I was hesitant to post this since I'm still processing most of it, but I'm just going to throw it out there to hear any reactions. This is also from the Eyes of the Heavens and Men (Rentian Yanmu), a late 12th century compendium of the teachings of various Zen schools. This is still from the Linji section. Part of it is pretty much the same as sections of the Record of Linji, while other parts are added in to show how other masters have dealt with the topic. I'm moving to Fayan next, which is much shorter as a whole but also has some relatively complex and difficult theoretical aspects. I have reservations about the words "buddha," "dharma," and "way," because I think those words can act as just ideas of things rather than describing what they actually, functionally, viscerally mean, but I left them as is.
~
A monk asked Linji, “What are the true buddha, the true dharma, and the true way? Please explain this for me.”
Linji said, “Buddha is purity of mind. The dharma is radiance of mind. The way is all-pervasive pure light everywhere. The three are in fact one, and are all empty and without any actual existence. Thus, there is no interruption in the succession of thoughts for a genuine wayfarer. The great Bodhidharma came from a western land looking for a person who was not deluded, then later came across the second teacher (Huike) who understood with a single sentence. It was then that Huike finally learned that he had been wasting his efforts all along in vain.
"My perspective is no different from that of the Buddhas and ancestors. If you can master the first sentence, then you may be the teacher of the Buddhas and ancestors. If you can master the second sentence, then you may be the teacher of the heavens and man. If you can master the third sentence, then there’s no way to save even yourself.”
A monk asked, “What does the first sentence (buddha is purity of mind) mean?”
Linji said, “The seal1 of the three essentials2 is taken off; the scarlet stamp is crooked. Leaving no room for the imagination, host and guest are separate.”
Fengxue3 said, “The shout comes in the wake of the voice.”
Daowu said, “Charging straight down toward the upper reaches of the clouds; coming and going ceases at East Mountain.”
Haiyin said, “Nalakūvara4 becomes enraged.”
Yunfeng said, “An arm hanging down past a knee.”
The monk asked again, “What does the second sentence (dharma is radiance of mind) mean?” Linji said, “How could Mañjuśrī allow Wuzhuo to ask him questions?5 How could skillful means be any match for the ability to slice through the flowing current?”
Fengxue said, “Already mistaken before opening your mouth.”
Daowu said: “How can’t you see what is right in front of your face, while calling what is outside your visual field an unjust anguish?”
Haiyin said: “Monks can’t manage.”6
Yunfeng said, “Hainan, ten thousand miles away.”
The monk asked a third time: “What does the third sentence (the way is all-pervasive pure light everywhere) mean?”
Linji said, “When you see a puppet show, the pulling and tugging is all done by the man behind the curtain.”
Fengxue said, “To strike an illuminating blow, be unconcerned.”
Daowu said, “A mountain of soil above your head, a grave7 beneath your feet.”
Haiyin said: “This land is India.”
Yunfeng said, “A dustpan and a broom.”
later...
Ciming8 addressed the assembly and said, “First, Baoying said, ‘If you can master the first sentence, then you may be the teacher of the Buddhas and ancestors. If you can master the second sentence, then you may be the teacher of the heavens and man. If you can master the third sentence, then there’s no way to save even yourself.’ I myself don’t tell it like this. If you master the first sentence, you've had to get your hands dirty. If you master the second sentence, you’ve tied yourself up with no rope. If you master the third sentence, then then you’re rock solid, with all four corners on the floor. That’s what I mean when I say that at first, the seas are calm and the river is placid. Other travelers will stay off your path. But when you look for a place to settle down, the sky and the earth darken, and the sun and the moon give off no light. All of you, what could you possibly have to breathe out?8 Does anyone here have something to breathe out? If so, come up and breathe it out for everyone here. If not, then I will breathe it out for you now myself.” Then he exhaled a long breath, picked up his staff, and got down from the podium.
Shimen Cong also explained the three statements. He said, “If you master the first sentence, you burst forth from within a rock. If you master the second sentence, you probe into the future. If you master the third sentence, then there’s no way to save even yourself.”
- Seal: by the metaphor of a stamp of certification (like Muhammad was the "seal of the prophets") , indicates the fixed truth about something, or its perfect and immutable form. This phrase, 三要印開朱點窄, is kind of hard to understand, because of the words 開 "open, reveal uncover" and 窄 "narrow, small, to pierce, damage, injury." The second word, 窄, appears in other books as 側, "indistinct, faint, leaning." Think of it like this: the seal (a physical object, like this) that marks the "three essentials" as being absolute is lifted away after being pressed down to give the imprint. The scarlet "dot," or imprint, is either indistinct, slanted, or narrow (more narrow or contracted than expected?)
- Three essentials: this is also kind of hard to understand because Linji himself never really explained it systematically in writing. As some people, for example the tradition descendant Fanyang, understand it, the three are 1. what is defined by no intellectualization; 2. what is defined as or identical to those who are enlightened; 3. what transcends any way of talking or thinking about something. The three essentials also go along with the "three mysteries," and apparently the structure is that there are three mysteries (or ways of getting at something) which are 1. finding true nature through describing a thing as is; 2. finding true nature through descriptions that can't be conceptualized; 3. finding true nature through that which can't even be conceptualized as not able to be conceptualized, and to which no "yes" or "no" can apply. The three "essentials" are all within each "mystery;" i.e. a thing can be approached through the three mysteries, and each of the three can be broken down into the three essentials. I wouldn't worry too much about this, since the only times it shows up are in the present selection and when people are describing Linji describing this set, and so it's very hard to know exactly if it was a real systematic thing or just a hypothetical statement. It's something that seems interesting theoretically but is kind of neutered when removed from actual application.
- Fengxue, Daowu, Haiyin, and Yunfeng are in the Linji tradition. This is what the Eyes of the Heavens and Man does - it takes canonical passages (in this case, from the Record of Linji) and adds what other masters of the tradition have said on the subject.
- Nalakūvara, or Nezha, or Naṭakuvera, is a supernatural being with a complex history who appears in the Ramayana (where he is turned into a tree) as well as in a very different Chinese version, where he is a popular deity in folk religion and Daoism. He is sometimes described as well as a terrifying demon with five heads and six arms.
- This appears elsewhere in slightly different versions, but the most relevant episode is nr. 35 of Xuedou's Odes to a Classic Hundred Standards, which are one of the components of the Blue Cliff Record. There, a dialogue between Mañjuśrī and Wuzhuo appears in which Wuzhuo asks questions of the god. There was also a local legend near Linji's hometown about the monk Wuzhuo encountering Mañjuśrī on Mt. Wutai, so Linji would have known about it. However, "Mañjuśrī's" name is given as 妙解, "miraculous understanding," and Wuzhuo means "no attachment," so it might be better to understand this as "how could miraculous understanding be questioned by non-attachment?" although there's no obvious reason to think that.
- 衲僧罔措 "Among patchrobed monks, there is none who can handle it / manage / deal with it;" or "there is nothing to place / pursue / give / arrange (with respect to patchrobed monks)." Maybe just "Monks don't know what to do."
- Literally "three feet of earth," referring to the depth of a grave.
- "Breathe out" 出氣 could just mean "say," but since he does exhale a breath I kept it literally.
Submitted July 31, 2017 at 10:11AM by OneManGayPrideParade http://ift.tt/2uLT7c5
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