萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 2.7

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: