景德傳燈錄 17.5

17.5

Chan Master Caoshan Benji of Fuzhou was a native of Putian in Quanzhou. His surname was Huang. In his youth he admired Confucian learning. At the age of nineteen he left household life, entering Mount Lingshi in Futang County, Fuzhou. At twenty-five he took the full precepts. At the beginning of the Xiantong era of the Tang, the Chan school flourished. Meeting Chan Master Dongshan Liangjie holding a bodhimaṇḍa, he went back and forth to seek instruction. Dongshan asked, "Ācārya, what is your name?" He answered, "Benji." Dongshan said, "Speak further toward the transcendental." The Master said, "I will not speak." Dongshan said, "Why will you not speak?" The Master said, "It is not named Benji." Dongshan deeply valued him. From then on, the Master entered his room; with his understanding secretly sealed, he lingered for several years. He then took his leave of Dongshan. Dongshan asked, "Where are you going?" He said, "I am going to the place that does not change." Dongshan said, "If it does not change, how can there be going?" The Master said, "Going is also unchanging." Thereupon he took his leave and departed, living unfettered according to conditions. At first, he accepted an invitation to reside at Mount Cao in Fuzhou. Later he lived on Mount Heyu. At both places, students gathered like clouds at his Dharma seat. A monk asked, "What kind of person is it who does not take the myriad dharmas as companions?" The Master said, "Where do you say the many people in Hongzhou have gone?" A monk asked, "Do the eyebrows and the eyes know each other or not?" The Master said, "They do not know each other." The monk said, "Why do they not know each other?" The Master said, "Because they are in the same place." The monk said, "If so, then they are not divided." The Master said, "Yet the eyebrows are not the eyes." The monk said, "What are the eyes?" The Master said, "Go straight to the point." The monk said, "What are the eyebrows?" The Master said, "Caoshan rather doubts." The monk said, "Why does the upādhyāya rather doubt?" The Master said, "If I did not doubt, I would have gone straight to the point." A monk asked, "In forms, what is real?" The Master said, "Forms are themselves the real." The monk said, "How should it be revealed?" The Master raised his saucer. A monk asked, "How is the origin of illusions real?" The Master said, "The origin of illusions is fundamentally real." (Fayan said in an alternate phrase, "The origin of illusions is not real.") The monk said, "When illusion occurs, how is it revealed?" The Master said, "Illusion itself is revelation." (Fayan said in an alternate phrase, "Illusion has no occurrence.") The monk said, "If so, then from beginning to end one never leaves illusion." The Master said, "Seeking the form of illusion cannot be attained." A monk asked, "What is the person who is always present?" The Master said, "Just when Caoshan steps out for a while." The monk said, "What is the person who is always absent?" The Master said, "Hard to find." Monk Qingrui asked, "I am solitary and poor; I beg the Master to rescue and aid me." The Master said, "Ācārya Rui, come forward." Rui came forward. The Master said, "Three cups of Master Bai's wine of Quanzhou, yet you still say your lips are not wet." (Xuanjue said, "Where did he give him wine to drink?") A monk asked, "Is not conjecturing still of a kind?" The Master said, "Even if one directly does not conjecture, it is also of a kind." The monk said, "What is difference?" The Master said, "Could one fail to know ache and itch?" Jingqing asked, "When the principle of pure emptiness ultimately has no body, how is it?" The Master said, "The principle is indeed like this; how is the matter?" Jingqing said, "Like the principle, like the matter." The Master said, "Deceiving the single person Caoshan is fine, but what can you do about the eyes of all the sages?" Jingqing said, "If there were no eyes of all the sages, how could one discern that which is not so?" The Master said, "An official [gate] does not admit a needle; privately, carts and horses pass through." Yunmen asked, "When a person who does not change comes, does the Master still receive him?" The Master said, "Caoshan has no such idle leisure." A monk asked, "An ancient said, 'Everyone has disciples; do those shrouded in dust have them or not?'" The Master said, "Hand over your hand." He then counted on his fingers, saying, "One, two, three, four, five are complete." A monk asked, "What does Ruzu's facing the wall express?" The Master covered his ears with his hands. A monk asked, "I have received an ancient saying: 'There is no one who falls to the ground and does not rise by relying on the ground.' What is falling?" The Master said, "Consent is it." The monk said, "What is rising?" The Master said, "Rising!" A monk asked, "I have received the teaching's saying: 'The great ocean does not harbor dead corpses.' What is the ocean?" The Master said, "It encompasses the myriad beings." The monk said, "Why does it not harbor dead corpses?" The Master said, "Those who have ceased breathing do not adhere." The monk said, "Since it encompasses the myriad beings, why do those who have ceased breathing not adhere?" The Master said, "The myriad beings are not its merit; ceasing breath has its virtue." The monk said, "Is there still a matter in the transcendental or not?" The Master said, "Saying there is or saying there is not would be fine, but what can you do about the Dragon King holding his sword?" A monk asked, "Equipped with what understanding is one skillfully able to confront the assembly with questions and challenges?" The Master said, "Not presenting phrases." The monk said, "What does one question and challenge?" The Master said, "Knives and axes cannot cut into it." The monk said, "Being able to question and challenge like this, is there still someone who does not approve?" The Master said, "There is." The monk said, "Who is it?" The Master said, "Caoshan." A monk asked, "How is the wordless revealed?" The Master said, "Do not reveal it here." The monk said, "Where is it revealed?" The Master said, "Last night at the third watch, three copper coins were lost by the head of the bed." A monk asked, "How is it when the sun has not yet risen?" The Master said, "Caoshan has also come this way." The monk said, "How is it after the sun has risen?" The Master said, "Still half a month's journey short of Caoshan." The Master asked a monk, "What are you doing?" The monk said, "Sweeping the ground." The Master said, "Do you sweep in front of the Buddha or behind the Buddha?" The monk said, "In front and behind are swept at the same time." The Master said, "Bring Caoshan his sandals." The Master asked Sthavira Qiangde, "A bodhisattva in samādhi hears a fragrant elephant crossing the river—from what sūtra does this come?" Qiangde said, "It comes from the Nirvāṇa Sūtra." The Master said, "Is it heard before samādhi or after samādhi?" Qiangde said, "The upādhyāya is drifting with the flow." The Master said, "You have said a great deal, but you have only said half." Qiangde said, "How about the upādhyāya?" The Master said, "Catch it below the rapids." A monk asked, "How does a practitioner preserve it through the twelve periods of the day?" The Master said, "Like passing through a realm of gu poison: not a single drop of water may touch you." A monk asked, "Who is the master of the Dharma body?" The Master said, "Saying that Qin has no men." The monk said, "Isn't this it?" The Master said, "Beheaded!" A monk asked, "What companion on the Way should one stay close to so that one constantly hears the unheard?" The Master said, "Covered by the very same quilt." The monk said, "This is still what the upādhyāya can hear; what is constantly hearing the unheard?" The Master said, "Not the same as wood and stone." The monk said, "Which is first and which is after?" The Master said, "Haven't you heard it said: constantly hearing the unheard?" A monk asked, "Who is it in the country that grasps the sword?" The Master said, "Caoshan." (Fadeng said in an alternate phrase, "You are not such a person.") The monk said, "Whom does he intend to kill?" The Master said, "Whenever there is anything at all, he kills it completely." The monk said, "What if he suddenly encounters his own parents?" The Master said, "Why make distinctions?" The monk said, "What can you do about oneself?" The Master said, "Who can do anything to me?" The monk said, "Why not kill [oneself]?" The Master said, "No place to lay a hand." A monk asked, "How is it when one ox drinks water and five horses do not neigh?" The Master said, "Caoshan knows how to abstain from food." He also said in an alternate phrase, "Caoshan's mourning is complete." A monk asked, "Who is the person perpetually submerged in the ocean of birth and death?" The Master said, "The second moon." The monk said, "Does he still seek deliverance or not?" The Master said, "He also seeks deliverance, but there is simply no way." The monk said, "When he seeks deliverance, who can receive him?" The Master said, "One who carries an iron pillory." A monk brought up: Yaoshan asked a monk, "How old are you?" The monk said, "Seventy-two." Yaoshan said, "Are you seventy-two years old?" The monk said, "Yes." Yaoshan thereupon struck him. "What is the meaning of this?" The Master said, "The first arrow was still tolerable; the second arrow shot the man deeply." The monk said, "How could he have avoided the staff?" The Master said, "When the imperial decree is carried out, the feudal lords make way." (Dongshan Qi said, "Caoshan clarifies Yaoshan's meaning and takes action himself, or is there another principle? Can you judge? Take this monk who brought this up and asked Caoshan: did he have any understanding? If suddenly asked, 'Sthavira, how old are you?' how else would you answer?") A monk asked, "What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?" The Master said, "Filling the ditches and plugging the ravines." A monk asked, "What is a lion?" The Master said, "The myriad beasts cannot approach it." The monk said, "What is a lion cub?" The Master said, "Able to swallow its parents." The monk said, "Since the myriad beasts cannot approach it, why is it swallowed by its cub?" The Master said, "If the cub roars, grandparents and parents are all exhausted." The monk said, "As for the grandparents, are they also exhausted?" The Master said, "Also exhausted." The monk said, "After they are exhausted, how is it?" The Master said, "The whole body returns to the father." The monk said, "Why did you say earlier that the grandparents are also exhausted?" The Master said, "Haven't you heard it said: a prince can accomplish the affairs of an entire state, and on a withered tree, a few more flowers are gathered?" A monk asked, "Just when right and wrong arise, confusingly losing the mind, how is it?" The Master said, "Behead, behead!" A monk brought up: Someone asked Xiangyan, "What is the Way?" Xiangyan answered, "A dragon roaring in a withered tree." The student said, "I do not understand." Xiangyan said, "An eyeball in a skull." Later, [the student] asked Shishuang, "What is a dragon roaring in a withered tree?" Shishuang said, "It still carries joy." He also asked, "What is an eyeball in a skull?" Shishuang said, "It still carries consciousness." Thereupon the Master presented a verse, saying: