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A monk said, "The Master normally tells us to follow the bird path. I wonder what the bird path is?" 155
"One does not encounter a single person," replied the Master.
"How does one follow such a path?" asked the monk.
"One should go without hemp sandals 156 on one's feet," replied the Master.
"If one follows the bird path, isn't that seeing one's original face?" 157 said the monk.
"Why do you turn things upside down so?" asked the Master.
"But where have I turned things upside down?" asked the monk.
"If you haven't turned things upside down, then why do you regard the slave as master?" said the Master.
"What is one's original face?" asked the monk.
"Not to follow the bird path," responded the Master. 158
Commentary
155 "The bird path," an image encountered throughout Buddhist literature, is used to describe the path of an enlightened being. It appears in the Pali Dhammapada, 7, as well as in the Perfection of Wisdom literature and its predecessor, the RatnaguU01E47asamucaya Gatha, ch. 8, verses 3 and 4: "Having cognized the revolving world as like a snare for wild beasts, the wise roam about similar to the birds in space. He who, coursing perfectly pure, does not course in form or in consciousness, perception, feeling, or will." (Conze, 1973, p. 25) Also in the Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom: "The Lord: Nothing real is meant by the word 'Bodhisattva.' And why? Unproduced is enlightenment, unproduced is a being, and so there is no trace of enlightenment, or of a being [anywhere]. That is why nothing real is meant by the word 'enlightenment-being.' What is meant by the word 'Bodhisattva,' that does not exist, that cannot be apprehended; just as in space, the track of a bird does not exist and cannot be apprehended;..." (Conze, 1975, p. 118) See Thomas and J.C. Cleary's translation of a Japanese commentary on the "three paths" taught by Tung-shan in The Blue Cliff Record, p. 463.
156 The translation follows the TTC6, in which the character for hemp (ssu) is used for sandals. The later WCYL replaces "hemp" with "self" (ssu), in which case the sentence might read: "One should go without self underfoot."
157 The image of one's original face appears in the Hsing-yu section of the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. See note 89.
158 The WCYL appends the following anecdote:
Later a monk at Chia-shan's ( 805-881) assembly was asked, "Where did you come from?"
"From Tung-shan's," replied the monk.
"What does Tung-shan teach his followers?" asked Chia-shan.
"He ordinarily teaches his students three ways," said the monk.
"What are those three ways?" asked Chia-shan.
"The darkling way (hsuan lu), the bird path, and the open hand (chan shou)," replied the monk.
"Does he really have these teachings?" asked Chia-shan.
"Yes," replied the monk.
"Notes resolutely grasped for one thousand li, the sorrow of the students of the Way in the Monk's Hall," said Chia-shan.
From buddhanet the dhammapada chapter 7, important for the speaking of bird’s paths
Verse 92. Blameless Is The Nature Of Saints
For those who don’t accumulate,
who well reflect upon their food,
they have as range the nameless and
the void of perfect freedom too.
As birds that wing through space,
hard to trace their going.
Explanation: With full understanding that nature is empty and objectless the mind is free of craving and leaves no trace of its whereabouts like the paths of birds in flight.
Verse 93. Arahat’s State Cannot Be Traced
For whom pollutions are destroyed,
not attached to any food,
he has as range the nameless and
the void of perfect freedom too.
As birds that wing through space,
hard to trace his going.
Explanation: If one is totally free of influences, internal or external, that motivates human behaviour, and is not attached even to food, that kind of individual focuses his mind on emptiness, objectlessness and freedom of thought. The path of such saints is difficult to be traced, like the path of birds flying through the sky.
From Cleary’s translation https://terebess.hu/zen/Blue-Cliff.pdf
THE THREE ROADS OF TUNG SHAN (The following explanation is taken from Shigetsu Ein's Funogo san ro, da, shi i rui, a 'Non-talk on the three roads, (three) falls, and four different kinds' (1761). Shigetsu was a Soto Zen master, a Japanese descendant of Ts'ao-Tung Ch'an.) For innumerable aeons, since there has been self, this stinking skinbag has been changed from time to time, transformed from place to place, in a thousand conditions, ten thousand forms; who can reach the realm of our fundamental quiescence? If you get here, you must know this road. 'This road' means while dwelling in the present heap of sound and form, first getting rid of clinging to self, and attaining our former original state of selflessness. And furthermore, you must know that all things have no self. Once person and things are selfless, in your daily activities you walk in the void. This life basically has an undefiled practice and experience; thus would we practice and experience nondefilement. Today you must diligently walk in the void. Walking in the void is not some special art; each day when you go into the hall, you should not chew through a single grain of rice. Not chewing through a single grain of rice means that there is no breaking of the fast or violation of discipline by arousing mindfulness of tasting flavor. This is called traveling the bird's path. Travel on the bird's path is trackless; when you don't leave your body in the realm of tracklessness, this is the turning point of an ascetic. After you have arrived here and settled here, there is still one road going beyond. This road is not in going or coming; it is what is called 'moss growing in the jade palace.' All the names of the Other Side are temporary names for this. In reality, it is the one road that cannot be touched upon. That is why we say 'hidden.' And 'hidden' is not a matter of giving a name as its meaning; the realm called the hidden road is the realm of no name or meaning. This is why it is said, 'He has no country; he does not abide, dwells in no home.' 634 Traditional Teaching Devices 635 To know this and yet be able to not remain here, to be an example for beings, to inspire and lead them, unify and teach them, is called 'extending the hands.' In extending the hands, there is no separate roadi it does not transgress the bird's path. Traveling the bird's path by yourself, yet you extend your hands. In the bird's path there is no separate roadi knowing the hidden road yourself, you still don't transgress it. Dwelling in the bird's path, you don't sprout horns on your head but always extend your hands. Thus the three roads are the cause and effect of the great practice and the cause and effect spreads vast and wide throughout the whole universe.
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So it seems a teacher taught two paths that were one the opposite of the other. Is this reasonable? You teach one thing and you teach it’s opposite? Say for example you teach how to be a good person and you also teach how to be a bad person? That’s a ridiculous example perhaps. You teach how to attack and how to defend would be an obvious case where teaching not opposites would be silly. What good is a fighter that can only do one?
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But these kind of contradictions are kindof essential to Buddhism or Zen. One argument goes that Buddha was a Zen Master and not a Buddhist. But did these Zen Masters always teach contradictory paths? On one hand that compassion or meditation or analysis or working are good things, at other times refusing all order, all reflection, all analysis, all artificial control in the case of the Buddha. Or in the case of Dongshen both your original face and the bird’s path. Two paths that are exclusive and contradictory. So which is it? Can there be a dharmaless dharma?
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I’m not sure I understand these as very different from “the path of the Buddha” of a of a superior being and “the middle path” or “aurea mediocritas”, the golden mediocrity. Being satisfied that everyone is buddha, that nothing needs to be done to improve. “Just being yourself is enough”. I hope this crude understanding can be as skilled as Layman P’ang’s.
I hope y’all are well. You following the bird’s path? You seeing your original face? How do you see yourself in these texts? How does following the bird’s path or seeing your original face make sense to you in your life?
Submitted May 12, 2020 at 09:08AM by 2bitmoment https://ift.tt/2SXnSqq
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