景德傳燈錄 12.83

12.83

Chan Master Yixuan of Linji in Zhenzhou was a native of Nanhua in Caozhou. His secular surname 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 admired the Chan school. At first, he lived under Huangbo, following the assembly in participating and attending. At that time, the head seat in the hall encouraged him to ask a question. The Master then asked, “What is the exact meaning of the ancestral master coming from the west?” Huangbo immediately struck him. In this way he asked three times and three times received blows. He then took his leave. The head seat said, “Earlier you received my encouragement to ask a question, yet you only received the upādhyāya's blows. Lamenting your own dullness, you are now setting out on foot to travel to various quarters. Wait here.” The head seat then spoke to Huangbo, saying, “Although Yixuan is a junior, he is exceedingly extraordinary. When he comes to take his leave, I hope the upādhyāya will grant him further guidance and encouragement.” The next day the Master took his leave of Huangbo. Huangbo directed him to Dayu. The Master then went to Dayu. Dayu asked, “Where have you come from?” The Master said, “I have come from Huangbo.” Dayu said, “What words and teachings does Huangbo have?” The Master said, “I directly asked about the exact meaning of the Buddha Dharma, and I received the upādhyāya's blows. In this way I asked three times and three times was struck. I do not know where my fault lay.” Dayu said, “Huangbo was such a grandmother, exhausting himself completely for your sake, yet you still look for where the fault was!” At these words the Master had a great awakening and said, “After all, there isn't much to Huangbo's Buddha Dharma!” Dayu grabbed him and said, “You bed-wetting demon! Just now you said you did not understand, and now you say there isn't much to Huangbo's Buddha Dharma! What principle have you seen? Speak quickly! Speak quickly!” The Master gave Dayu three punches under the ribs. Dayu pushed him away, saying, “Your teacher is Huangbo; it has nothing to do with me.” The Master took leave of Dayu and returned to Huangbo. Huangbo said, “You have returned too quickly!” The Master said, “Only because of that grandmotherly mind being so earnest, I have settled human affairs.” While attending at his side, Huangbo said, “What words did Dayu have?” The Master then recounted the previous exchange. Huangbo said, “Wait until I see that old fellow Dayu—I will give him a sound thrashing!” The Master said, “Why speak of waiting to see him? Give it to him right now!” With that, he slapped Huangbo across the face. Huangbo said, “This lunatic! Coming here to pluck the tiger's whiskers!” The Master gave a shout. Huangbo said, “Attendant, lead this lunatic to the Chan hall!” (Later Guishan brought up this story and asked Yangshan, “At that time, did Linji receive Dayu's power or Huangbo's power?” Yangshan said, “Not only did he ride the tiger's head, he also knew how to take hold of the tiger's tail.”) One day the Master went with Huangbo to a communal labor, walking behind him. Huangbo turned his head, saw the Master empty-handed, and asked, “Where is the hoe?” The Master said, “Someone took it away.” Huangbo said, “Come closer; I will discuss a matter with you.” The Master stepped forward. Huangbo planted his hoe in the ground and said, “This one of mine, no one in the world can lift.” The Master snatched it from his hands, held it upright, and said, “Why is it now in my hands?” Huangbo said, “Today there is someone for the communal labor; I need not go.” And he returned to the monastery. (Later Guishan brought this up and asked Yangshan, “The hoe was in Huangbo's hands; why was it snatched away by Linji?” Yangshan said, “A thief is a petty person, but his wit surpasses that of a gentleman.”) One day at a communal labor 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 just begun hoeing the ground; how can you speak of being tired?” Huangbo raised his staff and struck him. The Master caught the staff and pushed the upādhyāya down. Huangbo called out, “Karmadāna! Karmadāna, pull me up!” The karmadāna helped him up and said, “Upādhyāya, how can you tolerate such rudeness from this lunatic?” Huangbo struck the karmadāna instead. The Master hoed the ground on his own, saying, “Other places practice cremation; here, I bury alive!” (Guishan asked Yangshan, “Just as for Huangbo and Linji, what was their intention at that time?” Yangshan said, “The real thief got away, and the one caught with the stolen goods took the blows.”) One day the Master was sleeping in Huangbo's saṅgha hall. Huangbo came in and tapped three times on the edge of the bed 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 left. He then went to the upper hall, saw the head seat sitting in meditation, and said, “The junior in the lower hall is actually sitting in meditation; what are you doing here indulging in delusional thoughts?” The head seat said, “Is this old fellow suffering from madness?” Huangbo struck the edge of the wooden platform once and walked out. (Guishan brought this up and asked Yangshan, “What was Huangbo's meaning?” Yangshan said, “Two wins in a single roll of the dice.”) The Master was planting cedars with Huangbo. Huangbo said, “Why plant so many trees deep in the mountains?” The Master said, “First, to leave an ancient record for later people; second, to serve as a landmark for the monastery gate.” Having spoken, he struck the ground three times with his hoe. Huangbo said, “Although that is so, you have already tasted my staff.” The Master again struck the ground three times with his hoe and made a hissing sound. Huangbo said, “When my school reaches you, this prophecy will be realized.” (Guishan brought this up and asked Yangshan, “Tell me, were Huangbo's later words merely an entrustment to Linji, or was there another meaning?” Yangshan said, “It was both an entrustment to Linji and a prophecy for the future.” Guishan said, “What about the future?” Yangshan said, “One person will point south, and in Wu and Yue his order will prevail.” Upādhyāya Nanta annotated, “Sitting alone shaking with majesty, this prophecy will be realized.” He also said, “If a great wind is met, this prophecy will also be realized.” Guishan said, “So it is, so it is.”) During a mid-summer retreat, the Master went up Mount Huangbo and saw the upādhyāya reading a sutra. The Master said, “I used to think he was someone [special]; turns out he is an old upādhyāya gulping black beans!” After staying a few days, he took his leave. Huangbo said, “You broke the summer retreat to come, and leave without finishing the summer retreat.” The Master said, “I came temporarily to pay respects to the upādhyāya.” Huangbo then beat him and drove him away. After walking several miles, the Master doubted the matter, returned, and finished the summer retreat. 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 caught the staff and said, “Old fellow, do not wield a blind flail or a blind staff! Later you will mistakenly strike someone!” Huangbo then called to his attendant, “Bring the small table and the meditation board!” The Master said, “Attendant, bring fire!” Huangbo said, “Not so. Just take them with you; later on, you will cut off the tongues of everyone in the world.” The Master then departed. The Master arrived at the pagoda site of Xiong’er. The pagoda master asked, “Do you pay homage first to the Buddha, or first to the Patriarch?” The Master said, “I pay homage neither to the Patriarch nor to the Buddha.” The pagoda master said, “What enmity is there between the Patriarch and Buddha and the elder, that you pay homage to neither?” The Master brushed his sleeves and walked out. (Another account says: The Master asked the pagoda master, “Do you pay homage first to the Buddha, or first to the Patriarch?” The pagoda master said, “Whose disciples are the Patriarch and Buddha?” The Master brushed his sleeves and left.) Later the Master returned to his native place. Yielding to the request of the people of Zhao, he resided at the Linji Chan Cloister south of the city. Students gathered like clouds. One day he ascended the hall and said, “On the lump of red flesh of each of you, there is a true person of no rank, constantly going in and out through the gates of your faces. Those who have not yet verified it, look, look!” At that time a monk asked, “What is the true person of no rank?” The Master stepped down from the meditation seat, seized him, and said, “Speak! Speak!” The monk hesitated. The Master pushed him away, saying, “What kind of dry piece of shit is the true person of no rank!” and returned to the abbot's quarters. The Master asked Lepu, “From ancient times down to the present, one person used the staff and one used the shout. Which was closer?” Lepu replied, “Neither was close.” The Master said, “What is the close place?” Lepu then gave a shout. The Master struck him. The Master asked Upādhyāya Mukou, “What is the white ox on open ground?” Mukou said, “Hūm!” The Master said, “Mute!” Mukou said, “What about you, old elder brother?” The Master said, “This beast!” Dajue came to participate. The Master raised his fly-whisk. Dajue spread his sitting cloth. The Master threw down his fly-whisk. Dajue folded up his sitting cloth and entered the saṅgha hall. The monks said, “Could this monk be a relative or old friend of the upādhyāya? He did not bow, nor did he receive blows.” Hearing this, the Master ordered the newly arrived monk to be summoned. Dajue then came out. The Master said, “The great assembly says you have not yet paid respects to the elder.” Dajue said, “Peace to you,” and returned to the assembly on his own. Magu (second generation) came to participate, spread his sitting cloth, and asked, “Which face of the Twelve-Faced Avalokiteśvara is the principal face?” The Master stepped down from the rope chair, picked up the sitting cloth with one hand, grabbed Magu with the other, and said, “Where has the Twelve-Faced Avalokiteśvara gone?” Magu turned around and was about to sit on the rope chair. The Master picked up his staff and struck him. Magu seized it, and pulling each other, they entered the abbot's quarters. The Master ascended the hall and said, “Great assembly! One who acts for the sake of the Dharma does not shy away from losing body and life. At my late teacher Huangbo's place, I asked three times about the exact great meaning of the Buddha Dharma, and three times I received his blows, as if brushed by mugwort stalks. Now I long for another beating; who can strike me?” At that time a monk came forward and said, “I can do it.” The Master picked up the staff and offered it to him. When the monk was about to take it, the Master struck him. (Later Xuefeng commented, “Linji was very much like an unarmed daytime thief.”) A monk asked, “What is the first phrase?” The Master said, “When the three essentials stamp open, the cinnabar mark is narrow; / Without permitting hesitation, host and guest are divided.” The monk asked, “What is the second phrase?” The Master said, “How could wondrous understanding tolerate Asanga's questioning? / How could skillful means fall short of the function of cutting off the flow?” The monk asked, “What is the third phrase?” The Master said, “Look at the puppets manipulated on the stage; / Their pulling and tugging depend entirely on the man behind.” The Master also said, “Each phrase must possess the three mysterious gates; each mysterious gate must possess the three essentials. There is provisionality and there is function. How do all of you understand this?” At that time, on the tenth day of the fourth month of the seventh year of the Xiantong era of the Tang (bingxu), when the Master was about to manifest nirvāṇa, he ascended the hall and said, “After my passing, you must not extinguish my treasury of the correct Dharma eye.” Sansheng came forward and said, “How would we dare extinguish the upādhyāya's treasury of the correct Dharma eye?” The Master said, “In the future, if someone asks you, what will you say to him?” Sansheng gave a shout. The Master said, “Who knew that my treasury of the correct Dharma eye would be extinguished by this blind donkey!” Then he spoke a verse: