At one point, a company of Dharma Masters who had come to meet with Hui-Hai stated: "We have a question for you, Master. Would you please give us an answer." The Master replied: "The moon is reflected in this deep pool and can be apprehended by yourselves only."
The Dharma Masters asked: "What is the Buddha?"
The Master replied: "Just look into that clear pool right in front of you. If that is not the Buddha, who is it?"
All of them were mystified. After a long silence, one monk spoke up again, asking: "What Dharma do you speak to convert people?"
The Master replied: "I have not one single Dharma to speak to convert people."
Another monk asked: "Is this the customary method of all you Ch'an Masters?"
Immediately the Master asked: "And just what Dharma do you speak to convert people?"
The monk answered: "I expound The Diamond Sutra ."
The Master asked: "And just how many times have you expounded it?"
The monk answered: "Over twenty times."
The Master asked: "And this Sutra was spoken by whom?"
The monk exclaimed: "Surely, this Ch'an Master is playing with me! Wouldn't it be absurd not to know that the Sutra was spoken by the Buddha!"
The Master replied: "But that very Sutra states: 'If someone says that the Tathagata expounds this Dharma, he is slandering the Buddha! Really, he does not understand at all what I am saying. On the other hand, if someone says that this Sutra is not expounded by the Buddha, he is slandering the Sutra.' Would you please try to explain this."
The monk could give no answer. Then, after awhile, the Master continued: "The Diamond Sutra says: 'He who sees me by outward appearances and sees me in sound treads the heterodox path and cannot perceive the Tathagata.' Would please tell me who the Tathagata is?"
The monk answered: "Now I'm completely confused!"
The Master retorted: "Never having been enlightened, how can you say you are only now confused?"
The monk asked: "Would you please explain this Dharma to me?"
The Master asked: "Since you have expounded The Diamond Sutra more than twenty times, how can you not understand who the Tathagata is?"
The monk prostrated himself before the Master and asked again for an explanation.
The Master said: "'Tathagata' means the Suchness of all Dharmas. This you should not forget!"
The monk replied: "Oh, yes! The Suchness of all Dharmas!"
The Master retorted: "You say, 'Yes!', but that is not correct."
The monk replied: "But it clearly says so in the Sutra, so how can you say I am not right?"
The Master asked: "Are you Suchness?"
The monk replied: "Yes, I am Suchness."
The Master asked: "Are that piece of wood and that stone Suchness?"
The monk replied: "Yes, they are Suchness too."
The Master asked: "Then is your Suchness and the Suchness of the wood and the stone the same Suchness?"
The monk replied: "Yes, they are not different."
The Master asked: "Then what is the difference between you and the wood or stone?"
The monk could not answer, and, after a short time, he sighed and said: "It is very difficult to debate with such a superior master!" Then, after a long silence, he asked: "How can the Great Nirvana be realized?"
The Master replied: "Merely by not creating any karma that binds you to the Wheel-of-Birth-and-Death."
The monk replied: "How is the karma of birth-and-death created?"
The Master replied: "To seek the Great Nirvana, to be attached to purity and to disdain impurity create the karma of birth-and-death. Also, realizing and clinging to attainments create the karma of birth-and-death. Finally, not letting go of the stage of relative thinking creates the karma of birth-and-death."
The monk asked: "How can we realize Liberation?"
The Master replied: "Since originally you have never been bound, there is no use in seeking to become unbound or liberated. If both function and action are clear and direct, then all things are equal."
Submitted May 07, 2019 at 09:32PM by UhExistence http://bit.ly/2YbXKbm
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