北山錄 6.4.5

6.4.5

Could the ancestral master have been someone fond of prevailing? (Qin means strong. Those fond of prevailing contend with rivals over strength and weakness, and thus there are matters of love and hate turning into enmity. The ancestral master dissolved his deliberate thoughts and reduced his mind to cold ashes, contending with nothing. How could he have harboured love and hate to bring on such harm? It is truly the mistake of the biographers.) Formerly, Ji Xingzi trained fighting cocks and could make one forget its mental vigour so that its bearing was like a wooden cock; when the flock of cocks saw it, none dared harbour the will to fight. How could a possessor of the Way be inferior to a fowl? (Ji Xingzi trained a fighting cock for the king. After ten days the king asked, 'Is the cock ready?' He replied, 'Not yet. It is still vainly arrogant and relies on its bluster.' After another ten days the king asked again. He replied, 'Not yet. It still responds to sounds and shadows.' After another ten days the king asked again. He replied, 'Not yet. It still glares fiercely and its bluster surges.' After another ten days he asked again. He replied, 'It is close. Though other cocks crow, it undergoes no change. Looking at it, it is like a wooden cock. Its virtue is complete. No strange cock dares challenge it; they all turn and flee.' When a fowl possesses the Way, the flock of fowl merely gaze upon it and flee; how much more so with the ancestral master—could anyone dare harm him?) Therefore, when a blowing roof-tile strikes a person, they hold no grudge; when an empty boat bumps into someone, they feel no anger. Why is that? Because of being without mind. And how could Patriarch [Hui]ke have had a mind? (Since Ke had no mind, he ought not to have been harmed.) Formerly, when Bao Qian of Qi had his feet amputated, Confucius said, 'Bao Zhuangzi’s wisdom is not equal to that of a mallow plant; a mallow plant can still protect its own roots.' (Qing Ke of Qi had illicit relations with Sheng Mengzi. She donned mourning garb and entered the palace. Bao Qian saw this and informed Guo Wuzi. Wuzi summoned Qing Ke and rebuked him. Qing Ke and the lady were enraged […]. Duke Ling of Qi attacked Zheng, and Bao Qian guarded the capital. The lady slandered him, saying, 'He intends not to admit the ruler and to set up Prince Jiao.' The ruler then amputated his feet. Confucius said, 'Bao Zhuangzi's wisdom is not equal to that of a mallow plant.' How could being harmed now be deemed having wisdom?) Fotudeng’s relation to Shi Le was like casting a stone into water. Once, Shi Le sought Deng intending to harm him, but Deng did not allow him to find him; this was because a sage does not wish to entrap people in crime. (If he had let himself be harmed, the other would surely have sunk into hell.) Although Deva had his belly slit—(Bodhisattva Deva composed the Hundred-Verse Treatise to refute non-Buddhists. Later, while his disciples were away, a non-Buddhist slit open his belly. The bodhisattva handed his robe and bowl to the non-Buddhist and instructed him to flee swiftly, saying, 'Before my disciples attain the tolerance of the Dharma, they might kill you.' Afterwards, when they pursued him, they indeed could not overtake him)—and Simha had his neck severed—(The twenty-fourth patriarch, the monk Simha, had his head cut off by the King of Kaśmīra, and his arm fell off)—these occurred because external tribulations were not yet pacified and their inner minds were as severe as a whetstone; or because transforming others in compliance was insufficient, so they transformed them by opposition; or because transforming them in life was insufficient, so they transformed them in death. All surrendered their lives without complaint, not attributing blame to the virtuous. (How could they groundlessly assign blame to the virtuous contrary to reason?) Observing the Sixth Patriarch receiving the robe of trust, it was as if treading on a tiger's tail and fearing its bite, or cherishing a jade disk and fearing destruction. (Uncle Yu said, 'The Zhou proverb says: An ordinary man is guiltless, but treasuring a jade disk is his crime. Why should I keep this and invite harm?') Panicking along the roads and holding his breath in the grassy marshes—now one suspects the biographer made an error. (The Baolin zhuan says: The Fifth Patriarch conferred the robe of trust, secretly giving it to the postulant Huineng. […] He fled, taking side paths and resting in the wilds, until he reached the South Sea, where he met Dharma Master Yinzong, who only then shaved his head.) He who attains the Way loses his self; he who loses his self also loses the myriad things. What relevance does the robe have that one should safeguard it for oneself? (The Way inherently arises from the mind; how could it depend on a robe?) If the mantle aids the Way, one certainly does not contend for it; if it does not aid the Way, it is truly of no use. (If a person has seen the Way, what need have they of a mantle? If they have not attained the Way, what use is obtaining the robe?) Scouring gold and wood to hunt and pursue—what business is this? Heterodox accounts say: 'The origin of sin and blessing is only the mind. When mind is extinguished into non-action (wuwei), the Way abides without affairs. Neither worshipping nor reciting is true non-action. Neither aspiring to precepts nor guarding against sin is true freedom from characteristics. Having preaching, having conduct, and having conceptual knowledge in mind belongs to the Dharma of the Śrāvakas.' (Lecturing, expounding, reading, and reciting are called by Chan masters the Dharma of the Śrāvakas, all belonging to the conditioned.) 'Therefore, only by removing images and discarding the scriptural Dharma does one merit being called the Sudden Gate. If there is anything to preach, let it come from one's own breast; settling matters as one faces the text, what need is there to rely on chapters, sentences, commentaries, or treatises?' (These refer to the contemporary practice of encounters, question-and-answer exchanges, and lineage sayings.) Critics say: How extreme this 'suddenness' is! Although its formulations resemble the words of sages, they are far from the Way of sages. (Ji means close. Although their words and phrases resemble the words of sages, the Way they practice is not close to the Way of sages.) Those who share their knowledge are regarded as fellow-travelers in delusion; those who differ from them are conversely accused of being deluded about their teachings. (Ruo means 'you'. Those who agree with you are deluded together with you; if someone differs from you, they are said to be deluded regarding your Way.) The aged lament it, while the young and naive believe it; how can this be tolerated? (Qidie means the elderly. Mengru means the young. The venerable lament it, while the foolish youth accept it on faith, which is why it holds weight in the world.) Now, non-action (wuwei) is empty, fusing, tranquil, and serene; there is no good it does not perform. (Free from obstruction is called empty; penetrating illumination is called fusing; transcending turmoil is called tranquil; undisturbed is called serene.) If one considers worshipping, reciting, copying, or carving to be obstacles, then one perceives conditioned phenomena and is not [dwelling in] non-action. (If one thinks that worshipping and praising, or painting and carving Buddha images, obstructs non-action, then this itself is conditioned. Seeing such characteristics is conditioned; it is not non-action.) Freedom from characteristics means clearly penetrating form and mind so that no characteristic is graspable; gaining without gain, shedding attachment is called freedom. (If one forms no grasping attachment toward observed characteristics, this is the accomplishment of the Way of freedom from characteristics.) If one takes the non-reception of precepts and the abandonment of maintaining and guarding them to be freedom from characteristics, then one is resolutely grasping at characteristics—how could this be freedom from characteristics? (If one must eliminate receiving precepts and terminate guarding them in order to call it freedom from characteristics, then on the contrary one is clinging to the characteristic of elimination.) The Dharma of the Śrāvakas is to receive the Buddha's voice and teachings, loathe suffering, delight in cessation, cultivate isolated wisdom with solitary excellence, (Isolated wisdom refers to using single-emptiness wisdom to sever the defilement-hindrance and realize the […] principle of emptiness)—having no goodness that extends to others (they solely cultivate self-benefit)—and does not mean that reciting aloud is called the Dharma of the Śrāvakas. (Later admirers fail to understand the meaning of Śrāvaka.) The Sudden Gate does not rely on the gradual path of the Two Vehicles.