佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 4.37

4.37

Fengxue was a venerable elder under Linji. Originally, when Linji was planting pines in Huangbo's assembly, Huangbo said, "Why plant so many pines deep in the mountains?" Linji said, "First, they make scenery for the mountain monastery; second, they serve as a marker for later people." Having spoken, he struck the ground once with his mattock. Huangbo said, "Although that is so, you have already received twenty blows of the staff." Linji again struck the ground once, saying, "Xu! Xu!" Huangbo said, "With you, our lineage will greatly flourish in the world." Guishan Zhe said, "Linji's doing so was much like falling down on flat ground. Even so, not changing when facing danger: only then is one called a true man of character." Huangbo saying, 'With you, our lineage will greatly flourish in the world,' was much like loving one's child and not noticing its ugliness. Later, Guishan asked Yangshan, "At that time, did Huangbo entrust it solely to Linji alone, or was there yet another?" Yangshan said, "There was; it is just that the years are far off and deep, so I do not wish to cite it to the venerable teacher." Guishan said, "Although that is so, I too want to know; just cite it." Yangshan said, "'One person points south to Wu and Yue, where the command is carried out; meeting a great wind (feng), he then halts.' This was a prophecy of Fengxue." When Fengxue first trained under Xuefeng for five years, he sought instruction: "Linji entered the hall; the head monks of the two halls shouted simultaneously. A monk asked Linji, 'Is there still guest and host, or not?' Linji said, 'Guest and host are clearly distinct.'" Fengxue said, "I do not know what the meaning is." Xuefeng said, "Formerly, together with Yantou and Qinshan, I went to see Linji; on the road we heard that he had already passed away. If you wish to understand his words on guest and host, you must study under the venerable elders of his lineage." Later Fengxue also visited Ruiyan, who constantly called to his master, answering himself, "Yes!" and again saying, "Be awake and alert! Hereafter do not be deceived by others." Fengxue said, "Picking it up himself and playing with it himself: what difficulty is there?" Later, he spent the summer retreat at Lumen in Xiangzhou with Attendant Guo. Guo directed him to go study with Nanyuan. Fengxue said, "Entering the gate, one must distinguish the host; genuinely, I ask the teacher to discern." One day he thereupon saw Nanyuan, and citing the previous conversation, said, "I have come specially to pay respects in person." Nanyuan said, "Xuefeng is an ancient Buddha." One day he saw Jingqing. Jingqing asked, "Where have you recently departed from?" Fengxue said, "I departed from the east." Jingqing said, "Did you cross the Xiao River?" Fengxue said, "A great boat alone floats through the sky; the Xiao River is nothing to ford." Jingqing said, "Mirror waters and painted mountains; birds fly but cannot cross. Do not steal and listen to left-behind words." Fengxue said, "The ocean still fears the momentum of covered wheels; arrayed across the Milky Way, flying sails cross the five lakes." Jingqing raised his whisk and said, "What can be done about this?" Fengxue said, "What is this?" Jingqing said, "Truly, you do not recognize it." Fengxue said, "Appearing and disappearing, rolling up and rolling out, I share the same function with the master." Jingqing said, "Divining with a ladle to listen to empty sounds; sleeping deeply, one utters plentiful delirious talk." Fengxue said, "A vast swamp conceals mountains; the principle is able to subdue leopards." Jingqing said, "Pardoning your crime and releasing your transgression, quickly get out!" Fengxue said, "To go out is to lose." He then went out to the Dharma hall and said to himself, "A great man of character: when the gong'an is not settled, how could he simply stop?" He then returned and entered the Abbot's Room again. As Jingqing sat, Fengxue asked, "Just now I rashly presented a foolish view, offending your venerable countenance. I humbly receive the venerable teacher's compassion in not conferring blame and punishment." Jingqing said, "Just now you came from the east; was it not from Cuiyan?" Fengxue said, "Xuedou dwelt personally to the east of Baogai." Jingqing said, "Not pursuing the lost sheep so that mad understanding ceases, you instead come here reciting poems!" Fengxue said, "Meeting a swordsman on the road, one must present a sword; if not to a poet, do not offer poetry." Jingqing said, "Quickly keep the poem secret, and lend the sword point for a moment." Fengxue said, "Decapitating the man in the steamer, I carry the sword away." Jingqing said, "Not only offending against moral customs, you also show your own stupidity." Fengxue said, "If one does not offend against moral customs, how can the mind of the ancient Buddhas be clarified?" Jingqing said, "What is called the mind of the ancient Buddhas?" Fengxue said again, "Granting permission once more, what does the master have right now?" Jingqing said, "A monk coming from the east cannot distinguish beans from wheat." Fengxue said, "I have only heard of taking without taking; how can you suppress taking yet take?" Jingqing said, "Huge waves surge a thousand fathoms; the clear billows are not apart from water." Fengxue said, "One phrase cuts off the flow; ten thousand dynamic workings cease and are pared away." Fengxue then bowed. Jingqing tapped his whisk three times and said, "Splendid! Sit and drink tea for a while." When Fengxue first arrived at Nanyuan's, he entered the gate without bowing. Nanyuan said, "Entering the gate, one must distinguish the host." Fengxue said, "Genuinely, I ask the teacher to discern." Nanyuan slapped his left knee once; Fengxue then shouted. Nanyuan slapped his right knee once; Fengxue also shouted. Nanyuan raised his left hand and said, "This one I concede to the ācārya." He then raised his right hand and said, "What about this one?" Fengxue said, "Blind!" Nanyuan thereupon picked up his staff. Fengxue said, "What are you doing? If I snatch the staff and strike you, venerable teacher, do not say I didn't warn you." Nanyuan then threw down the staff and said, "Today I have been thoroughly outdone by this yellow-faced man of Zhe." Fengxue said, "The venerable teacher is much like someone unable to hold his bowl who falsely says he is not hungry." Nanyuan said, "Has the ācārya ever been here before?" Fengxue said, "What kind of talk is that?" Nanyuan said, "I ask in good faith." Fengxue said, "I also cannot let it pass." Nanyuan said, "Sit and drink tea for a while." Look at such an outstanding fellow; his dynamic sharpness was naturally steep and sharp, and Nanyuan also could not discern him. The next day Nanyuan only asked ordinarily, "Where were you this summer?" Fengxue said, "I spent the summer retreat at Lumen together with Attendant Guo." Nanyuan said, "So you have personally seen an adept!" He also asked, "What did he say to you?" Fengxue said, "From beginning to end, he only taught me to consistently act as host." Nanyuan then struck him and drove him out of the Abbot's Room, saying, "This fellow who brings about defeat and deficiency—what use is there for him?" From this, Fengxue accepted it wholeheartedly and served as the gardener in Nanyuan's assembly. One day Nanyuan went to the garden and asked, "In the south, how do they discuss the single blow of the staff?" Fengxue said, "They discuss it as extraordinary." Fengxue said, "How does the venerable teacher here discuss it?" Nanyuan raised his staff and said, "Under the staff, the forbearance of the non-arising of phenomena; facing the dynamic, one does not yield to the teacher." Thereupon, Fengxue had a great, thorough awakening. At that time, during the chaos of the Five Dynasties, the Governor of Yingzhou invited the Master to spend the summer retreat. At that time, the Linji lineage greatly flourished. Whenever he engaged in questions and answers or pointers, his phrases were invariably sharp and fresh, gathering flowers and clustering brocade, every single character having its destination. One day the Governor invited the Master to ascend the hall. He addressed the assembly, saying: "The ancestral master's mind-seal is shaped like the dynamic function of the iron ox. If it goes, the seal remains; if it remains, the seal is broken. Just as for neither going nor remaining, is sealing it right, or is not sealing it right?" Why? It is not like the dynamic function of a stone man or a wooden horse; right down to it, it is like the dynamic function of the iron ox: there is no place for you to shake it. As soon as you go, the seal remains; as soon as you remain, the seal is broken: making you smash into a hundred fragments. Just as for neither going nor remaining, is sealing it right, or is not sealing it right? Look at him presenting the pointer like this: it may be called having bait on the hook. At that time, Elder Lupi was in the assembly, who was also a venerable elder under Linji; he dared to step forward to match dynamic functions with him, thereupon turning his topic to put forth an inquiry—extraordinary enough: "I have the dynamic function of the iron ox; please, Master, do not attach the seal." But what could be done? Fengxue was an adept, and immediately answered him: "Accustomed to angling for giant whales, subduing the vast expanse, / I regret instead that the frog's waddle is churning through the mud and sand." This, too, was an echo within the words. Yunmen said, "Lowering a hook into the four seas is only to angle for ferocious dragons; transcendent mysterious dynamics are for seeking an intimate friend." The vast expanse served as the hook and bait of twelve water buffaloes, yet only a frog was fished out. These words are without mystery or subtlety, and also without rational calculation. The ancients said, "If one looks at it on the level of phenomena, it is easy; if one conjectures beneath the mind-sense, there is no connection." Lupi hesitated in thought. Seeing it and not taking it, a chance hard to meet in a thousand years—what a pity! Therefore it is said: "Even if you can explain a thousand sūtras and treatises, / facing the dynamic, it is difficult to open the mouth." In fact, Lupi wanted to seek a good phrase to match him, not wanting to carry out the command; pressed hard from the start by Fengxue's dynamic sharpness of seizing the banner and snatching the drum, he could only be helpless. A common proverb says, "A routed army cannot endure being swept by a broom." At that time he still wanted to find spear techniques to counter him; by the time you find them, your head has already fallen to the ground. The Governor had also trained under Fengxue for a long time; he understood how to say, "The Buddha Dharma and the king's law are identical." Fengxue said, "What principle do you see?" The Governor said, "When one ought to decide and does not decide, in return one invites disorder." Fengxue was entirely a lump of spirit, just like a gourd on water: press it and it turns; push it and it moves. He knew how to preach the Dharma according to the dynamic; if not according to the dynamic, it turns instead into false speech. Fengxue then stepped down from the seat. Just consider Linji's four cases of guest and host. Practitioners of Chan must be very careful. When guest and host meet, there is discourse on guest and host coming and going: or responding to objects, manifesting form, the function of the total substance; or grasping dynamic adaptability in joy and anger; or manifesting half the body; or riding a lion; or riding an elephant king. If there is a genuine student, he shouts, first bringing out a basin of glue. The kalyāṇamitra does not distinguish that it is a realm, and immediately goes into his realm, putting on airs; then the student shouts again, and the former person refuses to let go. This is a fatal illness in the bone marrow, incurable; it is called guest looking at host. Or the kalyāṇamitra does not bring out anything, but snatches away wherever the student asks; the student, having been snatched from, desperately does not let go: this is host looking at guest. Or a student responds to a pure and clean realm and comes before the kalyāṇamitra; the kalyāṇamitra distinguishes that it is a realm and flings him into a pit; the student says, "What a great kalyāṇamitra!" and the kalyāṇamitra immediately says, "Bah! You do not know good from bad!" and the student bows: this is called host looking at host. Or a student wears cangues and carries locks and comes before the kalyāṇamitra; the kalyāṇamitra adds another layer of cangue and lock on him; the student rejoices, neither distinguishing the other: this is called guest looking at guest. What this mountain monk of Great Deshan has cited is all for discerning māras and selecting the atypical, knowing the heterodox and the orthodox. Have you not seen the monk asking Ciming, "When one shout distinguishes guest and host, and illumination and function are carried out simultaneously, how is it?" Ciming then shouted. Furthermore, Chan Master Hongjue of Yunju instructed the assembly, saying, "For example, when a lion catches an elephant, it exerts all its strength; when it catches a rabbit, it also exerts all its strength." At that time a monk asked, "I do not know what strength it exerts?" Yunju said, "The strength of not deceiving." Look at Xuedou versifying it:
(Decapitating [xiāo: fanqie jiān-yáo; interchangeable with xiāo, severing the head and hanging it upside down]).