佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 3.8

3.8

If you wish to unfold it openly, allow it to unfold openly; if you wish to smash it down, allow it to be smashed down. Xuefeng was a traveling companion with Yantou and Qinshan. He went three times to Touzi and nine times up to Dongshan, and only after studying with Deshan did he smash the black lacquer bucket. One day he led Yantou to visit Qinshan; they were snowbound at the hostel at Mount Ao. Yantou spent every day just sleeping, while Xuefeng sat in meditation all the time. Yantou shouted at him, saying: “Go to sleep, gorge yourself on sleep! Every day upon the bench you are just like the local earth god of seven villages. Sometime in the future you will go around bewitching other people's sons and daughters!” Xuefeng tapped his chest and said: “In here, I am not yet at peace; I dare not deceive myself.” Yantou said: “I thought that later on you would build a thatched hut on the peak of a solitary mountain to propagate the great teaching, yet you still talk like this!” Xuefeng said: “I am truly not yet at peace.” Yantou said: “If it is truly like this, bring forth your views one by one; where you are right, I will confirm it for you, and where you are wrong, I will cut it away for you.” Xuefeng then cited how, upon hearing Yanguan ascend the hall and raise the meaning of form and emptiness, he had found an entry point. Yantou said: “From now on for thirty years, by no means mention it.” Xuefeng also cited how, seeing Dongshan's verse on crossing the water, he had found an entry point. Yantou said: “If so, you cannot even save yourself!” Later, he arrived at Deshan and asked: “Regarding the affair of the ancestral vehicle from ancient times, does a student still have a share in it or not?” Deshan struck him a blow with his staff and said: “What are you saying?” Xuefeng said: “At that moment, it was like the bottom dropping out of a bucket.” Yantou then gave a shout and said: “Have you not heard it said: ‘What enters through the front gate is not the family treasure’?” Xuefeng said: “In the future, what should I do to be right?” Yantou said: “In the future, if you wish to propagate the great teaching, let it flow out one by one from your own breast to cover heaven and cover earth for me!” At these words Xuefeng was greatly enlightened. He bowed, got up, and shouted repeatedly: “Today at last Mount Ao has attained the Way! Today at last Mount Ao has attained the Way!” Later he returned to Minzhong to live at Mount Xianggu, where he wrote a verse to admonish himself: / “Human life is fleeting, lasting but a brief instant; / in this floating world, how could one abide for long? / Just crossing the ranges, I was already thirty-two; / entering Min, I was soon past forty. / There is no need frequently to bring up others’ wrongs; / one’s own faults should be eliminated continuously. / I respectfully inform the court full of vermilion- and purple-robed nobles: / King Yama does not fear the golden fish [talisman] you wear!” / Whenever he ascended the hall to instruct the assembly, he would say: “Everything covers heaven and covers earth.” He did not speak of the mysterious or the wondrous, nor did he speak of mind or nature; suddenly it stood exposed alone, like a great mass of fire—if you approach it, it singes your face; like the sword Tai'e—if you deliberate upon it, you lose your body and forfeit your life. If you hesitate in thought and stay your dynamic function, then there is no connection. Just as when Baizhang asked Huangbo: “Where have you come from?” Huangbo said: “I have come from gathering mushrooms at the foot of Mount Daxiong.” Baizhang said: “Did you see the big tiger?” Huangbo then made the roar of a tiger. Baizhang picked up an axe and made a hacking motion. Huangbo then gave Baizhang a slap. Baizhang chuckled, returned, ascended the seat, and addressed the assembly: “On Mount Daxiong there is a big tiger; all of you people must watch out for it carefully! Today I, this old monk, was personally bitten by it.” Whenever Zhaozhou saw a monk, he would ask: “Have you been here before?” If the monk said, “I have been here,” or said, “I have not been here,” Zhaozhou would always say: “Go have some tea.” The director of affairs asked: “Whenever you usually ask a monk whether he has been here or not, you always say, ‘Go have some tea.’ What is the meaning?” Zhaozhou said: “Director of affairs!” The director answered: “Yes?” Zhaozhou said: “Go have some tea.” In front of Zihu's gate a placard was erected, on which was written: “Zihu has a dog: up above it takes people's heads, in the middle it takes people's waists, and down below it takes people's legs. If you hesitate, you lose your body and forfeit your life.” Or when newcomers had just arrived for an interview, the master would shout: “Watch out for the dog!” As soon as the monk turned his head, the master would return to his abbot's quarters. It is just like Xuefeng saying: “On the South Mountain there is a turtle-nosed snake; all of you people must watch out for it carefully.” Right at such a moment, how do you respond? Without treading in their previous footsteps, try to say something and let us see. Coming to this point, you must also understand the words outside the framework; only then will you get it. When any gong'an or phrase is brought forward, you will immediately know where it lands. Look at how he instructed the assembly: he did not speak of practice or understanding with you; could you measure it with feelings and consciousness? Being a son of his house, one naturally speaks properly. Therefore an ancient said: “To receive words, you must understand the source; do not set up your own rules. Words must go outside the framework; phrases must penetrate the barrier.” If words do not leave the nest, you fall into a sea of poison. Xuefeng instructing the assembly in this way can be called flavorless talk that blocks people's mouths. Changqing and Xuansha were both people inside his house, and only then could they understand his talking like that. Just like Xuefeng saying, “On the South Mountain there is a turtle-nosed snake”—do you people know where it lands? Coming to this point, you must possess an eye that sees in all directions; only then will you get it. Do you not see that Zhenjing has a verse: / “Beating the drum and playing the pipa, / two masters of the art meet one another. / Yunmen can sing and harmonize; / Changqing understands how to follow along with the crooked. / An ancient tune has no rhyme or meter: / the turtle-nosed snake of South Mountain. / Who knows this meaning? / It is truly Xuansha.” / Just like Changqing responding in that way, tell me, what was his meaning? Coming to this point, it is like sparks from struck flint, like a flash of lightning; only then can you grasp it. If there is even the slightest hair not cleared away, you will not grasp what is his. What a pity! Many people generate emotional understanding under Changqing's words, saying: “As soon as there is something heard in the hall, that is losing your body and forfeiting your life.” Some say: “Originally there was not the slightest thing; on flat ground he speaks such words to make people doubt: when people hear him say, ‘On the South Mountain there is a turtle-nosed snake,’ you become suspicious.” If you understand it like this, it has no connection whatsoever; you are just making a living on his words. Since you should not understand it like this, how should you understand it? Later a monk recounted this to Xuansha. Xuansha said: “It must be Brother Leng to manage it. Even so, I would not be like that.” The monk said: “What about you, Venerable?” Xuansha said: “What use is the South Mountain?” Just look: in Xuansha's words there is an escape; he immediately said: “What use is the South Mountain?” Were it not for Xuansha, it would indeed be very difficult to respond. Just as he said, “On the South Mountain there is a turtle-nosed snake”—tell me, where is it? Coming to this point, only a person of transcendence can understand such talk. An ancient said: “Third Son Xie on the fishing boat does not care for the turtle-nosed snake of South Mountain.” Yet it came to Yunmen: he threw his staff down in front of Xuefeng and made a posture of fear. Yunmen had the skills for handling snakes: without violating the sharp point, he struck whether in light or in darkness. In his usual ways of guiding people, it was like brandishing the sword Tai'e: sometimes it flew toward people's eyebrows and eyelashes, and sometimes it flew three thousand leagues away to take a person's head. When Yunmen threw his staff and made a posture of fear, he was certainly not playing with his spirit. Could it be that he also lost his body and forfeited his life? An accomplished lineage master never makes a living on a single word or a single phrase. It was only because Xuedou loved how Yunmen tallied with and verified Xuefeng's meaning that he brought it out in verse.