Entangling Vines Read online

  Case 194 Deshan Uses His Stick

  At an informal lecture Deshan Xuanjian said, “Tonight I’ll answer no questions. Anyone who asks will get thirty blows.” At that moment a monk stepped forward and bowed. Deshan immediately struck him.

  “There’s something I wish to say, but I haven’t even spoken yet,” said the monk. “Why do you strike me?”

  Deshan asked, “Where are you from?”

  “From Silla,”1 the monk answered.

  Deshan said, “I should have given you thirty blows before you boarded the ship for here.” [At this the monk was enlightened.]

  Later Fayan Wenyi said, “Even the great Deshan said one thing and meant another.” Yuanming said, “Even the great Deshan had the head of a dragon and the tail of a snake.”2

  Xuedou Chongxian commented, “The two venerable priests3 skillfully pared the long and extended the short, reduced the heavy and augmented the light, but if they wish to know Deshan, that’s still not enough. Why? Because Deshan is like a warlord holding power far from the walls of the imperial city who wields a sword that deters unrest even when the warlord is irresolute.4 Do you want to know the monk from Silla? He’s just a blind guy who ran into a pillar.”5

  1.Silla was one of the three ancient kingdoms of the Korean Peninsula, along with Paekche and Koguryo.

  2.This saying signifies a promising beginning but a disappointing end.

  3.That is, Fayan and Yuanming.

  4.The Kattōshū, unlike any of the original texts, has instead of in this sentence, which yields, “Because Deshan is like a warlord holding power far from the walls of the imperial city, who, if irresolute, would invite unrest.” This scribal error probably resulted from the presence of a similar saying in the Records of the Historian , “To lack resolution when resolution is called for invites unrest.” The present text follows the original sources.

  5.A pillar, or, more properly, an “exposed” pillar , is a common metaphor in Zen for no-mind or the unconscious (see Case 14, note 2), so that “run into a pillar” suggests an awakening. Xuedou is thus saying that even an eyeless monk will eventually “run into a pillar.”

  Case 195 Linji’s “Blind Ass”1

  When Linji was about to pass away, he seated himself and said, “After I’m gone, do not destroy the treasury of my True Dharma Eye!”

  Sansheng Huiran came forward and said, “Why would anyone destroy the treasury of your True Dharma Eye?”

  Linji asked him, “When I’m gone, if someone questions you, how will you respond?” To this Sansheng gave a shout.

  “Who would have thought that the treasury of my True Dharma Eye would die out with this blind ass!” said Linji. So saying, he sat in formal posture and passed away.

  1.Also Record of Linji, Record of Pilgrimages 21; Blue Cliff Record 49, Commentary on the Main Case; Record of Equanimity 13, Main Case.

  Case 196 Zhang Zhuo Sees the Sutra1

  Long ago there was a scholar-official named Zhang Zhuo. After reading the Sutra of the Thousand Buddha-Names,2 he asked Changsha, “All I saw was the names of hundreds and thousands of buddhas. But what buddha lands do they live in? Do they teach living beings?”

  Changsha said, “Since Cui Hao composed his poem ‘The Yellow Crane Pavilion,’3 have you written a poem on that subject?”

  “No, I haven’t,” Zhang replied.

  Changsha said, “If you have time, you should write one.”

  1.Also Blue Cliff Record 36, Commentary.

  2.There are several sutras whose titles may correspond to the title Sutra of the Thousand Buddha-Names , including (T 14:446); (T 14:447); and (T 14:448).

  3.Cui Hao’s poem celebrating the Yellow Crane Pavilion at Wuchangcheng is considered one of the finest examples of Chinese poetry. Even Li Bo (701–62), one of the greatest Tang poets, abandoned his plan to write a poem about the pavilion after seeing Cui’s piece, saying it could not be bettered. Subsequently no poems about the pavilion were ever written. For further material on the poem, see Cui Hao in the Biographical Notes.

  Case 197 The Staff of the South1

  One day when Fengxue Yanzhao was working as gardener in the community under Nanyuan Huiyong, Nanyuan came and asked, “How is the staff used in the south?”2

  “With great skill,”3 replied Fengxue. “And here—how does the master use it?”

  Nanyuan held up his staff and said, “Enlightened with a blow of the staff,4 depending on the circumstances, you defer not even to your teacher.”

  At this Fengxue was deeply enlightened.

  1.Also Blue Cliff Record 38, Commentary.

  2.Nanyuan asks how training is conducted south of Nanjing, at the monastery of Jingqing Daofu in the lineage of Deshan Xuanjian, where Fengxue had practiced earlier. Nanyuan himself was in the lineage of Linji Yixuan. The staff is a common metaphor in Zen for a master and his teaching methods.

  3.The original Chinese, , can be read as “they use skillful mondō (questions-and-answers),” since is sometimes used as a synonym for the Zen mondō. It may thus be seen as a more direct reply to Nanyuan’s implied question, “How is training conducted in the south?”

  4.“Enlightened” translates , short for : recognition of the true nature of existence as unborn and unextinguishable.

  Case 198 Mañjuśrī Visits1

  A monk asked Dongshan Shouchu, “What would you do if the bodhisattvas Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra came to visit?”2

  “I’d chase them off to the herd of water buffalo,” answered Dongshan.

  The monk said, “Master, you’ll go to hell swift as an arrow!”

  “It’s all because of you,” replied Dongshan.3

  1.Also Blue Cliff Record 43, Commentary on the Main Case.

  2.Mañjuśrī traditionally represents principle (absolute, oneness, wisdom, essence, etc.); Samantabhadra traditionally represents phenomena (relative, duality, compassion, function, etc.).

  3.This reading follows that in the Record of Dongshan Shouchu , where the exchange originally appears. There, as in virtually all other sources, the final line reads , “It’s entirely your fault,” with the “you” referring to the monk. The standard Kattōshū text follows the Blue Cliff Record 43, Commentary on the Main Case, which has . The meaning of this line is unclear; Cleary translates it as “I’ve got all their strength” (1998, p. 217), with the “their” apparently referring to the buffaloes.

  Case 199 To Knock Down with One Blow

  One day Zhenjing Kewen said to Huanglong Huinan, “Baiyun Shouduan’s verse on ‘Linji’s three-score blows of the stick’ expresses the same understanding as mine.”1

  “And how do you understand Baiyun’s verse?” Huanglong asked.

  Zhenjing thereupon repeated Baiyun’s verse:

  Knock down the Yellow-Crane Pavilion2 with a single blow;

  Send Parrot Island flying with a single kick.

  To an ardent spirit add yet more ardor still,

  No refinement—this, too, is refinement.

  Huanglong said angrily, “Baiyun understood; you do not!”

  The master commented, “What would you say in Zhenjing’s place?”3

  1.“Linji’s three-score blows with a stick” refers to the episode described in Case 187 above, where Linji asks his teacher Huangbo three times, “What is the true meaning of the Buddhadharma?” and is struck by Huangbo each time. Several sources say that he received twenty blows on each occasion.

  2.See Case 196 and Cui Hao in the Biographical Notes.

  3.The present Shūmon kattōshū text has “Hakuin Ekaku” in place of “the master.” Since the Japanese Zen master Hakuin Ekaku was born in 1686 and the Kattōshū was first published in 1689, this is obviously a later addition to the text (it first appears in the Ansei edition of 1858). The line has been restored to its original form in the Genroku edition (1689).

  Case 200 Xuefeng Strikes a Monk

  Xuefeng Yicun asked a monk who was leaving, “Where are you going?”

  “To pay my respects to J
ingshan Hongyin,” answered the monk.

  Xuefeng asked, “If Jingshan asks you what Xuefeng’s Dharma is, how will you answer?”

  “I’ll answer when he asks me,” said the monk. Xuefeng immediately struck him.

  Xuefeng later turned to Jingqing and asked, “How did the monk err, that he deserved my stick?”

  Jingqing answered, “The monk has already spoken with Jingshan and is on close terms with him.”

  Xuefeng said, “Jingshan is in Zhezhong. How could the monk have met him?”1

  Jingqing replied, “Is it not said, ‘Question afar, answer nearby’?”2 Xuefeng agreed.

  Xutang commented in his place, “[Jingqing’s response is] like a chalk line by the master craftsman Bo of Lu!”3

  1.Zhezhong is about 800 kilometers from Xuefeng in Fujian.

  2.Apparently the original saying meant that, when asked about distant, abstruse principles, one should answer with reference to nearby things.

  3.Bo was a legendary carpenter in the land of Lu , said to have constructed a ladder to the sky. His measurements were always dead-on. A chalk line is a line made on a board or other surface by a string rubbed in chalk powder, used to indicate where a cut should be made.

  Case 201 Sudhana Gets Some Medicine1

  One day Mañjuśrī asked Sudhana to gather medicinal herbs and said, “Bring me anything that isn’t medicine.”

  Sudhana searched everywhere, but there was nothing that wasn’t medicine. He returned and said, “There is nothing that isn’t medicine.”

  “Then bring me something that is medicine,” Mañjuśrī said.

  Sudhana picked a stalk of grass and gave it to Mañjuśrī. Mañjuśrī held up the stalk and said to the assembly, “This medicine can kill a person or give a person life.”

  1.Also found in the Blue Cliff Record 87, Commentary on the Main Case. Although presented in the form of an episode from the “Entry into the Realm of Reality” chapter of the Avataṃsaka Sutra, this case is not found in that sutra but has its origins in a similar exchange between Pingala and Jīvaka in the Four-Part Vinaya (Dharmagupta-vinaya; T 22:851b).

  Case 202 Touzi Answers “Buddha”1

  A monk asked Touzi Datong, “What is buddha?”

  Touzi answered, “Buddha.”

  “What is the Way?”

  Touzi said, “The Way.”

  “What is Zen?”

  Touzi said, “Zen.”

  The monk then asked, “What about when the moon isn’t yet full?”

  Touzi said, “I swallow three or four tenths.”

  “What about when the moon is full?”

  Touzi replied, “I spit out seven or eight tenths.”2

  1.Also Blue Cliff Record 79, Commentary on the Verse.

  2.Yamada reads the last four lines in the past tense: “The monk then asked, ‘What about when the moon isn’t yet full?’ Touzi said, ‘I’ve swallowed three or four tenths.’ ‘What about when the moon is full?’ Touzi replied, ‘I’ve spit out seven or eight tenths.’” (1985, 8:93)

  Case 203 Yunmen Calls Attendant Chengyuan1

  Xianglin Chengyuan served at Yunmen’s side for eighteen years. Yunmen would always call, “Attendant Chengyuan!” The moment Xianglin responded Yunmen would ask, “What is that?”

  Each time Xianglin offered comments, expressed views, and tried his best to respond, yet he never achieved accord with Yunmen.

  One day, however, he suddenly said, “I understand.”

  Yunmen said, “Then say something further!”

  Xianglin remained with him for another three years.2

  1.Also Blue Cliff Record 17, Commentary. The Blue Cliff Record account continues, mentioning that much of the Record of Yunmen consists of Yunmen’s words and teachings to Xianglin as he attempted to bring his attendant to awakening during the latter’s long years of service. Although Yunmen forbade his students from recording his words, Xianglin wore a robe made of paper onto which he would secretly copy Yunmen’s words immediately after he heard them.

  2.Yamada: Xianglin understood, but remained a further three years learning how to express his awakening in words. (1985, 2:357–58)

  Case 204 The Śūraṅgama Sutra’s “Turning Things Around”

  In the Śūraṅgama Sutra, the Buddha said to Ānanda, “If you are skillful in turning things around, you are like the Tathāgata.”1

  1.Śūraṅgama Sutra, T 19:111c. The character , translated “turning…around,” means “redirect,” “change,” “transform,” or “revolve.” The concept is of skillfully using things as they come along, appropriately and without attachment. Two translations of the full passage in the Śūraṅgama Sutra are as follows:

  All living beings, from time without beginning, have disregarded their own Selves by clinging to external objects, thereby missing their fundamental Minds. Thus they are being turned round by objects and perceive large and small sizes. If they can turn objects round, they will be like the Tathāgata, and their bodies and minds will be in the state of radiant perfection. (Luk 1966, p. 38)

  From time without beginning, all beings have mistakenly identified themselves with what they are aware of. Controlled by their experience of perceived objects, they lose track of their fundamental minds. In this state they perceive visual awareness as large or small. But when they’re in control of their experience of perceived objects, they are the same as the Thus-Come-Ones. Their bodies and minds, unmoving and replete with perfect understanding, become a place for awakening. (Buddhist Text Translation Society 2009, p. 65)

  Case 205 Shoukuo’s “Lame Nag”1

  Attendant Shoukuo of Lumen asked Deshan Xuanjian, “All the sages from times of old—where have they gone?”

  “What? What?” Deshan asked back.

  “I called for a swift steed,” Shoukuo said, “but I got a lame nag.” Deshan was silent.

  The next day, after the bath, Shoukuo served tea to Deshan. Deshan patted Shoukuo on the back and asked, “What about yesterday’s koan?”

  Shoukuo said, “Today the old fellow has finally understood.”

  Deshan was again silent.

  Later Xutang commented, “Everyone says that Deshan, in staying silent both times, acted with a parent’s compassion. They don’t realize that he had silenced the noisy market with his gavel and fastened tethers in the stagnant water.”2

  1.Also Record of Equanimity 14, Main Case.

  2.The translation follows the reading of Mujaku. Mujaku, who interprets “stagnant water” as referring to Deshan’s silences, comments, “In his silences Deshan bound Shoukuo to him. His was the heart of a bandit, not the compassion of a parent.”

  Case 206 Changsha Enjoys the Moon1

  One evening Changsha Jingcen was enjoying the moon. Yangshan Huiji pointed to it and said, “Everyone without exception has it. They’re just unable to use it.”2

  Changsha replied, “Precisely. So let’s see you use it.”

  Yangshan said, “You try using it!”

  Thereupon Changsha gave Yangshan a kick and knocked him down.

  Getting up, Yangshan said, “Dharma Uncle,3 you’re just like a tiger!”4

  1.Also Blue Cliff Record 36, Commentary on the Main Case.

  2.The moon often serves as a metaphor for the enlightened mind.

  3.Changsha was in the third generation from Nanyue Huairang; Yangshan was in the fourth generation from the same master.

  4.The Blue Cliff Record account adds, “Hence Changsha was later called ‘Cen the Tiger.’”

  Case 207-1 Linji Washes His Feet1

  During his pilgrimage Zhaozhou came to see Linji. He met him just as Linji was washing his feet. Zhaozhou asked, “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West?”

  “Right now I happen to be washing my feet,” replied Linji.

  Zhaozhou came closer and made a show of listening.2

  Linji said, “Do I have to toss out a second ladleful of dirty water?!”

  Zhaozhou departed.

  1.Also Rec
ord of Linji, Critical Examinations 17. See Case 207-2 for the same episode, but with the roles of Linji and Zhaozhou reversed.

  2.This indicates a desire to hear more.

  Case 207-2 Songyuan Takes the High Seat

  Songyuan Chongyue took the high seat and said:

  Zhaozhou visited Linji. As he was washing his feet Linji came down and asked, “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West?”

  “Right now I’m washing my feet,” replied Zhaozhou.

  Linji came closer and made a show of listening.

  Zhaozhou remarked, “If you understand, you understand. What’s the use of pecking at it?”1 Linji shook his sleeves and left.

  Zhaozhou said, “Thirty years I’ve been on pilgrimage, yet today I carelessly offered advice.”

  Songyuan commented, “Half rain, half shine; peach blossoms are pink, plum blossoms are white.2 If you understand, then be on your way—no need to peck at it. At what point did Zhaozhou carelessly offer advice? Try to give an answer!”

  1.The present Kattōshū version of this sentence, , has been changed in accordance with the original text, the Record of Songyuan, which reads . The before the final lends the question an ironic twist.

  2.“Half rain, half shine” signifies a draw between the two. “Peach blossoms are pink, plum blossoms are white” implies that Zhaozhou and Linji each had his own way of doing things.

  Case 208 Linji’s Four Positions1