Entangling Vines Page 12

  2.This verse was the inspiration for the title of the Blue Cliff Record, compiled by Yuanwu Keqin when he resided at Jiashan Shanhui’s temple, Lingquan yuan.

  Case 100 Straw Sandals in My Vestment1

  A monk asked Wayfarer Touzi Fazong, “What is your style of practice?”

  Fazong replied, “Straw sandals in my vestment.”

  “What does that mean?” asked the monk.

  “I go down to Tongcheng2 in my bare feet,” answered Fazong.3

  1.Also Blue Cliff Record 58, Commentary on the Main Case.

  2.Tongcheng was the town at the foot of the mountain on which Touzi’s monastery was located.

  3.Yamada: “Fazong’s Zen is spontaneous, natural, and unaffected. Walking barefoot, he relies on neither the Dharma nor material things” (1985, 6:292–93).

  Case 101 Jiashan Digs a Hole

  Jiashan said, “I have lived on this mountain for twenty years but have never spoken of the Central Matter of our school.”

  A monk asked, “I heard that you claim never to have spoken of the Central Matter of our school in the twenty years you have been living on this mountain. Is this true?”

  Jiashan replied, “It is.”

  Thereupon the monk pulled Jiashan off his seat. Jiashan retired.

  The next day Jiashan ordered a pit to be dug, then told his attendant to summon the monk who had raised the question the day before. Jiashan said to him, “For the past twenty years, I have spoken nothing but nonsense. Please, venerable monk, beat me to death and bury me in this pit. If you cannot beat this old monk to death, then beat yourself to death and be buried.” The monk gathered his belongings and secretly departed.1

  1.Mujaku: The monk left not out of fear but because he rejected Jaishan’s way of doing things; in this sense his silent departure was no different from his pulling Jiashan off his seat. But he failed to understand Jiashan’s attempt to guide him. If, when Jiashan challenged him to “beat yourself to death and be buried in this pit,” the monk had raised his fist and retorted, “Let’s see you bury this!” Jiashan would have given him the highest seat in the meditation hall.

  Case 102 Hear in the Morning, Die in the Evening

  Confucius said, “Hear of the Way in the morning, die content in the evening!”1

  1.Analects 4:8.

  Case 103 Ordinary Mind Is the Way1

  Zhaozhou Congshen asked Nanquan Puyuan, “What is the Way?”

  Nanquan said, “Ordinary mind is the Way.”2

  Zhaozhou asked, “Can we deliberately strive toward this?”

  Nanquan said, “To strive is to diverge from it.”

  Zhaozhou said, “Without striving, how can we know the Way?”

  Nanquan said, “The Way has nothing to do with knowing or not-knowing. ‘Knowing’ is delusion, ‘not-knowing’ is vacuity.3 If you truly attain the Way-without-doubt, it is vast and boundless like open space. How can it be thought of in terms of right and wrong?”

  At these words Zhaozhou was deeply enlightened.

  1.Also Wumen guan 19, Main Case.

  2.In his Records Mazu states:

  What is ordinary mind? Ordinary mind is without striving, without ‘right’ or ‘wrong,’ without grasping or rejection, without extinction or permanence, without ‘sacred’ or ‘profane.’… Just as you’re doing now, walking standing, sitting, lying, responding appropriately to all beings—all this is the Way.

  3.“Vacuity” translates , indicating a lack of content or function. Other possible translations include “oblivion” and “blankness.”

  Case 104 Calling for Help from the Well Tower

  Zhaozhou Congshen, while a monk in the assembly under Nanquan Puyuan, was on the well tower one day drawing some water. Seeing Nanquan pass by, he grabbed a pillar, let one of his legs hang into the well, and shouted, “Save me! Save me!”

  Nanquan hit the tower ladder and said, “One, two, three, four, five.”

  Zhaozhou thereupon came down from the tower. Putting on his robes, he went up to Nanquan’s quarters and said, “Thank you for helping me a moment ago.”

  Xutang, commenting in place of Nanquan, said, “This old monk blundered.”1

  1.Xutang’s comment expresses what he thought Nanquan should have said in response to Zhaozhou; “this old monk” would be Nanquan’s way of referring to himself. The original Chinese expression for “blundered,” , can be interpreted in many ways; depending upon the context, it can mean “unlucky,” “at a loss,” “inconvenient,” or even “the message did not get through.” The present translation follows Mujaku, who comments that in Xutang’s view Nanquan should not have said “One, two, three, four, five.” Mujaku sees the meaning of as similar to that of the expression : to think that one has succeeded, only to find that one has failed (Blue Cliff Record 66, Verse).

  ZGJT interprets as, “To gain an advantage is to be trapped by advantage” (p. 352).

  Case 105 A Dead Snake in the Road

  Jiashan said, “If you find a dead snake in the road, don’t kill it. Take it home in a bottomless basket.”1

  Xutang commented in a verse,

  This board-carrier can’t be restrained.2

  Though he may starve to death on Mount Shouyang,

  He’s vowed never to eat the grain of Zhou.3

  1.This statement by Jiashan is taken from a koan involving Jiashan and his student Fori Benkong (n.d.), found in fascicle 13 of the Compendium of the Five Lamps:

  Fori, then sixteen and training under Jiashan after receiving transmission from Yunju Daojian, took tea one day to the monks at work in the fields. As he approached he rattled the teacups.

  When Jiashan looked at him, Fori said, “Monks cultivating the fields can use three or four cups of strong tea.”

  Jiashan replied, “You have filled up the tea jug, but how many cups do you have in the basket?”

  Fori answered, “I have filled up the tea jug, but there’s not a single cup in the basket.” He proceeded to distribute tea to the monks, then commented, “Master, the assembly is hoping for a word from you.”

  Jiashan responded, “If you find a dead snake in the road, don’t kill it. Take it home in a bottomless basket.”

  Fori commented, “If you hold a charm that illuminates the night, how many dawns would you see?”

  Jiashan said, “Monks! There’s a true man here! Knock off work and go back to the monastery [to rest]!”

  They stopped work and went back. From that time on the community held Fori in the highest regard.

  2.ZGJT: A “board-carrier” is a person carrying a large plank on his shoulder, so that he is able to see in only one direction. The term usually indicates someone with a narrow way of viewing things, though it sometimes indicates firm determination. According to Mujaku, in this case it has the former meaning and refers to Jiashan.

  3.The verse alludes to the story of the brothers Boyi and Shuqi , recorded in the Records of the Grand Historian . Boyi and Shuqi were princes of the state of Guzhu during the final years of the Yin dynasty (ca. 1500–1000 BCE). When the king died he bequeathed his realm to Shuqi, the younger but more able of the two brothers. Shuqi, however, would not accept the throne, as he refused to place himself above his elder brother Boyi. Boyi, for his part, also turned down the succession as he could not disobey the will of his father. Both brothers therefore left the kingdom.

  Later, King Wu of Zhou overthrew Di Xin , the last king of the Yin dynasty, an act of disloyalty that the brothers refused to condone, even though the king had been an exceptionally evil ruler. They retired to live in the mountains as hermits, and finally starved to death on Mount Shouyang rather than eat the food of a dynasty that had come into power through violence.

  Mujaku: In this verse Xutang is saying that Jiashan is stuck in the realm of nothingness separate from the world of phenomena and will end up starving to death.

  Case 106 Ciming’s Practice

  Ciming Chuyuan was always free and unrestricted in spirit.1 No one could tell whether
he was foolish or wise.

  1.Ciming [Shishuang Chuyuan] is remembered in Zen for his often unconventional behavior (see, for example, Cases 147 and 174); the present koan draws on this image of the great master.

  “Free and unrestricted” translates , which literally means “the unobstructed interpenetration of all things,” a concept from the Huayan Buddhist doctrine of the four realms of the universe. These realms are:

  i.the realm of phenomena ,

  ii.the realm of principle ,

  iii.the realm of the unobstructed and mutual interpenetration of principle and phenomena ,

  iv.the realm of the unobstructed and mutual interpenetration of phenomena and phenomena .

  For the Huayan doctrine of the four realms, see also Case 160.

  Case 107 Daitō’s Three Questions

  National Teacher Daitō asked:

  What is the single path to liberation?

  What is nonduality of body and mind?

  What is cause-and-effect?1

  1.For cause-and-effect, see also Case 34.

  Case 108 Vimalakīrti, the Golden-Millet Tathāgata1

  A monk asked Yunju Daojian, “In a past life, Vimalakīrti was the Golden-Millet Tathāgata.2 Why then did he study the Dharma as a disciple of Śākyamuni?”

  Yunju replied, “Because he had no notions of self to contest.”3

  1.Also Blue Cliff Record 84, Commentary on the Verse.

  2.The claim that in a past life Vimalakīrti was the Golden-Millet Tathāgata is not found in any extant sutra, although certain ancient masters, such as Jizang (549–623), identify it as originating in the Essentials of Contemplation Sutra . The earliest extant source is Wang Jin’s Toutou Temple Stele Inscriptions , fascicle 59.

  3.The Blue Cliff Record has:

  Yunju said, “He didn’t pit himself against others.” Someone who is greatly liberated has nothing to do with becoming a buddha or not becoming a buddha. If you say such a one practices to attain buddhahood, this has even less to do with it. (Cleary 1998, pp. 372–73)

  Case 109 The Barbarian Has No Beard1

  Shui’an Shiyi2 asked the assembly, “Why does the barbarian from the West have no beard?”3

  1.Also Wumen guan 4, Main Case.

  2.The identification of the speaker in both the Wumen guan and the Kattōshū as Huo’an Shiti is an error; in the original biographical materials this statement is found in the entry for Shui’an Shiyi.

  3.“The barbarian” is usually identified as Bodhidharma, who was known for his thick beard. Yamada comments that, in denying a known fact, this koan resembles a story about Dongshan Liangjie. Dongshan, while still a young boy studying at the local temple, was asked to recite the Heart Sutra. Coming to the phrase, “[There are] no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no thought,” he stopped and asked, “But I do have eyes, ears, nose, and tongue. Why then does the sutra say that I don’t?” The priest, recognizing the boy’s ability, sent him for further study to the Zen master Wuxie Lingmo (747–818) (1976, pp. 37–38).

  Case 110 Mind Is Not Buddha1

  Nanquan Puyuan said, “Mind is not buddha, wisdom is not the Way.”

  1.Also Wumen guan 34, Main Case. See also Case 5, above.

  Case 111 Qingshui, Poor and Alone1

  The monk Qingshui said to Caoshan, “Master, I’m poor and alone. Please assist me.”

  Caoshan said, “Monk Qingshui!”

  “Yes?” Qingshui responded.

  Caoshan said, “You have had three cups of the best wine of Qingyuan,2 and yet you claim not to have wet your lips.”3

  1.Also Wumen guan 10, Main Case.

  2.Qingyuan was the region in which Caoshan was born and was famous for its fine wine.

  3.Yamada comments that in Buddhism salvation is not “Knock and it shall be opened, seek and you shall find” but the realization that “though you knock not, it is already open; though you seek not, it is already found” (1976, p. 83).

  Case 112 Vimalakīrti’s Ten-Foot-Square Room1

  Yuanwu Keqin said, “Vimalakīrti, who in the ancient past was a buddha,2 possessed a family and helped Śākyamuni in his teaching. He had wondrous eloquence, wondrous perception, wondrous functioning, and wondrous powers. Inside his ten-foot-square room he placed thirty-two thousand jeweled-lion thrones and hosted an assembly of eighty thousand in perfect comfort.

  “Tell me, what does this mean? Can one attribute it to the wondrous functioning of his supernatural powers? Don’t get the wrong idea!”

  1.Also Blue Cliff Record 84, Commentary on the Main Case. For background material on this case, see Vimalakīrti in the Biographical Notes.

  2.In the ancient past, Vimalakīrti had been the Golden-Millet Tathāgata . See Case 108.

  Case 113 Foxing’s Three Turning-Phrases

  Gulin Qingmao (Zen Master Foxing) gave three turning-phrases:

  If all sages practice the single path to true enlightenment together, why did Devadatta fall into hell?1

  “Bodhidharma didn’t come to China; the Second Patriarch didn’t go to India.” What, then, of Xuansha Shibei’s stumbling and hurting his toe?2

  Those who have broken through the void—where can they rest?

  1.The question refers to the legend that Devadatta (Śākyamuni’s cousin who attempted to usurp the Buddha’s position as head of the sangha, caused schisms in the sangha, and made several attempts on Śākyamuni’s life) fell into hell while still alive. See Devadatta in the Biographical Notes.

  It is of interest to note that, outside this koan, the statement “all sages practice the single path to true enlightenment together” does not occur in the Zen literature. Rather, the position taken by Zen is that “the sages have never transmitted the single road to enlightenment” (e.g., Panshan Baoji ; X 80:77b). Mian Xianjie goes so far as to say, “Though a thousand sages join hands and travel the single path to enlightenment together, all will surely fall into hell” (X 80:441c).

  2.The comment and question refer to the episode from Xuansha Shibei’s biography, mentioned also in Case 43, in which Xuansha was leaving his native Fujian on pilgrimage to visit masters in other parts of China. As he reached the top of the mountain pass at the border of Fujian he stumbled and injured his toe, the pain of which precipitated a deep enlightenment experience. Xuansha thereupon exclaimed, “Bodhidharma didn’t come to China, the Second Patriarch didn’t go to India!” He then turned around and returned to Fujian.

  Case 114 When the Buddha Was Born

  When the Buddha was born, he pointed to the sky with one hand and to the earth with the other. He then walked seven steps in a circle, looked in each of the four directions, and said, “Above the heavens and below, I alone am the Honored One.”1

  Yunmen commented, “If I’d seen the Buddha say that, I would have killed him with a blow of my staff and fed him to the dogs. It’s important that the world be at peace.”

  Langye Huijue commented, “Yunmen, with body and mind, served the infinite worlds. This is known as requiting the benevolence of the Buddha.”2

  1.These are the first two lines of the Buddha’s “birth verse,” which he recited, according to legend, after his birth from his mother’s side in the Lumbinī Grove. The full verse reads:

  Above the heavens and below,

  I alone am the Honored One.

  The triple world is full of suffering;

  It is I who will relieve it.

  The source of the verse in this form appears to be the Miscellany of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya (T 24:298a), although the similar verse “In all of the worlds, I alone am the Honored One” appears in the Sutra of the Collection of the Original Acts of the Buddha (T 3:699a).

  2.“Requiting the benevolence of the Buddha” is an expression from the Śūraṅgama Sutra: “At the Śūraṅgama assembly, Ānanda praised the Buddha, saying, ‘With my whole heart I will serve all beings throughout the universe.’ This is called ‘requiting the benevolence of the Buddha’” (T 19:119b).

  It is noteworthy that the
expression “whole heart” (lit., “deep mind”), found in the Śūraṅgama Sutra and other sutras, is often changed to “body and mind” when quoted in Zen materials such as the present koan.

  Case 115 Nanquan Loses the Fire

  A monk asked Nanquan Puyuan, “As you formally sit in your quarters,1 how do you guide people?”

  Nanquan replied, “Last night at midnight I lost the ox; this morning as dawn arrived I lost the fire.”2

  1.This refers to the master sitting in his room receiving monks for sanzen instruction. The exchange related here occurred just after Nanquan’s installation as abbot of the monastery.