Introduction:
Pointing to a deer, making it out to be a horse, picking up earth and turning it to gold, rousing wind and thunder on the tongue, hiding a bloody sword between the eyebrows, sitting there watching success and failure, standing there examing death and life: tell me, what state is this?
Case:
Magu, ringed staff in hand, came to Zhangjing; he circled the meditation seat three times, shook his staff once, and stood there at attention.(He sure has a lot of Chan.)
Zhangjing said, "Right, right." (For the moment I believe in half of it.)
Magu also went to Nanquan, circled the meditation seat three times, shook his staff, and stood there at attention.(Tomorrow morning, try to make yet another presentation, to the king of Chu.)
Nanquan said, "Wrong, wrong."(I believe half of this for the moment too.)
Magu said, "Zhangjing said 'right'--why do you say 'wrong'?" (He's bulging his eyes inside his coffin.)
Nanquan said, "Zhangjing is right--it's you who's wrong. (He adds frost to snow.) This is something that can be blown by the power of the wind--it inevitably disintegrates." (When you kill someone, you should see blood.)
Commentary:
In ancient times Yangshan went to Zhongyi to give thanks for ordination. Zhongyi, on his seat, clapped his hands and said, "Aya, aya." Yangshan crossed from west to east, east to west, then stood in the middle; after that he gave thanks for the precepts.
Zhongyi said, "Where did you attain this state?" Yangshan said, "I learned it from the seal taken off of Caoqi." Zhongyi said, "Tell me, who does this state receive?" Yangshan said, "It received the Enlightened Overnight Guest." Yangshan then asked Zhongyi, "Where did you attain this state, Teacher?" Zhongyi said, "I attained this state at Great Master Ma's place."
Chan Master Baoche of Magu in Pu province came up to Zhangjing holding his staff, just like when Yongjia (the 'Enlightened Overnight Guest') first met the Sixth Patriarch (at Caoqi); he circled the meditation seat three times and shook his staff once, then stood there at attention--this was like "learning from the seal taken off of Caoqi." This is called the state which is the king of all states--all states are produced from this.
Zhangjing said, "Right, right." I say, what could be wrong? Master Shengmo Guang said, "'Right' can affirm nothing, 'wrong' contains no real denial. Right and wrong have no master, myriad virtues are ultimately one. The owl and the chickens for no reason naturally separate by day and by night. I have no tongue--I call a tortoise a turtle. If Kasyapa doesn't agree, let him furrow his brow."
I say, when you have many troubles you grow old quickly. Magu wanted to see if others eslewhere were alike; he also once went to National Teacher Huizhong's place, walked around the seat three times, shook his staff and stood there. The National Teacher said, "Since you are capable of such as this, what further need is there to see me?" Magu shook his staff again; the National Teacher said, "You wild fox ghost! Get out." See how that guest and host saw each other; there was illumination there was action, there was a beginning and there was an end.
Indeed it was because it is hard to forget that which has become familiar and he was used to getting the advantage, that Magu also went to Nanquan and circled the seat, shook his staff and stood there as before. Nanquan though, said, "Wrong, wrong," just as if he had plotted with Zhangjing. Dagui Zhe said, "Zhangjing said 'right' and fell into Magu's target range; Nanquan, saying 'wrong,' still fell within Magu's target range. I would do otherwise; if someone should suddenly circle my meditation seat three times carrying a staff and stand there at attention, I'd just say, 'You should get thirty blows of the staff before even coming here.'"
I say, don't give lip service to social manners--strike! Magu said, "Zhangjing said 'right'--why do you say 'wrong'?" He couldn't avoid wondering. Nanquan said, "Zhangjing is right--it's you that's wrong." He sees situation and acts; in the face of danger he puts another forward. National Teacher Shen of Yuantong said, "Magu is right, Nanquan is not." This saying is just like when Hermit Yong of Deng Peak asked Seng Shenqi, "I haven't seen you for a long time; what have you been doing?" Shenqi said, "Recently I saw Librarian Wei and found peace."
Hermit Yong said, "Try to recount it to me." So Shenqi told of his realization; Yong said, "You're right; Wei's not right." Shenqi could not fathom this, and reported it to Wei. Wei laughed and said, "You're wrong-Yong's not wrong." Shenqi went running to ask Chan Master Nan of Jicui, and Nan also laughed. Hermit Yong heard of this and made a verse:Light and dark intermingle in the activity of killing and reviving; The sphere of a great being, the Universally Good One knows. Born of the same lineage, not dying of the same lineage--Falling over with laughter, the old awl in the hut.
Jiaofan said, " As I see his words, they seem like the missing rhyme of that play of joy in the Dharma." I say, the elation of Magu, Zhangjing, and Nanquan was also not slight. Hearing 'this is something that can be blown by the power of the wind--it eventually disintegrates,' it would be an even better laugh. This Nanquan, 'Old Teacher Wang,' not only held sky and earth steady he also had a road to go out on himself.
Master Baoning Yong's verse said, The color and form are just like real, Displayed before people, even more it shines new. When smelted and forged in the fire again, Going back after getting there, this is false silver. When Magu got here, the tiles crumbled, the ice melted. If you want the frozen river to burst into flame and the iron tree to bloom with flowers, we need Tiantong to add another word:
Verse:
Right and wrong (A narrow drum beaten on both side.)--Watch out for the trap. (Thorns are inside.)
Seeming to put down, seeming to uphold,(One hand holds up, one hand puts down.)
It's hard to tell who is the elder brother, who the younger.(Head high, head low.)
Conceding, he adapts to the time; (Turning the hand over, it's clouds...)
Denying, what's special to me? (...turning the hand back, it's rain.)
One shake of the metal staff--standing out all alone;(He sheds the dusts and departs the mundane.)
Three times around the seat, a leisurely romp.(He swings his arms as he goes.)
The monasteries agitated, 'right' and 'wrong' are born; (A midget watches a play.)
It seems like they are seeing ghosts in front of their skulls. (The house has a sign of good omen--there are surely no such maleficent strangelings.)
Commentary:
This public case is entirely in the 'right' and 'wrong.' These days everybody says Magu was being teased by Zhangjing and Nanquan; only Dagui Zhe has said, "Zhangjing saying 'right' fell into Magu's target range; Nanquan saying 'wrong' also fell within Magu's target range." It's like a diamond in the sun--its color is not fixed.
Tiantong said, "Watch out for the trap; seeming to put down, seeming to uphold, it's hard to tell who is the elder brother, who the younger." Tiantong is saying that when you take a look they seem to be putting down, seem to be approving; when you examine further, it's hard to consider one elder, hard to consider one younger.
Changwen, son of Chen Yuanfang of the eastern Han dynasty, was Chen Jun; he and Jifang's son Ziaoguang were each discussing their fathers' respective merits. As they argued, they couldn't decide the issue, so they asked Taiqiu. Taiqiu was Chen Shi, father of both Yuanfang and Jifang.
Taiqiu said, "It is hard to consider Yuanfang the elder, hard to consider Jifang the younger." This means that Zhangjing was 'half a pound in the left eye,' Nanquan was 'eight ounces in the right eye." "One shake of the metal staff--standing out all alone."
Yongjia's Song of Enlightenment says, "This is not showing form for useless concern with control; the precious staff of those who arrive at thusness itself leaves its mark."
Xuedou said, "The way of the ancient rod is lofty, with twelve gates; in each gate there is a road, empty and desolate."
The Ring Staff Scripture says, "The twelve rings (on the head of the staff) are used for remembrance of the twelve causes of conditional existence and cultivation of the twelve gates of meditation." The twelve conditions are well known; the twelve gates are the four meditations, four immeasurables, and four formless states. "The way of the ancient rod is lofty, with twelve gates" is the same as "standing out all alone."
The Six Patriarch also said, "A monk fulfills three thousand standards of conduct and eighty thousand refinements of action; where do you come from, Great Virtuous One, conceiving such self-conceit?"
Tiantong means to say that this is neither representing a form nor self-conceit; "Three times around the seat, a leisurely romp." Zhangjing said right, Nanquan said wrong--being agitated in the monasteries, going off balance inside yes and no, all those without the eye to hold sky and earth steady will see ghosts before their skulls.
Haven't you heard how a monk asked Jiufeng, "What is the eye which holds sky and earth steady?" Jiufeng answered, "Sky and earth are within it." The monk said, "Where is the eye of sky and earth?" Jiufeng said, "Just this is the eye of sky and earth."
The monk said, "Why did you just say sky and earth are within?" Jiufeng said, "Otherwise you'd see countless ghosts in front of your skull." I say, here there is a teacher of the prohibitions; (shaking his staff once) hurry and give the order according to the rule.
AssholeBuddha Commentary:
I won't waste your time with a lengthy commentary as this case is sufficient reading unto itself.
Nothing is as it seems to be and yet everything is as it is.
But this 'right' and 'wrong'...who really holds the authority to such distinctions?
If you say you don't, you're right.
If you say you don't, you're wrong.
If you say you do, you're right.
If you say you do, you're wrong.
What's the difference?
When you meet 'right' or 'wrong' why not shake your staff and be done with it? I say there is no need to justify or condemn the path of a leaf that has already landed on top of your head.
Submitted December 27, 2019 at 07:23AM by AssholeBuddha https://ift.tt/2SweV82
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