The following is an excerpt from the “Cóngróng lù” (從容錄) aka the "Book of Serenity" or "Book of Equanimity". I am using Thomas Cleary’s translation.
The Book of Serenity was compiled and published by WanSong XingXiu in 1224 CE.
It is comprised of 100 koans as recorded by HongZhi ZhengJue. WanSong provides his comments and understanding in connection with each.
In addition, he includes poetic responses by TianTong ZongJue to which WanSong provides his own commentary as well.
All together, the point of the book, just like with the Blue Cliff Record is to help elucidate the core of Zen, to show you what it is really about, because what it is really about cannot be adequately captured in words.
Like etching the imprint of a leaf onto paper with a pencil, the aim of the book is for you to roll your mind over the words and the words over your mind until you start to get a sense of what this whole “Zen” thing is about.
Enjoy!
Case 47:
第四十七則 趙州柏樹
ZHAOZHOU'S "CYPRESS TREE"
INTRODUCTION:
庭前柏樹。竿上風幡。如一華說無邊春。如一滴說大海水。間生古 佛。迥出常流。不落言思。若為話會。
The cypress tree in the yard, the wind-blown flag on the pole--it's like one flower bespeaking a boundless spring, like one drop telling of the water of the ocean.
The ancient Buddhas, born periodically, go far beyond the ordinary current, not falling into words and thought. How can you understand verbally?
CASE:
僧問趙州。如何是祖師西來意 (多羅閑管)。
州云。庭前柏樹子 (焦塼打著連底凍)。
A monk asked ZhaoZhou, “What was the Patriarch’s purpose in coming from the West?”
(Much involvement in idle concern.)
ZhaoZhou said, "The cypress tree in the yard."
(Fired brick strikes solid ice.)
COMMENTARY:
趙州一日。上堂云。此事的的沒量大人。出這裏不得。老僧到溈山。 僧問。如何是祖師西來意。溈云。與我將床子來。若是宗師。須以本分事接人始得。僧便問。如何是祖師西來意。州云。庭前柏樹子。僧云。和尚莫將 境示人。師云。不將境示人。僧云。然則如何是祖師西來意。師云。庭前柏樹子。楊州城東光孝寺。慧覺禪師。到法眼處。眼問。近難何處。覺曰。趙州。眼曰。承聞趙州有柏樹子話是否。覺曰。無。眼曰。往來皆謂。僧問如何是祖師西來意。州曰。庭前柏樹子。上座何得道無。覺曰。先師實無此語 。和尚莫謗先師好。諸方名為覺鐵嘴。勝默和尚。必須教人先過此話淘汰知 見。嘗曰。三玄五位。盡在其中。真如方禪師悟此話。直入方丈。見瑯琊廣 照覺禪師。照問。汝作麼生會。如曰。夜來床薦煖。一覺到天明。廣照可之 。真如悟得此話最好。天童頌得此話亦不惡。
One day ZhaoZhou got up in the hall and said, "This matter clearly cannot be got out of, even by immeasurably great men. When I went to GuiShan, a monk asked what the living meaning of Chan is (Lit.: “What was the Patriarch’s purpose in coming from the West?”), and GuiShan asked him to bring him a seat. If one would be a real teacher of the source, one must use the basic thing to deal with people."
A monk then asked ZhaoZhou what [the Patriarch’s purpose in coming from the West was].
ZhaoZhou said, "The cypress tree in the yard."
The monk said, "Teacher, don't use an object to guide people."
The master ZhaoZhou said, "I'm not using an object to guide anyone."
The monk said, "Then what's the meaning of Chan Buddhism?"
ZhaoZhou said, "The cypress tree in the yard."
Chan Master HuiJiao went to FaYan's place; FaYan asked "Where have you recently come from?"
HuiJiao said, "ZhaoZhou."
FaYan said, "I hear ZhaoZhou has a saying, 'The cypress tree in the yard'--is it so?"
HuiJiao said, "No."
FaYan said, "Everyone who's been around says a monk asked him about the meaning of Chan and ZhaoZhou said, 'The cypress tree in the yard'--how can you say no?"
HuiJiao said, "The late master really didn't say this; please don't slander him."
Everywhere HuiJiao was called Iron Beak Jiao.
Master ShengMo (WanSong's first teacher) used to have people go through this story first, to clear away their intellectual views; he once said, "The three mysteries and five ranks are all within it."
Chan Master ZhenRu Fang awakened to this story and went right into the abbot's room to see Chan Master LangYa GuangZhao Jiao.
GuangZhao asked, "How do you understand it?"
ZhenRu said, "All night the bed mat's warm--as soon as you awaken, dawn has come."
GuangZhao approved.
ZhengRu's realization of this story was excellent; TianTong's versification of this story is not bad either:
VERSE:
岸眉橫雪 (喫鹽多如喫米)。
河目含秋 (一點難謾)。
海口鼓浪 (有句非宗旨)。
航舌駕流 (無言絕聖凡)。
撥亂之手 (也是柏樹)。
太平之籌 (也是柏樹)。
老趙州老趙州 (為甚不應)。
攪攪叢林卒未休 (天童第二)。
徒費工夫也造車合轍 (將來使用恰好)。
本無伎倆也塞壑填溝 (買盡風流 不著錢)。
The bank--eyebrows lined with snow,
(Eating salt as much as rice.)
The river--eyes contain autumn;
(Hard to fool one bit.)
The ocean--mouth drums waves,
(If there's a verbal expression, it's not the fundamental message.)
The boat--tongue rides the current;
(Without words, cutting off holy and ordinary.)
The ability to quell disorder;
(This is the cryress tree.)
The strategy for great peace;
(This is the cypress tree too.)
Old ZhaoZhou, old ZhaoZhou:
(Why don't you answer?)
Stirring up the monasteries, never yet stopping.
(TianTong is number two.)
Uselessly expending effort, still the cart is made to fit the groove:
(Bring it forth, he uses it fittingly.)
Originally without ability, still it fills the ravines and gullies.
(Buying all the current fashions without putting down any money.)
VERSE COMMENTARY:
七百甲子。經事多矣。所以岸眉橫雪。古人以眉目為巖電。天童用河眸海口故事。成四句偈。如見活趙州指柏樹子相似。眉如蘆花岸。眼如秋水 碧。古句野水淨於僧眼碧。遠山濃似佛頭青。海口鼓浪。航舌駕流。浪即能 覆航。航即能駕浪。一言可以興邦。一言可以喪邦。故次之。以撥亂之手。太平之籌。州嘗云。有時將一莖草。作丈六金身。用有時將丈六金身。作一 莖草。用此話本與人決疑。而今多少人疑著。趙州豈欲攪叢林哉。人見趙州答話應聲便對。如不假功用。唯天童知八十行腳。三歲孩童勝如我。我從他 學。此乃閑時造下。忙時用著。不是苦辛人。不知臥輪有伎倆。能斷百思想。對境心不起。菩提日日長。六祖道。慧能無伎倆。不斷百思想。對境心數起。菩提作麼長。恁麼看來塞壑填溝底事。又作麼生。如今拋擲西湖裏。下載清風付與誰。
Over fourteen hundred months old, he's been through a lot of things; that's why his “bank-eyebrows are lined with snow.”
A man of ancient times represented eyebrows and eyes as crags and lightning; TianTong, using “river eyes” and “ocean mouth,” makes a four-line verse--it is like seeing the living ZhaoZhou pointing to the cypress tree.
His eyebrows are like banks covered with white reed flowers; his eyes are like the blue of autumn water.
An ancient verse says, "The rivers in the countryside are clearer than the blue of a monk's eye; the distant mountains are dark as the indigo of Buddha's head."
“The ocean-mouth drums waves, the boat- tongue rides the current”--waves can overturn a boat, a boat can ride the waves; one word can create a nation, one word can destroy a nation.
Therefore next he uses a technique for quelling disorder and a formula for great peace. ZhaoZhou once said, "Sometimes I take a blade of grass and use it as the sixteen-foot golden body; sometimes I take the sixteen-foot golden body and use it as a blade of grass."
This saying originally solved someone's doubts, but now how many people have doubts about it! Did ZhaoZhou want to stir up the monasteries?! People see ZhaoZhou's answer, responding immediately as the question is voiced, as if not needing effort--only TianTong knows how he traveled for eighty years with the resolution to study from anyone who was better than him, even be it a three-year-old child; this was work done in free time, put to use in a busy time.
Unless you're someone who has suffered hardship, you won't know that "The lying wheel has talent--it can cut off a hundred thoughts. Confronting situations, mind is not aroused; day by day enlightenment grows."
The Sixth Patriarch said, "I have no talent, I don't cut off the hundred thoughts. Confronting situations, mind is repeatedly aroused--how can enlightenment grow?"
When you look at it in this way, what about that which fills the ravines and gullies? Now it is thrown into West Lake. The clear wind of unburdening--to whom is it imparted?
GREENSAGE'S COMMENTS:
Some people talk about how ZhaoZhou was 80 when he finally settled down at a monastery. His first art project was to plant a bunch of cypress trees in the front yard.
He wouldn't be the one to see those cypress trees grow to maturity.
Still, this is an intellectual interpretation.
At the very outset of the context of this case (as revealed in WanSong's commentary) ZhaoZhou had addressed the assembly and told a brief story about GuiShan, concluding "one must use the basic thing to deal with people."
A monk then asked him the same question that was asked of GuiShan ("Why did BodhiDharma go to China?") and ZhaoZhou said "The tree in the front yard."
The monk said, "Don't use objects teacher" and ZhaoZhou said, "I'm not."
So this tree for ZhaoZhou is not an "object" but actually "the basic thing."
This is the genius of ZhaoZhou.
In addition to the warm and fuzzy feeling of generational succession, of the compassion of an elder for the new sprouts, there is also an esoteric understanding.
The "tree" is akin to the "pillar" that is sometimes mentioned in Zen and in eastern esotericism. If you look down at your feet you will see a view from the top of a tree. If you look around you will see the yard. Walk a couple steps and look down ... the roots have not moved.
This is still not what ZhaoZhou is getting at.
The kind of tree ZhaoZhou references has received different interpretations ... sometimes it's an "oak" tree.
I noticed something interesting though.
The phrase is "庭前柏樹子"
The first character to notice is "子" ... which can mean "son / child / seed / egg / small thing" or it can indicate the first "heavenly root" or "branch" in the Daoist or esoteric tradition.
Grammatically though, it can also be a suffix turning something into a noun.
Those proficient in Chinese language can chime in here on various linguistic nuances, but I think very simply that the main intention is as the noun-suffix rendering the response something like:
"The front-yard cypress tree"
Now, the tree itself is called "柏樹" -- "bai shu".
Here there are yet again more layers.
"Shu" (樹) can mean "method or technique" (albeit with a different character) but even with the same character it can also mean "to set up" or "cultivate" in addition to "tree".
The latter implies that the word itself means "up-shoot" or something, as the semantic root of "tree".
The word "bai" (柏) seems to me to mean "sap" or "resin". If you look at the various other words that use the same character you'll not that it can else be read as "bo" ... in fact it specifically mentions "huang bo" (yellow sap) "黄柏"--though the name of the master, Huang Bo, appears to be generally written with the other variant: "黃蘗". (And the variant of "bai" meaning "hundred" (百) is used by WanSong at the end of the case--"不斷百思想" / "I don't cut off the hundred thoughts").
Looking at another specific use, "柏油" or "bai you" ("asphalt / tar") ... the second character (油) means "oil" or "grease" ... so 柏油 would be like "resin oil" aka "asphalt" or "tar".
Looking at the variants for the sound "bai" it gives me a sense of "common" in addition to "sappy" (see also its reference to "pine") though he can also be used as an indication of "transcribing a name".
Again, those more skilled than me can revise what I'm saying, but all of this is to try and get closer at what ZhaoZhou was talking about.
The "sappy tree out front" ... "the common tree out front" ... but fundamentally, you can throw all of the above out and just go outside yourself and find the nearest tree ... and if you are still confused by this case then I do actually suggest that you literally go do this ... go stand in front of the tree and just look at it and think about what ZhaoZhou said:
"One must use the basic thing to deal with people ... I'm not using objects to teach people."
What did he mean by the tree?
Just look at the tree in front of you.
There it is.
It is not perplexed by its existence or your existence; it is not confused by Case 47 of the Book of Serenity ... it is simply an embodiment of all of reality; of the fundamental reality that the human mind seeks so hard to comprehend.
And it's growing. It's alive.
There is also no debating with the tree.
If you try to cut the tree down to prove a point, the tree has proved its point.
If you try to ignore the tree to prove a point, the tree has proved its point.
If you try to mind-meld with the tree, futilely, the tree has proved its point.
Once ZhaoZhou said "the tree" it was game over, everyone who hears it is instantly trapped in the front courtyard with this tree.
"This matter clearly cannot be got out of, even by immeasurably great men."
There is no debate.
ZhaoZhou was surely an "immeasurably great man" and, sure enough, not even he could escape the tree.
So he just pointed and said, "the tree out front."
ZhaoZhou is not teaching us anything; the tree is. ZhaoZhou is just sending us to the real teacher.
And the tree is not even really a tree ... it is fundamental reality ... and so are we.
"All night the bed mat's warm--as soon as you awaken, dawn has come."
Submitted August 20, 2020 at 08:53PM by ZEROGR33N https://ift.tt/3hiFAib
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