Nor was Yunmen more polite with himself than with others. For instance, he said to his assembly: Even if I could utter a wise word by the hearing of which you attain an immediate enlightenment, it would still be like throwing excrement on your heads.
This is to say that even if the master had done all that could have been expected of him, and even if his words had been instrumental to their awakening, still the end can never justify the means. To Yunmen, any speech, however legitimate from the worldly point of view, is out of place in regard to the Eternal Tao.
He seems to be obsessed with the primary insight of Lao Tzu: "The Tao that could be expressed in words is not the Eternal Tao.” As Yunmen was interested in nothing else than the Eternal Tao, what use could he have for mere words? That is why whenever he had to make a conference he always apologizes for his speaking at all. The beginning of his very first sermon as the Abbot of Ling-shu Monastery is typical:
Do not say that I am deceiving you today by means of words. The fact is that I am put under the necessity of speaking before you and thereby sowing seeds of confusion in your minds. If a true seer should see what I am doing, what a laughingstock I would be in his eyes! But now there is no escape from it.
Yunmen Wenyan [864-949]: Founder of the Yunmen House by John C. H. Wu, 1967
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Commentary and questions: Here comes the rogue Wandering Ronin, the oppressor of the free! He's a wild fox spirit you know, here to cause confusion and turmoil in everyone's mind. Every word of his blasphemes the Dharma, and every thought of his is a trap. What will he do next, and who will be deceived?
Consider this grand hypocrisy for a moment; if Yunmen himself could not bring someone to enlightenment with his words, then how can someone deceive a follower of the Way with their words? You are entirely on your own; what could ever reach you? According to Huangbo and Foyan, all that is required is for you to put a stop to conceptual thinking, and to trust it completely. If one can manage this without going astray from the path, then all wild fox spirits and those who would cause you trouble would disappear like ghosts in the fog.
You that would cause your own bindings and put yourself in your own chains, aiding and abetting yourself with attachments and aversions, and then cry out that you're being oppressed... how foolish! What good could be done with words, and what bad could be done with words? Beyond the written word means just that, beyond the written word.
Submitted January 21, 2020 at 08:32PM by _WanderingRonin_ https://ift.tt/2tv2HCG
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