Emperor Wu of Liang requested Mahasattva Fu to expound the Diamond Cutter Scripture.
Bodhidharma's brother has come. This is not unheard of in fish markets and wineshops, but in the school of the patchrobed monks, it is inappropriate. This old fellow Fu is supposedly so venerable and great, yet he acts like this.
The Mahasattva shook the desk once, then got down off the seat.
He's like a comet bursting out then disappearing. He seems to be right, but is not yet really right. He doesn't bother to create any entangling complications.
Emperor Wu was astonished.
Twice and three times he's been fooled by someone. Fu too makes him unable to get a grasp.
Master Chih asked him: "Does your majesty understand?"
He sides with principle, not with emotion. The elbow does not bend outward. He too should be given thirty blows.
The Emperor said: "I do not understand."
What a pity!
Master Chih said: "The Mahasattva Fu has expounded the scripture.
He too should be driven from the country. Only if Emperor Wu at that time had at once driven Master Chih out of the country along with Mahasattva Fu would he have been an adept. Chih and Fu are two fellows in the same pit, where the dirt is no different.
Mahasattva Fu was already dragging in mud and dripping with water; fortunately he had a sympathizer. If not for old Master Chih, he would probably have been driven out of the country. But tell me, where is he now?
Leaving aside the question of the old foreigner having a dharma-brother. How might one understand Fu's expounding of the scripture to Wu? Was it the same or different as when the old foreigner expounded the highest meaning of the holy truths to Wu?
Submitted December 21, 2019 at 10:06PM by ThatKir https://ift.tt/2sPBzNR
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