Joshua and the Gates Four

POINTER

When the bright mirror is on its stand, beauty and ugliness are distinguished by themselves. With a sharp sword in his hand, one can kill or bring life to fit the occasion. A foreigner goes and a native comes; a foreigner comes and a native goes. In the midst of death he finds life; in the midst of life he finds death. But tell me, when you get to this point, then what? If you don't have the eye to penetrate barriers, if you don't have any place to turn yourself around in, at this point obviously you won't know what to do. Tell me, what is the eye that penetrates barriers, what is a place to turn around in? To test, I cite this; look!

CASE

A monk asked Chao Chou, "What is Chao Chou?"1 Chao Chou replied, "East gate, west gate, south gate, north gate."2

1, North of the river, south of the river, no one can say. There are thorns in the soft mud. If it's not south of the river, then it's north of the river.

2, They're open. "When we're reviling each other, I let you lock lips with me; when we're spitting at each other, I let you spew me with slobber." The public case is obviously complete; but do you see? I strike! ... .

The koan is about what is at the center of Joshu's teaching remaining for a thousand years. The answer is that he's at the center of the town and the province, meaning, it's one still point, one truth, one master, one town, one province, that expands out in all directions. And at each ring, the ring of the master, the city, and the province, each is met with what they need to be met with. Those who arrive at his monastery arrive because they should.

This kind of understanding is located in phrases like "When every particle of every land is the Self" Hung-Chih, or the fact that at the end of the Sun-Chi circular symbols, after the final symbol Buddha is written, it is answered with the symbol for "Land."

This koan is about the monastery set in the land that it is in.

This is my own interpretation, but the Blue Cliff Record, explicitly warns against flattening the koan into just being a triple entendre and nothing else.

The monk posing this question is undeniably extraordinary; anyone but Chao Chou would have found it hard to reply to him. The monk asked, "What is Chao Chou?" Chao Chou is an adept in his own right, so he immediately replied, "East gate, west gate, south gate, north gate." The monk said, "I wasn't asking about that Chao Chou." Chao Chou said, "What Chao Chou were you asking about?"

Later people said this was "no-nothing Ch'an" cheating quite a few people. What was their reason? When the monk asked about Chao Chou, Chao Chou answered, "East gate, west gate, south gate, north gate"; therefore (these people say) he was just answering about the other Chao Chou (i.e. the city). If you understand in this fashion, then any rustic from a village of three families understands more about the Buddha Dharma than you do. Such an interpretation destroys the Buddha Dharma. It's like comparing a fish eye to a bright pearl; in appearance they are alike, but actually they are not the same. As I said, if it's not south of the river, then it's north of the river. But say, is there something or is there nothing? This does indeed require you to be thoroughgoing before you understand.

Submitted August 09, 2017 at 12:06AM by NixonTheCrook http://ift.tt/2hH6MwO