Shobogenzo part 1

The Monk Langya [Huijue] asked Chan Master [Fahui Quan]ju: “Where did you come from?”

Quanju said, “Zhedong and Zhexi.”

“Coming by boat or overland?”

“By boat.”

“Where’s the boat?”

“Under my feet.”

“How can you get to your destination when you don’t stick to the path?”

Quanju then tugged on his sitting cloth a bit and said, “Made-up reverend elders like you are a dime a dozen.” Then he shook out his sleeves and left.

The monk of Langya asked the temple attendant, “Who are we dealing with here?”

He said, “It is Quanju, the monk elevated in the seat of honor.”

The Langya hurried down and presented himself at the lodge for itinerant monks, passed the temple hall the next morning and asked, “Are you Quanju, in the seat of honor? I didn’t mean to offend you, and I think I just committed a violation.”

Quanju then laughed, and asked in return, “Venerable one, when did you get to Fenyang?”

He said, “At some time or another.”

Ju said, “I heard of your great repute a while ago in Zhejiang. Now after all I see that your understanding is only this much. How is it that your fame has spread over the whole world?”

The monk Lanyang then made obeisance and said, “I get it now. I was gravely mistaken.”

[Comment]

Miaoxi said, “A guest is always a guest. A host is always a host. Two great men abruptly encounter one another, allowing host and guest trade places and immediately clarify the innermost core of Linji. If you do not penetratingly realize the objective of Chan, you have the True Dharma Eye which oversteps common sentiment. It’s unavoidable when confronted with these two masters for some theories to win and some to lose.

Someone said, ‘Quanju originally responded to each thing according to the reality of the situation. Langya, afterwards, should not understand on the basis of the reasoning of the Buddha doctrine. This is where he made something up.’

“Someone else says, ‘Langya was considered by Quanju to be someone who makes things up. In his heart he truly doesn’t understand, and on this he straightaway threw down his weapons. He tried to get Quanju to stick around to ask him to instruct about the reasoning in this teaching, and this is Langya practicing and studying with his face toward Quanju.’

This here is what you call the bark of one dog being empty but the yammering of a thousand monkeys being real, or grasping to an illusory phantasm as if it’s really there. This is because the people at that time who presided over Buddhist doctrine were not clear-sighted. They established schools and set up traditions, and it was inevitable that it would do harm to later generations.

How can they not realize that two great masters elevate the eye of the lineage like the sun and moon in the sky, like a dragon and an elephant galloping and trampling along. By no means is it the same situation as where that blind old coot went with his lame ass. Or a frog in a well or a wriggling worm in vinegar; how can they know the vast extent of the universe?’

I once brought up this phrase in my studio to ask a student: “Are you or are you not in agreement with what Lanyang said here?”

The student said: “No, I am not.”

“Why not?”

“He shouldn’t take this in the sense of reason of Buddhist doctrine.”

In reply I brought up the example of Yunmen Wenyan inquiring of Chan Master Dongshan Shouchu:

“Where have you gone recently?”

He said, “Zhadu.”

“Where did you spend the summer?”

He said, “Hunan repays the kindness.”

“When did you leave there?”

“The 25th day of the 8th month.”

Yunmen said, “I have three swift whacks for you!”

I asked, “Do you still agree with Yunmen?”

He said, “Yeah.”

“What do you agree with?”

“Yunmen has no argument relying on Buddhist doctrine.”

“The teacher asked the same thing, and the student answers the same way. Why do you agree with one teacher and disagree with another?”

The student stood there thinking for a long time. Then I sent him out in a flurry of blows.

I called to him, “Come back here for a second!”

He turned around and came back.

I said, “If you understand when I hit you with the stick, that really causes me problems. You are a a blind fool.”

The monk then ritually bowed and said, “Today I understand that the two great masters Langye and Quanju cannot be fathomed by ordinary sentiment.”

I said, “What the hell is this blind man talking about?!”

I gave him more blows and shouts and drove him out of there.

Having committed a crime, I stayed in Hengyang for a while.

Other than self-examination behind my closed door, I wasn’t thinking seriously about anything.

At one time there were some Chan monks who came asking for alms. There was nothing I could do but have them over for a visit. The Chan monk Chongmi Huiran offhandedly jotted down the words of the cases I brought up. In time, they became this great volume. Chongmi and other monks came to me with the draft and asked that I come up with a name for it.

Intending to let this book make things clear for later generations, and that the true treasury of the dharma eye transmitted by Buddhist patriarchs will never fall into extinction, I chose Zhengfa Yancang as its title.

In the book, the story of the monk Langye is at the opening of the text, so that there is no reverence for honored elders, superior and inferior, and order of importance; nor is there division based on differences between sects. I just chose those stories which piercingly demonstrate true nature

so that it can undo people’s sticky bonds and be endowed with the true dharma eye.

Submitted August 14, 2016 at 05:39AM by ChanZong http://ift.tt/2aT8hFB