萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 2

English (machine translation) 2

Language: English

Instruction to the assembly: A pair of solitary wild geese, beating against the earth, fly high; a pair of mandarin ducks stand singly beside the pond. Never mind the arrowheads meeting point-to-point; what about when a saw slices through a steelyard weight?

2.6

Case: Fayan asked Hermitage Master Xiu, '"A hair's breadth of difference is as the distance between heaven and earth." How do you understand this?' (Who dares touch it?)
Xiu said, '"A hair's breadth of difference is as the distance between heaven and earth."' (What is hard about competing with a hundred grasses?)
Fayan said, 'How can it be gotten like that?' (An iron mountain lies across the road.)
Xiu said, 'I am just like this; what about the Venerable?' (Twisting around the nostrils.)
Fayan said, '"A hair's breadth of difference is as the distance between heaven and earth."' (Thinking there must be something else.)
Xiu then bowed. (Going along with the mistake.)

2.7

The Master said: Hermitage Master Xiu and Fayan studied together under Dizang, thoroughly gaining the benefit of mutual polishing as fellow students. This gong'an is just like the breakthrough of Director Ze when he was defeated. When Zen Master Xuanze of Bao'en in Jinling [came], Fayan asked, 'Whom have you seen?' Ze said, 'I have seen Venerable Qingfeng.' Fayan said, 'What words were there?' Ze said, 'I once asked: "What is the student's self?" Feng said: "The Pingding Boy comes seeking fire."' Fayan said, 'How did the Elder understand it?' Ze said, 'Bing and ding belong to fire; using fire to seek fire is like using the self to seek the self.' Fayan said, 'How can it be gotten by understanding it like that?' Ze said, 'I am just like this; I do not know what the Venerable's revered meaning is.' Fayan said, 'You ask me; I will tell you.' Ze said, 'What is the student's self?' Fayan said, 'The Pingding Boy comes seeking fire.' Ze had an immediate awakening at these words. Fayan held the hook and awl in hand: when going, he stamped it fast; when staying, he stamped it open. He shattered Director Ze's emotional barrier and unlocked Hermitage Master Xiu's cognitive lock. The Third Patriarch's Inscription on Faith in Mind: 'The Great Way is not difficult; / It only avoids picking and choosing. / Only without hatred and love, / It is clearly and lucidly evident. / A hair's breadth of difference / Is as the distance between heaven and earth.' Fayan used this to ask Hermitage Master Xiu, making it a tile to knock on the door. Nowadays, if you ask a thousand people, a thousand understand it through conceptual reasoning; otherwise, they fall completely into the realm of doing nothing. Xiu did not fall into deliberation; he merely said, 'A hair's breadth of difference is as the distance between heaven and earth.' That too had plenty of substance! Only then did Fayan disallow it, saying, 'How can it be gotten like that?' This is how he was the source of the Fayan lineage. Reaching this point, Wansong often has students split themselves into two sides to observe: In the first part, when Hermitage Master Xiu spoke like that, why did he not approve? In the second part, why did Fayan himself speak like that? In between, Hermitage Master Xiu said, 'I am just like this; what about the Venerable?'—expecting a brand-new sun and moon, making a different livelihood. Yet Fayan did not err by a single hair; just as before, he merely said, 'A hair's breadth of difference is as the distance between heaven and earth.' Dongchan Qi said, 'When the Hermitage Master replied like that, why was he not approved? Yet when he asked for further instruction, Fayan merely spoke like that and it was acceptable. Tell me, where is the discrepancy? If you can see through it, say that the Elder has a basis.' Wansong says: How can it be gotten like that? Therefore it is said: 'It is merely the road travelled in olden days; / When spoken of to someone, it immediately turns into confusion.' Xiu then bowed: though he got it, emotionally and logically it is hard to tolerate. Wuzu Jie acted in Fayan's place, striking him right across the back. Wansong says: Indeed, there is an edition that adds Fayan's words: 'The Hermitage Master has penetrated through.' Wansong says: Those fellows playing with mud balls—neither understood. Had Wansong been there when Fayan said 'How can it be gotten like that?', I would have said to him, 'I have long heard that the Venerable possessed this critical mechanism.' Otherwise, I would have shaken my sleeves and walked away, ensuring it was cut off all at once. If you do not believe it, try asking Tiantong. The verse says:

2.8

"A fly perching on the tip of the steelyard beam tilts it at once; (One cannot cheat it by even a single dot.)
Through ten thousand generations, the balance reflects unevenness. (The peck is full, the steelyard weight rests.)
Pounds, ounces, drachms, and grains are clearly seen; (Do not misrecognise them.)
In the end, all concede to my zero mark." (Catch the intention at the tip of the hook.)

2.9

The Master said: Tiantong's opening line immediately versifies 'An error of a hair's breadth, and heaven and earth are far apart.' Master Yuan of Mount Lu said, 'From where, after all, do the fundamentals arise? Arising and ceasing, being and non-being, are boundless. The slightest movement involving the realm of motion resembles the momentum of a tumbling mountain.' When the Third Patriarch uttered the word 'dislike,' he had already made love and hate in advance. Yet he says, 'Simply do not hate or love, and it is thoroughly clear and evident.' You all, step back and examine yourselves in minute detail! The Sanskrit term 'samādhi' is translated here as 'equal maintenance'—neither sinking nor restless, maintaining equally and naturally. This may serve as the balance of ten thousand generations that reflects imbalance. In the Diagrammatic Exposition of the Essentials of Governance from the Book of Documents, it says that a scale has three aspects: the standard (the cord), the balance (the beam), and the weight (the poise). The Śūraṅgama-sūtra says, 'Within one's own abiding samādhi, seeing and the conditions for seeing, along with the characteristics conceived of, are fundamentally non-existent, like sky-flowers. This seeing and its conditions are originally the wondrous, pure, bright substance of bodhi. How could there be within it what is right and what is not right?' When one arrives precisely at such a moment, there is no need to dislike choosing, or to leave behind love and hate. If there is not even an error of a hair's breadth, how could there be a separation like clouds and mud? As for 'catties, ounces, drachms, and grains': eight grains make a drachm, three drachms make an ounce, and sixteen ounces make a catty. For a person who holds the balance in hand: if you bring a catty, I also move [the poise] once to make it level; if you bring an ounce, I also move [the poise] once to make it level. If there seems to be even the slightest increase or decrease of a drachm or grain, it tips over. Everywhere they say, 'Grasp the intention at the hook's end; do not fix upon the mark on the beam.' For on the beam's zero-mark, there are originally no catties or ounces. It is also like the North Star abiding fixed in its place; adding and subtracting at the hook's end is calculated on the spot. Wansong says: Being level with intention is not as good as being unlevel without intention. Therefore, on a scale without marks, one sells generously to others; in the double-six game, one wins by relying on whatever roll turns up. Do you still understand Fayen's saying, 'The mountain master has penetrated'? When the scale-weight is moved all the way to the tip, suddenly it is pushed off and turns a somersault.

2.10

Case 18: Zhaozhou's Dog

2.11

Instruction to the assembly: A gourd on the water spins as soon as you press it; a jewel under the sun has no fixed color. It cannot be attained with no-mind, nor can it be known with mind. Great beings without measure are turned around within the flow of words. Is there anyone who can escape?

2.12

Case: A monk asked Zhaozhou, 'Does a dog also have buddha-nature or not?' (Blocking the street, chasing a clod.) Zhou said, 'Yes.' (Nor has it ever been increased.) The monk said, 'Since it has it, why does it crash into this skin bag?' (Pleading guilty on the first count, he personally signs his own confession.) Zhou said, 'Because he knowingly and deliberately transgresses.' (For now, do not acknowledge it; it is not speaking of you.) Another monk asked, 'Does a dog also have buddha-nature or not?' (Born of the same mother.) Zhou said, 'No.' (Nor has it ever been decreased.) The monk said, 'All sentient beings have buddha-nature; why does a dog not have it?' (A stupid dog chasing a kite.) Zhou said, 'Because it still has karmic consciousness.' (The above is detailed as before; the case is concluded based on the confession.)

2.13

The Master said: If you say the dog's buddha-nature truly exists, later he said it does not. If it truly does not exist, earlier he said it does. If you say saying 'has' and saying 'has not' are merely temporary responses to the occasion, squeezed out under pressure, each has its reason. Therefore it is said: A clear-eyed person has no set pattern. Where this monk asked, he wanted to broaden his information and did not rely on his fundamental portion. Zhaozhou said 'Yes,' taking away poison with poison, curing sickness with sickness. This monk then said, 'Since it has it, why does it crash into this skin bag?' He did not know that he himself had been born into a dog's belly! Zhou said, 'Because he knowingly and deliberately transgresses'—one hammer blow hitting two marks, swift and hard to encounter. This monk thought it was judging the fruit according to the cause. If one understands it like that, one wouldn't even qualify to be a lecturer's servant. Later another monk asked again, and then he said 'No.' A person who has attained: saying 'has,' he has an exit; saying 'has not,' he also has an exit. This monk, adhering to the texts and relying on the books, said, 'All sentient beings have buddha-nature; why does a dog not have it?' With a cornering like this, I dare say that even a hand that shifts the heavenly barrier would have no room to turn around. Yet he leisurely said, 'Because it still has karmic consciousness.' Tell me, is there still blood under this monk's skin? Tiantong cannot help but apply moxibustion right on top of a red scar. The verse says:

2.14

"A dog's buddha-nature: yes. A dog's buddha-nature: no. (Beaten into one lump, forged into one piece.) / A straight hook originally seeks a fish that will surrender its life. (This monk today deserved to die.) / Cloud-and-water wanderers who chase smells and hunt for scents (They don't even know their nostrils have been pierced.) / Clamor and bicker in making distinctions. (Vying to gnaw dry bones, snarling and howling.) / Spread out flat, (No deceit; stop lying to each other.) / fully displayed; (High talent, bold words.) / do not blame me for not being cautious at the start. (Once a word leaves the mouth, a team of four horses cannot overtake it.) / Pointing out a flaw, he takes back the jade; (A plain-daylight clever thief.) / the King of Qin did not recognize Lin Xiangru." (Missed right before his face.)

2.15

The Master said: 'A dog's buddha-nature: yes. A dog's buddha-nature: no.' Two different passages are brought out together, just as Xuedou said: 'One has many kinds; two are of no different sort.' Tiantong wanted to meet Zhaozhou, so he versified it like this. Yingtian Zhen said, 'A straight hook catches a fierce dragon; a curved hook catches a toad.' Later people, chasing smells and hunting for scents, are like hunting hounds, clamoring and bickering; what juice is there on dry bones? Although Zhaozhou opened a large shop, after all it was only a flat-out discussion. Tiantong unties Zhaozhou's wrist: 'Do not blame me for not being cautious at the start.' Guizong asked a scholar, 'What classics and histories do you specialize in?' The scholar said, 'I understand the calligraphic styles of twenty-four masters.' Guizong made a dot in the air and said, 'Do you understand?' The scholar said, 'No.' Guizong said, 'Yet you say you understand the calligraphic styles of twenty-four masters, but you don't even know the eight strokes of the character yong!' Prefect Li Bo asked, 'I do not ask about the three vehicles and twelve divisions of the teaching; what is the meaning of the Ancestral Master's coming from the West?' Guizong also held up a fist and said, 'Do you understand?' Li said, 'No.' Guizong said, 'This pedant doesn't even recognize a fist!' Wansong says: Let everyone watch the lion turn its body! Not only when it comes to saying 'has' or 'has not' regarding the dog's buddha-nature, but just this 'knowingly and deliberately transgressing' and 'the nature of karmic consciousness remaining' also greatly look before and after, cautious at the start and guarded at the end. The Records of the Grand Historian states that King Hui of Zhao obtained the jade disk of the He clan of Chu. King Zhao of Qin offered fifteen cities in exchange for it. Lin Xiangru brought the jade disk in. The King of Qin was delighted and passed it around to show his beauties and attendants; the attendants all shouted 'Ten thousand years!' Xiangru, seeing that the king had no intention of ceding the cities, stepped forward and said, 'The jade has a flaw; please let me show it to you.' The king handed him the jade. Xiangru thereupon held it and stood up, leaning against a pillar, his hair bristling against his cap in anger, saying, 'The King of Zhao fasted for five days and sent his subject bearing the jade disk to present the letter in court, out of respect for the majesty of a great state to cultivate reverence. Now I see that Your Majesty's etiquette is very arrogant. Having obtained the jade, you passed it around to show your beauties, as if trifling with me, with no intention of ceding the cities. Therefore I have taken back the jade. If you must press me, my head and the jade will both shatter against the pillar!' The king apologized and checked the map to cede the cities, and also fasted for five days. Xiangru had his attendant wear coarse clothes, conceal the jade in his bosom, and return to Zhao by a shortcut. Zhaozhou first lets go and then snatches away; he has Xiangru's method. Tiantong elsewhere had a verse: 'Zhaozhou says yes, Zhaozhou says no; / concerning the dog's buddha-nature, the whole world makes distinctions. / A red face is not as good as straight speech; / a true heart must have rough words. / An old Zen elder of seven hundred and sixty years— / meeting people, he trades donkey dung for their eyeballs.' Zhaozhou's true heart and straight speech are precisely the straight hook that originally seeks a fish that will surrender its life. When King Wen of Zhou went hunting, he saw Jiang Ziya in the Pan stream valley, three feet above the water, fishing with a straight hook. The king marveled and said, 'How can you catch fish with a straight hook?' Ziya said, 'I only seek fish that will surrender their lives.' 'Meeting people, he trades donkey dung for their eyeballs'—this is like Xiangru taking back the jade disk. Fojian held out a soapberry rosary and said, 'Do you all see it?' After a long pause, he said, 'This is what this old monk got in exchange when he came to the capital. All of you, go back to the hall and feel around!' Fojian used soapberries, Zhaozhou used donkey dung. Since Wansong has no use for them, he has not made any exchange. If you can fully believe it, your eyes remain under your eyebrows as before.

2.16

Case 19: Yunmen's Mount Sumeru

2.17

Instruction to the assembly: I love Shaoyang's newly established dynamic: all his life he pulled out nails and pegs for people. Why did he sometimes open the door, carry out a glue pot, and dig a pitfall right in the road? Try to distinguish and see.

2.18

Case: A monk asked Yunmen, 'When not a single thought arises, is there still any fault or not?' (A fellow whose speech is clear but whose action is murky.) Yunmen said, 'Mount Sumeru.' (Steep!)

2.19

The Master said: National Teacher Yuantong Shan said, 'Everywhere they discuss this gong'an: some say that as soon as he asked like that, he had already given rise to a thought, and the fault was like Mount Sumeru; some say it is like Mount Sumeru, which the eight winds cannot move, eternally settled and ever secure; some say it is difficult for people to penetrate, like Mount Sumeru. Discussing it like this, after all, they have not yet understood Yunmen's intention. If the bottom of the pail falls out and the red silk thread snaps, only then will you know that it is not like that at all.' Have you not heard it said: 'Three phrases illumine one phrase; one phrase illumines three phrases. Three and one do not interfere with each other—clearly the path beyond.' Foguo said, 'Yunmen's answers often stir up people's conscious emotions.' Wansong says: To dispel conscious emotions with conscious emotions—unless one has great means for people's sake, one cannot match up to it. This Mount Sumeru cannot be covered by heaven, cannot be supported by earth; the wind cannot blow into it, water cannot splash onto it. Only the vajra eye, seeing through it in a single glance, immediately sees seven piercings and eight cavities, right down to being shattered into fine dust; and then, right on the eyebrows and eyelashes, it is solitary, remote, steep, and towering! Chan Master Baiyun Duan's verse says: 'Mount Sumeru fills the universe; / even the Thousand-Handed Great Compassionate One cannot see through it. / Unless you know for yourself how to ride the ox backward, / all your life you will not avoid trailing behind others.' Wansong says: Raising the face, alone lifting the eyebrows; turning the head, clapping one's own hands. Venerable Qishan Zhi's verse says: 'With nothing to do, he throws himself upon another seeking a crime; / on the spot he is seized and loses his whole body. / Of those scurrying about without having confessed their deeds, / who knows how many people there are outside the gate?' Tiantong alone is not confined to this. The verse says:

2.20

"Not giving rise to a single thought: Mount Sumeru! (Finished in a single phrase.) / Shaoyang's bestowal of Dharma was not stingy in intent. (Tiantong also lacks nothing.) / When willing to come, both hands are handed over; (Only fearing that you cannot undertake it.) / in attempting to go, a thousand fathoms cannot be climbed. (In vain beating one's brow.) / The vast sea is broad; (Containing heaven and bathing the sun, boundless.) / the white clouds are idle: (Companion to cranes and following the wind, attaining freedom.) / do not place even a hair's breadth between them! (Already too much!) / The sound of an imitation rooster's crow cannot deceive me; (The true does not conceal the false.) / I am unwilling to muddle through and let you pass the barrier." (The order of the Western Heavens is strict.)

2.21

The Master said: You ask me, 'When not a single thought arises, is there fault or no fault?' and I just carry out a Mount Sumeru and place it in front of you. The benefit of such a gift of Dharma is certainly not stingy. Yongjia said, 'The gate of the great giving is wide open, without obstruction'—not only today. In Sanskrit it is 'Sumeru', which is translated here as 'Wondrously High'. Being formed of the four jewels is called 'wondrous'; towering alone above all peaks is called 'high'. Among the mountains of the four continents, Sumeru is the foremost. If you yourself approve, I entrust it to you with both hands. An ancient poem says, 'When their mind reaches consent, that is when my destiny breaks through.' In truth, this matter is always manifest, towering and majestic like Mount Sumeru; who could cover it over? Before it is entrusted, how could you lack a share? When it is entrusted to you, how could it be newly gained? Have you not heard? Changqing said, 'Alone among the myriad phenomena, the body is revealed; only when one approves it oneself is there intimacy.' In this part of the verse, Tiantong shows great reserved depth. If you hesitate and deliberate, you will gaze up from thousands of miles away and never reach it. Qianyuan said, 'This matter is like a crumbling cliff or split crag, standing sheer for thousands of fathoms, impossible to climb or grasp.' In fact, you have never departed from it, and I have never taken it away. This contrasts directly with the preceding line's delusion and enlightenment, forming a clear pair. The teachings say that Mount Sumeru enters the water eighty thousand yojanas and rises out of the water eighty thousand yojanas; nothing but the Ocean of Sāgara could contain it. Since the mountain has been motionless through past and present, the clouds also drift in and out, constantly at ease. Dongshan said, 'The blue mountain is the white clouds' father; the white cloud is the blue mountain's child. The white cloud leans on it all day long; the blue mountain is completely unaware.' With his surplus talent, Tiantong versified Mount Sumeru as the vast ocean and idle clouds, fully exhausting its wondrous marvel. Does this place admit the arising and ceasing of a single thought? Therefore it is said: 'The vast ocean is wide, the white clouds are at leisure; / Do not place a single hair between them.' This also shares the same study with Xuedou's saying, 'Sand cannot be put into the eye.' If we speak of Shaoyang not being stingy with the gift of Dharma, he nevertheless put Mount Sumeru right into the eye! In this verse on Mount Sumeru, colliding and striking together, the bloodline runs through; every tap is the command, not something fabricated through arbitrary appraisal to nourish intellectual consciousness. In fact, for a person who does not give rise to a single thought, how could one further ask whether there is fault or no fault? Even if one constantly abides in the place where not a single thought arises, when examined closely, what is it good for? Therefore it is said: 'The false crow of a rooster can hardly deceive me; / I refuse to vaguely let them pass through the barrier.' When Lord Mengchang went to Qin to become prime minister, someone persuaded the King: 'Lord Mengchang is worthy, and he belongs to the royal house of Qi. Now serving as Qin's prime minister, he will surely put Qi first and Qin second. Qin will be in danger.' The King imprisoned the Lord and wished to kill him. Through a favored concubine, the Lord sought release. The concubine said, 'I desire to obtain the Lord's white fox-fur robe.' At that time, the robe had already been presented to the King. A retainer of low rank who could sneak like a dog stole the robe and presented it to the concubine. The Lord was able to get out. At midnight he reached Hangu Pass. The law of the pass allowed travellers to exit only when the roosters crowed. A retainer named Feng Xuan was good at imitating rooster crows; he crowed, and all the roosters crowed. The Lord escaped the Qin peril. The Master held up his staff and said: 'Wansong is guarding the pass today. If anyone can crow like a rooster, come forward!' He then leaned his staff aside and said: 'I let you pass this once.'

2.22

Case 20: Dizang's Intimacy

2.23

Instruction to the assembly: Deep talks entering principle scoff at this and grasp at that; on the great road of Chang'an, things run crisscross and every which way. Suddenly opening one's mouth and speaking it out, lifting one's foot and treading upon it, one may hang up one's bowl-bag high and snap one's staff. Tell me: who is such a person?

2.24

Case: Dizang asked Fayan, 'Where is the elder going?' (Why frame someone?) Fayan said, 'Wandering on pilgrimage.' (Off to pay for straw sandals.) Dizang said, 'What is the business of pilgrimage?' (Indeed, he doesn't let him pass.) Fayan said, 'I do not know.' (Why didn't you say so earlier?) Dizang said, 'Not knowing is most intimate.' (A highway robbery on the spot.) Fayan was suddenly greatly enlightened. (Narrowly spared travelling expenses.)

2.25

The Master said: Yang Wuwei asked Venerable Furong Kai, 'How many years have we been parted?' Kai said, 'Seven years.' Yang said, 'Have you been studying the Way, or participating in Chan?' Kai said, 'I do not beat that drum and flute.' Yang said, 'If so, then you have traveled idly through mountains and waters, capable of nothing at all.' Kai said, 'We have not been parted long, yet your lofty insight is refined.' Yang laughed heartily. Nanquan said, 'The Way does not belong to knowing, nor does it belong to not knowing. Knowing is deluded perception; not knowing is neutral indifference.' People today, seeing it said that 'not knowing is most intimate', and that this was furthermore the turning point of Fayan's enlightenment, immediately fall into an absolute 'I don't know, I don't understand', thinking this alone is it. They hardly realize that an ancient's single phrase covers all like heaven, upholds all like earth. Since 'not knowing is most intimate', what about Heze saying, 'The single word "knowing" is the gate of all marvels'? If you are right, you are entirely right, but do not sit in the place of being right; if you are wrong, you are entirely wrong, but do not sit in the place of being wrong. Concurrently penetrating the five ranks of real and apparent, how can you die beneath a phrase? As for Fayan's enlightenment here, it too was an accidental composition. Venerable Baishan Dayin said, 'Good fortune was brought about through misfortune.' Dizang's method of receiving people was to cast the hook where there was no doubt; dropping a line out of nowhere, Fayan suddenly awakened: 'So it was right here all along!' The Old Teacher of Cizhou said, 'Whether walking or sitting, before a thought arises, forcefully bring it up and look: if you see it, you see it; if not, just set it aside. Practicing this way, resting does not hinder study, and study does not hinder resting.' Venerable Touzi Qing said, 'Since the golden dragon lost its water, the wondrously-winged [Garuḍa] swiftly snatched it up.' Dizang's timing and causal conditions left not the slightest gap. Tiantong has a tongue at the tip of his brush, proclaiming it once again. The verse says:

2.26

Having fully explored today, he is like back then; (I am still the person of old, yet not the person of old.) / Stripping away every shred of drizzle, he reaches 'not knowing'. (There is still this.)
Let it be short, let it be long—cease trimming and splicing; (A waste of effort.) / Following the high, following the low, it naturally levels itself. (Without expending mental effort.)
The family's wealth or poverty is used as occasions require; (Salt and vinegar cannot be lacking.) / The field is spacious, leisurely shifting with every step. (Walking whenever one wishes.)
The pilgrimage affair of thirty years ago (Nothing to ponder.) / Clearly betrayed a pair of eyebrows. (Still over the eyes as before.)

2.27

The Master said: The Zongjing [lu] says, 'Hitherto, delusion and enlightenment seemed like delusion; today, enlightenment and delusion are not enlightenment.' Therefore it is said, 'Having awakened, one is just like an unawakened person.' When Dizang questioned him, he wanted to know the reason for his setting out; where Fayan answered, it was also not modesty or evasion. Dizang took advantage of the moment to bring it up: 'Not knowing is most intimate.' Fayan was greatly enlightened: so this 'not knowing' is indeed intimate! Linji asked Luopu, 'Where do you come from?' Luopu said, 'From Luancheng.' Linji said, 'May I ask you about a matter?' Luopu said, 'I do not understand.' Linji said, 'Though one breaks through the entire Great Tang empire, one cannot find a single person who does not understand!' Linji often used the sword that kills people, but he also had the sword that gives life; he was not like Dizang, whose killing of people drew blood, helping someone thoroughly. This 'not knowing and not understanding' is utterly different. One must thoroughly strip away every shred of drizzle before reaching the place of not knowing and not understanding. When Guishan held a general work session to clear fields, Yangshan asked, 'Why is this end so low and that end so high?' Guishan said, 'Water can level things; just level it with water.' Yangshan said, 'Water is also unreliable; Venerable Sir, just let the high places be high-level, and the low places be low-level.' Guishan agreed. Master Zhao's Treatise on Prajñā Being Without Knowing says: 'When it is said that all phenomena are not different, does it mean stretching the duck's legs, cutting the crane's legs, leveling the mountains, and filling the valleys, and only then considering them not different?' Therefore it is said: 'Let it be short, let it be long—cease trimming and splicing; / Following the high, following the low, it naturally levels itself.' Zhang Wujin said, 'Countless adjustments waste effort; following along with everything becomes skillfulness.' Just speak freely as the mouth opens, use freely as the hand moves, walk freely as the foot steps. In the spring months flowers bloom; in the autumn season leaves fall. If you understand like this, what donkey's legs would you tread? Thus Xuansha did not leave his mountain ridge, and Baoshou did not cross the river, yet without going out the door they knew the affairs of all under heaven. Juefan's verse says: 'A face as large as a small plate, / Eyes, ears, nose, and tongue divide the territories. / Inside the skull, they know nothing at all; / Let people on the outside contend and act strangely.' The mouth asked the nose, 'Drinking and eating are up to me, speaking is up to me; what merit do you have to be above me?' The nose said, 'Among the five sacred peaks, the Central Peak occupies the honor.' The nose then asked the eyes, 'Why are you above me?' The eyes said, 'We are like the sun and moon, truly having the merit of illuminating and inspecting. Dare we ask the eyebrows: what merit do you have to dwell above us?' The eyebrows said, 'I truly have no merit, and am ashamed to occupy the upper place. If I were allowed to be below, with the eyes looking from above the eyebrows, what kind of face would you have?' Therefore Chan Master Baoyue Ming went up to the hall and said: 'An ancient said, "In the eyes it is called seeing; in the ears it is called hearing." Tell me, on the eyebrows, what is it called?' After a long pause, he said, 'In sorrow they grieve together; in joy they delight together. Everyone knows the usefulness of the useful, but does not know the great usefulness of the useless.' Now tell me: what was the meaning of Venerable Piṇḍola stroking his eyebrows with both hands? The Master stroked his eyebrows and said: 'Meow.'

2.28

Case 21: Yunyan Sweeps the Ground

2.29

Instruction to the assembly: Transcending delusion and enlightenment, cutting off the sacred and profane—although there are not many matters, establishing host and guest and distinguishing noble and base is another lineage entirely. Measuring talent to confer duties is not without its place; how do you understand being of the same breath and linked branches?

2.30

Case: Yunyan was sweeping the ground. (Novices and postulants get no rest.) Daowu said, 'Too busy and toilsome!' (Concealing troops and provoking a fight.) Yunyan said, 'You should know there is one who is not busy and toilsome.' (A pity to split the talk in two.) Daowu said, 'If so, then there is a second moon.' (How could there be only two hundred, thousand, or ten thousand?) Yunyan held up the broom and said, 'Which moon is this?' (Sticking his head out from the crystal palace.) Daowu then rested. (Everything is in what is left unsaid.) Xuansha said, 'It is precisely the second moon.' (One person spreads an untruth and ten thousand take it as real.) Yunmen said, 'The manservant sees the maidservant with attentive eagerness.' (Following the crooked, he throws down the winnowing basket.)

2.31

The Master said: Daowu's breaking down of Yunyan was like Foguo's spurring of Fojian—as it is said, 'If not indignant, no enlightenment; if not struggling to express, no development.' When Yunyan was sweeping the ground, Daowu idly checked up on him. Yunyan said, 'You should know there is one who is not busy.' Good people, when you eat your rice, brew your tea, hold a needle, or sweep the ground, if you recognize the one who is not busy, then worldly dharma and the Buddha Dharma become of a single piece. In the Dongshan house this is called 'going along with both sides'; then in the midst of your daily affairs you naturally do not pass the time in vain. Daowu at once saw the flaw and said, 'If so, then there is a second moon.' Xuedou gave an alternative phrase: 'It was almost let go.' These two elders feared people would separate from the physical body to establish an independent Dharma-body. National Teacher Zhong said to a southern Chan traveler: 'Here, my buddha-nature is entirely free from arising and ceasing; your southern buddha-nature is half arising-and-ceasing, half non-arising and non-ceasing.' The traveler asked, 'What is the distinction?' The Master said, 'Here, body and mind are as one; outside mind there is nothing else. Therefore it is entirely free from arising and ceasing. In your south, the body is impermanent while the spiritual nature is permanent; therefore it is half arising-and-ceasing and half non-arising and non-ceasing.' At this point, one must know there is a time of turning the body around to approach the father. Yunyan then held up the broom and said, 'Which moon is this?' This phrase originally comes from the Śūraṅgama-sūtra, which says: 'Like a second moon: which is the moon, and which is not the moon? Mañjuśrī, there is only one true moon, and within it there is naturally no "is the moon" or "is not the moon".' Daowu then rested. One text says: 'Daowu flicked his sleeves and went away.' Wansong says: He was thoroughly seen through! But tell me: did Yunyan see through Daowu, or did Daowu see through Yunyan? Let those with clear eyes test and examine! Xuansha said, 'It is precisely the second moon.' This old fellow had orpiment in his mouth and a sharp sword on his tongue. Changqing said, 'What if he had turned the broom upside down and poked him in the face?' Xuansha rested. Luoshan said, 'Bah! Those two old fellows did not know good from bad. That fellow Yunyan had his hands and feet tied—how long has he been dead?' Wansong says: Under Deshan's gate, one cannot say it is not so; but under Dongshan's gate, you are not yet there. When Xuefeng went on pilgrimage, he went three times to Touzi and nine times up to Dongshan. One day while washing rice, Dongshan asked, 'Are you washing the sand to get rid of the rice, or washing the rice to get rid of the sand?' Xuefeng said, 'Sand and rice are got rid of at the same time.' Dongshan said, 'What will the great assembly eat?' Xuefeng then overturned the basin. Dongshan said, 'That is all very well, but you must see another before you attain it.' Later he indeed inherited from Deshan. Xuansha and Changqing inherited from Xuefeng, and Luoshan inherited from Yantou—they all came out from under Deshan's gate. Therefore, in depressing one and exalting the other, though their words were contrary their intent was compliant. Nowadays the Yunmen and Dongshan lineages run side by side—how could there be superior or inferior? Yunmen said, 'A manservant seeing a maidservant, attentive and diligent.' Baofu said, 'Yunyan was much like pushing a cart through the mud—busy step by step.' These two old masters also inherited from Xuefeng; naturally their tone of voice was in harmony. Their meaning was that Yunyan could not use the broom to strike and sever the entangling vines. Little did they know that in the soft mud there are thorns! Before Wansong had finished perusing and raising this, he could not help bursting into laughter, saying: Yunyan and Daowu brought to light the dynamic functioning of the Dongshan lineage; yet this band of old fellows, with public clamor melting gold, had not a single person to clear their grievance. Fortunately there was Tiantong to draw his sword and come to their aid. The verse says:

2.32

Borrowed for a time, just to settle the matter at hand (Arising right where it is),
Finding its use as appropriate, it forthwith ceases (Perishing right where it is).
Before Bone of the Elephant Cliff, the hand that plays with snakes (Wishing to speak of another),
Ashamed in old age of what was done in childhood (First discipline yourself).

2.33

The Master said: If we discuss this matter, it is like sparks from flint or a flash of lightning. Yunyan held it up to show people; Changqing poked him in the face—though their applications were different, they returned together to transformation and extinction. That is why the Dongshan house prizes turning the dynamic and shifting positions. At Xuefeng there is the Bone of the Elephant Cliff. Xuefeng once instructed the assembly: 'On South Mountain there is a turtle-nosed snake; all of you people must watch out for it carefully.' Yunmen took his staff, tossed it before him, and made a gesture of fear. Is this not 'a manservant seeing a maidservant, attentive and diligent'? Yunyan swept the ground, held up the broom, and said, 'Which moon is this?' He turned all those who followed good into capable descendants! Yunmen even now remains under the eaves of the hedge, which is why Tiantong did not let him pass, saying: 'Before Bone of the Elephant Cliff, the hand that plays with snakes / Ashamed in old age of what was done in childhood.' Venerable Shengmo said, 'This verse searches out someone's shortcomings, yet also serves as someone's strong point.' This was Tiantong and Shengmo penalizing Yunmen. Today Wansong will overturn the case for him! Have you not seen that in Tiantong's verse on the snake-handling case, he praised Yunmen's total dynamic and great function as never coming down from the clouds? Why is it so? Depressing and exalting both depend on me; killing and giving life—who else could determine it?

2.34

Case 22: Yantou's Bow and Shout

2.35

Instruction to the assembly: People are probed with words, water is probed with a staff. Parting the grass to watch the wind is ordinary usage. If suddenly a singed-tailed tiger leaps out, what then?

2.36

Case: Yantou arrived at Deshan's. Straddling the threshold, he asked, 'Ordinary or sage?' (This thief!) Deshan immediately shouted. (Cracking the skull!) Yantou bowed. (Up to no good!) Dongshan heard of this and said, 'Had it not been Master Huo, it would have been hard to take on.' (Rich gifts and sweet words!) Yantou said, 'Old fellow Dongshan does not know good from bad. (Panicking again!) At that time, with one hand I raised up, and with one hand I pressed down.' (How could I not know?)

2.37

The Master said: Deshan usually struck like wind and rain. One day Yantou spread his sitting mat; Deshan flicked it down the steps with his staff. Yantou went down the steps, picked up the mat, and left. The next day he went up to attend on Deshan. Deshan said, 'Where did you learn this fakery?' Yantou said, 'I would never dare deceive myself.' Deshan said, 'Hereafter you will go defecate on this old monk's head!' When a father hears his son is capable, he regrets not laying down his life; only when one's insight surpasses the teacher's is one worthy of transmission. This question is called by all quarters 'the dynamic of straddling the threshold.' It might not have been that he actually straddled the threshold to ask at that time. Anciently, an outsider hid a live sparrow in his hand and asked the Bhagavān, 'Is the sparrow in my hand alive or dead?' The Bhagavān straddled the doorway with his foot and said, 'You tell me: do I wish to go out, or do I wish to enter?' Asking 'Ordinary or sage?' truly has this principle. Formerly, Puhua once pointed to the holy monk [image] and asked Linji, 'Tell me, is this ordinary or sage?' Linji immediately shouted. Puhua said, 'The bride of Heyang, the old woman's Chan of the wooden pagoda—Linji's little boy yet possesses a single eye!' Linji said, 'This old thief!' Puhua went out of the saṅgha hall, saying, 'Thief! Thief!' Shoushan said, 'Of these two thieves, there is one true thief. But tell me, which is the true thief?' On their behalf he said, 'Liu Penzi.' When Yantou asked, 'Ordinary or sage?' and Deshan immediately shouted, it was just like having conferred with Linji to verify each other. Yantou's bow was also the same as Linji's little boy possessing a single eye. Xuedou said: 'At that moment, just as he bowed, a blow split down his spine would not only have cut off Dongshan, but would also have held fast old Huo.' This again is of the same insight as Linji saying, 'This old thief.' When Dongshan heard it related, he said, 'Had it not been Master Huo, it would have been hard to take on.' Foguo added the comment: 'A bystander possesses eyes.' He also said, 'Knowing only the first, not knowing the second.' Wansong's view is not so. Foguo said that Dongshan, as a bystander, although possessing eyes, only saw the sharpness of the awl's point. Wansong says: Although Venerable Foguo had eyes, he did not see the squareness of the chisel head! Dongshan deliberately used 'taking on' to incriminate Yantou, wanting to bring to light that the original bow had both provisional and real. Sure enough, the fire reached Yantou's head, and in a flurry he brushed it off, saying: 'Old fellow Dongshan does not know good from bad! At that time, with one hand I raised up, and with one hand I pressed down.' Only then could they light the lamp and eat their meal; both houses are clearly distinct. Have you not seen that Venerable Yong of Baoning said in a verse: 'A hare runs across the level plain, unleash the gray falcon'—this verses the question straddling the doorway; 'With one pounce it pecks out both eyes'—this verses Deshan's shout and Yantou's bow; 'Stolen away by a poisonous hand, others buy it off'—this verses Dongshan fixing a sharp price; 'Yet the weight in pounds is not yet clear'—this is precisely what Wansong says. Do you wish to get the weight clear? In truth, Foguo and Wansong do not dispute who is higher or lower. Look further onto Tiantong's scale-pan. The verse says:

2.38

Checking incoming dynamic, (Wind blowing, grass bending)
He commands full authority. (The tally arrives, carry it out!)
In affairs there is authority that must be enforced; (Even a buddha's hand cannot block it)
In the realm there are orders that must not be violated. (Who dares confront it head-on?)
The guest still honors while the host is arrogant; (Inferiors satirize superiors through wind)
The lord dreads remonstrance while the minister flatters. (Superiors transform inferiors through wind)
What was Yantou's intention in asking Deshan? (Though father and son raise an army,)
In one raising and one pressing down, observe the mental activity! (In the end they cannot avoid facing each other with weapons.)

2.39

The Master said: In this verse, all three men check the incoming dynamic, each commanding full authority. Only Yantou and Deshan have the authority that must be enforced and the orders that must not be violated. Guest honoring while host is arrogant applies to Dongshan and Yantou. Lord dreading remonstrance while minister flatters applies to Yantou and Deshan. The final two lines apply to Dongshan and Yantou. This pattern is called by all quarters 'selecting the gloss.' To separate milk from water requires the king of geese; here one sees Tiantong's needle-and-thread work. Yantou knew Deshan had authority that must be enforced and orders that must not be violated; therefore, not seizing the dynamic, he complied with the sentiment and bowed. Dongshan knew Yantou could not be probed or plucked, could not be checked or penalized—the son inheriting the father's estate also had authority that must be enforced and orders that must not be violated; therefore he baited the hook, saying, 'Had it not been Master Huo, it would have been hard to take on.' Is this not 'guest honoring while host is arrogant,' 'lord dreading remonstrance while minister flatters'? In the Linji lineage style, this is called the red-cord snare, the green-jade pitfall, the mechanism for trapping tigers, ambushing troops to provoke battle. All quarters say that Yantou raised up with one hand and pressed down with the other, and that Dongshan gave a mistaken appraisal. Little do they know that Dongshan's one raising and one pressing down was even more distinct! Unless one is an adept of long practice, this is definitely difficult to grasp. Nowadays, a sort of novice who has just taken off the white robe, seeing Tiantong's verse say 'In one raising and one pressing down, observe the mental activity,' says: 'No wonder the Chan school refuses to explain it clearly for people! Turns out it is all just mental activity, intentionally fabricating tricks to deceive and mislead students!' Wansong says: One part mental activity is one part compassion. If you do not suffer a tumble, you will not gain an advantage. It can be called: fruit is gained from the flower; sweetness comes from bitterness. Yantou raised and pressed down; Dongshan drew it out. Dongshan raised and pressed down; Wansong explained it clearly. If suddenly someone comes forth and bows, Wansong will let him pass and not strike. Why? Because there is no blood under his skin.

2.40

Case 23: Luzu Faces the Wall

2.41

Instruction to the assembly: Bodhidharma's nine years was called wall-gazing; Shenguang's three bows leaked heaven's secret. How can one sweep away traces and obliterate footprints?

2.42

Case: Whenever Luzu saw a monk coming, he would face the wall. (They have already met!) Nanquan heard of this and said: 'I usually tell people to undertake it before the empty kalpa (Confessing without interrogation), to understand it when no buddha has appeared in the world (Has the Venerable understood or not?), yet I cannot find even one or half a one. (Only because the tether leaks!) If he goes on like that, it will take until the Year of the Donkey!' (Those in a hurry do not understand.)

2.43

The Master said: Chan Master Baoyun of Mount Luzu in Chizhou, whenever he saw a monk coming, would immediately face the wall. Since Bodhidharma's nine years, no one had carried out this order again. For now, it makes those everywhere who ask about the Buddhas and ask about the Patriarchs, the upward and the downward, all know a bit of pain and itch. Nanquan was his fellow practitioner; seeing that the man's needle and awl did not budge, he immediately pierced through from the side for him, saying: 'I constantly say to them: Undertake it before the empty kalpa! Understand it when no Buddha has yet appeared in the world! Still, one does not get a single one or half a one.' In intention, it seems he opens a crack, but in fact he has transmitted the Dharma decree on behalf of his attendant. He also said: 'If he goes on like this, even until the Year of the Donkey [nothing will come of it].' In intention, it seems he reproaches him for being too stark and steep, but in fact he praises his face-to-face entrustment. Have you not heard it said: 'Even if you can explain it a hundred percent, how could that compare to arriving in person once?' Therefore, Spiritual Mountain was like painting the moon, and Caoxi was like pointing at the moon. How could they compare to Luzu in the Crystal Palace, inside the Hall of Vast Cold, opening his lapels and meeting face to face? Baofu saw the flaw in Nanquan and Luzu, and asked Changqing, 'As for Luzu, where was his measure, that he was spoken of like this by Nanquan?' Wansong says: How did Baofu come to speak the two words 'measure'? If not one who can distinguish spring and autumn on a budless branch, it would be difficult to pose this question. Changqing replied, 'Stepping back to yield to others—not one in ten thousand.' Wansong says: The ancients had such clear eyes! Xuanjue said, 'Was Nanquan singing in harmony, or was he not assenting?' Wansong says: Half-hiding and half-revealing, one cannot deceive him in the slightest. Cuiyan Zhi said, 'Why labor like this?' Wansong says: He has already set up the mold and drawn the pattern. He also said, 'If a monk comes, what does he see?' Wansong says: Still suspecting it is too little. He further said, 'It is good to know the season.' Wansong says: If it were Tao Yuanming, he would knit his brows and go home at once. He also said, 'With me, it is not so: before the womb is complete, you cannot understand; if you understand, I will break your back!' Wansong says: Whom does the Venerable's staff teach to take the beating? Luoshan said, 'If Old Master Wang [Nanquan] had seen him at that time, he should have given him five fire-tongs on his back, because he understands how to let loose, but does not understand how to gather in.' Wansong says: Rising early at the fifth watch, there are already night travelers on the road. Xuansha said, 'If I had seen him at that time, I would also have given him five fire-tongs.' Wansong says: Vexing the spring breeze, it never ceases. Yunju Xi said, 'Luoshan and Xuansha both spoke like this. Was it the same, or is there another principle?' Wansong says: In total, ten fire-tongs. He also said, 'If you can pick it out, I grant that you, Elder, have a place to go in the Buddha-Dharma.' Wansong says: Good to give five fire-tongs! All of you, look: Nanquan so depreciated Luzu, yet Changqing said, 'It is precisely stepping back to yield to others.' Luzu barred the pass, yet Luoshan said, 'He understands how to let loose, but does not understand how to gather in.' All of this is casting a net before the fish arrives, and drawing a bow after the thief has passed. Look further at what Tiantong does toward this. The verse says:

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萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 — Classical Chinese