Pointer: Piled in mountains, heaped in ranges, up against walls, pressed against barriers; if you linger in thought, holding back your potential, you'll be bitterly cramped. Or else, a man may appear and overturn the great ocean, kick over Mount Sumeru, scatter the white clouds with shouts, and break up empty space; straightaway, with one device, one object, he cuts off the tongues of everyone on earth, so that there is no way for you to approach. Tell me, since ancient times, who has ever been this way? To test, I cite this; look!
Case:
Lung Ya asked Ts'ui Wei, "What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?"
Wei said, "Pass me the meditation brace."
Ya gave the meditation brace to Wei; Wei took it and hit him.
Ya said, "Since you hit me I let you hit me. In essence, though, there is no meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West."
Ya also asked Lin Chi, "What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?"
Chi said, "Pass me the cushion."
Ya took the cushion and handed it to Lin Chi; Chi took it and hit him.
Ya said, "Since you hit me I let you hit me. In essence, though, there is no meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West."
The commentary to this case is too much to provide for this discussion, but I will select these few verses of the commentary:
To extol the wonder of the essential, to advocate the fundamental vehicle, if you can understand it the very first instant, then you can cut off the tongues of everyone on earth. But if you vacillate, you fall into the secondary. These two old fellows Lin Chi and Ts'ui Wei, though they beat the wind and hit the rain, startle heaven and shake the earth, have never really hit a clear eyed fellow.
Haven't you heard how a monk asked Ta Mei, "What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?" Mei said, "The coming from the West has no meaning." Yen Kuan heard of this and said, "One coffin, two dead men." Hsuan Sha heard of this and said, "Yen Kuan is indeed an adept!" (To which) Hsueh Tou said, "There are even three (dead men)." The monk asked about the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West; though Ta Mei told him that the coming from the West has no meaning, if you understand in this way, you fall into the realm of unconcern. Therefore Te Shan (Yuan Mi) said, "You must study the living word; don't study the dead word. If you can understand at the living word, you will never forget it; if you understand at the dead word, you won't even be able to save yourself."
Verse:
In Dragon Tusk Mountain the dragon bas no eyes; He's blind. He can fool other people all right, (but not me.) This is washing a clod of earth in the mud. Everyone on earth knows. When bas dead water ever displayed the ancient way? Should it suddenly come to life, nothing can be done. He drags in everyone on earth so that they can't get out. If you can't use the meditation brace and cushion, Who would you have say this? What do you want to do with the meditation brace and cushion? Didn't he hand them over to you, Reverend? You should just give them over to Mr. Lu. But they can't be given over. You lacquer bucket, don't entertain such views!
Further Academic Look:
To help us, this is from Chan Rhetoric of Uncertainty in the Blue Cliff Record: Sharpening a Sword at the Dragon Gate by Steven Heine:
[...] Longya responds, "It's okay for you to hit me but after all there isn't any meaning to Bodhidharma coming from the west", Yuanwu does not favorably evaluate Longya's encounter, calling his question "an old tale known everywhere", and his concluding comment a matter of "drawing his bow after the thief has fled". The drastic actions of Cuiwui and Linji are deserved as "fitting punishment for [Longya's] crimes" yet Yuanwu also admits, "It is a pity to strike this kind of dead fellow".
It is clear that Longya is being criticized for not showing his own initiative. He seems overly ritualistic by not seizing the opportunity to demonstrate his Chan pivot and so should be struck to alert him to his deficiencies. [...]
[...] Yuanwu also comments that while he did not agree with Longya, he should accept for different reasons the view that there is no meaning to Bodhidharma coming from the West. Yuanwu concludes that Longya "does the best he can", but "falls into secondary status" because he does not follow the old masters who, with "each word and every phrase", were able "to make the most of horizontal and vertical, and thereby attain illumination and function."
My notes and remarks:
I have quote a clear take on this information, especially when reading after the earlier post looking at encounter-dialogue practice. The student in the koan if he acted as if he was only giving the meditation brace to the Master upon request, knowing he would be hit, is "drawing a bow after the thief left", and is "ritualistic" (knowing his role and playing his part in the performance), but leaves him with no opportunity to have "taken a lead" or entered into "spontaneity". There was no "inspiration" from him, nothing the Master could react to, other than to send him away for more meditation at that point.
This reminds me of a Bankei quote I was reading the other day in Bankei Zen called Seven Out of Ten. I'll place it below:
"Once I questioned the Master: "For some time I have followed your Reverence, and for several years have been fortunate enough to serve at your side as attendant. When it comes to the essentials of your teaching, I have no doubts at all. However, what I find remarkable in observing your Reverence at close hand is that "The deeper I penetrate, the more solid you become; the more I look up, the higher you soar," so that I ceaselessly 'sigh in admiration.' Your freedom in responding to the needs of students is so limitless that it seems as if one could never match it however many days and months passed. How can we too achieve perfection?"
The Master said: "Zen students as a rule may grasp seven or eight things in ten, but are unable to get past the remaining two or three."
"What is the way to get past?"
The Master replied: "There is no way to get past."
"Seeing as there's no way to get past and one is unable to do so, where can the fault be?"
The Master remained silent for a time, and then replied: "When you come right down to it, it's because the desire [to realize] the great truth of Buddhism is weak."
Bankei's 7 and 8 referring to likely the "enlightenment for self" levels of enlightenment, 7-8 Arhats and Sravaka's, 9 being Bodhisattva and 10 being Buddha attainment. The connection to the intuition, and one's openness as a Bodhisattva to save sentient beings gives them infinite creativity in response to the situations before them. "Buddha" level is known to see "Past, Present, Future", which in terms of looking at people, is apparently the ability to see the karmic conditioning of others, and knowing how to interact with the individual to bring their realization of their inherent pure nature to prominence, and to destroy their conditioning by bringing them into the spontaneous "Samadhi" (where singing and dancing, "all is the voice of truth").
Playful taps, and beatings are sometimes better than words. Though when one expects the beating, when one knows the performance, sometimes it is their motivation to play their part that is lacking. In the stage of life can we ever stop being a part of the show? How committed are we to the role we play? If a monk, why not a Bodhisattva? If a student, why not a Master?
Submitted December 23, 2017 at 05:47AM by Dillon123 http://ift.tt/2DxAlrl
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