Linji is here referred to as “the Master.”
The Master came to Huang-po's place in the middle of the summer session.1 There he saw Huang-po reading sutras.
The Master said, "I thought you must be quite some person. But now I find you're just an old reverend who munches on black beans!"2
After staying a few days, the Master prepared to take leave.
Huang-po said, "You broke the rules by coming in the summer. Now you're going to leave without finishing out the session?"
The Master said, "I just came for a short time to pay my respects, Reverend."
Huang-po struck him a blow and drove him out.
After the Master had gone a few miles, he began to have doubts about the matter, so he went back and finished out the summer session.
One day the Master came to take leave of Huang-po. Huang-po asked, "Where will you go?"
The Master said, "If not Ho-nan, then I'll go back to Ho-pei."
Huang-po struck him. The Master grabbed Huang-po's arm and slapped him with the palm of his hand.
Huang-po gave a loud laugh and then called to his attendant, "Bring Master Po-chang's meditation board and armrest!”3
The Master said, "Attendant, bring me some fire!"4
Huang-po said, "You're right, of course. But take them with you anyway. Later on, you can use them to sit on the tongues of the men of the world!"
Later Wei-shan questioned Yang-shan about this. "Did Lin-chi betray Huang-po's expectations or not?"
Yang-shan said, "No, he didn't."
Wei-shan said, "What do you think?"
Yang-shan said, "Once you understand your obligations you'll know how to repay them."
Wei-shan said, "Were there any cases like this among the men of old times?"
Yang-shan said, "There were. But it happened so long ago in the past that I'd hesitate to mention it to you, Reverend."
Wei-shan said, "That may be, but I'd still like to know. Just tell me what you can."
Yang-shan said, "At the gathering where the Buddha preached the Shuramgama Sutra, Ananda praised him, saying, ‘You take this profound mind and present it to all the numberless lands of the universe. This is what is called re- paying the obligations of the Buddha!"5
Isn't this an example of how to repay obligations?""You're right, you're right!" said Wei-shan. "When one’s understanding is only equal to that of his teacher he diminishes the teacher's merit by half. Only when his understanding surpasses that of his teacher is he worthy of carrying on the line."
Notes
The summer session at Ch'an temples usually lasted from the sixteenth day of the fourth lunar month to the fifteenth day of the seventh month. During this period, monks were not supposed to travel around, so Lin-chi was breaking the rules by arriving in the middle of the summer session.
The act of reading a text in Chinese is likened to eating black beans, since the characters look something like beans.
Po-chang Huai-hai (720-814) was Huang-po’s tcacher. Huang-po is signifying that he has passed Po-chang’s teachings on 10 Lin-chi.
Indicating that he intends to burn the meditation board and armrest.
Quoted from chapter 3 of the Shuramgama Sutra. Ananda was Shakyamuni’s favorite disciple and his personal attendant.
Submitted November 07, 2019 at 04:41PM by UhExist https://ift.tt/2PYIqOv
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