撫州曹山本寂禪師語錄 2

English (machine translation) 2

Language: English

Ascending the hall, a monk asked: 'What is a great icchantika?' The Master said: 'One who does not fear karma.' The monk said: 'What is a person of ignorance?' The Master said: 'One who from beginning to end does not awaken.' The monk said: 'Between these two people, who is in front?' The Master said: 'The one of ignorance.' The monk said: 'Why is the icchantika behind?' The Master said: 'One who heads forward.' The monk said: 'If so, then the one of ignorance does not go forward starting from today.' The Master said: 'Yes.' The monk said: 'Since he does not go forward starting from today, where does ignorance come from?' The Master said: 'He does not dare enter a place of light.' The monk said: 'Is this not neither bright nor dark?' The Master said: 'Yes.' The monk said: 'Just at such a time, how is it?' The Master said: 'Not receiving contact.' The Master said further: 'There are many kinds of icchantika. One kind is killing father, killing mother, shedding the Buddha's blood, breaking the harmony of the Saṅgha, and destroying monasteries; these definitely bring actual retribution, suffering various miseries. Another kind also does the same as before, but this is killing the father of ignorance and the mother of greedy attachment, having no faith that there is a Buddha, Dharma, or Saṅgha that can be broken, or monasteries that can be destroyed; reckoning them as attained by karmic mind, they fall, and also suffer various false fruits of retribution, their rises and falls differing as before. Another kind knows existence of one's own fundamental matter, calling it father and mother; it is not obtained from without, having no cultivation and no realization, neither cause nor fruit, not received from a master, not attained through realized practice. Not giving rise to the view of father is called killing; not giving rise to the view of mother is called harming—that is, taking nothing and keeping nothing of all fundamental matters is called killing and harming. As soon as there is the slightest reverence, the attainment of flavour does not succeed; knowing existence of one's own matter, he is therefore called a great icchantika. Through this moving and stirring of wondrous power, this is taking charge of one's own household matter comprehended from the ancestral school above; it directly cuts off the mysterious path and breaks all roundabout ways, just as the Old Man of Xinfeng mysteriously pointed out.'

2.3

National Teacher Zhong suddenly called his attendant. The attendant came and stood; the National Teacher lowered his head. The attendant stood for a long time and left. The National Teacher called the attendant; having done so three times, he said: 'I thought I had wronged you, but you on the contrary have wronged me.' Baizhang brought this up to ask Zhaozhou: 'The National Teacher called his attendant three times; what was the intention?' Zhou said: 'Like someone writing characters in the dark: although the characters are not formed, the literary brilliance is already evident.' Later, someone brought this up to ask the Master: 'The National Teacher called his attendant three times; what was the intention?' The Master said: 'The attendant came back the second time and said: "I do not believe the Venerable called me."'"

2.4

Nanquan said: 'Before the womb is fully formed, are there words or not?' Someone brought this up to ask Xuefeng. Feng said: 'Saying there are or saying there are not, you get thirty blows of the stick.' He also asked Zhaoqing; Qing said: 'Let it say so itself.' He also brought it up to ask the Master. The Master said: 'There are.' [The monk] said: 'Please glance aside at it, Venerable.' The Master said: 'With what thing would you hear it?' [The monk] said: 'Can a deaf person still hear it or not?' The Master said: 'If a deaf person could hear, then he would possess ears and eyes.' [The monk] said: 'What kind of person can hear it?' The Master said: 'One who has not yet fully formed the womb.'

2.5

A monk asked the Master: 'The teaching says: "A single phrase can swallow hundreds of thousands of meanings." What is the single phrase?' The Master said: 'A needle pricking cannot enter.'

2.6

There was a lecture master who took leave of Nanquan. Nanquan asked: 'Where are you going?' He answered: 'Down the mountain.' Nanquan said: 'Above all, do not slander Teacher Wang.' He answered: 'How would I dare slander the Venerable?' Nanquan spirted water and said: 'How much?' The lecture master then left. The Master said: 'A close escape.'

2.7

One day Guishan called the monastery director. The monastery director came. Guishan said: 'I called the monastery director; what did you come for?' The monastery director had no reply. The Master spoke in his place: 'I also know the Venerable was not calling me.' Again [Guishan] ordered the attendant to call the head monk. The head monk came. Guishan said: 'I called the head monk; what did you come for?' The Master spoke in his place: 'If you had the attendant call, I was afraid he would not come.'

2.8

A monk took leave of Yaoshan to return to his home village. Yaoshan asked: 'There is a person whose whole body is festering red, lying among thorns.' The monk said: 'If so, then I will not return.' Yaoshan said: 'Only know to return, and I will give you a recipe for abstaining from grain.' [The monk] asked: 'What is the recipe for abstaining from grain?' Yaoshan said: 'Every day when ascending the hall, do not bite through a single grain of rice.' The Master said: 'Just as the ancient worthy said: "A person whose whole body is festering red is simply an ugly person whom no one can approach and who cannot be picked up or handled; furthermore, he is said to be lying among thorns." This only refers to daily activities nowadays; there is also nowhere to pick up or handle the matter on the side of protection and maintenance.' At that time a monk asked the Master: 'When the whole body is festering red, how is it?' The Master said: 'Shoulder it.' [The monk] said: 'Whom to shoulder?' The Master said: 'Do not let the festering red reach the ācārya.' [The monk] also asked: 'Between an ugly person and a person whose whole body is festering red, which one is heavier?' The Master said: 'A greatly ugly person is heavier.' The Master also brought this up to ask a monk: 'What does a person of great maintenance maintain?' Speaking in his place, [the Master] said: 'All day behind his back, he has never caught sight of it.'

2.9

Whenever Master Juzhi was questioned, he would only raise one finger. Later, an attendant boy was asked by an outsider, "What essential Dharma does the Master preach?" The boy also raised a finger. Hearing of this, Juzhi then cut off his finger with a blade. The boy, in great pain, ran away crying aloud. Juzhi called after him again; the boy turned his head, whereupon Juzhi raised his finger. The boy suddenly had an awakening. When Juzhi was about to pass away, he said to the assembly, "I attained Tianlong's one-finger Chan, and in an entire lifetime could not exhaust its use." Having finished speaking, he passed into quiescence. The Master said, "Where Juzhi undertook it was crude; he merely recognized a single dynamic and a single realm."

2.10

Dongshan went up to the hall: "The Way has no mind to unite with people; people have no mind to unite with the Way. If you wish to understand the meaning within this: one is old, and one is not old." Later, a monk brought this up and asked the Master, "What is the 'one that is old'?"

2.11

The Master said, "Not supporting [it]." [The monk] asked, "What is the 'one that is not old'?" The Master said, "Withered wood."

2.12

A monk asked the Master, "Vimalakīrti remained silent, and Mañjuśrī praised it as good; I wonder, did this still accord with Vimalakīrti's intent?" The Master said, "Can you bind empty space?" The monk said, "If so, then it did not accord with Vimalakīrti's intent." The Master said, "How could he ever consent?" The monk said, "Ultimately, where does it return?" The Master said, "If there were a place of return, it would be identical to those two gentlemen." The monk said, "What about the Venerable?" The Master said, "Only when you suffer from Vimalakīrti's illness will you get it."

2.13

Dongshan went to Peishu. Pei asked, "What have you come to do?" Shan said, "To draw close to the Venerable." Pei said, "If it is drawing close, what is the use of moving two flaps of skin?" Shan had no reply. The Master said, "A single child was intimate with him." A monk asked Dongshan, "Among the three bodies, which body does not fall into numbers?" Shan said, "I am always eager about this." A monk asked the Master, "The late master said, 'I am always eager about this.' What was the meaning?" The Master said, "If you want the head, just chop it off."

2.14

When Dongshan was about to enter complete quiescence, he said to the assembly, "I have an idle name in the world; who can eliminate it for me?" The assembly had no reply. At that time a novice stepped forward and said, "Please tell us the Master's Dharma name." Shan said, "My idle name has already withered away." The Master said, "From antiquity to the present, no one has been able to distinguish it."

2.15

While Wuzhuo was drinking tea, Mañjuśrī held up a glass cup and asked, "Is there also this in the south?" Zhuo said, "No." Mañjuśrī said, "What do you usually use to drink tea?" Zhuo had no reply. The Master spoke on his behalf: "I have long heard of the Great Being resting his hand on the sword; why does he abide in a single speck of dust?"

2.16

The Master said: "What is called 'before Dīpaṃkara' has two kinds: one does not yet know existence, which is like milk mixed with blood; one knows existence, which is like obtaining the original thing before an intent has sprouted. This is called 'before Dīpaṃkara.' One kind knows existence, yet coming and going, words, sounds and forms, right and wrong, still do not belong to correct illuminating function, nor does one receive prediction; like milk mixed with blood, it is a matter on the side of leak and loss. This is called 'after Dīpaṃkara.' Only when the affairs of the three times are completely exhausted, inner and outer feelings forgotten, and continuity is obtained without interruption, does this first merit the name of the 'correct Dīpaṃkara,' and is called 'receiving prediction.'"

2.17

Explanation of Dongshan's Five Ranks: The Clear Secrets

2.18

(Now, regarding what the late master clarified concerning the biased, the correct, integration, and other functions: the late master's original intention was not to clarify merits or stages of progressive practice, nor to involve doctrinal statements. It was strictly a mysterious discourse beyond the patterns, a paramount and marvelous import, merely clarifying that the original substance from of old manifests directly before us, tacitly tallying with the Way of ancient sages. Nowadays, seeing various scholars discriminating and selecting the late master's meaning and measure, there seems to be erroneous propagation. I cannot avoid briefly relating their errors and fitness, ashamed to mix up their merits. Therein, there may be borrowing ranks to clarify merit or borrowing merit to clarify ranks; their origins and threads are manifold. The merit lies in the moment: observing the impetus of the coming words, one does not fail the incoming capacity. The marvel lies simply in the excellent outcome.)

2.19

The correct rank is yet biased; if distinguished within the biased, it fulfills both meanings. (That the correct rank is yet biased is because it does not face objects; although it does not face objects, it possesses them completely. No function within the correct is biased; total function is complete—these are the two meanings. It was asked, "What is total?" He said, "One who does not look back is one who has attained it." This correct rank does not clarify coming. If a Buddha appears in the world, it is so; if a Buddha does not appear in the world, it is also so. Therefore, thousands of sages and myriads of sages all return to the correct rank to undertake it. The biased within the correct nevertheless possesses this single rank; first of all, it must not be stirred. As when scholars discriminate being uniquely free beyond objects and arising prior to the many sages, calling it the correct rank being yet complete: this in fact wrongs the correct rank. Such exemplary words are the tracks remaining after the ancients spoke; one still has not attained speechlessness within speech. This again is called 'not the correct rank,' because there is speech within speech. This can be called integration with illness; it cannot be called mutual integration coming along.)

2.20

Although the biased rank is biased, it also fulfills both meanings; if distinguished within conditions, it is speechlessness within speech. (Because the place of function does not establish a target; if it does not establish a target, then the true is not constantly used. That the biased rank, though biased, is also complete means that within function nothing is not touched; these are the two meanings. Although clarified within function, because it does not do injury within speech, this is all day long speaking as if not speaking. It is also said: "The biased rank is yet complete. It also possesses non-contact within conditions.")

2.21

Some come from within the correct rank, which is speech within speechlessness. (Those coming from within the correct do not integrate conditions. As Yaoshan said, "I have a sentence that I have never spoken to anyone." Daowu said, "It has come along in company; this is his marvelous comprehension." Such as the words of the Surveillance Commissioner of Hunan. Examples like this are very numerous; the matter must come forth in accord [with it], and one must not confuse the noble and base; it is called speech within speechlessness. Furthermore, regarding "I have a sentence that I have never spoken to anyone": in this, the respondent must come forth without clashing; if there is clashing, then one does not know existence. In sentence after sentence, speechlessness does not establish nobility and does not fall to left or right; therefore it is said, "Coming from within the correct." Coming from the correct rank clarifies that the correct rank does not involve conditions. Another citation of exemplary words: as in "Before the black soybean sprouts, how is it?" Also as in, "There is a person who has no out-breath or in-breath." Also as in, "Before possessing the womb, are there words or not? The place where the Buddhas of the ten directions appear." Examples of this kind are called speech within speechlessness. Further, there is borrowing phenomena to come from within the correct rank; in this single rank, the respondent must clarify its substance and objects within the biased rank, and must not enter the correct rank to clarify it. This sentence must be understood. As when the late master asked a Silla monk, "Before crossing the sea, where were you?" There was no reply. He spoke for him: "Just now you have crossed the sea; where are you?" Also, as when the late master spoke for Elder Shenwei on bringing out the staff: "Now it has been brought out; is there anyone who can distinguish it?" Although examples of this kind are recognized within conditions, unlike [those that go] further, they cannot be distinguished, for fear that later people will take and drop into merits and achievements, regarding them as matters of transcendence. As when scholars select the question on the Patriarch's intent, and the answer: "Wait until the castrated ox gives birth to a calf, then I will tell you," saying, "This is coming from within the correct rank." Sentences of this example strictly must not be called coming from within the correct rank; one may say that in the path of mysterious learning, question and answer are both like this—it is another distinct path. Nor may it be called mutual integration, because it is obvious. Even if host and guest interchange, it can only be called integration with illness.)

2.22

Some come from within the biased rank, which is speechlessness within speech. (Those coming from within the biased rank integrate conditions. As when it is said, "What should one call the present moment, so that it will do?" There was no reply; the late master spoke for him: "It won't do, it won't do." Examples of this kind are also numerous; they are called speechlessness within speech. Speech comes from within the four elements, sounds, and forms, not establishing locality, right, or wrong; therefore it is said, "Distinguished within conditions, it comes from within the biased rank." As for cited exemplary words, such as: "What thing comes thus?" Also: "Light and realm are both forgotten—again what thing is it?" Also: "Equal study of samādhi and wisdom clearly sees the Buddha-nature." Examples of this kind are also numerous; they are called speechlessness within speech. Those coming from within the biased rank clarify substance by means of objects, such as "What thing comes thus?" and "Light and realm are both forgotten—again what thing is it?" This example of words entrusts merit to clarify rank, and is also an example I previously cited. "What thing comes thus?": although this example of words is recognized within conditions, it differs from going further. Also, "Equal study of samādhi and wisdom clearly sees the Buddha-nature—what is this principle?": this example of words was also among the examples I first cited. Also, such as "Light and realm are both forgotten": because it is a rule in the teachings, it differs from mysterious learning; it is only that from his rule of teaching, what issues in our ancestral school is a matter outside mysterious learning. Just as with, "The out-breath does not rely on myriad conditions; the in-breath does not dwell in the aggregates or realms": this saying is entirely merit, not the same as being recognized within conditions, and is also an example I previously cited; the host draws it into the correct rank, saying that there is a person who has no out-breath or in-breath, causing him to know existence of the correct rank. Further, there is the rank of pure cleanliness that clasps merit to the ultimate; it may also be called coming from within the biased rank. This is hard to distinguish; it must be sorted out. As when scholars select the monk asking the late master, "What is the mysterious import?" and the Master said, "Like a dead man's tongue"; and again asking, "Throughout the twelve periods of the day, what should one offer?" and he said, "No thing," saying, "This comes from within the biased rank": these two examples of words must not be called coming from within the biased rank; they must be sorted out individually. If it is the example of words about the mysterious import, it can be equated with merits. These two examples of words can neither be called the biased rank nor integration; as was already made clear before, they borrow merit to clarify rank; borrowing rank to clarify merit is the same as this.)

2.23

Some come with mutual integration: here, one does not speak of having speech or being speechless; here, one must simply go forward facing straight ahead. Here, one cannot fail to be completely adaptable; the matter must be completely adaptable. (Those that come with mutual integration: because the momentum of the speech is neither biased nor correct, neither existent nor non-existent, like whole yet not whole, seeming deficient yet not deficient, one can only go forward facing straight ahead. Going forward, no target is established; not establishing a target, it is the most wondrous speech, a realm not rounded off by ordinary feelings. As when the late master spoke for Mañjuśrī drinking tea, saying, "Can you borrow this to take a look?" Or as when Cuiwei said, "What do you gobble down every day?")

2.24

However, words along the way are all sickness. A person must first be able to distinguish phrases, go straight ahead, [knowing that] having words is coming thus, and lacking words is going thus. An adept is not without words, yet does not get entangled in having words or lacking words. This is called 'words of integration'; words of integration have no fixed mark at all. (Those coming with mutual integration do not fall into having words or lacking words, like Yaoshan's words about carrying a knife; these are words of integration. At the moment, observe the momentum of the words coming: either go straight ahead facing them directly, or be empty within difference. If this is not wondrously understood, one is a thousand or ten thousand miles off. Examples cited of words coming with mutual integration are like the words on Mañjuśrī drinking tea, and 'Where has this person gone right now?' Yunyan said: 'Doing what? Doing what?' and also said: 'Right now, how is it?' There are very many such examples. There is also integration within meritorious achievement, resembling the matter of transcendence; distinguish it as the occasion requires. If one falls into a spot of pure wondrousness, one must know that phenomena are present: if one needs to go, then go; if one needs to stop, then stop; be thoroughly flexible, and never be reckless. In a dialogue, the momentum of the two parties responding to each other does not go beyond the five ranks. Yet words have coarseness and fineness, and answers have shallowness and depth. Therefore, the late master reluctantly used words amid what is non-verbal, purely setting forth these essentials in response to conditions. For example, a person of great ignorance is the complete substance, not like an icchantika. An icchantika knows existence yet covers it up; although covering it up, it actually turns into filial support, for covering it up means not keeping ancestral buddhas or one's own fundamental parents. A festering red-raw person does not return to completeness, takes up burdens, and does not establish the supreme. A person of great preservation has plunged their feet into the mud, which is no small protection. Those coming with mutual integration must directly resemble the words of Mañjuśrī drinking tea, the late master's answer to Yunyan about hoeing ginger, Monk An's words in the Dharma hall, and Yaoshan and Chun Buna washing the Buddha. Among these, the most wondrous integration does not surpass Yaoshan's answer to Daowu about carrying a knife, and Baizhang stepping down from the hall when the assembly was about to disperse but had not yet dispersed, asking, 'What is it?' Yaoshan, hearing these words from afar, said, 'Right here,' which is immediately termed dark-headed integration, borrowing effort to clarify phenomena, borrowing phenomena to clarify effort, borrowing excess to clarify effort, borrowing effort to clarify excess, and so forth. If it is that which transcends and enters the correct rank as brought forth by Yaoshan, Xinfeng, and the former venerable masters, these are already mysterious discourses and extraordinary phrases. Next, arriving at those with minor efficacy, they are drawn into the correct rank; phrases of this type are frequently used. Because of my duties as abbot, with their many entanglements, I have no leisure for full detail and have only briefly clarified a small portion. All of you need not easily disparage or neglect this. If there are further blockages, resolve them in turn; you must exert yourselves in practice so that this matter is not severed into the future, and do not recklessly leak it out. If you encounter someone pure and simple, they are a wondrous vessel; nor must you conceal it from them.)

2.25

When Senior Monk Zhi was facing death, he said to people: 'Yunyan did not know existence; I regret that I did not tell him at that time. Even so, it does not go against Yaoshan’s Caizi.' Look at what kind of grandmotherly compassion Senior Monk Zhi had! Nanquan said: 'Practicing among different kinds. Yet Elder Mi did not know existence.'

2.26

Commentary on Dongshan's Verses on the Five Ranks

2.27

The biased within the correct (nodding the head in the dark):
In the third watch, at the beginning of the night, before the moon is bright, (Distinguish it when black and white have not yet crossed. 'Before sprouts have emerged.' 'Just now, what time is it?' 'Herein there is no sun or moon; do not speak of going before or after.')
Do not wonder at meeting without recognizing each other. (Forgetting. 'Approaching.' Also: 'In what kalpa did you turn away and come? If so, then both fold their hands and depart.')
Concealed, there still lingers an old resentment. (These two lines have one meaning; in the end they do not resemble each other. Also said: 'Complete.' Also: 'What is valued today?' Also: 'If so, then one cannot deceive oneself.')

2.28

The correct within the biased (comprehending within conditions):
An old woman who has overslept encounters an ancient mirror; (Exposed. 'Just now I remembered again.' Also: 'What appearance is it? If so, then it displays no other color.')
Distinct, face to face, there is no other true one. (Comprehending right now. Just this very one is also lost; moreover, if so, before there is a true one it is slightly better.)
Alas, having lost her head, she still recognizes the reflection! (Not the original head. Also: 'Do not recognize the reflection, that is it.' Also: 'In the end she does not remember.' Also: 'If so, then it cannot be altered.')

2.29

Coming from within the correct (passing beyond):
Within nothingness there is a road out of the dust; (Within phrases of nothingness there are phrases. 'Coming in succession.' Also: 'How has it always been? If so, then there is no borrowing from each other.')
If only one can avoid offending the taboo of the reigning sovereign, (Flanking this. 'Already it is flanking.' 'Naturally a different kind of person.' 'If so, then throughout the great earth there is no second person.')
One surpasses the past dynasty's talent who had his tongue cut out. (Not silence. 'Even more urgent than this.' Also: 'In the end not grinding teeth; if so, then it cannot be enjoined.')

2.30

Reaching within the integrated (coming from within phrases of existence):
When two blades cross, there is no need to avoid them; (Host and guest do not clash. 'Neither harms the other.' 'Arrow meets arrow, pulse continuous without break.' 'Those who are not rivals, yet if so, then do not concern themselves with each other.')
A master hand is like a lotus in fire. (It cannot be destroyed. 'Who is the one who finds the opening?' 'Weaker than whom?' Also: 'If so, then in the end one does not act as a second person.')
Naturally, of itself, it possesses an air that pierces the sky. (Not obtained from others. Also: 'If so, then do not borrow.' 'Not originally existent.' Also: 'If so, then oneself does not remain.' 'Not possessed by oneself.')

2.31

Attaining within the integrated (wondrous clasping):
Not falling into existence or non-existence, who dares harmonize? (Not facing directly. 'He is an adept.' 'Just right for discussing. What do you call discussing? Speak it forth, saying: Ask.')
Everyone wishes to leave the current stream, (All wish to transcend the kind. 'What place is there to stick one's head out?' Also: 'Move and you die.' Also: 'If so, then one is happy everywhere.')
Yet in the end they return to sit amid the charcoal. (One. 'Then it can be known; what must one do?' 'One cannot deceive him.' Also: 'If so, then fortunately it is I.' The matters in this rank generally take the correct rank as host. If within the correct rank it is also without speech, there is also no principle of confronting a guest. If confronting a guest, the ultimate point of the biased rank is called confronting a guest. As for integration and the like, it is always momentary, with demands differing; sometimes confronting, sometimes not confronting; also called having words within no-words, and having no-words within words, extensively as clarified in the biased and correct ranks. Moreover, there are words that do not enter the biased or correct ranks, which are especially difficult to use for people; it must be a clear-eyed person to manage it, not accepting directions to point east or draw west.)

2.32

Three Kinds of Falls

2.33

When a śramaṇa takes food, there are three kinds of falls: acting as a water buffalo is the śramaṇa's fall; not accepting food is the fall of the noble; not severing sound and form is the fall of following kinds. As for just falling, whose sphere is it? (If you wish to know, it is entering among different kinds, not acknowledging matters on the śramaṇa's side. Therefore, the ancients temporarily borrowed the water buffalo as a different kind; it is merely a different kind in terms of phenomena, not a different kind in words.)

2.34

If it were a different kind in words, then back-and-forth words would all be of a kind. Therefore Nanquan said: 'Where wisdom does not reach, be strictly mindful not to speak of it; if you speak of it, horns will grow on your head. Calling it thusness has already altered it.' One must go directly and practice among different kinds; now, one must speak of matters within difference toward difference. Having no words within words—only then is it like this. When Nanquan was ill, someone asked: 'Where will the Venerable go after a hundred years?' Nanquan said: 'I will go to a patron's house at the foot of the mountain to become a water buffalo.' [The monk] said: 'If I plan to follow the Venerable, can I?' Nanquan said: 'If you follow me, bring a stalk of grass in your mouth.' (This is a word of the śramaṇa turning the body. Therefore it is said: if you plan to approach, bring a stalk of grass in your mouth to draw close to him; this is called taintless, and only then is it worthy of offering to him.)

2.35

He also said: 'The fall of following kinds is turning the body right now upon all sounds, forms, and things, not following stages; this is called the fall of following kinds.' He also said: 'The fall of the noble: the dharmakāya and Dharma-nature are matters on the noble side, which must also be turned away; this is the fall of the noble. Just like the white ox on the open ground, it is the ultimate of the dharmakāya, yet it must also be turned away, to avoid one sitting in a single color with nowhere to distinguish; these are all matters called cutting off offerings. If you wish to make an offering, you must obtain this food; therefore the flavor of no flavor, also called taintless, is worthy of being offered; all other contaminated foods are not the food of taintless liberation.' Someone asked Baizhang: 'What is taken as food?' He said: 'Taking the taintless as food.' Yunyan said: 'Do not take flavor as an offering.' Daowu said: 'Places where existence is known and preserved are all offerings.'

2.36

To take the food of right livelihood, one must possess the three kinds of falls. At that time, a monk asked: 'What fall is wearing fur and bearing horns? What fall is not severing sound and form? What fall is not accepting food?' I said: 'Wearing fur and bearing horns is the śramaṇa's fall; not severing sound and form is the fall of following kinds; not accepting food is the fall of the noble. Not accepting food as the fall of the noble is one's fundamental matter: knowing existence yet not grasping it, hence called the fall of the noble. Wearing fur and bearing horns as the śramaṇa's fall is not clinging to matters on the śramaṇa's side or the reward ranks of the sages. Not severing sound and form as the fall of following kinds is because a beginner knows their own fundamental matter, and when turning the light around, casts out forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, and dharmas to attain tranquility; then, after success, they do not cling to the six dusts, falling without being obscured, giving them free rein without obstruction. Therefore it is said: "The six non-Buddhist teachers are your teachers. Where those teachers fall, you also fall following them, and you may eat." Eating is the food of right livelihood, and it is also the fundamental matter. Merely not being defiled in seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing at the gates of the six faculties is called falling; it is not like the fear of earlier. One does not even grasp the fundamental matter, let alone the rest.' (When a śramaṇa takes food, there are three kinds of falls: 'What fall is acting as a water buffalo?' Answered on his behalf: 'Not staying in the correct rank, not selecting one's body—only then is it called the śramaṇa's fall.' 'What fall is not severing sound and form?' Answered on his behalf: 'Worldly sentiments are exhausted, holy measures are also forgotten; amid the dusts of sound and form one should no longer sever them; only then may one take food; this is the fall of following kinds.' Also said: 'Where that teacher falls, you also fall following him; only then may one take food. As for the śramaṇa's fall, it is not without its practice, nor is it without its intervals. Although there are intervals, there are constantly no intervals; although there is practice, there is constantly no practice. In this, this matter strictly requires knowing the season; do not wander east and west.')

2.37

A monk asked, "What is that which that teacher falls into?" The Master said, "A rustic entering a hamlet loses eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind altogether." The monk said, "What is the fall of following among kinds?" The Master said, "Not severing sounds and forms." He also said, "Not losing fragrances and flavours." The monk said, "What is that teacher?" The Master said, "The six sense bases." The monk said, "What is 'you also fall accordingly'?" The Master said, "Remaining." The monk said, "What remains?" The Master said, "One must not move, yet one does not leave sounds and forms."

2.38

The monk asked, "Not receiving food—what kind of fall is that?" The Master said, "Thoroughly penetrating the correct cause without retaining superior understanding; therefore it is called the fall of the noble."

2.39

Guishan also said, "A hundred years from now, I will become a water buffalo, with a line of words written on my left flank: 'Monk So-and-so of Guishan.' Tell me, when you see it at that time, what will you call it?" There was no answer. Later, the Master spoke in their place: "Call it a water buffalo."

2.40

A monk asked, "I wonder, does this water buffalo know how to plow and sow or not?" The Master said, "Evidently." The monk said, "What kind of species is it?" The Master said, "One that wears fur and bears horns." The monk said, "Through the four seasons, what water and grass does it eat?" The Master said, "That which does not enter the mouth." The monk said, "What is the water buffalo?" The Master said, "It does not realise holiness." The monk said, "What is holding a stalk of grass in its mouth?" The Master said, "Fur and feathers resembling each other."

2.41

The monk asked, "Does it transcend holiness, or does it transcend kind?" The Master said, "It transcends holiness."

2.42

The monk asked, "What is the water buffalo?" The Master said, "Dim and indistinct." The monk said, "What is coming while holding a stalk of grass in its mouth?" The Master said, "An ancient has already said it: 'Fur and feathers resembling each other.'" He also said, "The single stalk of grass simply clarifies being unalterable."

2.43

I said, "The patriarchs and buddhas do not know existence; tawny cats and white oxen, however, know existence." A monk said, "Why is it that tawny cats and white oxen know existence?" The Master said, "Simply because they have completely no understanding." The monk said, "As for the patriarchs and buddhas, why do they not know existence?" The Master said, "A patriarch clings to the seal; a buddha has resemblance." The monk said, "As for tawny cats and white oxen, what is it that they know exists?" The Master said, "They only know the existence of tawny cats and white oxen." The monk said, "What is the matter that tawny cats and white oxen know exists?" The Master said, "It does not come from east or west; it does not come from the thirty-two marks."

2.44

A monk asked, "What is a patriarch?" The Master said, "There is something above." The monk said, "What is a buddha?" The Master said, "Go to resemblance."

2.45

Four Kinds of Different Species

2.46

First is the different species of coming and going. At present, all sounds, forms, speech, stages, and positions that abandon the father and flee away, all turning back towards the transcendent patriarchs, are again deemed a different species. Furthermore, heavenly beings, hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, asuras, and so forth are all different species. Second is the bodhisattva sharing with different species. First clarifying oneself, one then enters into the different species of death and birth to gather them in. Having already realised the fruit of nirvāṇa, one does not abandon the species in death and birth; benefiting oneself and benefiting others, one vows that all sentient beings will attain Buddhahood, attaining Buddhahood only at the very last. Therefore, if a bodhisattva of great provisional manifestation does not first transform sentient beings, one's own matter can have no way of being accomplished. Hence Nanquan said, "First cross over to that side and know existence; then come to this side to travel. A bodhisattva is equipped with the six perfections and myriad practices." The teachings say, "If there is a single sentient being not yet delivered, I shall never attain right awakening." The vows are boundless, and sentient beings are boundless; such is the practice, and so it is called 'the bodhisattva sharing with different species.' Third is the śramaṇa different species. Having first known the existence of the fundamental matter, one completely loses all causes, effects, merits, and practices of ordinary beings and saints of the present time, and only then attains identity with the substance, commonly called 'the independent person', also called 'the śramaṇa matters of evaluation and severing'. Only then are feelings of inside and outside forgotten, the affairs of the three times exhausted, and leaving nothing out, it is named 'the matter on the side of the buddhas'. It is also called 'one hand pointing to heaven and earth'; it is also called 'the great śramaṇa'. Turning away from the śramaṇa's matters of evaluation and severing, not entering the rewarded positions of the various saints, one only then comes to be called 'the śramaṇa practice', also called 'the śramaṇa turning the body', also called 'wearing fur and bearing horns'. It is also called 'a water buffalo'. Only at such a juncture can one enter different species, also called 'the matter on the side of the species of form'. Therefore an ancient said, "The head is three feet long, the neck is two inches long." It is simply this principle; you must not understand it otherwise. Fourth is the different species within the ancestral school. As Nanquan said, "Where wisdom does not reach, be sure not to speak of it. If you speak of it, horns will grow on your head. Calling it 'suchness' is already changing it." One must head straight into different species to practice, speaking of the matters within different species. Dongshan said, "This matter must be understood subtly; the matter lies in its subtlety, and the substance lies in the subtle place." I myself say, "In this matter, one must completely empty a single rank so there is wholly no direct target; only when face to face in integration can it be like this. An adept's words are neither biased nor correct, neither existent nor non-existent, and this is called 'emptiness within different species.' In this matter, an adept must set the body across: encountering wood, apply wood; encountering bamboo, apply bamboo. One must guard against violations. Take heed! Take heed! Take heed! Take heed!" (Someone asked me, "What is different?" I said, "If I were to tell you, could it be different in the year of the donkey? Therefore, someone asked Nanquan, 'Where will you go a hundred years from now?' Nanquan said, 'I will go to the donor's house at the foot of the mountain to become a water buffalo.' The monk said, 'May I follow you, Venerable Sir?' Nanquan said, 'If you follow me, come holding a stalk of grass in your mouth.'" I said, "This water buffalo is not the same as the śramaṇa water buffalo. One must be precise so that one is not confused about the juncture.")

2.47

A monk asked, "What is the different species of coming and going?" I said, "Not yet knowing the existence of oneself." I also said, "All words, sounds, forms, right and wrong are entirely the different species of coming and going." The monk said, "What is the different species within identity?" I said, "Not choosing one's body." The monk said, "What is wearing fur and bearing horns?" I said, "Not establishing defilement and purity; also, in responding to defilement out of season, touching is just touching, and meeting purity is just purity." The monk said, "What is the different species within the ancestral school?" I said, "If a head is wanted, chop it off and take it away." (Because a monk asked the former master Dongshan about the śramaṇa practice, the former master answered, "The head is three feet long, the neck is two inches long." The monk also asked me, "What is the meaning of this?" I said, "Superior phrases and wondrous phrases." The monk said, "What do you call superior phrases and wondrous phrases?" I said, "Superior phrases and wondrous phrases are of three kinds. First: the various buddhas appearing in the world, the expedient means set forth over forty-nine years, the twelve-part teachings, the hundreds of thousands of samādhis, every wondrous gate probed to the end—all are superior phrases and wondrous phrases. This is spoken on the side of leaving the world. Second: passing from ordinary to holy, penetrating oneself as no different from the buddhas, leaving nothing out, one only then attains the entire body; only then is it called 'every dust and every thought, the Bhagavāns of the ten directions, the single path of the gate to nirvāṇa.' When one arrives at such a juncture, not abiding in the correct rank and not choosing one's body, one instead enters into different species, wearing fur and bearing horns without different thoughts. Therefore it is said, 'None of the species of things can compare to it; the buddhas and patriarchs cannot measure it.' Therefore an ancient said, 'As for the śramaṇa's words, one cannot give people words of measurement.' Hence they are called superior phrases and wondrous phrases; this is speech on the side of the species of form. Third: nothing that exists can compare to it; only then is it called superior phrases and wondrous phrases. Therefore an ancient said, 'A thousand kinds cannot compare to it; ten thousand things cannot match it. The wise cannot know it; those of highest faculties do not recognise it.' It is also said, 'Originally there is no resemblance.' Hence they are superior phrases and wondrous phrases. As for superior phrases and wondrous phrases, they are matters that cannot be fathomed in heaven or among humans; therefore an ancient said, 'They are called phrases that transcend beginning and end.' Borrowing this, it is spoken as practice on the side of the species of words.")

2.48

Chou Buna asked, "What is the class of form?" I said, "Wearing fur and bearing horns." He said, "What is the class of words?" I said, "Caoshan has only a single pair of eyebrows." He asked again, "What is the water buffalo?" I said, "Dim and dazed." He said, "What does this mean?" I said, "Not knowing that heaven and earth exist." Chou again brought up: "A senior seat asked Yunju, 'The late master had a saying: "From youth I have raised a son whose head is three feet long and whose neck is two inches long." What is the son raised from youth?' Yunju said, 'Daily provision is hard to forget.' He said, 'What is the head three feet long?' Yunju said, 'Nothing can be done about it.' He said, 'What is the neck two inches long?' Yunju said, 'Down to the present, can anything still be done about it?' He said, 'What is "daily provision is hard to forget"?' Yunju said, 'Constantly being present is it.' He said, 'What is constantly being present?' Yunju said, 'Not turning contrary is it.' He said, 'What is "nothing can be done about it"?' Yunju said, 'When arriving at such a time, who can do anything about it?' He said, '"Down to the present, can anything still be done"—what does this mean?' Yunju said, 'The Buddhas of the three periods can do nothing about it.'" He asked me, "What is the head three feet long and neck two inches long?" I said, "It is not the original matter." He said, "What is the original matter?" I said, "What do you call it?" He asked, "What practice does a śramaṇa practice?" I said, "The practice of a beast." He said, "What is the practice of a beast?" I said, "Wearing fur and bearing horns." He said, "What is a śramaṇa?" I said, "Thing after thing without interruption." He said, "What is the matter of being without interruption?" I said, "Only then can one practice." He said, "What is a person who wears fur and bears horns?" I said, "Not fearing karma." He said, "Why does one reach such a state?" I said, "If one does not fear karma, where would one not reach?" He asked, "Going from the ordinary into the sagely I do not ask about; what is it like when going from the sagely into the ordinary?" I said, "The water buffalo." He said, "What is the water buffalo?" I said, "Dim and dazed." He said, "What does this mean?" I said, "Thinking only of water and grass, knowing nothing else." He said, "What side of the matter does this accomplish?" I said, "It is simply coming upon grass and eating grass, coming upon water and drinking water." (I also said: "These words have power. If you wish to know that they have power: this person does not grasp at the śramaṇa's side of the matter, nor does he enter the retributive ranks of the sages; this is indeed entering among different kinds. Being among different kinds is wearing fur and bearing horns; it is called the practice of a śramaṇa, it is called the śramaṇa's place of conduct, and it is also called the head three feet long and neck two inches long. If you wish to know this meaning: when arriving at the śramaṇa's practice, one does not wish to use dimensions to divide intimacy and estrangement, nor may one speak of Zhang the Third and Li the Fourth. Furthermore, as for the head being three feet long, it is simply going from small to large, today's merit accomplished. Reaching such a time is called the supreme phrase and marvelous phrase. As for the neck being two inches long, it is not sitting in the rank of a śramaṇa, nor abiding in the retributive ranks of the sages; hence it is the neck two inches long. At such a time, one cannot speak of matching or not matching; therefore it is said: one does not bring dimensions here to deliberate. Although this is so, it is still a matter on the side of kind. One must know that there is a matter within different kinds. Have you not seen it said: 'Where wisdom does not reach, be sure not to speak of it; if you speak of it, horns will grow on your head. Calling it "suchness" is already changing.' One must act within different kinds; this is called emptying a single rank, called face-to-face integration, utterly without any exact target.")

2.49

He said, "What is 'kind'?" I said, "Wearing fur and bearing horns." He said, "What is 'different'?" I said, "What? What?" He said, "What is practice?" I said, "If you want my head, take and chop it off." (He said, "Just as with 'different kinds', what side of the matter does it accomplish?" I said, "This matter has two sorts of different kinds: first, the śramaṇa's different kinds; second, the different kinds in phenomenal events. The different kinds in phenomenal events are the tawny cats and white oxen. The śramaṇa's different kinds are attaining freedom wherever one touches; only then is there unalterability, unlike that other. The late master asked me, 'Where are you going?' I said, 'Going to the unalterable place.' This unalterable matter has two sorts: first, every single person completely possesses the fundamental matter; second, a person who knows existence does not abandon any sounds, forms, right, or wrong, and is not obstructed by any thing whatsoever—this is called unalterable in all places, also called wearing fur and bearing horns, also called entering mud and entering water, and also called a fellow who carries out practice.")

2.50

He said, "What is entering mud and entering water?" The master said, "Unalterable." He said, "Does one turn the body or not?" I said, "One does not turn the body." He said, "How is this person's matter within the house?" I said, "The sages cannot measure it." He said, "Why can they not measure it?" I said, "Because he is not the same as the sages." He said, "This is still a matter on the side of kind; is there still a matter of transcendence?" I said, "There is." He said, "What is the matter of transcendence?" I said, "If I tell you, I fear you will fall to the side of kind."

2.51

The Eight Essentials of the Mysterious Pivot

2.52

Interchange; non-interchange; tactful adaptation; oblique engagement; pivot mechanism; secret function; direct pressing; oblique presentation.

2.53

Essential Instructions on the Five Ranks

2.54

"Coming from within the correct" is excessive; the whole body is exposed alone, the source of the ten thousand dharmas, without blame and without praise. "Arriving within the biased" is Zhongfu; following things without obstruction, a wooden boat hollow inside, freely penetrating and at ease. "The biased within the correct" is Xun; shattered pieces of empty space, everywhere completely penetrating, roots and dusts serene. "The correct within the biased" is Dui; the moon in the water and the image in the mirror originally have no arising and ceasing, how could they leave traces? "Attaining within the integrated" is double Li; the correct need not be empty, the biased need not be real, neither turning away nor facing toward. Moreover, it is said: When the mind's contrivance is obliterated and form and emptiness are forgotten, with nothing further hidden or concealed, the entire body revealed—this is called the biased within the correct. Mountains are mountains, waters are waters, with no one assigning names and no thing to compare—this is called the correct within the biased. Pure and naked, stark and clear, features grand and dignified, exhausting heaven and exhausting earth, solitary and honored without double—this is called coming from within the correct. Just like the Son of Heaven within the realm, not borrowing the decrees of Yu, Tang, Yao, or Shun; eyes seeing and ears hearing, ultimately never borrowing another's strength; ears not entering into sounds, sounds not blocking the ear-root, within it one just turns the body; within the dust not yet bearing a name—this is called reaching within the integrated. It is not mind, not realm, not phenomenon, not principle; from the beginning transcending name and description, naturally genuine and forgetting nature and marks—this is called attaining within the integrated.

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撫州曹山本寂禪師語錄 — Classical Chinese