What times do we live in that these amazing works of literature can make their way around the world, traveling in wires and glass tubes to be readable on our LCD flat screens... Man oh man.
The Measuring Tap (another great translation by Cleary) is a collection of cases by the same authors as the Blue Cliff Record, arguably THE best book ever created. In this one, Yuanwu and Xuedou have done it again.
- Bensheng's Staff
Bensheng showed the assembly his staff and said, "If I pick this up, you then make a principle of before picking it up; if I don't pick it up, you make out picking it up to be mastery. Tell me, where is it that I help people?"
Then a monk came forward and said, "I do not presume to create subdivisions arbitrarily."
Bensheng said, "You are not out of place in this."
The monk said, "Levelling the lowest place, there is excess; gazing on the highest place, there is insufficiency."
Bensheng said, "You're producing subdivision upon subdivision."
The monk had nothing to say.
Bensheng said, "Covering your nose to steal incense, you incur blame for wrongdoing uselessly."
Xuedou said, "This monk can cut and polish well, but his brow is broken and his arrows are used up. Even so, Bensheng is an expert teacher of the school - where is his help for people? On picking up, the sky revolves and the earth turns - one has to fold ones hands and surrender. On putting down, the grass bends down when the wind blows - you have to avoid injury with your whole body. Do you see where Bensheng helps people?"
Xuedou then held up his staff and said, "Peace is originally brought about by the general, but the general is not allowed to see peace."
Yuanwu said,
Try to tell me - where is the staff's help for people? And tell me - is it right to pick it up or is it right not to pick it up? If you have the eye on the forehead, you'll get it before any indication has sprouted. If you assert mastery after the true imperative has already gone into effect, you'll never find it.
The monk said he didn't presume to create subdivision arbitrarily; he was well rounded. "You add subdivision upon subdivision" - tell me, is this blame or praise? When the monk had nothing to say, Bensheng said, "Covering your nose to steal incense, you incur blame for wrongdoing uselessly" - at that time, what should he have said to avoid Bensheng speaking like this?
Observe how that guest and host responded to one another, like two swords. Xuedou says the monk was good at cutting and polishing, but his brow was broken and his arrows used up - he should fold his hands and surrender. "On putting down, the grass bends when the wind blows; you have to avoid injury with your whole body." Bensheng knows how to look ahead and behind, not losing the bloodline.
Xuedou brings out the case of Bensheng well - have you not seen the saying, "Peace is originally brought about by the general, but the general is not allowed to see peace."
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"Covering your nose to steal incense" is a lot like 'covering your ears to steal the bell' - explained as an idiomatic expression here. I can remember doing this once when I was very young - playing hide and seek, i stood in the middle of the hallway and closed my eyes, thinking that if I couldn't see them, then nobody could see me. Lol.
I tend to be a bit harsh towards the flat-earthers. I mean, c'mon. But if you get really technical, it's much like the question of whether the earth revolves around the sun - Einstein teaches us that the same rules of physics apply at any location in the universe. You can calculate the position of the sun and planets with earth at the centre if you want to. Similarly, whether you treat the earth as a flat (but repeating) area is ultimately a matter of mathematical projection. You do have to be reasonably good at maths to pull it off though.
There is a shared, objective reality. But it's nothing but sound, colour, taste, smell and touch - it carries no meaning other than what you grant it.
Sounds like Bensheng has a bunch of rather unruly students: "...if I don't pick it up, you make out picking it up to be mastery." ... Or is it more that he is helping people? I think he's dancing in the gaps that that mind fills in, cutting bonds and freeing people.
I reckon there's a price to pay for knowing things: knowing a thing means not knowing something else.
It's not that easy to see exactly where you end and the rest of the world begins. How do you avoid injury?
Submitted May 16, 2020 at 08:16PM by sje397 https://ift.tt/362Hm2f
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