VERSE: The two lines, “To call him teacher of a nation is already a forced designation; Nanyang alone is acknowledged for making the essential sound resound,” are exactly like a eulogy inscribed upon a portrait. Have you not heard, “The ultimate person has no name”? To call him National Teacher is already to impose a name upon him.

The National Teacher’s Way cannot be compared with anything; so skillful was he in receiving people that Nanyang alone is acknowledged as an adept. The two lines, “In the Great Tang he assisted a worthy sovereign; once he trod upon Vairocana’s crown and walked,” mean that a Chan monk endowed with clear eyes must walk upon Vairocana’s crown before he can see the ten bodies of the Tamer. The Buddha is called the Tamer; this is one of his ten epithets.

One body transforms into ten bodies, ten bodies transform into a hundred bodies, and so on to thousands, hundreds of millions of bodies… Fundamentally, there is only the one body. This line of verse is also easy to explain.

In the lines that follow, the National Teacher says, “Do not take your own pure Dharma-body to be it.” To render this in verse so that not even water sprinkled upon it adheres is indeed difficult to express.

“The iron hammer smashes the fragment of golden bone;
Within heaven and earth, what thing could there be?”

These two lines refer to “Do not take your own pure Dharma-body to be it.” Xuedou praises this to the utmost: a single fragment of golden bone has already been smashed to pieces with one hammer blow. What thing could still exist within heaven and earth? One must strip everything bare and reveal it plainly, without a single thing that can be grasped; only then is it the scenery of the original ground.

It is like “the three-thousandfold ocean of worlds sinking into stillness at night.” The three-thousand-great-thousandfold world-system lies within the Fragrant Water Ocean. There are boundless lands, each with its own sea; precisely in the stillness of deepest night, heaven and earth sink together into silence. Now say, what is this?

Above all, avoid forming an intellectual understanding by covering your face and closing your eyes. If you understand it in that way, you have fallen into a poisonous sea. “No one knows who enters the fierce dragon’s cave”—whether stretching out the legs or drawing them in.

Now say, who is it? Xuedou has already pierced all your nostrils at once.

CASE 100: BALING’S HAIR-BLOWING SWORD

POINTER: Gathering the cause and bringing about the result, consummating both beginning and end, he faces you without partiality, yet fundamentally has never spoken. Suddenly someone comes forward and says, “Throughout the entire summer you accepted our invitation; why have you never spoken?” Wait until you have awakened, and then I will speak for you. Now say, is this evading the matter right before one’s face, or is there some special excellence here? Let us examine the case.

PUBLIC CASE: A monk asked Baling, “What is the hair-blowing sword?” Baling replied, “Each branch of coral props up the moon.”

COMMENTARY: Baling did not raise a battle, yet throughout the four seas and five lakes, how many people’s tongues fell to the ground? Yunmen received people in precisely this way. The master was a true Dharma heir of Yunmen, so in every instance he possessed the complete strategy. Thus it is said, “I admire Shaoyang’s newly settled mechanism; throughout his life, for the sake of others, he pulled out nails and drew out pegs.” This exchange is exactly such a place. Within a single phrase, the three phrases are naturally complete: enclosing heaven and earth, cutting off all streams, and following the currents and pursuing the waves. His reply was truly extraordinary.

Master Yuanlu of Fushan said, “For one who has not penetrated, investigating the phrase is not as good as investigating its meaning; for one who has penetrated, investigating the meaning is not as good as investigating the phrase.” Under Yunmen there were three venerable masters. When each was asked about the “hair-blowing sword,” all replied with the word “Liao.” Baling alone gave an answer that exceeded the single word “Liao”; this is attaining the phrase.

Now say, are the word “Liao” and “Each branch of coral props up the moon” the same or different? Earlier it was said that by discerning the three phrases, one can recognize an arrow passing through the sky. If you wish to understand this exchange, only when the dust of emotion and conceptual thought has been utterly exhausted will you see it.

The master said, “Each branch of coral props up the moon.” If you raise up doctrines and principles, you will find it all the more impossible to reach by searching. This line was taken from Chan Master Guanxiu’s poem “Remembering a Friend”:

“Thick as iron upon Mount Cakravada,
Thin as silk from the immortal Shuangcheng’s robe;
Shu’s loom, with phoenix and fledgling, works as the feet tread,
Each branch of coral props up the moon.
Hidden in Wang Kai’s treasury, it is hard to dig out;
Yan Hui, the hungry man, grieves beneath the snowy sky.
Through ancient pines, straight peaks—what thunderbolt has broken them?
The stone woman in snowy robes—the peach banquet is deserted.
Wearing it, one walks slowly into the Dragon Palace;
How could embroidered curtains differ from silver screens?
None knows that the black dragon has lost its precious pearl—
Do you know, or do you not know?”

Baling extracted a single line from this poem to answer the question about the “hair-blowing sword”; it was truly apt. To test a sharp sword, one blows a hair across its edge. If the hair parts of itself, the sword is sharp; hence it is called a hair-blowing sword. Baling merely followed the point of the monk’s question and immediately answered him; the monk’s head fell, yet he did not even know it.

EXPLANATION OF THE VERSE: As for the two lines, “Seeking to right what is not right, excessive skill turns into clumsiness,” in ancient times there was a wandering swordsman who, upon seeing an injustice on the road, when the strong oppressed the weak, would immediately send his flying sword to take the strong man’s head. Thus, a master of our school conceals a precious sword within his eyebrows and hides a golden mallet in his sleeve in order to put an end to injustice.

Excessive skill turns into clumsiness: the essence of Baling’s reply was to right what was not right. Yet his words were so excessively skillful that they turned into clumsiness. Why?

Because he did not brandish his sword face-to-face, but instead hid in a deserted place and secretly severed the man’s head without the man knowing it. As for the two lines, “Whether finger or palm, Yitian illumines the snow,” if you understand, it is like the long sword Yitian, its divine might awe-inspiring. An ancient said: “The moon of mind is solitary and full; its radiance envelops the myriad forms.

The radiance does not illuminate objects, and objects too do not remain. When both radiance and objects are forgotten, what is it then?” This precious sword may appear upon a finger or suddenly appear in the palm. Long ago, when Repository Master Qing reached this point, he raised his hand and said: “Do you see it?” It is not necessarily upon the finger.

Xuedou borrows the road to pass through, enabling you to see the meaning of the ancients. Thus it is said: Everywhere, all is the hair-blowing sword. Therefore it is said: “At the three-tiered rapids, the fish transforms into a dragon, yet the fool still scoops water from the Tang River.” The Zuting Shiyuan records in the tale of the Filial Son: “During the summer, the consort of the king of Chu often went out to enjoy the breeze.

Leaning against an iron pillar, she conceived, and afterward gave birth to a lump of iron. The king of Chu ordered Ganjiang to forge it into swords. Only after three years were two swords completed, one female and one male.

Ganjiang secretly kept the male sword and presented the female sword to the king of Chu. The king of Chu placed it in its case and often heard it cry sorrowfully. The king questioned his ministers, and a minister replied: ‘Swords have female and male counterparts.

Its sorrowful cry means that it longs for the male.’ The king became enraged and had Ganjiang seized and put to death. Ganjiang knew this would come to pass, so he hid the sword inside a pillar in his house and instructed his wife, Moye: ‘The sun rises at the northern gate; the pine stands upon the southern mountain. The pine grows from stone, and the sword is within it.’ Later, his wife gave birth to a son named Meijianchi.

When he reached the age of fifteen, he asked his mother: ‘Where is my father?’ His mother related the preceding events. He pondered for a long time, then split open the pillar and obtained the sword. Day and night he wished to avenge his father.

The king of Chu also issued an order to search for him, proclaiming that whoever captured Meijianchi would be richly rewarded. Meijianchi fled. Suddenly, a traveler asked him: ‘Are you Meijianchi?’ Chi replied: ‘I am.’ The traveler said: ‘I am the True Man of the Mountain, and I can avenge your father for you.’ Chi said: ‘In the past, my father was unjustly killed without cause.

Now that you take pity on me, what do you require?’ The traveler replied: ‘I must have your head and the sword.’ Chi thereupon offered him the sword and his head. Having obtained them, the traveler went and presented them to the king of Chu. The king of Chu was greatly delighted.

The traveler said: ‘Please boil it in oil.’ The king then placed the head in a cauldron. The traveler falsely told the king: ‘His head will not dissolve.’ The king drew near to look. From behind, the traveler used the sword to cut off the king’s head, which fell into the cauldron.

The two heads bit at one another. Fearing that Meijianchi would not prevail, the traveler cut off his own head and cast it in to assist him. The three heads bit one another and gradually dissolved completely.” Xuedou said, “This sword can lean against heaven and illumine the snow.” Ordinarily it is said, “The long sword Yitian, gleaming, can illumine the snow.” Its use here is direct and immediate: “Even a master smith could not forge and polish it.” Though one were an excellent craftsman, one still could not finish cleaning and polishing it.

The excellent craftsman is Ganjiang himself; the ancient matter is already clear. After Xuedou finished his verse, at the very end he revealed it, saying, “Different! Different!” This is indeed extraordinary and singular; it possesses a particular excellence unlike that of an ordinary sword.

Tell me, in what way is it different? “Branch after branch of coral props up the moon.” It may well be called penetrating from beginning to end, standing alone within the universe, with none to equal it. Ultimately, how is it?

Your heads have fallen. This old monk also has a short verse:

Vạn hộc doanh chu tín thủ noa

Khước nhân thất liệp úng thôn xà

Niêm đề bách chuyển cựu công án

Tát khước thời nhân kỷ nhãn sa.

TRANSLATION: A boat filled with ten thousand hu is easily drawn;

Yet because of a single grain, the jar contains a snake.

Raised and turned a hundred times—the ancient koan;

When sand is flung at people of this age, how many eyes are filled?