佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 10
English (machine translation) 10
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- English
10.1
The pointer says: Transcending emotions and leaving views behind, freeing bonds and untying stickiness, lifting up the transcendent ancestral vehicle and sustaining the treasury of the true Dharma eye—one must also respond uniformly from all ten directions, thoroughly luminous on all eight sides. When you reach such a domain, tell me: is there still anyone who attains together, verifies together, dies together, and lives together? To test, I cite this:
10.2
[91] Case: One day Yanguan called to his attendant, "Bring me the rhinoceros-horn fan." (Tying up quite a few vines. What can compare to this good news?)
The attendant said, "The fan is broken." (What a pity! A fine piece of news. What did he say?)
Yanguan said, "Since the fan is broken, return the rhinoceros to me!" (No small leak. Youzhou is bearable enough; the most painful is Silla. What does the Reverend want with the rhinoceros?)
The attendant gave no answer. (Truly a hole-less iron hammer. What a pity!)
Touzi said, "I would not refuse to bring it out, but I fear its head and horns would not be complete." (It seems like it, but how can it be helped that it has two heads and three faces? This too is speaking theory.)
Xuedou remarked, "I want the incomplete head and horns!" (What can it be used for? Taking error and following error.)
Shishuang said, "If returned to the Reverend, it would be gone." (What did he say? Crashing into his nostrils.)
Xuedou remarked, "The rhinoceros is still there!" (Perilous! Almost mistaking it. Tuck in your head.)
Zifu drew a circle and wrote the word "ox" inside it. (A scarecrow does not need to be brought out. A fellow playing with shadows.)
Xuedou remarked, "Why didn't you bring it out just now?" (Unable to distinguish gold from brass. A fellow in the grass as well.)
Baofu said, "The Reverend is advanced in years; it would be better to invite someone else." (Cursing the official in a secluded place. Why decline toil and speak of hardship?)
Xuedou remarked, "A pity: labor without merit." (Implicating himself as well. He too deserves thirty blows of the staff. Truly!)
10.3
Yanguan one day called to his attendant, "Bring me the rhinoceros-horn fan." Although this matter does not reside in verbal phrases, still it is used to examine someone's lifelong mettle and operational tactics; moreover, it must be manifested depending on words like this. On the thirtieth day of the twelfth month, one must have strength and be one's own master. When the myriad environments clash together, seeing them one is unmoving; this can be called merit of no-merit, strength of no-strength. Yanguan was Chan Master Qi'an. In ancient times they used rhinoceros horn to make fans. At the time, how could Yanguan not have known that the rhinoceros-horn fan was broken? He deliberately asked his attendant. The attendant said, "The fan is broken." Look at those ancients: throughout the twelve periods of the day they were constantly inside colliding and bumping into this. Yanguan said, "Since the fan is broken, bring me back the rhinoceros!" Now tell me, what did he want the rhinoceros for? He only wanted to test whether the other person knew where it landed or not. Touzi said, "I do not refuse to bring it out, but I fear its head and horns would not be intact." Xuedou said, "I want head and horns that are not intact." He too directly hit the mark along with the phrase. Shishuang said, "If it were returned to the master, then there would be none." Xuedou said, "The rhinoceros is still there." Zifu drew a circle and wrote the character 'ox' inside it; because he was Yangshan's heir, throughout his life he loved using environmental presentations to receive people and clarify this matter. Xuedou said, "Why didn't you bring it out earlier?" Here again he pierced his nostrils. Baofu said, "The master is advanced in years; it would be better to invite someone else." These words were spoken quite securely. The previous three statements are easier to see, but this one sentence has a far-reaching meaning. Xuedou also broke it through. Formerly when I, this mountain monk, was deliberating at Head Monk Qing's place, [he] said, "The Master is advanced in years and senile; he catches the head and forgets the tail. Earlier he demanded the fan, and now he demands the rhinoceros. It is difficult to serve him. Therefore [Baofu] said: 'It would be better to invite someone else.'" Xuedou said, "What a pity that the toil had no merit." These are all standard patterns for delivering phrases. When ancients saw thoroughly into this matter, although each was different, once it was spoken it hit the mark a hundred times out of a hundred; there had to be a way of escape, and sentence after sentence did not lose the bloodline. Nowadays, when people are asked, they merely indulge in rationalizations and calculations. Therefore, throughout the twelve periods of the day, people must chew on it until water drips and ice freezes, seeking a place of realization. Look at how Xuedou strings together his eulogy: (Chuāng [摐]: phonetic qi-gong, meaning to collide/bump).
10.4
"The rhinoceros-horn fan has been used for a long time; (When meeting summer it cools, when meeting winter it warms. Everyone possesses it; why do they not know it? Who has not used it?)
When asked about it, originally none know at all. (Knowing is knowing, but understanding is not understanding. Better not deceive people. One cannot blame others either.)
Boundless pure breeze, head and horns, (In what place? If you do not understand it on yourself, where will you understand it? Above heaven and below heaven. Head and horns reborn—what is it? Raising waves without wind.)
All like clouds and rain gone, hard to pursue." (Heavens! Heavens! Also losing money and incurring penalty.)
10.5
Xuedou also said: "If you want the pure breeze to return and head and horns to be reborn, (Everyone has a rhinoceros-horn fan, and throughout the twelve periods of the day they completely derive strength from it. Why is it that when asked they do not know at all? Can you say something?)
I ask the Chan guests each to offer a turning phrase." (Yanguan is still present. It has already turned three times.)
He asked, "Since the fan is broken, bring me back the rhinoceros!" (There is also one or a half. Bah! It would be fine to overturn the Chan seat.)
At the time a monk came forward and said, "Great assembly, go to the hall to participate!" (Drawing the bow after the thief has passed. His spear has been seized. Not reaching a village ahead, not arriving at an inn behind.)
Xuedou gave a shout and said, "I cast a hook to fish for a leviathan or whale, but only caught a frog!" and immediately stepped down from the seat. (Invited him to be like this. Drawing the bow after the thief has passed. Foguo himself examined these words, saying: "I also directly ask you all: When this monk said, 'Great assembly, go to the hall to participate,' did he understand or did he not understand? If he did not understand, how could he speak like that? If you say he understood, Xuedou also said, 'I cast a hook to fish for a leviathan or whale, but only caught a frog,' and immediately stepped down from the seat. Tell me, where is the ambiguity? Please try to investigate and examine it.")
10.6
"The rhinoceros-horn fan has been used for a long time; when asked about it, originally none know at all." Everyone has a rhinoceros-horn fan, and throughout the twelve periods of the day they completely derive strength from it. Why is it that when asked about it, they do not know its whereabouts at all? The attendant, Touzi, and even Baofu also did not know at all. Now tell me, did Xuedou know? Have you not seen: when Wuzhuo visited Mañjuśrī, while drinking tea, Mañjuśrī held up a glass bowl and asked, "Is there also this in the South?" Wuzhuo said, "No." Mañjuśrī said, "What do you usually drink tea with?" Wuzhuo was speechless. If you know where this gong'an lands, you will know that the rhinoceros-horn fan has boundless pure breeze and will also see the rhinoceros's head and horns towering high. What those four old fellows said was like morning clouds and evening rain, once gone, hard to pursue. Xuedou also said, "If you want the pure breeze to return and head and horns to be reborn, I ask the Chan guests each to offer a turning phrase." He asked, "Since the fan is broken, bring me back the rhinoceros!" At that time a Chan guest came forward and said, "Great assembly, go to the hall to participate!" This monk seized the master's authority; what he said was spoken very well, yet he only said eighty percent. If he wanted one hundred percent, he should have immediately overturned the Chan seat. Tell me, did this monk understand the rhinoceros or not? If he did not understand, yet he could speak like that. If he understood, why did Xuedou not approve of him? Why did he say, "I cast a hook to fish for a leviathan or whale, but only caught a frog"? In the end, how is it? When you all have nothing to do, try to bring it up and examine it.
10.7
The pointer says: Touching a string to distinguish the tune is hard to meet in a thousand years; seeing the hare and unleashing the hawk takes seizing the advantage in an instant. Gathering all spoken words into a single phrase, collecting the great chiliocosm of sand-realms into a single dust mote, dying together and living together, penetrating seven and puncturing eight—is there anyone who provides evidence? Look at the case:
10.8
[92] Case: One day the World-Honoured One ascended the seat. (Guest and host both lose. It is not just one blunder.)
Mañjuśrī struck the mallet and said, "Clearly observe the Dharma of the Dharma King; the Dharma of the Dharma King is like this." (The one child directly attains it.)
The World-Honoured One then stepped down from the seat. (Do not speak of sorrow to a sorrowful man; speaking of it to a sorrowful man sorrows him to death. Beating the drum and playing the pipa—when they meet, both are connoisseurs.)
10.9
Before the World-Honoured One held up the flower, there was already this message. Beginning from Deer Park and ending at the Hiraṇyavatī River, how often did he ever use the precious sword of the Vajra King? At that time, if in the assembly there had been a fellow with the breath of a patch-robed monk who could have snatched it away, it would have saved him from holding up the flower at the very end—a total mess. When the World-Honoured One remained silent for a while, pressed by Mañjuśrī, he immediately stepped down from the seat. At that time there was also this message. Śākyamuni closing his chamber and Vimalakīrti shutting his mouth were both like this; it had already been spoken. It is like Emperor Suzong asking National Teacher Zhong about building a seamless stupa, or like the non-Buddhist asking the Buddha: "I do not ask about what has words, nor do I ask about the wordless." Look at the conduct of those transcendent people: how often did they ever enter a ghost cave to make a living? Some say his intention lay in the silence; some say it lay in the pause; that having words clarifies the wordless matter, or that the wordless clarifies the matter with words. Yongjia said, "Silent, it speaks; speaking, it is silent." If you always understand it like this, even in three lifetimes and sixty kalpas you will not have dreamed of it yet. If you can directly undertake it beneath the words, you will no longer see ordinary or holy: this Dharma is equal, with neither higher nor lower. Day after day you will walk hand in hand with the Buddhas of the three periods of time. Later, look at Xuedou: naturally it can be seen and eulogized.
10.10
"Among the ranks of sages, the adept knows; (Better not slander old man Śākyamuni. Give it back to Linji and Deshan. Among thousands and tens of thousands, it is hard to find one or a half.)
The Dharma King's Dharma command is not like this. (Those who run along after him are like hemp and millet. Three heads and two faces. Truly, how many people can reach here?)
If in the assembly there were a sendhava fellow, (Among them it is hard to find a clever person. Mañjuśrī is not an adept. The ācārya definitely is not.)
Why would Mañjuśrī need to strike a single mallet?" (Striking yet another mallet, what harm is there again? The second and third mallets are not needed at all. In accordance with the dynamic, how do you say a phrase? Precarious!)
10.11
"Among the ranks of sages, the adept knows." The eighty thousand in the great assembly on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa were all ranks of sages. Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, and even Maitreya—host and companion gathered together in the same assembly; one had to be the most skilful of the skilful, the most wondrous of the wondrous, to know where he landed. Xuedou's meaning is that among the ranks of sages, not a single person knew it was there. Only if there were an adept would he know it was not so. Why? Mañjuśrī struck the mallet and said, "Clearly observe the Dharma of the Dharma King; the Dharma of the Dharma King is like this." Xuedou said, "The Dharma King's Dharma command is not like this." Why is it like this? At that time in the assembly, if there were a fellow who had an eye on the top of his head and a talisman behind his elbow, who saw through before the World-Honoured One had ascended the seat, why would Mañjuśrī have needed to strike the mallet? The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says that the single name 'saindhava' has four realities: first, salt; second, water; third, a vessel; fourth, a horse. There was a wise minister who was good at understanding the four meanings: if the king wished to wash, and asked for 'saindhava', the minister offered water; when eating, if he asked for it, he offered salt; after eating, he offered a vessel for drinking broth; when wishing to go out, he offered a horse. He applied them as needed without error. Truly, one must be a clever fellow before this is possible. Just as when a monk asked Xiangyan, "What is the king asking for saindhava?" Xiangyan said, "Come over here." The monk came over; Xiangyan said, "Making a fool of someone!" Another monk asked Zhaozhou, "What is the king asking for saindhava?" Zhaozhou stepped down from the Chan seat, bowed, and folded his hands. At that time, if there had been a saindhava who penetrated through before the World-Honoured One ascended the seat, it would have been somewhat better. For the World-Honoured One to ascend the seat and then step down was already not getting the advantage. How much less could he bear Mañjuśrī striking the mallet again! It really made a fool of the World-Honoured One's preaching on high. Now tell me, what was the foolish part?
10.12
[93] Case: A monk asked Daguang, "Changqing said, 'Rejoicing on occasion of the meal'—what is the meaning?" (Bringing light again to this lacquer bucket. No harm in doubting it. Without asking, one does not know.)
Daguang danced. (Do not deceive people to death. Just as before, coming like this.)
The monk bowed. (Going like this again. Right though it is, I fear he misunderstood.)
Guang said, "What did you see that you bow?" (A good press. One must test and distinguish before it is settled.)
The monk danced. (Painting a cat according to the pattern. Truly misunderstood. A fellow playing with shadows.)
Guang said, "This wild fox spirit!" (This kindness is hard to repay. The thirty-two ancestors only transmitted this.)
10.13
The twenty-eight [patriarchs] of the Western Heaven and the six [patriarchs] of the Tang land transmitted only this bit. Do all of you know where it comes down? If you know, you avoid this fault; if you do not know, you are still just a wild fox spirit. Some say that he twisted his nostrils around to deceive people. If it were truly like that, what principle would that make? Daguang was adept at helping people; within his words was an escape route. In general, a lineage master must pull out nails and extract pegs for people, remove stickiness and untie bonds—only then is he called a kalyāṇamitra. Daguang danced, and this monk bowed; at the end, the monk instead danced, and Daguang said, "This wild fox spirit!" It was not to turn this monk around; after all, he did not know the exact fact. If you just keep dancing, passing it on to one another like this, when will you ever find rest? Daguang said, "Wild fox spirit"; this phrase cut off Jinniu—it was quite extraordinary. Therefore it is said: he investigated living phrases, not dead phrases. Xuedou simply cherished his saying, "This wild fox spirit," and so he eulogised it. Tell me: is this "wild fox spirit" the same as or different from "Zang's head is white, Hai's head is black"? [And what about] "this lacquer bucket" or, again, "fine monk"? Tell me: are they the same or different? Do you know? Everywhere you meet him. Xuedou's verse says:
10.14
The first arrow was still light; the second arrow went deep.
(A hundred shots, a hundred hits; where can one evade it?)
Who says yellow leaves are yellow gold?
(Just taken to stop crying; it deceives little children, but is of no use.)
If the waves of Caoxi are like this,
(What limit is there to people playing with lumps of mud? Painting a cat according to a model; he lets one road go.)
Countless ordinary people will be drowned on dry land.
(Meeting a living person, he drags down the world's patch-robed monks so they cannot grope for it; he drags down the ācārya so he cannot raise his head.)
10.15
"The first arrow was still light; the second arrow went deep." Daguang's dancing was the first arrow; his saying again, "This wild fox spirit," was the second arrow. These are the claws and fangs from of old. "Who says yellow leaves are yellow gold?" Yangshan addressed the assembly, saying: "Each of you should turn your light back to shine inward; do not remember my words. Since beginningless kalpas, you have turned your backs on the light and plunged into darkness; your roots of delusion are deep and hard to uproot all at once. Therefore expedient means are temporarily set up to wrest away your coarse consciousness, like taking yellow leaves to stop a child from crying, or like exchanging a bitter calabash for a sweet fruit." The ancients provisionally set up expedient means for people's sake; when the crying stops, the yellow leaves are not gold. The Bhagavat's lifetime of teachings was also just talk to stop crying. This "wild fox spirit" was solely to exchange his karmic consciousness. Within it, there is both the provisional and the real, both illumination and function; only then do you see the hold of a patch-robed monk. If you understand it, it is like a tiger growing wings. "If the waves of Caoxi are like this"—if students from all eight directions were simply to dance like this together, consistently like this, "countless ordinary people will be drowned on dry land." What salvation would there be?
10.16
The pointer says: The one phrase before sound is not transmitted by a thousand sages. The single thread before one's face is uninterrupted throughout all time. Stark naked and clean, the white ox on the open ground; eyes wide open, ears wide open, the golden-haired lion—these may be set aside for now. But tell me: what is the white ox on the open ground?
10.17
[Case 94] Case: The Śūraṅgama Sūtra says: "When I do not see, why do you not see where I do not see?
(Fine news! What is the use of seeing? Old Śākya leaks quite a lot.)
If you see the not-seeing, it is naturally not that character of not-seeing;
(Bah! What idle time do you have? You cannot make this mountain monk assume two heads and three faces!)
if you do not see where I do not see,
(Where has it gone? Like driving in an iron peg. Bah!)
it is naturally not an object.
(Pushing down an ox's head to eat grass; what verbal sounds and forms can you speak of further?)
How is it not you?"
(Speaking of you and speaking of me have no relevance at all. Striking, he said: Do you still see old Śākya? Yet how can one help that the ancients refused to accept it? Striking, he said: Look under your own feet! Do you understand?)
10.18
The Śūraṅgama Sūtra says: "When I do not see, why do you not see where I do not see? If you see the not-seeing, it is naturally not that character of not-seeing; if you do not see where I do not see, it is naturally not an object; how is it not you?" Here, Xuedou did not quote the sūtra text in full. If quoted in full, it can be seen. The sūtra says: "If seeing were an object, then you could also see my seeing. If seeing together were called seeing me, when I do not see, why do you not see where I do not see? If you see the not-seeing, it is naturally not that character of not-seeing; if you do not see where I do not see, it is naturally not an object; how is it not you?" The text is long and will not be recorded. Ānanda meant: "Lanterns and pillars in the world can all have names; I also want the Bhagavat to point out what object this wondrous, quintessential, primal illumination is called, so as to let me see the Buddha's intent." The Bhagavat said, "I see the incense burner." Ānanda said, "I also see the incense burner; that is the Buddha's seeing." The Bhagavat said, "When I see the incense burner, that can be known; when I do not see the incense burner, how do you see?" Ānanda said, "When I do not see the incense burner, that is seeing the Buddha." The Buddha said, "When I say 'not seeing,' I know it myself; when you say 'not seeing,' you know it yourself. Where another does not see, how could you know?" An ancient said: "Reaching here, one can only know it for oneself; it cannot be spoken to others." Just like the Bhagavat saying: "When I do not see, why do you not see where I do not see? If you see the not-seeing, it is naturally not that character of not-seeing; if you do not see where I do not see, it is naturally not an object; how is it not you?" If you say that taking seeing as an object fails to wipe away traces, then when I do not see, it is like an antelope hanging by its horns: sound, tracks, and breath are all cut off. Where will you grope for it? The sūtra's meaning first breaks it by letting go, and then breaks it by taking away. Xuedou brought forth the eye of the doctrine to eulogise it; he neither eulogised objects, nor eulogised seeing and not seeing; he directly eulogised seeing the Buddha.
10.19
The whole elephant and the whole ox do not differ from a cataract in the eye;
(A half-blind fellow; half open, half shut. Why lean on the fence and grope along the wall? One cut into two pieces!)
Masters from of old have collectively delineated them.
(The twenty-eight [patriarchs] of the Western Heaven and the six [patriarchs] of the Tang land; the old venerable masters under heaven are like hemp and millet, yet they are still too few.)
If you want to see the yellow-headed old man now,
(Bah! This old barbarian, a blind fellow, is right under your feet!)
Through every world and every particle of dust, you are halfway on the journey.
(You missed him right under your feet! What more do you want this mountain monk to say? Did you ever even dream of him in the Year of the Donkey?)
10.20
"The whole elephant and the whole ox do not differ from a cataract in the eye." The blind men groping the elephant, each stating a different theory, comes from the Nirvāṇa Sūtra. A monk asked Yangshan, "When the Venerable sees someone asking about Chan or the Way, you immediately draw a circle and write the character 'ox' inside it; what is the meaning?" Yangshan said, "This too is an idle matter. If you suddenly understand, it does not come from outside; if you suddenly do not understand, you definitely do not recognise it. Let me ask you: among the old seniors of all directions, what on your body do they point out as your Buddha-nature? Is it that which speaks, or is it that which is silent? Or is it that which neither speaks nor is silent? Or is it all of these, or none of them? If you take that which speaks to be it, it is like a blind man touching the elephant's tail. If you take that which is silent to be it, it is like a blind man touching the elephant's ear. If you take that which neither speaks nor is silent to be it, it is like a blind man touching the elephant's trunk. If you say every single thing is it, it is like a blind man touching the elephant's four legs. If you say none of them is it, you abandon the original elephant and fall into the view of emptiness. What such blind men see is merely discriminating names and forms on the elephant. If you want to be well off, under no circumstances grope the elephant! Do not say seeing and awareness are it, nor say they are not." The ancestral master said: "Bodhi originally has no tree; / the bright mirror also has no stand. / Originally there is not a single thing; / how could it be soiled by dust?" He also said: "The Way originally has no shape or form; / wisdom is the Way itself. / One who forms this understanding / is called one of true prajñā." A clear-eyed person seeing an elephant grasps its whole body; so it is when a Buddha sees the nature. As for "the whole ox," this comes from Zhuangzi: Cook Ding butchering the ox never saw the whole ox; following the natural grain to dismantle it, his blade moved freely without him even needing to force a stroke. The moment he raised his eyes, the horns, hooves, and flesh fell apart on their own all at once. For nineteen years, his knife was as sharp as if freshly whetted on a grindstone; this was called "the whole ox." Although it is extraordinary like this, Xuedou said that even if one attained this, the whole elephant and the whole ox do not differ from a cataract in the eye. "Masters from of old have collectively delineated them": even real masters could not grope it out in there. From Kāśyapa down to the ancestral masters of the Western Heaven and this land, the old venerable masters under heaven have merely delineated its names. Xuedou directly cut through: "If you want to see the yellow-headed old man now"—therefore it is said: if you want to see, see immediately; if you need to search to see, you are a thousand or ten thousand miles away. The "yellow-headed old man" is the yellow-faced old man. If you want to see him now, "through every world and every particle of dust, you are halfway on the journey." It is commonly said: "In each dust particle is a world of dust; on each leaf is a Śākya." All the dust particles in the entire great trichiliocosm are seen within a single dust particle. When it is like this, you are still halfway on the journey; over there, another half of the journey remains. Tell me, where is it? Old Śākya himself does not know; how could you have this mountain monk explain it? (瞖: pronounced *yi*, an eye disease.)
10.21
The pointer says: Where there is a Buddha, you must not stay; if you stay, horns will sprout. Where there is no Buddha, run past quickly; if you do not run past, the grass will grow ten feet deep. Even if you are stark naked and clean, with no dynamic function outside of phenomena and no phenomena outside of dynamic function, you still cannot avoid watching the stump waiting for a hare. But tell me: when it is completely not like this, how do you walk and act? Try to cite it and see.
10.22
[Case 95] Case: Changqing said on occasion: "I would rather say an arhat has the three poisons
(Scorched grain does not sprout.)
than say the Tathāgata has two kinds of speech.
(Already slandering old Śākya.)
I do not say the Tathāgata has no speech,
(Still muddle-headed; already seven penetrations and eight holes.)
only that he has no two kinds of speech."
(Convoluted fellow! What third or fourth kind can you speak of?)
Baofu said, "What is the Tathāgata's speech?"
(A fine interrogation! What does he say?)
Qing said, "How could a deaf person hear it?"
(Crying out toward the empty sky; seven blossoms and eight splits.)
Baofu said, "I knew you were speaking from the secondary level."
(How could you deceive a clear-eyed person? Twisting his nostrils around; how is it merely the secondary level?)
Qing said, "What is the Tathāgata's speech?"
(A mistake. Yet it is a bit better.)
Baofu said, "Go have some tea."
(Understood. He also said: Do you still understand? You missed it!)
10.23
When Changqing and Baofu were in Xuefeng's assembly, they often brought up cases together and discussed them. One day in an ordinary conversation they spoke like this: "Better to say that an arhat has the three poisons than to say that the Tathāgata has two kinds of words." In Sanskrit, 'arhat'; here translated as 'slayer of thieves'. It is named after its function: able to sever the eighty-one grades of afflictions (nine times nine); all outflows are already exhausted, and the pure conduct has already been established—this is the stage of the arhat beyond learning. The three poisons are greed, hatred, and delusion. If even the eighty-one grades of fundamental afflictions are severed, how much more so the three poisons? Changqing said: "Better to say that an arhat has the three poisons than to say that the Tathāgata has two kinds of words." The general idea was to reveal that the Tathāgata speaks no untrue words. The Lotus Sūtra says: "Only this one matter is real; the other two are not true." It also says: "There is only the Dharma of the One Vehicle; there are neither two nor three." In more than three hundred assemblies, the Bhagavat observed the faculties to dispense teachings, gave medicine according to the illness, and expounded the Dharma in thousands of ways; yet in the end he had no two kinds of words. His intention reached this point. How do all of you understand this? When the Buddha expounded the Dharma with a single voice, it was indeed so; but Changqing had not yet even dreamed of the Tathāgata's words. Why? It is very much like someone speaking of food never being able to become full. Baofu saw him expounding doctrine on level ground and thereupon asked, "What are the Tathāgata's words?" Changqing said, "How could a deaf person hear?" Who knows how long this fellow had been making a living inside a demon's cave! Baofu said, "I knew very well that you were speaking toward the secondary!" In the end his words proved true. Changqing then asked his elder brother, "What are the Tathāgata's words?" Baofu said, "Go drink tea." The spearhead was instead snatched away by someone else! Both great and small Changqing lost their money and suffered punishment. Let me ask all of you: how many Tathāgata's words are there really? You must understand in this way before you can see where these two fellows failed. If we scrutinize it closely, both deserved a beating with the staff. Leaving a single path open for them to understand: some say that what Baofu said was right and what Changqing said was wrong, merely giving rise to understanding by following words, and immediately say that there is gain and loss. Little do they know that the ancients were like sparks struck from stone, like a flash of lightning. People nowadays do not look at where the ancients turned; they merely run after the words and say that Changqing did not function instantly at that time, and therefore fell into the secondary; while Baofu's saying "Go drink tea" is precisely the primary. If you only look at it like this, even when Maitreya descends to be born, you will still not see the intention of the ancients. If you are an adept, you will never make such a view. Leaping out of this nest, there is naturally a transcendent path. If you say, "'How could a deaf person hear?'—what is wrong with it? 'Go drink tea'—what is right with it?", you will be all the more irrelevant. Therefore it is said: "They study living phrases; they do not study dead phrases." This story is just like the story of "throughout the body" and "the whole body"; there is no place for you to calculate right and wrong. Only when you are completely naked and clear right beneath your heels will you see the place where the ancients met one another. Our old teacher Wuzu said: "It is just like wrestling in front of a horse; your eyes must be sharp and your hands must be nimble." If this gong'an is viewed with the true eye, in neither is there gain or loss. If you distinguish gain and loss, where there is no intimacy or estrangement you make a division of intimate and estranged. Changqing too must bow to Baofu before he can succeed. Why? This little bit was used well at the clever spot, just like lightning turning and a meteor flying. Baofu may well be said to have grown teeth upon teeth and claws upon claws. The verse says:
10.24
Head: the primary, the secondary! (In my King's treasury there is no such thing. An exemplar for past and present. What are you doing following evil and pursuing wickedness?)
The crouching dragon does not look into still water. (Only those of the same Path know it.)
Where there is no [dragon], the moon shines and waves are calm; (A lone boat sailing alone across the four seas. What bowl are you seeking in vainly calculating?)
Where there is [a dragon], waves rise without wind. (Scaring people to death! Do you feel your hairs standing on end? Struck, he says, "Coming!")
Chan traveler Leng! Chan traveler Leng! (Luring in thieves to ruin the house. Do not stick your head out in the noisy marketplace! Losing money and suffering punishment.)
In the third month at Yu's Gate, he suffered a point on the forehead! (Yielding oneself to others. Not one in ten thousand. He can only swallow his anger and hold his breath.)
10.25
"Head: the primary, the secondary!" People only occupy themselves with understanding the primary and the secondary; this is precisely making a living in dead water. If you only understand this dynamic cleverness as primary and secondary, you still cannot grope and find it. Xue竇 says: "The crouching dragon does not look into still water." How could a dragon be hidden in dead water? If it were primary and secondary, it would be precisely making a living in still water. Only where vast billows are boundless and white waves surge to the heavens is there a dragon hidden. This is just like saying earlier: "A clear pool does not permit a blue dragon to coil." Have you not heard it said: "Dead water does not hide a dragon"? And it is said: "A crouching dragon is always afraid of the clarity of a green pool." Therefore it is said: "Where there is no dragon, the moon shines and waves are calm"—the wind is serene and the waves are still; "Where there is a dragon, waves rise without wind." It is very much like Baofu saying, "Go drink tea"—this is precisely waves rising without wind. When Xuedou reached this point, all at once he swept away your emotional interpretations and completed the verse. He had an echoing resonance, bringing it into literary pattern: as before, within it he applied an eye, which was indeed extraordinary. Yet he says: "Chan traveler Leng! Chan traveler Leng! / In the third month at Yu's Gate, he suffered a point on the forehead!" Although Changqing was a dragon that had passed through the Dragon Gate, he was struck right on the forehead by Baofu.
10.26
[96] Case: Zhaozhou demonstrated to the assembly with three turning phrases. (What is he saying? Three sections, not the same.)
10.27
After Zhaozhou demonstrated these three turning phrases, at the very end he went on to say, "The true Buddha sits inside the house." This single phrase was terribly unkempt. The ancient opened a single eye and let down his hands to receive people, briefly borrowing these words to convey a message and help others. If you completely uphold the authentic imperative all the way through, the grass in front of the Dharma hall would be ten feet deep. Xuedou disliked the leakiness and clumsiness of his final phrase, so he pared it away and only versified the three phrases. If a clay Buddha crosses water, it dissolves; if a golden Buddha crosses into a furnace, it melts; if a wooden Buddha crosses fire, it burns up. What is difficult to understand? Among Xuedou's one hundred verse eulogies on antiquity with their calculated entangling vines, only these three verses directly have the breath of a patch-robed monk. Yet these verses are also quite difficult to understand. If you can penetrate these three verses, I will allow you to end your study.
10.28
A clay Buddha does not cross water; (Soaking and rotting the nostrils. Waves rising without wind.)
Divine light shines upon heaven and earth. (What business of his is it? Seeing the hare, he releases the hawk.)
If standing in the snow does not cease, (One person transmits a falsehood, ten thousand transmit it as real. Going along with the error to compound the error. Who ever saw you coming?)
Who would not be ornate and false? (Entering the monastery to look at the plaque. What is walking up and down during the twelve periods of the day? The venerable monk himself.)
10.29
"A clay Buddha does not cross water; / Divine light shines upon heaven and earth." This single line of the verse is clear. But tell me: why does he cite Shenguang? When the Second Ancestor was first born, divine light illuminated the room and extended to the Milky Way. On another night a divine being appeared and said to the Second Ancestor: "Why linger here so long? The time for you to attain the Path has arrived; you should go south immediately." Because of this encounter with the divine, he was named Shenguang. He lived for a long time in the Yi and Luo region, extensively mastering the various classics, and often sighed: "The teachings of Confucius and Laozi transmit ancestral models and customs." Hearing recently that Master Bodhidharma was dwelling at Shaolin, he went there to seek instruction morning and evening. Bodhidharma sat upright wall-gazing and never offered any teaching or encouragement. Shenguang thought to himself: "When the ancients sought the Path, they broke their bones to extract marrow, pierced their blood to relieve famine, spread their hair to cover the mud, and threw themselves over cliffs to feed tigers. If the ancients were like this, what about me?" On the night of the ninth day of the twelfth month of that year, there was heavy snow; the Second Ancestor stood below the steps, and by dawn the accumulated snow surpassed his knees. Bodhidharma pitied him and said, "Standing in the snow here, what matter do you seek?" The Second Ancestor wept and said, "I only wish that your compassion open the gate of sweet dew (amṛta) to deliver the multitude of beings broadly." Bodhidharma said, "The wonderful Path of all Buddhas requires diligent practice across countless eons, doing what is difficult to do and enduring what is unbearable to endure. How could one, with small virtue and small wisdom, with a light mind and an arrogant mind, hope for the true vehicle? There is no such possibility." Hearing this encouragement, the Second Ancestor's aspiration toward the Path became all the more earnest. He secretly took a sharp knife, severed his own left arm, and placed it before Bodhidharma. Bodhidharma knew he was a vessel of the Dharma, and thereupon asked, "Standing in the snow and cutting off your arm, for what matter do you do this?" The Second Ancestor said, "My mind is not yet at peace; I beg the Master to pacify my mind." Bodhidharma said, "Bring your mind here, and I will pacify it for you." The Ancestor said, "Having sought the mind, it is completely unfindable." Bodhidharma said, "I have pacified your mind for you." Later Bodhidharma changed his name to Huike. Later he received the Third Ancestor, Master Can. Having received the transmission of the Dharma, he concealed himself in Mount Wangong in Shuzhou. During the suppression of the Buddhist Dharma and the purging of monks under Emperor Wu of the Later Zhou, the Master moved back and forth to Mount Sikong in Taihu County, having no fixed dwelling; for over ten years no one knew him. Vinaya Master Xuan's Biographies of Eminent Monks does not record the Second Ancestor's deeds in detail. The biography of the Third Ancestor says: "The subtle Dharma of the Second Ancestor was not transmitted to the world." Fortunately, in the end, it was preserved through awakening to his standing in the snow at that time. Therefore Xuedou said: "If standing in the snow does not cease, / Who would not be ornate and false?" If standing in the snow does not cease, sycophantic and deceitful people will all imitate it, and all at once it will only result in ornate falsehood—that is, a cohort of flatterers and deceivers. In Xuedou's verse on "a clay Buddha does not cross water," why does he cite this story to use? He comprehended until beneath his conceptual root there was not a single speck of dust; only when completely naked and clear was he able to versify like this. Wuzu routinely taught people to look at these three verses. Have you not seen that Venerable Dongshan Chu had a verse demonstrating to the assembly that said: "On Mount Wutai clouds steam rice; / Before the hall of the ancient Buddha, a dog pisses at heaven. / At the top of the flagstaff, fried dumplings are cooked; / Three monkeys at night winnow coins." Furthermore, Venerable Dushun said: "The ox of Huaizhou eats grain, and the horse of Yizhou gets belly bloat. Throughout the world they search for a doctor, who applies moxa to the left shoulder of a pig." And Mahāsattva Fu's verse says: "Empty-handed, holding a hoe; / Walking on foot, riding a water buffalo. / A person passes over the bridge; / The bridge flows, but the water does not flow." And he said: "If the wooden man's dynamic function were like yours, he too would know how to sing songs of Ba. If you were like the wooden man, you should harmonize with the Snow Song." If you can understand these words, then you will understand Xuedou's verse. (足: phonetic reading, flipping tree upside down.)
10.30
A golden Buddha does not cross a furnace; (Singeing off the eyebrows. Above the heavens and below the heavens, only I am the honored one.)
A person comes to visit Zihu. (Going off like this again! Only fearing loss of body and life.)
A few characters on the signboard: (An illiterate cat has no place to understand it either. Patch-robed monks of the world cannot chip in a word. Only fearing loss of body and life.)
Where is the cool breeze absent? (Going off like this again! Dim and boundless above, dim and boundless below. Again he says, "Coming!")
(Wan: fanqie spelling hu + ban, appearance of brightness.)
10.31
"A golden Buddha does not pass through a furnace; / people come to visit Zihu." This line too finishes the eulogy. Why then bring in "people come to visit Zihu"? One must have the furnace and bellows of an adept before it works. Master Zihu erected a board at his mountain gate. On the board were written words saying: "Zihu has a dog: above, it takes a person's head; in the middle, it takes a person's waist; below, it takes a person's legs. If you hesitate, you forfeit body and life." Whenever he saw a newcomer arrive, he would shout, "Look out for the dog!" As soon as the monk turned his head, Zihu would return to the Abbot's quarters. But tell me: why could it not bite Zhaozhou? On another evening late at night, Zihu called out in the latrine, "Catch the thief! Catch the thief!" In the dark he ran into a monk, grabbed him by the chest, and said, "Caught you! Caught you!" The monk said, "Master, it's not me." Zihu said, "It is indeed you, only you are unwilling to acknowledge it." If you can understand this talk, I will grant that you can bite everyone to death, and everywhere the cool breeze will be brisk and awe-inspiring. If not, the few words on the sign will certainly be beyond your help. If you want to see him, you can only see him once you have penetrated through thoroughly. The verse says:
10.32
"A wooden Buddha does not pass through fire; (Burned up entirely. Only I can know.) / I constantly think of Pot-Breaker. (Going east or going west, what's wrong with that? A leper dragging along a companion.) / When the staff suddenly strikes, (It's in the mountain monk's hand. The mountain monk does not employ anyone. In whose hand is it not?) / only then does one know it lets me down." (Just like you, one cannot feel around for it. What use is there? Heavens, heavens! Only after thirty years. Better to sink forever into eternal kalpas than seek liberation from the sages. If you realize it in this place, you cannot avoid letting it down. How can one succeed in not letting it down? Inevitably, the staff is in someone else's hand.)
10.33
"A wooden Buddha does not pass through fire; I constantly think of Pot-Breaker." This line also completes the eulogy. Because "a wooden Buddha does not pass through fire," Xuedou constantly thinks of Pot-Breaker. Master Pot-Breaker of Mount Song did not announce his name and surname; his words and deeds were unfathomable, and he lived in seclusion on Mount Song. One day he led his disciples into a mountain cove, where there was a shrine that was very efficacious. In the hall there was only an earthen cooking pot installed; near and far, sacrificial rites never ceased, and countless living creatures were cooked and killed. The Master entered the shrine, tapped the pot three times with his staff, and said: "Tsk! You were originally formed of bricks and earth: where does your numinous efficacy come from? Whence does your holiness arise, that you cook and kill living creatures like this?" He struck it three more times, and the pot tipped over, broke, and collapsed by itself. In an instant, a person wearing green clothes and a tall hat suddenly stood before the Master, bowed, and said, "I am the god of the pot. For a long time I have endured karmic retribution; today, receiving the Master's exposition of the Dharma of unproducedness, I have been released from this place and born in heaven, so I have come especially to express my thanks." The Master said, "It is your inherent nature, not my forced words." The spirit bowed again and vanished. The attendant said, "We have served and attended you, Master, for a long time, yet we have not received instruction; what direct teaching did the pot god attain, that he was born in heaven?" The Master said, "I only said to him: 'You were originally formed of bricks and earth: where does your numinous efficacy come from? Whence does your holiness arise?'" The attending monks were all speechless. The Master said, "Do you understand?" The monk said, "I do not understand." The Master said, "Make a bow." The monk bowed, and the Master said, "Broken, broken! Fallen, fallen!" The attendant suddenly experienced great awakening. Later, a monk brought this up to National Teacher Anguo. The National Teacher sighed and said, "This fellow thoroughly understands that objects and the self are of one suchness." For the pot god to awaken to this was certainly natural; the monk was formed of the five aggregates, yet he also said, "Broken, fallen!" Both attained awakening. But are the four great elements and five aggregates the same as, or different from, bricks, tiles, and earth? Since it is like this, why did Xuedou say, "When the staff suddenly strikes, only then does one know it lets me down"? Why does it turn out to be a matter of "letting down"? It is only that one has not yet gotten hold of the staff. Tell me: why did Xuedou, in eulogizing "a wooden Buddha does not pass through fire," bring in the gong'an of Pot-Breaker? This old monk will tell you straight out: his intention is simply to cut off feelings of gain and loss, emotional dust, and conceptual thoughts, completely naked and exposed; then naturally you will see his intimate place.
10.34
The pointer says: Picking up one and letting go of one is not yet being an adept. Bringing up one to understand three still goes against the fundamental ancestral intent. Even if heaven and earth suddenly shift, singing from the four quarters ceases, thunder races, lightning flashes, clouds travel, rain pours, lakes overturn, mountains topple, and jugs and basins dump water, you still have not brought up half of it. Is there anyone who understands how to turn the heavenly pivot and shift the earthly axis? Try to bring it up and see.
10.35
[Case 97] Case: The Diamond Sūtra says: "If [this sūtra] is despised and disparaged by others, (Opening a line of path; yet what harm is there?) the sinful karma of these persons from previous lives (Carried by donkeys, hauled by horses.) would have caused them to fall into the evil destinies. (Already sunken and fallen.) Because they are despised and disparaged by people in the present life, (Paying back the principal and the interest; one can only endure it.) the sinful karma from their previous lives (Where will you search for it? Planting grain does not grow bean sprouts.) will be eliminated." (Adding frost on top of snow once again; like hot water melting ice.)
10.36
The Diamond Sūtra says: "If it is despised and disparaged by others, the sinful karma of these persons from previous lives would have caused them to fall into the evil destinies. Because they are despised and disparaged by people in the present life, the sinful karma from their previous lives will be eliminated." If one only goes by ordinary lectures and investigations, this is a common doctrine in the sūtras. Xuedou brought it up to eulogize this meaning, intending to smash the livelihood inside the ghost cave of the doctrinal teachers. Crown Prince Zhaoming categorized this section as "Being Able to Purify Karmic Obstacles." The general import in the teachings says that this sūtra possesses numinous efficacy: such a person made hell karma in a previous life, but because the power of goodness was strong, they have not yet experienced it; because they are despised and disparaged by people in the present life, their sinful karma from previous lives is eliminated. This sūtra is therefore able to eliminate sinful karma from immeasurable kalpas, transforming the heavy to become light, and transforming the light so that it is not received, and further attaining the awakening of buddhahood. According to the doctrinal teachers, rolling through these twenty-odd sheets of sūtra text is called upholding the sūtra. What connection does that have? Some say that the sūtra inherently has numinous efficacy. If so, try taking a scroll and placing it in an idle spot to see if it has any miraculous response or not. Fayan said, "One who verifies the stage of Buddhahood is called one who upholds this sūtra." The sūtra says: "All Buddhas and all Buddhas' teachings of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi emerge from this sūtra." But tell me, what is called "this sūtra"? Could it be the yellow rolls and red rollers? Do not mistakenly recognize the zero-mark on the scale. "Diamond" is a metaphor for the solidity of the Dharma-body, so objects cannot destroy it; because its function is sharp, it can crush all objects. Aimed at a mountain, the mountain is crushed; aimed at a sea, the sea is dried up. Setting up the name from the metaphor, the Dharma is also like this. This prajñā has three types: first, real-mark prajñā; second, contemplative prajñā; third, textual prajñā. Real-mark prajñā is true wisdom: it is the one great matter under everyone's feet, glowing brightly throughout past and present, far cut off from knowledge and views, completely naked and utterly stripped. Contemplative prajñā is the true realm: throughout the twelve periods of the day, radiating light and shaking the earth, hearing sounds and seeing forms. Textual prajñā is the words and letters capable of expressing it: that is, the speakers and listeners right now. But tell me: is it prajñā or is it not prajñā? An ancient said, "Everyone has a scroll of the sūtra." He also said, "The hand does not hold the sūtra scroll, yet constantly revolves such a sūtra." If one goes by the numinous efficacy of this sūtra, it is not merely transforming the heavy to make it light, and transforming the light so it is not received: even if its merit equals that of the sages, it is still not extraordinary. Have you not seen Layman Pang listening to a lecture on the Diamond Sūtra? He asked the lecturing master, "A commoner ventures a minor question; may I ask?" The lecturer said, "If you have doubts, please ask." The Layman said, "There is no mark of self and no mark of person; since there are no marks of self and person, who is made to lecture, and who listens?" The lecturer had no reply; instead he said, "I rely on the text to explain the meaning, and do not understand this intent." The Layman then had a verse saying: / "There is no self and also no person: / how could there be distant and close? / I urge you to cease taking the high seat; / how could that compare to directly seeking the real? / The nature of the diamond prajñā / is cut off from a single fine speck of dust on the outside. / 'Thus have I heard' and 'believing and receiving' / are all merely provisional names." / This verse is best; it explains it all clearly at once. Guifeng divided the four-line verse as: "All that has marks is illusory; if one sees all marks as non-marks, one immediately sees the Tathāgata." The meaning of this four-line verse is completely identical with "one who verifies the stage of Buddhahood is called one who upholds this sūtra." It also says: "If one sees me by form, or seeks me by sound, this person walks a false path, and cannot see the Tathāgata." This too is a four-line verse, but in between it takes that whose meaning is complete. A monk asked Huitang, "What is the four-line verse?" Huitang said, "You don't even know when you've fallen into conversational error." Xuedou pointed out from this sūtra: if there is someone who upholds this sūtra, that is everyone's native scenery, the original face. If one acts according to the authentic ancestral imperative, even the native scenery and original face are slashed into three pieces; the Buddhas of the three periods and the twelve divisions of the teaching do not need a single pinch. Arriving here, even if one had ten thousand kinds of merit, they could not manage it. Nowadays people only concern themselves with chanting sūtras and don't know what kind of principle this is at all; they just say, "How much have I chanted in a day?" only recognizing yellow rolls and red rollers, running their fingers and counting the ink, not knowing at all that it arises entirely from their own original mind. This is only that little bit where it turns. Master Dazhu said: "Try piling several cases of sūtras in an empty room, and see whether they radiate light or not!" It is only the mind produced in one's own single thought that is merit. Why? The myriad dharmas all emerge from one's own mind. A single thought is numinous; since it is numinous, it penetrates; since it penetrates, it transforms. An ancient said: "The lush green bamboo is entirely the True Suchness; the dense yellow flowers are nothing other than prajñā." If you see through thoroughly, that is True Suchness; if you have not yet seen it, tell me, what do you call True Suchness? The Avataṃsaka Sūtra says: "If a person wishes to fully understand all Buddhas of the three periods, they should contemplate the nature of the Dharmadhātu: everything is made by the mind alone." If you can recognize this, then facing circumstances and encountering conditions, you will be the host and the ancestor. If you have not yet been able to clarify it, then humbly listen to the disposition. Xuedou opened his eyes to eulogize the general outline, wishing to clarify the sūtra's numinous efficacy. The verse says:
First 36 of 73 passages. Read on
Linked texts (1)
- 佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 — Classical Chinese