"Buddha had a secret saying, Kasyapa didn’t conceal it."
Mumon questions the secret saying (Sekida):
Golden-faced Gautama really disregarded his listeners.
He made the good look bad and sold dog's meat labeled as mutton.
He himself thought it was wonderful.
If, however, everyone in the audience had laughed, how could he have transmitted his True Eye?
And again, if Mahakashyapa had not smiled, how could the Buddha have transmitted it?
If you say the True Dharma Eye can be transmitted, then the golden-faced old man would be a city slicker who cheats the country bumpkin.
If you say it cannot be transmitted, then why did the Buddha approve of Mahakashyapa?
Was there not a secret? Did he say anything?
Foyan (Cleary):
My teacher was thirty-five years old before he became a monk.
... he heard a saying of how when a Buddhist enters the path of insight, knowledge and principle merge, environment and mind join, and there is no distinction between that which realizes and that which is realized.
A Hindu challenged the Buddhists, “If there is no distinction between what realizes and what is realized, what is used as proof?”
What illuminates such a path?
No one could answer this challenge, so the Buddhists were declared the losers in debate.
Later the Buddhist canonical master of Tang came to the rescue of the doctrine: “When knowledge and principle merge, environment and mind unite, it is like when drinking water one spontaneously knows whether it is cool or warm.”
Now my teacher thought, “It may be cool or warm, all right; but what is this business of spontaneous knowing?”
He wondered and questioned very deeply. He asked the lecturer about the principle of spontaneous knowing, but the lecturer couldn’t answer; instead, he said, “If you want to clarify this principle, I cannot explain it, but in the South there are adepts who have found out the source of the enlightened mind; they know about this matter. You will have to journey for it.”
Those Southern devils... the source of mind?? These adepts are now pieces of storytelling, worldwide. Where do you journey? For what?
So my teacher went traveling. He went to the capital city, and all around the eastern riverlands, asking every Zen adept he could find about this matter. And everyone he asked gave him a reply. Some explained, some spoke in aphorisms. In any case, his feeling of doubt remained unbroken.
Later he came to Fushan [and] he wound up staying for a year. Fushan had him contemplate the phrase, “Buddha had a secret saying, Kasyapa didn’t conceal it.”
One day Fushan said to him, “Why didn’t you come earlier? You should go call on Baiyun Duan.” So my teacher went to Baiyun.
Early, late... how important is that?
One day when he went into the teaching auditorium, all of a sudden he realized great enlightenment.
“‘Buddha has a secret saying, Kasyapa didn’t conceal it’ — of course! Of course! When knowledge and principle merge, environment and mind unite, it is like when one drinks water one spontaneously knows whether it’s warm or cool. How true these words are!”
Then he composed a verse on his attainment:
At an idle patch of field before the mountain
Politely I question an aged grandfather.
How many times have I sold and bought myself?
Charmingly, the pine and bamboo draw a clear breeze.When Baiyun read this, he nodded. Is this not a case of doubting and wondering profoundly, approaching people who know, and only then succeeding in clarification?
Have you been sold, or perhaps found yourself with a purchase? Don't you see the secret in the open? Wondering profoundly, who is there to approach?
Submitted January 21, 2019 at 05:27AM by i-dont-no http://bit.ly/2W56kIN
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