景德傳燈錄 12.6

12.6

Chan Master Yixuan of Linji in Zhenzhou was a native of Nanhua in Caozhou. His family name was Xing. From his youth he bore the aspiration to leave the dust of the world, and upon shaving his head and receiving full ordination, he took a keen interest in the Chan school. At first, he stayed with Huangbo, following the assembly in practicing and attending upon the master. At that time, the head monk in the hall urged him to ask a question. The Master then asked, “What is the exact and genuine meaning of the ancestral teacher coming from the west?” Huangbo immediately struck him. Like this, he asked three times and three times suffered a beating. Thereupon he took his leave, saying to the head monk, “Earlier I received your kind encouragement to ask a question, but I only received the upādhyāya’s blows of the staff. What I regret is my own dullness and stupidity. For now, I shall go traveling on pilgrimage to various quarters.” The sthavira then spoke to Huangbo, saying, “Although Yixuan is a junior, he is nevertheless quite extraordinary. When he comes to take his leave, may the upādhyāya be so kind as to give him further guidance and encouragement.” The next day the Master took his leave of Huangbo. Huangbo directed him to go to Dayu. The Master then went to visit Dayu. Dayu asked, “Where have you come from?” The Master said, “I have come from Huangbo.” Dayu said, “What words of teaching does Huangbo have?” The Master said, “Yixuan personally asked about the exact and genuine meaning of the coming from the west, but received the upādhyāya’s beating. Like this I asked three times and three times was beaten. I do not know where my fault lies.” Dayu said, “Huangbo was such a grandmother, thoroughly exhausting himself for you, yet you still search for where the fault lies!” Thereupon the Master had great awakening and said, “After all, there is not much to Huangbo’s Buddha-Dharma!” Dayu then seized the Master by the collar and said, “Just now you said you did not understand, and now you say there is not much to it! How much is there? How much is there?” The Master struck a fist into Dayu’s ribs. Dayu pushed him away and said, “Your teacher is Huangbo; this is none of my business.” The Master then returned to Huangbo. Huangbo asked, “Why have you returned so quickly?” The Master said, “Only because of your grandmotherly kindness.” Huangbo said, “Wait until I see that old fellow Dayu—I will give him a beating!” The Master said, “Why speak of waiting to see him? Strike right now!” and thereupon gave Huangbo a slap. Huangbo burst out into hearty laughter. One day during the general labor Huangbo was hoeing Job’s tears, and the Master was walking behind him. Huangbo turned his head, saw the Master empty-handed, and asked, “Where is the hoe?” The Master said, “Someone has taken it away.” Huangbo said, “Come forward; I will discuss it with you.” The Master stepped forward with clasped hands. Huangbo held up the hoe and said, “Only this no one in the world can lift up. Is there still anyone who can lift it up?” The Master snatched it from his hands, held it up, and said, “Why then is it in Yixuan’s hands?” Huangbo said, “Today there is naturally someone to do the general labor,” and returned to his quarters. (Guishan was standing in attendance beside Yangshan, and when he brought up this case without finishing, Yangshan immediately asked, “The hoe was in Huangbo’s hands; why was it snatched away by Linji?” Guishan said, “The thief is a petty person whose cunning surpasses that of a gentleman.”) One day during the general labor Huangbo was hoeing the tea garden. Huangbo arrived later. The Master greeted him and stood leaning on his hoe. Huangbo said, “Could you be tired?” The Master said, “I have only just begun hoeing the ground; how can you speak of being tired?” Huangbo raised his staff and was about to strike. The Master caught the staff and pushed the upādhyāya down. Huangbo called out, “Karmadāna, karmadāna, pull me up!” The karmadāna pulled him up and said, “Upādhyāya, how can you tolerate this mad fellow?” Huangbo instead struck the karmadāna. The Master hoed the ground himself and said, “In other places they cremate; here I bury alive.” (Guishan asked Yangshan, “Just then, what was the intent of Huangbo and Linji?” Yangshan said, “The one who played the thief escaped; the one who pursued the thief caught the blows.” Guishan said, “So it is, so it is.”) One day the Master was sleeping in Huangbo’s monks’ hall. Huangbo entered and knocked three times on the platform edge with his staff. The Master raised his head, saw it was the upādhyāya, and went back to sleep. Huangbo struck the mat three times and went to the upper hall where he saw the head monk. Huangbo said, “Isn’t that drunken fellow down there better than this one sitting in meditation? You are just constantly dozing off.” The sthavira said, “Is this old upādhyāya suffering from madness?” Huangbo struck him. (Guishan brought this up and asked Yangshan, “Just what was Huangbo’s intent?” Yangshan said, “One throw, two wins.”) The Master was planting cedars with Huangbo. Huangbo said, “Why plant so many trees deep in the mountains?” The Master said, “First, to create scenery for the monastery; second, to serve as a marker for future generations.” He then patted the ground twice with the spade. Huangbo picked up his staff and said, “You have already tasted my staff!” The Master made a hissing sound. Huangbo said, “When my school reaches you, this prediction will only then come forth.” (Guishan brought this up and asked Yangshan, “Tell me, did Huangbo’s parting words merely entrust Linji, or was there another meaning?” Yangshan said, “He both entrusted Linji and foretold what lay ahead.” Guishan said, “How about what lay ahead?” Yangshan said, “One man will point south, and in Wu and Yue his command will be executed.” Sthavira Nanta noted: ‘Sitting alone shaking with majesty, this prediction will only then come forth.’ He also said, ‘If encountering a great wind, this prediction will also come forth.’ Guishan said, “So it is, so it is.”) Once, during the middle of the summer retreat, the Master went up Mount Huangbo and saw the upādhyāya reading a sutra. The Master said, “I thought you were someone special; it turns out you are just an old upādhyāya who swallows black beans!” After staying a few days, he took his leave. Huangbo said, “You came breaking the summer retreat, and leave before the summer retreat ends.” The Master said, “I merely came for a short while to pay my respects to the upādhyāya.” Huangbo then beat and chased him away. The Master walked a few miles, had doubts about the matter, and returned to finish the summer. One day the Master took his leave of Huangbo. Huangbo said, “Where are you going?” The Master said, “If not to Henan, then to Hebei.” Huangbo picked up his staff and struck him. The Master seized the staff and said, “Old fellow, do not use a blind flail and a sightless staff, lest later you mistakenly strike people!” Huangbo called his attendant, “Bring the desk and meditation board!” The Master said, “Attendant, bring fire!” Huangbo said, “Not so; you just take them with you. In the future you will cut off the tongues of everyone under heaven.” The Master then departed. The Master arrived at the pagoda keeper’s place at Xiong’er. The pagoda keeper asked, “Do you pay homage to the Buddha first, or to the patriarch first?” The Master said, “I pay homage to neither patriarch nor Buddha.” The pagoda keeper said, “What enmity do the patriarch and Buddha have with you, elder, that you pay homage to neither?” The Master made no reply. (Another account says: The Master asked the pagoda keeper, “Do you pay homage to the Buddha first, or to the patriarch first?” The pagoda keeper said, “Whose disciples are the Buddha and the patriarch?” The Master shook his sleeves and departed.) Later, the Master returned to his native region. Bowing to the invitation of the people of Zhao, he resided at the Linji Chan Cloister south of the city. Students rushed there in great numbers. One day he ascended the hall and said, “Within this lump of red flesh there is a true person of no rank, constantly going in and out through the gates of your faces. If you do not recognize him, just ask this old monk.” At that time a monk asked, “What is the true person of no rank?” The Master immediately struck him and said, “What kind of dry shit-scraper is this true person of no rank!” (Later Xuefeng heard of this and said, “Linji is very much like a daylight robber.”) The Master asked Lepu, “From ancient times, one wielded the staff, one wielded the shout: which was the more intimate?” Lepu replied, “Neither was intimate.” The Master said, “What is intimacy?” Lepu gave a shout. The Master struck him. The Master asked Upādhyāya Mukou, “What is the white ox on open ground?” Mukou said, “Hūṃ!” The Master said, “Mute!” Mukou said, “What about you, elder brother?” The Master said, “This beast!” Dajue came to call on him. The Master raised his whisk. Dajue spread his sitting cloth. The Master threw down the whisk. Dajue folded up his sitting cloth and entered the monks’ hall. The monks said, “Could this monk be a relative or old friend of the upādhyāya? He did not bow, nor did he receive a beating.” The Master heard of this and ordered the newly arrived monk to be called. Dajue then came out. The Master said, “The great assembly says you haven’t paid your respects to the elder.” Dajue said, “Peace to you!” and returned to the assembly on his own. Magu (the second generation) came to call on him, spread his sitting cloth, and asked, “Which face of the twelve-faced Avalokiteśvara is the authentic one?” The Master got down from the rope chair, with one hand took the sitting cloth and with the other grabbed Magu, saying, “Where did the twelve-faced Avalokiteśvara go?” Magu turned around and was about to sit on the rope chair. The Master raised his staff and struck him. Magu caught it, and holding each other, they entered the abbot’s quarters. The Master ascended the hall and said, “Great assembly, one who acts for the Dharma does not shrink from losing body and life. At Upādhyāya Huangbo’s place, I received blows of the staff three times, like being brushed with mugwort branches. Now I think of taking another thrashing. Who can lay a hand on me?” At that time a monk said, “I can lay a hand on you. How many blows should the upādhyāya receive?” The Master handed him the staff. As the monk was about to take it, the Master struck him. A monk asked, “What is the first phrase?” The Master said, ‘The seal of the three essentials opens, the vermilion mark is narrow; / Leaving no room for hesitation, host and guest are distinguished.’ The monk said, “What is the second phrase?” The Master said, ‘How could subtle understanding permit Asanga’s inquiry? / How could skillful means fail the mechanism that cuts off the flow?’ The monk said, “What is the third phrase?” The Master said, ‘Look at the puppet show on the scaffold: / The pulling of strings relies entirely on the person behind.’ The Master also said, “Each phrase must possess three mysterious gates; each mysterious gate must possess three essentials. There is the provisional and there is function. How do all of you understand this?” In the seventh year of the Xiantong era of the Tang, bingxu, on the tenth day of the fourth month, when about to display nirvirṇa, the Master spoke this transmission verse: ‘Flowing along the stream incessantly, one asks what it is; / Boundless true illumination is explained to others. / If you do not follow the detachment from signs and detachment from names, / After using the hair-blown sword, you must hasten to hone it.’ Having finished the verse, he passed away sitting. He was posthumously granted the imperial title Great Master Huizhao, and his pagoda was named Chengeling.” } ] ,