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TE SHAN CARRYING HIS BUNDLE (VERSE)
(Case 4; Blue Cliff Record)
[Part 2] (Verse) (Link to Part 1)
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GS NOTE: For those not familiar with the Blue Cliff Record, it is a collection of 100 koans from around 1125 AD. Here’s what you need to know about the setup: everything except the cases and “verses” were written by Yuanwu Keqin; the verses were written by Xuedou (“Hsueh Tou”) who also compiled the cases together into the original “Record”. The translation I’m using was made by Thomas Clear and J.C. Cleary.
As a side note: I'm a newb so I still mix up Pinyin and Wade-Giles pretty often. I'll be paying more attention to it in the future. For now, note that "Te Shan" = "Deshan" and "Tokusan" in Japanese.
CASE
When Te Shan arrived at Kuei Shan, he carried his bundle with him into the teaching hall, where he crossed from east to west and from west to east. He looked around and said, "There's nothing, no one." Then he went out.
Hsueh Tou added the comment, "Completely exposed."
But when Te Shan got to the monastery gate, he said, "Still, I shouldn't be so coarse." So he reentered (the hall) with full ceremony to meet (Kuei Shan). As Kuei Shan sat there, Te Shan held up his sitting mat and said, "Teacher!" Kuei Shan reached for his whisk, whereupon Te Shan shouted, shook out his sleeves, and left.
Hsueh Tou added the comment, "Completely exposed."
Te Shan turned his back on the teaching hall, put on his straw sandals, and departed. That evening Kuei Shan asked the head monk, "Where is that newcomer who just came?" The head monk answered, "At that time he turned his back on the teaching hall, put on his straw sandals, and departed."
Kuei Shan said, "Hereafter that lad will go to the summit of a solitary peak, build himself a grass hut, and go on scolding the Buddhas and reviling the Patriarchs."
Hsueh Tou added the comment, "He adds frost to snow."
VERSE
One "completely exposed"
The words are still in our ears. Gone.
A second "completely exposed"
A double case.
"Adding frost to snow" - (Te Shan) has had a dangerous fall.
The three stages are not the same. Where (did Te Shan fall)?
The General of the Flying Cavalry enters the enemy camp;
Danger! No need to trouble to slash again at the general of a defeated army. He loses his body and life.
How many could regain their safety?
(Te Shan) gained life in the midst of death.
(Te Shan) hurriedly runs past-
He acts like no one is around him. Although you exhaust the thirty-six strategems of your supernatural powers, what is the use?
(But Kuei Shan) doesn't let him go.
The cat can subdue the leopard. (Kuei Shan) pierced his nostrils.
On the summit of the solitary peak, he sits among the weeds;
After all. To pierce his nostrils isn't out of the ordinary. But why is he (Te Shan) sitting among the weeds?
Bah!
Understand? Two blades cut each other. Two by two, three by three, they walk the old road. Singing and clapping go together. I strike!
COMMENTARY
When Hsueh Tau composed verses on one hundred public cases, with each case he burned incense and offered it up; therefore (his verses) have circulated widely throughout the land. In addition he mastered literary composition. When he had penetrated the public cases and become easily conversant with them, only then could he set his brush to paper. Why so? It is easy to distinguish dragons from snakes; it is hard to fool a patchrobed monk. Since Hsueh Tau immersed himself in this case and penetrated through it, he puts down three comments at those impenetrable, misleading places, then picks them up to make his verse.
GS: "Can't quote Zen Masters? Can't talk about Zen!"
"Adding frost to snow" -almost a dangerous fall. What is Te Shan like? He is just like Li Kuang, by innate talent a skilled archer, whom the Emperor (Wu of Han) commissioned as the General of the Flying Cavalry (Imperial elite corps). Li Kuang penetrated deep into enemy territory, where he was captured alive by the King of the Huns. Kuang was weak from wounds; they tied him prone between two horses. Kuang played dead, but stealthily observed that there was a Hun near him riding a good mount. Kuang suddenly sprang up and leaped on the horse, throwing down the Hun rider and seizing his bow and arrows. Whipping the horse, he galloped off towards the South; drawing the bow and shooting back at the riders pursuing him, he thus made good his escape. This fellow had the ability to wrest life from the midst of death; Hsueh Tou alludes to this in the verse to make a comparison with Te Shan, who re-entered (the teaching hall) to meet (Kuei Shan), and was able to leap out again, as before.
GS: You people still think this isn't like wrestling?? You're effing dreaming!
Look at how that Ancient (Te Shan) sees all the way, speaks all the way, acts all the way, and functions all the way; he's undeniably a brave spirit. Only if you possess the ability to kill a man without blinking an eye can you then become Buddha right where you stand. Someone who can fulfill Buddhahood right where he stands naturally kills people without blinking an eye; thus he has his share of freedom and independence.
GS: Only full sends in Zen baby ... FULL ZENS ONLY!
When some people these days are questioned, at first they seem to have the qualities of a patchrobed monk, but when they're pressed even slightly, their waists snap and their legs break; they come all to pieces. They totally lack the slightest continuity. That is why an Ancient said, "Continuity is indeed very difficult." Look at how Te Shan and Kuei Shan acted; were theirs stammering, halting views?
GS: The high-school book-report standard was shattering bones even back when Te Shan was just a Freshman.
"How many could regain their safety? (Te Shan) hurriedly runs past." Te Shan shouted and left; this is just like Li Kuang's strategy after he was captured, seizing a bow to shoot and kill his guard, and making good his escape from enemy territory. Hsueh Tau's verse at this point has great effect.
GS: Te Shan was in over his head but he didn't miss a beat and washed up on shore with his life and something more ... We can see the private exuberant smile that no one ever saw and hear the words: "I did it!" .... little does he realize the arrow that has pierced him from the back.
Te Shan turned his back on the teaching hall, put on his straw sandals and left. Some say he gained the advantage; how far they are from realizing that this old fellow (Kuei Shan), as before, still doesn't allow (Te Shan) to appear. Hsueh Tou says, "He doesn't let him go." The same evening Kuei Shan asked the head monk, "Where is that newcomer who just came?" The head monk said, "Back then, he turned his back on the teaching hall, put on his straw sandals and left." Kuei Shan said, "Hereafter that lad will go up to the summit of a solitary peak, build himself a grass hut, and go on scolding the Buddhas and reviling the Patriarchs." When did he ever let him go? Nevertheless, he's outstanding.
GS: Tricky, tricky. And I'll be honest, it is only in this moment of writing now that I can begin to imagine to fully appreciate this beautiful dance. (Which maybe underscores the importance of ... ahem ... burning some incense ... and actually studying the texts ... though "study" is not really "study").
Superficially, Keui Shan did indeed have the "last word" in this exchange. And by giving it to the head monk, his word was sure to spread. Both as a boosting wind to Te Shan and a piercing arrow from the back (since his words would travel ... or be recorded, as the case may be). Regardless, that is only the tip of the arrow (sorry!). Hsueh Tou states that it is neither prophecy nor probability. Now, either of those include the sort of "last word" mentioned above ... so the "last word" must be jettisoned ... but we can allow ourselves the entertainment of considering them for a moment before putting them aside.
BOTH as a prophecy AND a probability, Kuei Shan's remarks are a "last word" in the dharma combat because Te Shan's very likely future success will become Kuei Shan's victory. A supreme checkmate by a worthy Master. But there is no real "battle" here ... Dharma combat is Kayfabe ... Remember Huangbo: all is naught but your One Mind ... awake to it, and it is there ... Bodhidharma spoke of no other Mind and transmitted no other Dharma. Te Shan and Kuei Shan are part of a process that is bigger than them. A process which yields monks and teachers and warriors and priests and farmers and kings ... as well as birds, bees, flowers, trees, mountains, and streams (:P) It is a process of infinite complexity and infinite simplicity. Te Shan IS Kuei Shan. I'm sure Kuei Shan had a "Te Shan Moment" in order to sit where he sat that day ... so really, it's more accurate to say that "Te Shan had a Kuei Shan Moment" ... or that "Kuei Shan had a Zhaouzhou Moment" and "Zhaouzhou had a Nanquan Moment"; etc. etc."
When Lung T'an snuffed out Te Shan's candle ... a seed, long dormant, sprouted and flowered. An Oak Tree shot up from fertile soil. Te Shan was awake and he watered that flower/tree with the flames of his sutras and the tears of Buddhists everywhere! (I kid Buddhists! I kid!) Kuei Shan that day was speaking arrows to his adversary, blowing kisses to his new nephew, watering the crops of his own garden, paying honor to the Zen tradition, gazing at the span of infinite time and unfolding karma, witnessing the flowering of the seed of creation, and peering into the depths of his own heart and Mind and staring at his unborn face in the most intimate of mirrors ... among other things! That's why it was way more than just prophecy and probability. When the First Word was uttered, so was the Last Word. That is the seed of Zhazhou's Oak Tree. The true Last Word of Zen is no word; no word at all. Hence: "adding frost to snow."
At this point, why does Hsueh Tau say, "On the summit of the solitary peak, he sits among the weeds," and then add an exclamation? Tell me, what does this come down to? Study for thirty more years!
GS: The spider spins it's web, and waits for the flies. A mountain flower spreads it's petals, and waits for the pollen. A sapling emerges from the fresh earth.
With a BAH!, forget all that! There's nothing for you to see here! All of that was just a dream. The ramblings of some moron on the internet who likes to read about old guys playing with each other.
Now what? Don't you have some homework to do?
Submitted November 12, 2019 at 11:08AM by GreenSage45 https://ift.tt/33EMmbi
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