Dahui's Real Original, the First Shobogenzo:
Notice: This Case has appeared elsewhere, translated poorly and in partial form. I've bolded interesting differences found in Dahui's version:
[305] When Xiangyan was in the community of Baizhang, his natural intelligence was brilliant and swift, but he couldn’t attain Chan. After Baizhang passed away he went to Guishan. Guishan questioned him, “When you were at our late teacher Baizhang’s place, you had ten answers for every question, a hundred answers for every ten questions. This was your brilliance and mental acuity, conceptualization of intellectual interpretation, the root of birth and death. Try to tell me something about before your parents gave birth to you.” At this one question, he was simply at a loss. He went back to the dormitory and looked over the writings he used to read, looking for a saying to use for a reply. Ultimately he couldn’t find one, and lamented to himself, “A picture of a cake cannot satisfy hunger.” He respectfully went up to the hall and begged Guishan to explain for him. *Guishan said, “If I explained it to you, later on you’d revile me. What I say is mine, and has nothing to do with you.” *
Xiangyan finally took all the writings he’d collected and burned them. Then he said, “I won’t study Buddhism in this lifetime; for now I’ll work as a perpetual server monk, and avoid belaboring mind and spirit.” Then he tearfully took leave of Guishan and went straight to Nanyang; seeing the ruins of National Teacher Zhong’s abode, he stayed there and built a hut. One day as he was clearing away weeds and brush, when rubble hit some bamboo and made a sound, he was suddenly awakened. He went right back, bathed, and lit incense; bowing to Guishan from afar, he said in praise, “The master’s great kindness surpasses that of parents; if you had explained for me back then, how could this have happened today?” Then he said in verse,
At one impact, I forgot what I knew;
I no longer depend on practice.
My conduct upholds the ancient path,
Not falling into passivity.
Everywhere there are no tracks or traces
In manners outside sound and form.
Those who arrive at the Way All call this the supreme key.
When Guishan heard of this, he said, “This fellow is through.” Yangshan, who was standing by, said, “This is composed by mental machination, conceptual consciousness; wait till I have personally tested him.” Subsequently Yangshan met Xiangyan and said, “The master has praised your discovery of the great matter. Try to explain.” Xiangyan then recited the foregoing verse. Yangshan said, “This comes from memory of earlier learning. If you have truly become enlightened, let’s see you give another explanation.” Xiangyan composed another verse, saying,
Last year’s poverty was still not actually poverty;
This year’s poverty is poverty indeed.
In last year’s poverty I still had ground to stick an awl;
This year I’m so poor I don’t even have an awl.
Yangshan said, “I’ll grant that you understand the Chan of Buddhas, but you still haven’t even dreamed of the Chan of patriarchs.” Xiangyan composed another verse:
I have a device;
It’s seen in the blink of an eye.
If people don’t understand,
Call a novice besides.
Yangshan then reported this to Guishan and said, “Happily Xiangyan understands patriarchs’ Chan.”
Dahui said, “Guishan in his later years was good at directing plays; he made this set of live puppets admirable. But what was admirable? Each watched the movements of each other’s hands and feet; how could it be known the speech was in someone else?”
.
(Welcome) ...ewk note: If you have any questions about the Case you can of course bring them up. My interest is in people burning books they don't understand and haven't read, and making up @#$# because they couldn't write a high school book report. Xingyan could write one, it didn't help him. Dahui tried to clean up Guishan's mess, but don't worry... I can succeed where Dahui failed: read a book.
Submitted October 31, 2019 at 06:50PM by ewk https://ift.tt/2Nw5TDZ
No comments:
Post a Comment