撫州曹山本寂禪師語錄

The Master ascended the hall. A monk asked:

– What is a great icchantika?

The Master replied: One who does not fear karma.

The monk asked: What is an ignorant person?

The Master replied: One who is utterly unenlightened.

The monk asked: Of these two kinds of people, which comes first?

The Master replied: The ignorant person.

The monk asked: Why does the icchantika come afterward?

The Master replied: Because he is a person of the future.

The monk asked: Then does the ignorant person not proceed from today?

The Master replied: Correct!

The monk asked: If he does not proceed from today, where does ignorance come from?

The Master replied: He dares not enter the place of light!

The monk asked: Is that not the place that is neither light nor dark?

The Master replied: Correct.

The monk asked: What about at that very moment?

The Master replied: It is not touched. The Master continued: There are many kinds of icchantikas:

– The first kill their fathers and mothers, cause the body of a Buddha to bleed, disrupt the harmony of the Sangha, and destroy monasteries and temples. This kind will certainly undergo various painful karmic retributions.

– The second are likewise as described above, but they kill the father of ignorance and the mother of craving; they do not believe there is a Buddha, Dharma, or Sangha to destroy, nor a monastery that can be demolished. Yet because they cling to what the mind has attained, they too fall and undergo illusory karmic retributions, rising and descending in different ways.

– The third clearly know their own original affair, which is called father and mother. They do not seek outside themselves; there is neither cultivation nor realization, neither cause nor effect; it is not obtained from a teacher, nor accomplished through realization. Not giving rise to an understanding of the father is called killing; not giving rise to an understanding of the mother is called harming. This means that none of the essential matters are maintained or retained, and so it is called killing and harming. The slightest arising of reverence or savoring of its flavor means that one has failed to accomplish the matter of knowing oneself; therefore, such a person is called a great icchantika. To bring forth wondrous power from this is to know, through the vehicle of the Chan school, how to shoulder the affairs of the house. One must cut off the mysterious path and break through the winding, distant road, as the Old Man of Xinfeng[13] demonstrated.

(National Teacher Huizhong called his attendant. The attendant came, and the National Teacher lowered his head and remained silent. After standing for a long time, the attendant went out. The National Teacher called him again. This happened three times, whereupon the National Teacher said:

– I thought I had failed you; who would have known that you have failed me!

Chan Master Baizhang asked Zhaozhou:

– The National Teacher called his attendant three times. What was the meaning?

Zhaozhou replied: It is like someone writing characters in the dark. Although they do not take shape, the strokes have already appeared.)

Later, someone brought up the foregoing incident and asked the Master about it. The Master replied:

– The second time, the attendant turned his head and said, “I do not believe that the Venerable called me.”

***

(Master Nanquan said:

– Before the embryo is fully formed, is there speech or not?

Someone asked Xuefeng, and Xuefeng replied:

– Say that there is, or say that there is not, and you will receive thirty blows.

He then asked Zhaoqing, who replied: Let it say whatever it will!)

Someone asked the Master, and the Master replied: There is.

The monk said: Venerable, please cast a glance and see!

The Master said: What will you use to hear it?

The monk asked: Can a deaf person hear it?

The Master replied: If a deaf person could hear it, he would be fully endowed with ears and eyes.

The monk asked: Who can hear it?

The Master replied: The embryo that is not yet fully formed can hear it!

***

A monk asked the Master: A single phrase can encompass hundreds of thousands of myriad meanings. What is that single phrase?

The Master replied: A needle cannot pierce it.

***

(A lecturer took leave of Master Nanquan. Master Nanquan asked:

– Where are you going?

The lecturer replied: Down the mountain!

Nanquan said: Above all, you must not slander Old Teacher Wang!

The lecturer replied: How would I dare slander the Venerable!

Master Nanquan spat and asked:

– How much?

The lecturer immediately walked away.)

When the Master heard of this, he said: Thanks to that!

***

(One day, Chan Master Guishan called for the monastery director. The director came, and Master Guishan said: I called the monastery director; what did you come for?

The director could not answer.)

The Master answered on his behalf:

– I also know that the Venerable did not call me.

(He then told the attendant to call the head seat. The head seat came, and Master Guishan said:

– I called the head seat; what did you come for?)

The Master answered on his behalf: If you had told the attendant to call him, you feared that he would not come!

***

A monk took leave of Master Yaoshan to visit his native village. Master Yaoshan said: There is a man whose entire body is putrefying, lying amid thorns and brambles.

– In that case, this disciple will not return home, the monk replied.

Yaoshan said: Just go; I will give you money for your traveling expenses!

The monk asked: What are the traveling expenses?

The Master said: Every day, go to the refectory and bite into a grain of rice that cannot be broken. The Master continued: When the ancient worthy said that there was a man whose entire body was putrefying, he meant only an ugly, coarse person whom no one can approach and upon whom nothing can be embellished. When he also said that the man lay amid thorns and brambles, he meant only that, in daily life, one does not contrive anything to embellish, preserve, or protect.)

At that time, a monk asked the Master:

– What is it like when the entire body is putrefying?

The Master replied: Bearing a heavy burden.

The monk asked: Who bears the heavy burden?

The Master replied: The putrefaction has not reached you, Acarya!

The monk asked: Between the ugly, coarse person and the person whose whole body is putrefying, which bears the heavier burden?

The Master replied: The ugly, coarse person bears the heavier burden. The Master then asked the monk: What does a person of great preservation preserve?

The Master answered on the monk’s behalf:

– All day long it is only behind his back, yet he does not know to turn and look.

***

(Whenever anyone came to seek instruction, Venerable Juzhi would always raise one finger. Later, a young attendant was asked by an outsider: What essential Dharma does the Venerable teach?

The young attendant also raised one finger. When Chan Master Juzhi heard of this, he cut off the attendant’s finger. Crying out in pain, the attendant ran away. Chan Master Juzhi suddenly called him. The attendant turned his head, and Chan Master Juzhi immediately raised one finger. At that moment, the attendant suddenly attained great enlightenment. When Chan Master Juzhi was about to pass away, he told the assembly:

– I realized Venerable Tianlong’s one-finger Chan, and throughout my life I have never exhausted its use. Having spoken, the Master sat upright and passed away.)

The Master said: What Juzhi accepted was far too simple; he recognized only one function and one circumstance.

***

Chan Master Dongshan ascended the hall and taught:

The Way, being without mind, accords with the person;

The person, being without mind, accords with the Way.

If you wish to know the meaning within,

One is old, and one does not grow old.

Later, someone asked the Master: What is the one that is old?

The Master replied: It does not seek assistance.

He asked: What is the one that does not grow old?

The Master replied: A withered tree.

***

A monk asked the Master:

– Vimalakirti remained silent, and Manjusri praised him. I do not know whether this accorded with Vimalakirti’s meaning.

The Master replied: Can you bind empty space?

The monk said: Then it did not accord with Vimalakirti’s meaning!

The Master said: How could he consent to it?

– Ultimately, is there a place to return to? the monk asked.

The Master said: If there were a place to return to, it would be the same as with those two venerable ones.

– What about you, Venerable? the monk asked.

The Master replied: Wait until you contract Vimalakirti’s illness!

***

Chan Master Dongshan went to Venerable Tishou. Venerable Shou asked: What have you come for?

Master Dongshan replied: I have come to draw near to the Venerable.

The Venerable said: If it is truly drawing near, why make use of lips and tongue?

Dongshan could not answer.

Later, the Master answered: An only son can draw near.

A monk asked Chan Master Dongshan: Among the three bodies, which body does not fall within number and measure?

Dongshan replied: I am always close to this place.

The monk later asked the Master: The late master said, “I am always close to this place.” What was the meaning?

The Master replied: The moment it raises its head, cut it off!

***

“When Chan Master Wuzhuo was drinking tea, Bodhisattva Manjusri held up a crystal cup and asked:

– Is there such a thing in the South?

Wuzhuo replied: No!

Manjusri asked: What do you ordinarily use to drink tea?

Wuzhuo could not answer.”

The Master answered on his behalf: You have long received the Mahasattva’s instruction; why do you still remain within a single mote of dust?

The Master said: Before Dipankara Buddha, there are two kinds: First, not yet knowing, like milk mixed with blood; second, knowing, like recognizing the original thing before thought has yet arisen.

One kind clearly knows coming and going, language, sound and form, right and wrong, yet it does not belong to the function of Right Illumination, nor does it receive a prediction of buddhahood. Like milk mixed with blood, it is a mistaken affair. This is the kind that comes after Dipankara Buddha.

When the affairs of the three times have come to an end, and discriminating consciousness, within and without, has entirely ceased without interruption, only then may it be called Right Dipankara, and called receiving a prediction of buddhahood.

***

EXPLANATION REVEALING THE ESSENTIAL MEANING OF DONGSHAN’S FIVE RANKS

The Master said: When my former master expounded the Upright, the Inclined, and Mutual Integration, he did so entirely according to his own intent, not in order to explain stages of meritorious advancement in cultivation and become attached to verbal teachings, even if those words were transcendent discourse or the essential purport of the wondrous meaning. He merely clarified matters by means of presently manifest things, tacitly accorded with the Way of the ancient sages. Nowadays, when I see students explaining my former master’s intent, they seem to have fallen into certain errors and inevitably have their faults pointed out by others.

Therefore, what is valued is not confusing the merits. Within this, one may borrow the Rank to discuss Merit, or borrow Merit to discuss the Rank, giving rise to many ramifications. When Merit arrives, one must consider the force of the words so as not to fail those who come for consultation. Its wonder truly lies in its utterly transcendent purport!

Original text: “The Upright Rank is in turn the Inclined; discerning the Upright by approaching through the Inclined—this completes both meanings.”

Translation: The Upright Rank is in turn the Inclined Rank. By following the Inclined Rank, one discerns the Upright Rank; thus both meanings are complete.

Explanation: The Upright Rank is in turn the Inclined Rank, meaning that it does not confront things. Although it does not confront things, it is nevertheless complete with Function.

The absence of Function within the Upright Rank is the Inclined Rank; total Function is Completeness. Thus both meanings are already complete.

What is total Function? It is attained by one who does not contrive an understanding. This Upright Rank does not speak of coming, whether a Buddha appears in the world or does not appear in the world. Therefore, the thousand sages and myriad sages all return to the Upright Rank and take responsibility for it.

The Inclined within the Upright is also complete with this one rank, and one must never activate function or give rise to attachment therein.

Some students maintain that merely escaping beyond things is to transcend all sages, and that this is the Upright Rank and Complete. In truth, they have already obscured and lost the Upright Rank. The ancient worthies have spoken these words before, and traces of them still remain today. Yet this has still not attained speech within no-speech, and is therefore called the Non-Upright Rank. Because there is speech within speech, it is said to suffer from the defect of Mutual Integration. It cannot be called coming from Mutual Integration.

Original text: “Although the Inclined Rank is Inclined, it too completes both meanings. Discerned from within conditions, it is no-speech within speech.”

Translation: Although the Inclined Rank is Inclined, it too fully completes both meanings; discerning it from conditions is no-speech within speech.

Explanation: This is because no fixed objective is established in the place of Function. When no objective is established, it truly cannot be put to habitual use. Although the Inclined Rank is Inclined, it is also Complete, meaning that within Function there is not a single thing it does not encounter. Although these two meanings are revealed on the basis of Function, words do no harm. This is precisely speaking throughout the entire day without ever having spoken. Therefore, it is said that although the Inclined Rank is Complete, it nevertheless does not collide with conditions.

Original text: “There may be one who comes from within the Upright Rank; this is speech within no-speech.”

Translation: There may be one who comes from the Upright Rank; this is speech within no-speech.

Explanation: Coming from the Upright means not including conditions. For example, Chan Master Yaoshan said, “I have one phrase that I have never spoken to anyone.” Chan Master Daowu said, “It has come along together.” This came from his subtle realization. It is also like the words of the Hunan Surveillance Commissioner; examples of this kind are very numerous. One must follow the proper order and must not confuse the honored and the subordinate. This is called speech within no-speech.

“I have one phrase that I have never spoken to anyone.” Those of the various houses who respond to this phrase must present it without opposition. If they oppose it, they have not realized it. Phrase after phrase is no-speech; it establishes no honored status and does not fall into affirmation or denial. Therefore, it is called Coming from Within the Upright.

Coming from the Upright Rank means speaking of the Upright Rank without involvement with conditions. For example: What is it before the black bean has sprouted? Again, suppose there is a person who no longer breathes; before the embryo is fully formed, is there a verbal phrase?

It is the place from which all Buddhas of the ten directions emerge. All examples of this kind are called speech within no-speech, yet they still have something upon which they rely. When someone questions from the Upright Rank, the respondent should turn toward the Inclined Rank to discuss essence and things; one must not enter the Upright Rank to explain it.

This must be understood. For example, my former master asked a monk from Silla, “Before crossing the sea, where were you?” The monk could not answer. The Chan master answered on his behalf, “Just now, after having crossed the sea, where are you?” My former master also answered on behalf of Elder Shenwei by holding out his staff and saying, “Now that it has been held out, is there anyone who can discern it?” Although examples of this kind are understood through conditions, they are not the same as being unable to discern downward matters.

I fear that later people will mistake meritorious attainment for the matter beyond. For example, when a student asks about the Patriarch’s intent, someone replies, “Wait until a calf gives birth, and then I will tell you,” and then regards this as Coming from Within the Upright Rank. These words cannot be called Coming from Within the Upright Rank, but may be called “question and answer on the path of the Mystery Teaching.” Thus, clearly, there is also a separate path, yet it cannot be called Mutual Integration.

However, for the sake of revealing it, even where guest and host interchange and interpenetrate, it is still merely said to suffer from the defect of Mutual Integration.

Original text: “There may be one who comes from within the Inclined Rank; this is no-speech within speech.”

Translation: There may be one who comes from the Inclined Rank; this is no-speech within speech.

Explanation: Coming from the Inclined Rank includes conditions. For example, when asked, “What is it called now?” no one could answer. My former master answered on their behalf, “It will not do! It will not do!” Examples of this kind are also very numerous and are called no-speech within speech. Words emerge from sound and form, which belong to the four great elements, yet they establish neither place nor right and wrong. Therefore, it is said that discerning it amid conditions is coming from the Inclined Rank. Examples include: What thing comes thus? When both illumination and its objects are forgotten, what thing is it? The three trainings of precepts, samadhi, and wisdom speak of seeing the Buddha-nature. Examples of this kind are also numerous and are called no-speech within speech.

Coming from the Inclined Rank means speaking of the Essence by following things. For example: What thing comes thus? When both illumination and its objects are forgotten, what thing is it?

These examples borrow Merit to discuss the Rank. They are also examples I gave in the past. What thing comes thus?

Although this phrase may be understood through conditions, it is not the same as a downward matter.[14] The three trainings of precepts, samadhi, and wisdom speak of seeing the Buddha-nature—what is the principle of this? This too is precisely a phrase I presented previously. The forgetting of both illumination and its objects is a rule within the Teachings and is not the same as the Mystery Teaching.

One need only pass beyond the Teachings, and it becomes a matter within the Chan school, beyond the Mystery Teaching. As for breathing out without relying upon conditions and breathing in without abiding in the skandhas and dhatus, these words are wholly Merit and are not the same as something understood through conditions. These too are words I presented in the past.

The host enters the Correct Position, meaning: There is a person who does not breathe; cause him to know the Correct Position. There is also a very clear and still aspect of mutually supporting merit, also called coming from the偏 Position. This is truly difficult to distinguish and requires explanation.

For example, scholars discuss how a monk once asked the Former Master, “What is the mysterious purport?” The Former Master replied, “Like the tongue of a dead man.” He further asked, “During the twelve periods of the day, what should one offer?” The reply was, “There is nothing to offer.” They then take this to mean coming from the偏 Position, but this example cannot be called coming from the偏 Position. If it is taken as an example of the mysterious purport, it may correspond to Merit.

Yet these two examples cannot be called the偏 Position or Inclusive Integration.

What was explained earlier was to clarify the Position by means of Merit and to explain Merit by means of the Position; it is like this passage!

Original text: “Họăc hữu Tương kiêm đới lai giả, giá lý bất thuyết hữu ngữ vo ngữ, giá lý trực tu chánh diện nhi khứ, giá lý bất đắc bất viên chuyển, sự tu viên chuyển”.

Translation: If someone comes through Mutual Inclusive Integration, therein one does not speak of having words or having no words; one simply proceeds directly from the front. One cannot fail to turn freely; one must turn freely—while maintaining the Correct Position.

Explanation: Coming through Mutual Inclusive Integration means that the mode of expression is neither Correct nor偏, neither remaining nor vanishing, seemingly complete yet not complete, seemingly deficient yet not deficient. One must simply proceed directly toward the front. In proceeding, no objective is established; when no objective is established, the words are subtle and wondrous. A situation that is not complete is an ordinary matter. For example, the Former Master answered on another’s behalf in the exchange “Manjusri drinks tea”: “Could you lend me that so I may have a look?” Or as Cuiwei said, “What do you ordinarily eat each day?”

Original text: “Nhiên tại đồ chi ngữ, tổng thị bệnh, phù đương nhân tiên tu biện đắc ngữ cú, chánh diện nhi khứ, hữu ngữ thị nhẫm ma lai; vô ngữ thị nhẫm ma khứ. Tác gia trung bất vô ngôn ngữ. Bất thiệp hữu ngữ vô ngữ, giá cá hoán tác kiêm đới ngữ, kiêm đới ngữ toàn vô đích đích dã”.

Translation: Words spoken midway along the road are all a sickness. A student must first be able to distinguish phrases and then proceed directly from the front. With words, one comes in this manner; without words, one goes in this manner. An accomplished master is not without speech, but is involved neither in having words nor in having no words. This is called Inclusive Speech. Inclusive Speech has absolutely no objective.

Explanation: Coming through Mutual Inclusive Integration means not falling into either having words or having no words. For example, Yaoshan’s “words that carry a sword” are Inclusive Speech. When examining the force of such speech, one may proceed from the front, or emptiness may lie within difference. Unless one wondrously awakens to this matter, one will be thousands upon thousands of miles away. Examples of speech coming through Mutual Inclusive Integration are cited:

Manjusri drinks tea—“Where has this person gone today?” Yunyan said, “What are you doing? What are you doing?” And, “What is it right now?” There are many examples of this kind. There is also Inclusive Integration within Merit, as in the matter of going beyond.

Once one can discern it, if one falls into a state of pure subtlety, one should know that there is still something to be done. When it is necessary to go, go; when it is necessary to stop, stop. Turn and adapt in myriad ways; one must not be careless or simplistic.

Every mode of question and answer between two people remains within the Five Positions. Yet the illustrative expressions may be coarse or refined, and the answers may be shallow or profound. Therefore, in the place where there are no words or phrases, the Former Master reluctantly employed words and phrases; all of them presented the essential point in accordance with conditions.

For example, a person of great ignorance is entirely unlike a great icchantika. An icchantika knows what is going on but remains obscure; although obscure, that obscurity becomes filial devotion. Obscurity means not clinging to the Buddhas and patriarchs or to the fundamental affair of one’s own parents.

A decayed person is one who bears a heavy burden and does not return, establishing no place of supreme honor. A person of great preservation and responsibility is one who steps into the mud and guards it with great care, never acting carelessly.

One who comes through Mutual Inclusive Integration is also exemplified by the episode of Manjusri drinking tea, the Former Master’s reply to Yunyan concerning tilling the soil and planting ginger, Master An’s going to the Dharma hall, and Chun Buna’s bathing the Buddha at Yaoshan. Among these, the most wondrous Inclusive Speech still does not surpass the sword-bearing words with which Yaoshan answered Daowu, or Baizhang’s phrase “right here” in answer to the question “What is it?”

Inclusive Integration within darkness—using Merit to speak of the Thing, using the Thing to speak of Merit, using Fault to speak of Merit, and using Merit to speak of Fault—all are like this.

The words of Yaoshan, Xinfeng, and the earlier venerable masters that transcendently enter the Correct Position are extraordinary phrases of mysterious discourse. Next come phrases possessing some measure of power, which temporarily enter

into the Correct Position. I often employ examples of this kind.

As abbot, I have many duties and cannot conveniently explain this in detail. I have presented only a brief portion. Do not regard it lightly or carelessly. If you have doubts, you must resolve them quickly. You must exert yourselves in practice so that, even into future lives, this matter will not be interrupted. It must not be disclosed carelessly; yet if you meet someone pure and sincere, a person of exceptional capacity, you should not conceal it.

Original text: “Tha Trí thượng tọa lâm thiên hóa thời, hướng nhơn đạo: Vân Nham bất tri hữu, ngã hối đương thời bất hướng y thuyết. Tuy nhiên như thử, thả bất vi Dược Sơn thái tử. Khán Tha Trí thượng tọa hợp tác ma sanh lão bà tâm dã. Nam Tuyền viết: Dị loại trung hành, thả Mật Xà-lê bất tri hữu?”.

Translation: When Senior Monk Tazhi was about to pass away, he said to the assembly, “Yunyan did not understand that it exists. I regret that I did not tell him at the time. Even so, this does not betray Yaoshan’s tortoise. See why Senior Monk Tazhi had such a compassionate, grandmotherly heart.” Nanquan said, “Walking among different kinds—could it be that Acarya Mi did not clearly understand that it exists?”

ANNOTATIONS ON DONGSHAN’S VERSES ON THE FIVE POSITIONS

➣ The偏 within the Correct:

Annotation: Nodding one’s head in the darkness of night.

Tam canh sơ dạ nguyệt minh tiền

(At the beginning of the third watch, before the moon shines brightly)

Annotation: Before brightness and darkness meet, one discerns the time before the sprout is born. Just now, what time is it? Herein there is neither day nor night, and no speaking of before or after.

Mạc quái tương phùng bất tương thúc.

(Do not blame them for meeting without recognizing one another)

Annotation: Even forgetting arrives! In what kalpa could they be opposed? If so, all are left helpless!

Ẩn ẩn du hoài cựu nhật nghiên.

(Dimly, still cherishing the beauty of former days)

Annotation: These two lines have one meaning, yet they are entirely unlike each other. It is also called complete and perfect—what is valued today? If so, one must not deceive oneself.

***

➣ The Correct within the偏:

Annotation: Understanding within conditions.

Thất hiểu lão bà phùng cổ cảnh.

(A blind old woman encounters an ancient mirror)

Annotation: Completely exposed. Just now she remembered again! What appearance could there still be? If so, no color is revealed.

Phân minh địch diện cánh vô chân.

(Clearly facing it, yet it is not real).

Annotation: Understanding it today is itself precisely that. Lost! If so, before it is genuine, one gains a little.

Tranh nại mê đầu hoàn nhận ảnh

(Why lose one’s head and mistakenly recognize the reflection?)

Annotation: It is not the original head; simply do not take the reflection to be it. In the end, there is no recollection. If so, it cannot be altered.

***

➣ Coming from within the Correct Position:

Annotation: Wrong!

Vô trung hữu lộ cách trần ai

(Within “nothingness” there is a path apart from the red dust)

Annotation: Within the phrase of nothingness, there is again a phrase; they come along together. What is the matter that has always been so? If so, they cannot rely upon each other.

Đản năng bất xúc đương kim húy.

(One need only avoid transgressing the present emperor’s taboo)

Commentary: Relying upon that, one has already relied upon it from the outset. One is merely an ordinary person. If so, nowhere is there a second person.

Dã thắng tiền triều đoạn thiệt tài

(The talent for cutting off tongues surpasses even that of the former dynasty)

Commentary: It is not silence. Though one draws close to this, ultimately one is still not close. If so, no instructions can be given.

***

➣ Coming from within the Relative:

Commentary: Coming from the phrase of Being.

Lưỡng nhận giao phong bất tu tị

(When two blades cross, do not evade each other)

Commentary: Before host and guest make contact, neither person is harmed. Arrowhead meets arrowhead, continuously and without interruption. If they do not confront each other, they need not be concerned for one another.

Hảo thủ du như hỏa lý liên

(What hero differs from a lotus in the fire?)

Commentary: It cannot be destroyed. Who gains the advantage, and who is inferior to whom? If so, ultimately one does not become a second person.

Uyển nhiên tự hữu xung thiên chí

(Manifestly, one naturally possesses the aspiration to soar into the heavens)

Commentary: Since it is not obtained from another, it is not borrowed. Since it is not inherently existent, the self itself does not remain; nor is it possessed by the self.

***

➣ Arrival within Both

(Returning with the Absolute, the Relative, Coming, and Arrival):

Commentary: Skillfully relying upon it.

Bất lạc hữu vô thùy cảm hòa

(Not falling into existence or nonexistence, who dares respond?)

Commentary: Do not confront it head-on. He is an adept; it is best to deliberate with him. What is deliberation? Speak! Again it is asked:

Nhân nhân tận dục xuất thường lưu.

(Everyone wishes to transcend the ordinary stream)

Commentary: If one merely wishes to rise above all kinds, where can one emerge? Move again and one dies. If so, delight is found everywhere.

Tích hợp hoàn qui thán lý tọa.

(Gathering and dispersing, one returns to sit among the cold ashes)

Commentary: Once there is one, it can be known; but what use is there in knowing how to unite? You cannot deceive him. If so, the one who can be relied upon is I.

All matters within this rank take the rank of the Absolute as their master. Within the rank of the Absolute there are neither words nor principles for facing the guest. If one faces the guest, the ultimate point of the rank of the Relative is called “Facing the Guest.” In the case of Integration, when it arrives, the way of seeking is not the same: sometimes it responds, and sometimes it does not.

This is also called words within wordlessness and wordlessness within words, as has been clearly explained in the ranks of the Relative and the Absolute. There are also words that enter neither the rank of the Relative nor that of the Absolute; only then is it difficult to act for others. One must be a clear-eyed person, not someone deceived by others into pointing east while drawing west.

***

THREE KINDS OF FALLING

In general, when a śramana receives food, there are three kinds of falling:

– Becoming an ox is the śramana's falling.

– Not receiving food is falling from the honored state.

– Not cutting off sounds and forms is falling in accordance with the kinds.

Whose affair is such falling?

(If you wish to know, enter among the different kinds and do not discern the affairs of a śramana. Thus, the ancients provisionally borrowed the ox to represent the “different kinds.” This refers only to the different kinds in terms of phenomena, not the different kinds in terms of language.)

If it is the “different kinds” within language, then all exchanges of speech belong to a kind. Therefore, Master Nanquan said: “If wisdom is not all-pervasive, speech is greatly to be avoided; as soon as one speaks, horns grow upon one's head. The moment it is called ‘thusness,’ it has already changed!” One must travel among the “different kinds.” Now one should turn toward the “different” and speak of the matter within the “different.”

Only words within wordlessness will do. When Chan Master Nanquan was ill, someone asked: “After passing away, where will you go, Venerable Master?”

Nanquan replied: “I shall become an ox in the household of a patron below the mountain.”

The man asked: “May I follow you?”

Nanquan replied: “If you follow me, come holding a blade of grass in your mouth!”

(This is the śramana's phrase of turning the body. Thus it is said: If you intend to draw near to him, come near him holding a blade of grass in your mouth. This is called undefiled, and only then can it be used as an offering to him.)

Falling in accordance with the kinds: To be able now to turn the body amid all sounds, forms, phenomena, and things, without following ranks, is called falling in accordance with the kinds.

Falling from the honored state: The Dharma-body and Dharma-nature are honored matters, yet they too should be turned around. This is falling from the honored state.

The phrase “the white ox plainly revealed” is the ultimate expression of the Dharma-body, yet it too should be turned around so that one will not later remain seated in a place of utter stillness and silence. This is called cutting off the matter of offerings. If one wishes to make an offering, one must obtain food such as this. Thus, the flavor that is no flavor is also called undefiled and can be used as an offering. Other defiled food is not the undefiled food of liberation.

A monk asked Chan Master Baizhang: “What is taken as food?”

Baizhang replied: “Take the undefiled as food!”

Yunyan said: “Do not take flavor as an offering!”

Daowu said:

– “Knowing the place of preservation is entirely an offering!”

The Master said: “Anyone who wishes to preserve the food of right livelihood must possess the three kinds of falling.” At that time, a monk asked:

– “Wearing fur and bearing horns is which kind of falling? Not cutting off sounds and forms is which kind of falling? Not receiving food is which kind of falling?”

I replied: “Wearing fur and bearing horns is the śramana's falling; not cutting off sounds and forms is falling in accordance with the kinds; and not receiving food is falling from the honored state.”

– Not receiving food—falling from the honored state: This means knowing that there is the primary matter without holding fast to it.

– Wearing fur and bearing horns—the śramana's falling: Not holding fast to the affairs of a śramana or the attainments of the sages.

– Not cutting off sounds and forms—falling in accordance with the kinds: When beginners know that there is the primary matter of the self, they turn the light around and illuminate within, putting aside all six sense-objects: forms, sounds, odors, flavors, tangibles, and dharmas. Having attained tranquility, after bringing it to completion, they do not cling to the six sense-objects. They fall without delusion, freely and without obstruction.

Therefore, the Vimalakīrti Sutra says: “The six non-Buddhist teachers are your teachers. Those teachers have fallen, and you also fall along with them; only then can you partake of the food.” This food is the food of right livelihood, also called the primary matter. For the seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing of the six faculties to remain undefiled is falling; it is unlike the fearfulness discussed earlier.

– One does not preserve even the primary matter, much less any other matter!

Question: “How have those teachers fallen?”

The Master replied: “The old farmer enters the village, completely forgetting eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind.”

A monk asked: “What is falling in accordance with the kinds?”

The Master replied: “Not cutting off sounds and forms, not losing fragrances and flavors.”

Question: “What are ‘those teachers’?”

Answer: “The six sense-bases.”

Question: “What does it mean that ‘you fall along with the teachers’?”

Answer: “Preserve it!”

Question: “Preserve what?”

Answer: “Do not allow activity and function; do not depart from sounds and forms.”

***

Question: “Not receiving food is which kind of falling?”

Answer: “Having fully realized the true cause, one no longer holds fast to even ultimate understanding; therefore, it is called falling from the honored state.”

***

Master Guishan said:

“After I pass away, I shall become an ox with a line of words written on its flank: ‘I am the monk of Mount Gui.’ Tell me, when you see it, what will you call it?”

No one could answer.

Later, the Master answered on their behalf: “Call it an ox.”

Question: “It is not yet known whether this ox knows how to plow the fields.”

The Master replied: “Clearly, it knows!”

Question: “What kind is it?”

The Master replied: “The kind that wears fur and bears horns.”

Question: “What grass does it eat during the four seasons?”

The Master replied: “It does not eat.”

Question: “What is the ox?”

Answer: “Not realizing sagehood.”

Question: “What is holding a blade of grass in the mouth?”

The Master replied: “Like a bird.”

Question: “Does it transcend the sages or transcend the kinds?”

Answer: “It transcends the sages.”

Question: “What is the ox?”

Answer: “Dim and indistinct.”

Question: “What is coming with a blade of grass in one's mouth?”

The Master replied: “The ancients have already said it: it is also like a bird. A blade of grass is simply a way of speaking of that which does not change.”

***

I say: The Buddhas and patriarchs do not know, but the house cat and white ox do know.

Question: “Why do the house cat and white ox know?”

Answer: “Only because they know absolutely nothing.”

Question: Why do the Buddha and the Patriarchs not know?

Answer: Because the Patriarchs cling to the seal, and because the Buddhas are all alike.

Question: What does the household cat and white ox know?

Answer: It knows only the household cat and white ox.

Question: What is the matter known by the household cat and white ox?

Answer: It does not come from East or West, nor does it come from the thirty-two marks.

Question: What is the Patriarch?

Answer: It has already been stated above!

Question: What is the Buddha?

Answer: They are all alike.

***

FOUR KINDS OF THE DIFFERENT CLASS

1. Coming and going within the different class:

All present forms and sounds, words and speech, ranks and stations, even the Patriarchs' and forefathers' receiving life in the world—all are cast aside in order to proceed toward the Patriarchs. Since it is called the “different class,” heaven, hell, hungry ghosts, animals, and asuras all belong to the “different class.”

2. The bodhisattva sharing in the different class:

First one clarifies the matter of the self, and afterward enters the birth and death of the different class in order to receive and guide beings. Although one has realized the fruit of nirvana, one does not abandon birth and death; one benefits oneself and others, vowing that all sentient beings shall attain Buddhahood and that only then will one finally attain Buddhahood. Therefore, if a bodhisattva of great vows does not first liberate sentient beings, the matter of the self cannot be accomplished.

Nanquan said: “First cross over to the other shore and attain complete awakening; afterward return to this shore to teach and transform beings.” Bodhisattvas practice the six paramitas and myriad practices. The scripture teaches: “If even one sentient being has not yet been liberated, I shall not attain perfect enlightenment.” The vows are boundless, and sentient beings are boundless. Practicing in this way is therefore called the bodhisattva sharing in the different class.

3. The śramana's different class:

First awaken to the essential matter; then cast away all present meritorious practices, cause and effect, the ordinary and the sacred. Only then can one return to the Essence. Such a one is called an independent person, and this is also called the matter that a śramana should cut off.

From that point, both inside and outside are forgotten, the affairs of the three times have ended, and one attains the uncontaminated. This is called the matter of the Buddha. It is also called pointing alone with one hand to heaven and earth.

It is also called the Great Śramana turning the matter that a śramana should cut off, without entering the station of the sacred. Only thus can it be called the practice of a śramana, the śramana's turning of the body, wearing fur and bearing horns, or being an ox. Only when the time and conditions are thus can one enter the different class.

This is also called the matter on the side of the “class of forms.” Therefore, an ancient said: “The head is three feet long, and the neck is two inches long.” This refers only to this principle; it must not be understood otherwise.

4. The different class within the School: (The different class within the School)

Nanquan said: When wisdom does not encompass everything, one must above all avoid speaking of it; if one speaks of it, horns will grow upon one's head. The moment one speaks of suchness, it has already changed and become different. One must travel within the different class—now speak of the matter within the different class!

Dongshan said: This matter must be wondrously awakened to; phenomena abide in the Wondrous, and Essence abides in the Wondrous.

I say: This matter must be a single flavor of emptiness, utterly without aim. Only upon seeing the Inclusive can it be so. The words of an adept are neither Relative nor Absolute, neither existent nor nonexistent; this is called “emptiness within the different class.” In this matter, an adept must settle the body: encountering a tree, cling to the tree; encountering bamboo, cling to the bamboo. One must check impurity!

(Someone asked me what “different” means. I answered: If I told you, would you attain the “different” even in the year of the donkey? Therefore Nanquan said: “After I pass away, I shall become an ox in the household of a patron below the mountain.” Question: “May I follow you?” Answer: “If you follow me, you should come with a blade of grass in your mouth!” Regarding this matter, I say: This ox is not the same as the śramana's ox. One must be careful; do not mistake the proper time.)

Question: What is coming and going within the different class?

Answer: Before clearly knowing the self, all forms and sounds, words and speech, right and wrong are the different class.

Question: What is the different within the same?

Answer: Not choosing any bodily form.

Question: What is wearing fur and bearing horns?

Answer: Establishing neither purity nor impurity. Moreover, answering at the wrong time is impurity; when impurity encounters purity, it immediately becomes pure.

Question: What is the different class within the School?

Answer: If a head is needed, cut it off and take it away.

Once, when a monk asked about the practice of a śramana, my late master Dongshan answered: “The head is three feet long, and the neck is two inches long.” The monk asked me what this meant. I answered:

– It is a supremely wondrous statement.

The monk asked: What is a supremely wondrous statement?

Answer: A supremely wondrous statement has three meanings:

1. During the forty-nine years after the Buddha appeared in the world, he established expedient means and the twelve divisions of the teachings, with hundreds of thousands of wondrous gates of samadhi. Each and every one penetrates everything and reaches the ultimate; all are supremely wondrous statements. This speaks of the matter of transcending the world.

2. Going from the ordinary into the sacred, one penetrates the fact that the self and the Buddha are no different. Only when the entire body is uncontaminated does one fully comprehend; this is called not being defiled by a single mote of dust.

When the time and conditions are thus, one does not abide in the Absolute Position and does not choose a reward-body, but enters once more into the “different class,” wearing fur and bearing horns, without any other thought remaining. Therefore it is said: None among all the various classes can be compared with it; Buddhas and Patriarchs cannot fathom it. An ancient said: “The words of a śramana should not be spoken to people through calculation and measurement with a ruler.” It is therefore called a supremely wondrous statement.

This speaks of the matter on the side of the class of forms.

3. Only that with which none of all existing things can be compared is called a supremely wondrous statement. Therefore, an ancient said: “A thousand kinds cannot compare with it; the myriad things cannot equal it. The wise cannot know it, and those of superior capacity cannot comprehend it.” It is also called that which has never been the same from ancient times to the present. This is the supremely wondrous statement. Neither humans nor heavenly beings can fathom this supremely wondrous statement. Therefore, an ancient said: “The statement that transcends beginning and end.” This verbal category is provisionally employed to speak of the practice.

***

Chan Master Chou Buna asked: What is the class of forms?

Answer: Wearing fur and bearing horns.

Question: What is the class of words and speech?

Answer: Caoshan has only one pair of eyes.

Question: What is the ox?

Answer: Dim and indistinct!

Question: What does this mean?

Answer: Not knowing heaven or earth.

Chou Buna further asked: A senior monk asked Yunju: “The late master had a saying: ‘From an early age, I raised a child whose head was three feet long and whose neck was two inches long.’ How could this child have been raised from an early age?”

Yunju answered: Every day, never forget to provide for it.

Question: Why is its head three feet long?

Answer: It does not know what to do.

The monk asked: Why is its neck two inches long?

Yunju answered: By now, does it “know what to do”?

Question: What does it mean to provide for it every day without forgetting?

Answer: It is always present.

Question: What does “always present” mean?

Answer: Not going against it.

Question: What does “not knowing what to do” mean?

Answer: When the time comes to be thus, what can anyone do?

Question: By today it already “knows what to do”—what does this mean?

Yunju answered: The Buddhas of the three times do not know what to do.

After finishing, he asked me: What is meant by the head being three feet long and the neck being two inches long?

I answered: It is not a matter of past or present.

Question: What is the matter of past or present?

Answer: What are you saying?

Question: What practice is the practice of a śramana?

Answer: The practice of an animal.

Question: What is the practice of an animal?

Answer: Wearing fur and bearing horns.

Question: What is the practice of a śramana?

Answer: Thing after thing, without interruption.

Question: What is this matter of being without interruption?

Answer: Only then does one attain that practice.

Question: What is a person who wears fur and bears horns?

Answer: A person who does not fear karma.

Question: Why does one arrive at such a place?

Answer: If one does not fear karma, where would one not go!

Question: I do not ask about going from the ordinary into the sacred; what about going from the sacred into the ordinary?

Answer: An ox.

Question: What is the ox?

Answer: Dim and indistinct.

Question: What does this mean?

Answer: It remembers only grass and water; apart from these, it knows nothing at all.

Question: What matter does it accomplish?

Answer: It merely becomes a creature that eats grass when it encounters grass and drinks water when it encounters water.

(These words have tremendous power! If one wishes to understand this power, one should not cling to the affairs of a śramaṇa, nor enter the fruition-stage of a sage, but should enter among the Different Species. The Different Species means wearing fur and bearing horns; this is called the practice of a śramaṇa.

It is also the sphere in which a śramaṇa carries out the work of teaching and transformation, and is also called “a head three feet long and a neck two inches long.” If one wishes to understand this meaning, then upon attaining the practice of a śramaṇa, one need not use feet and inches to distinguish intimate from distant, nor speak of Zhang the Third, Li the Fourth, and so forth. Moreover, “a head three feet long” simply means having grown from small to great; today the work is accomplished and one has reached such a time and season.

This is called an excellent and wondrous phrase. “A neck two inches long” means neither occupying the position of a śramaṇa nor abiding in the fruition-stage of the sages. Thus, it cannot be said to be renowned or obscure.

Therefore it is said: One should not use feet and inches to measure that place. Even so, this is still a matter on the side of the “species.” One must understand the matter within the “Different Species.” Have you not heard it said: When wisdom does not pervade everywhere, one should not speak; if one speaks, horns grow upon one’s head. As soon as it is called “suchness,” it has already changed.

One should enter among the “Different Species.” This is called the single flavor of empty falsity; it is called seeing the face of Concurrent Inclusion, utterly without any aim.)

***

Question: What is the species?

Answer: Wearing fur and bearing horns.

Question: What is different?

Answer: What is it? What is it?

Question: What is practice?

Answer: If you want the head, cut it off and take it away at once!

(What can be accomplished through the Different Species?

I answer: This matter has two meanings of the Different Species: first, the Different Species of the śramaṇa; second, the Different Species in terms of phenomena.

The Different Species in terms of phenomena are the house cat and the white ox. As for the Different Species of the śramaṇa: encountering circumstances, one is free in every case; only then does one not change and does not resemble that other species.

My former master asked me: Where are you going?

I answered: “I am going to the place of no change.” Furthermore, this matter of no change has two kinds: First, every person possesses the essential matter. Second, an awakened person does not reject sound, form, right, or wrong, yet remains unhindered by all circumstances and things. This is called being unchanged in every place; it is also called wearing fur and bearing horns, entering mud and entering water, and being one who teaches and transforms others.)

***

Question: What is entering mud and entering water?

Answer: Not changing.

Question: Does one turn the body or not turn the body?

Answer: One does not turn the body.

Question: What are the household affairs of this person like?

Answer: The sages cannot fathom them.

Question: Why can they not?

Answer: Because he is unlike the sages.

Question: This is still a matter on the side of the “species”; is there also a matter beyond it?

Answer: There is!

Question: What is the matter beyond?

Answer: If I told you, I fear it would fall into the “species.”

***

– Eight Essential Mysterious Functions

Mutual Integration, Non-Mutual Integration, Subtle Turning, Lateral Inquiry, Pivotal Function, Esoteric Application, Direct Examination, and Lateral Presentation.

– Essential Instructions on the Five Ranks

A. Coming from within the Absolute is Great Exceeding: The whole body stands uniquely revealed—the root and source of the myriad dharmas—neither faulty nor capable.

B. Arriving within the Relative is Inner Truth: Following things without obstruction, like an empty wooden boat, flowing freely and at ease.

C. The Relative within the Absolute is the Gentle: Empty space shatters into fragments; everywhere there is perfect penetration, and faculties and objects are quiescent.

D. The Absolute within the Relative is the Joyous: The moon in the water and images in a mirror are fundamentally unborn and undying—how could they leave any traces?

E. Arrival within Concurrent Inclusion is the Clinging Fire doubled: The Absolute need not be empty; the Relative need not be real—neither following nor opposing.

Furthermore:

a’. The mind’s mechanism ceases, form and emptiness vanish; there is no further concealment, and the whole substance is exposed. This is the Relative within the Absolute.

b’. Mountains are mountains, rivers are rivers; their names are not imposed by people, and nothing can compare with them. This is the Absolute within the Relative.

c’. Spotlessly clean and openly revealed, the original face is perfectly clear; throughout heaven and earth, it alone is honored, without a second. This is Coming from within the Absolute.

d’. Like the Son of Heaven within the realm, one does not depend upon the commands of Wu, Tang, Yao, or Shun; seeing with the eyes and hearing with the ears, one does not rely upon another’s power. The ears do not reach toward sounds, and sounds do not obstruct the ears. Within, just as the body turns, no designation has yet been established amid the sense-objects. This is Arriving within Concurrent Inclusion.

e’. Neither mind nor object, neither phenomenon nor principle; from the beginning, it is free from names and characteristics. Primordial suchness is devoid of nature and characteristics. This is Arrival within Concurrent Inclusion.

*

End of the Second Fascicle

Notes:

[13] The Old Man of Xinfeng: Master Dongshan Liangjie.

[14] Downward direction: The work of receiving and guiding students.