INTRODUCTION
This OP is an excerpt from Ruth Sasaki's excellent book on the Record of LinJi.
I highly, highly, highly recommend this book.
Sasaki was in the circle of J. Blofeld and others and was a luminary in the early importation of Zen to the West. She is unique in that she really put a lot of dedicated study into translating and understanding the original Zen texts and her work is as trustworthy as it is thorough. She does not seem to stray into religious pontification or misguided interpretations.
Whatever her ultimate understanding actually was, the depth and accuracy of her research is undeniable and the wealth of information in her notes is immediately self-evident.
This excerpt is exemplary of those facts and my hope is that you will find it interesting and helpful in your respective journeys and art projects.
A brief note on the citations in the footnotes (e.g. "jc", "wl", "t", etc.), I have not taken the time to edit those much nor have I provide the abbreviation key. If you want to dive deeper then I suggest you get the book; IMO it is a "must have". And a reminder that the footnotes are from the book too; only this introduction is my writing.
Enjoy!
:)
所以我於十二年中、求一箇業性、知芥子許不可得。若似新婦 子禪師、便即怕趁出院、不與飯喫、不安不樂。自古先輩、到 處人不信、被遞出、始知是貴。若到處人盡肯、堪作什麼。 所以師子一吼、野干腦裂。道流、諸方說、有道可修、有法可 證。爾說證何法、修何道。爾今用處、欠少什麼物、修補何處。
[W]hen I look back over the past twelve years 1 for a single thing having the nature of karma, I can’t find anything even the size of a mustard seed.
The Chan master who is like a new bride will fear lest he be thrown out of his temple, be given no food to eat, and have no contentment and ease.
From olden days our predecessors never had people anywhere who believed in them. Only after they had been driven out was their worth recognized. If they had been fully accepted by people everywhere, what would they have been good for?
Therefore it is said, "The lion’s single roar splits the jackals’ skulls." 2
Followers of the Way, people everywhere say that there is a Way to be practiced, a dharma to be confirmed. Tell me, what dharma will you confirm, what Way will you practice?
What is lacking in your present activity? What still needs to be patched up?
後生小阿師不會、便即信這般野狐精魅、許他說事、繋縛人、 言道理行相應、護惜三業、始得成佛。如此說者、如春細雨。 古人云、路逢達道人、第一莫向道。
The immature young monk, not understanding this, believes in these fox-spirits and lets them speak the kind of nonsense that binds other people, nonsense such as, "Only by harmonizing the principle and practice and by guarding [against] the three karmas 3 can buddhahood be attained."
People who talk like this are as common as spring showers.
A man of old said: "If on the road you meet a man who has mastered the Way, above all do not speak of the Way." 4
所以言、
若人修道道不行、
萬般邪境競頭生。
智劍出來無一 物、
明頭未顯暗頭明。
所以古人云、平常心是道。
Therefore it is said:
When a man tries to practice the Way, the Way does not function,
And ten thousand evil circumstances vie in raising their heads.
But when the sword of wisdom flashes forth, nothing remains.
Before brightness is manifest, darkness is bright. 5
For that reason a man of old said, "Ordinary mind is the Way." 6
大德、覓什麼物。現今目前聽法無依道人、歷歷地分明、未曾 欠少。爾若欲得與祖佛不別、但如是見、不用疑誤。爾心心不 異、名之活祖。心若有異、則性相別。心不異故、即性相不別。
Virtuous monks, what are you looking for? [You] nondependent people of the Way who listen to my discourse right now before my eyes, [you are] bright and clear and have never lacked anything.
If you want to be no different from the patriarch-buddha, just see things this way. There’s no need to waver.
Your minds and Mind do not differ 7 —this is called [your] living patriarch.
If mind differs, its essence will differ from its manifestations.
Since mind does not differ, its essence and its manifestations do not differ. 8
FOOTNOTES
[1] "The past twelve years ..."
From ancient times the Chinese have measured time in twelve-year periods, the approximate time that it takes Jupiter to complete one cycle through the heavens. There are also twelve animals, one for each year, in the Chinese zodiac. “Twelve years” is thus a loose designation for “a number of years.” For instance, there is in the Vimalakīrti Sutra the following conversation between Śāriputra and the goddess:
Śāriputra said to the goddess, “Why do you not change your woman’s body?” The goddess replied, “For the past twelve years I have sought for a woman’s form, but have never been able to attain one. Into what form shall I then change?” (t 14: 548b)
[2] "The lion’s single roar splits the jackals’ skulls."
Linji may here be paraphrasing a verse from Yongjia’s Song of Enlightenment:
“The lion’s roar, preaching of fearlessness—hearing this, the timid animals’ brains are torn in pieces” (t 48: 396a).
Among the other possible sources of this term is a fable found in the Wufen lü 五分律 (The five-part vinaya) that tells of a fox that lived close to the mountain cave of a hermit. This hermit was accustomed to reciting the books of the Kṣatriyas aloud, and thus the fox, listening to him, gradually attained some understanding. One day the fox thought to himself, “I now know enough book language to make myself king of the beasts.” He set forth on his travels, and through various tricks succeeded in getting all the foxes to follow him. With his pack of foxes he subdued all the elephants; with the elephants he subdued all the tigers; and with the tigers he subdued all the lions. He then declared himself king of the beasts.
Having become king, he thought, “I am now king of the beasts. It is not fitting that I take a beast for a wife.” So, mounted upon a white elephant and leading all the beasts, he surrounded the citadel of Kapilavastu. When the king of Kapilavastu sent a messenger to inquire what this was all about, the fox replied, “As I am king of all the beasts, it is fitting that I receive your daughter for my wife. If you give her to me, then good; if you do not, I will destroy your country.”
The king hastily called a council of his ministers. All but one urged him to assent to the fox’s demand. The sole dissenter, who was farseeing and clever in the ways of the world, said, “O King, you have only to dispatch an envoy to set a time for the battle, but on this condition, that the fox order the lions to fight first, then to roar. The fox will think that we are afraid and certainly will order the lions to roar first, then fight. But when the day of battle arrives you must be sure to order everyone within the citadel to cover their ears.”
Everything turned out just as the minister had planned. As soon as the vanguard of the army went forth from the citadel to do battle, sure enough, the lions let out a great roar. When the fox heard this awesome sound, his heart burst into seven pieces and he fell to the ground. Thereupon the hordes of beasts all fled in confusion. (t 22: 18b–c)
For 野干, translated here as “jackal,” see Zuting shiyuan 祖庭事苑 7 (x 64: 423b).
[3] "Three karmas" 三業
[This phrase] refers to several different groups of so-called “karmas” (activities), most commonly being: (1) activities of the body 身, i.e., deeds; (2) activities of the mouth 口, i.e., speech; and (3) activities of the mind 意, i.e., thoughts.
[4] "If on the road... do not speak of the Way."
Editor’s note: The second line,“Above all do not speak of the Way” 第一莫向道, has been retranslated from Sasaki’s original “Above all do not try to approach the Way,” on the basis of Yanagida 1977, 127.
This couplet is Linji’s adaption of the last two lines of a verse by Sikongshan Benjing 司空山本淨 (667–761), an heir of the Sixth Patriarch. The master had been asked about the Way, and concluded his reply with the following verse:
Regarding the substance of the Way, fundamentally there’s nothing to practice;
Without practice, one naturally accords with the Way.
He who conceives the idea of practicing the Way,
Has never understood the Way.
He has abandoned his one true nature,
And entered the noisy, bustling world.
If you meet one who practices the Way,
Don’t ever speak of the Way.
(x 80: 59c)
This couplet seems to have been popular at the time, for it is found, with variations, in several of the early “recorded sayings.”
In this sentence 第一 is an intensive adverb lacking its usual meaning of “first.” It is usually, though not always, employed in a negative imperative sentence; used with 莫, it indicates a strong interdiction. The expression is found, for example, in the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, [section] 25: “Don’t ever be attached to emptiness” 第一莫著空 (Suzuki and Koda 1934, 34). Other examples are found in the jc (t 51: 335c), gy (x 68: 46a), zh (x 79: 192a), etc. A rare occasion when this expression is used as a positive imperative is found in the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch 40: “Come back quickly and don’t let me have to reprimand you” 汝第一早來, 勿令 恠 (Suzuki and Koda 1934, 41.7).
At times, as above, the character 勿 is used to replace 莫. For example, the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, section 13: “Don’t ever make the mistake of saying that samādhi and prajñā are different from one another 第一勿言定惠別 (Suzuki and Koda 1934, 11.6). Another common variation is第一不得,“above all you shouldn’t...” (e.g., jc [t 51: 440c], gy [x 68: 14c], zh [x 79: 148c], wh [x 80: 425c]).
This colloquial expression seems to have disappeared after the Song, but a vestige can still be found in the Qing novel Guanchang xianxing ji 宮場現形記 (Panorama of officialdom), by Li Baojia 李寶嘉 (1867–1906), written at the very end of the dynasty. In chapter 5 is the sentence 爾第 一別答應他的錢, “Don’t ever comply with his claim for payment.”
[5] "When a man ... darkness is bright."
The source of this quote is unknown. However, the expression “sword of wisdom” 智劍 may derive from a line in the Vimalakīrti Sutra where the Buddha, in the course of enumerating the activities of the bodhisattva, says, “With the sword of wisdom he fells the thieves of the deluding passions” (t 14: 554b).
In connection with the terms “brightness” 明 and “darkness” 暗, see the following lines from the poem Cantong qi 參同 契 (Harmony of difference and equality) by Shitou Xiqian 石頭希遷 (700–790), as quoted in the jc:
Within brightness there is darkness,
So don’t treat brightness as mere brightness.
Within darkness there is brightness,
So don’t view darkness as mere darkness.
Brightness and darkness are relative to one another,
As steps ahead are relative to steps behind.(t 51: 459b)
[6] "Ordinary mind is the Way" 平常心是道.
The “man of old” who made this famous statement was Mazu Daoyi. In a sermon recorded in the jc the master sets forth his concept of what this expression means:
Chan Master Daji Daoyi of Jiangxi addressed the assembly thus: “The Way does not need to be cultivated. Just don’t stain it. What is ‘staining it’? Just having a samsara mind [as regards it] and artificially striving toward it—this is ‘staining it.’ If you want to understand this Way completely, the ordinary mind is the Way. What is called the ‘ordinary mind’ is without artificially created activity, without right or wrong, without grasping or relinquishing, without annihilation or permanence, without secular or sacred. The sutra says, ‘That which is neither the secular man’s practice nor the sage’s practice is the “bodhisattva practice”.’ Your present walking, staying, sitting, lying, responding to the occasion, accepting existing things—all these are the Way. The Way is the very Dharma realm, and everything, including marvelous activities as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, is within the dharma realm.”
(t 51: 440a)
This passage shows that the usual attribution of the statement “ordinary mind is the Way” to Mazu’s disciple Nanquan is mistaken. This is made explicit in the following passage (also in the jc):
At this time there was a monk who asked, “From the earliest patriarch to Great Teacher Jiangxi [Mazu], all have said,‘This mind is buddha, the ordinary mind is the Way.’ Now you, Reverend Priest [Nanquan], say, ‘Mind is not buddha, wisdom is not the Way.’ Thus all the students have doubts. I beg of you, out of your compassion, to explain to us.”
(t 51: 445b)
The association of Nanquan’s name with the expression may owe to the fact that when his disciple Zhaozhou Congshen asked him, “What is the Way?” Nanquan replied with the words of his master Mazu:
The master [Zhaozhou] asked Nanquan, “What is the Way?” Nanquan said, “Ordinary mind is the Way.” The master said, “Can one strive for it?” “To strive is to diverge from it,” Nanquan replied. “But if one doesn’t strive, how is the Way to be known?” the master asked. Nanquan said, “The Way is not related to knowing or not-knowing. Knowing is false understanding; not-knowing is indifference. If you truly penetrate the Way that is not to be striven for, it is like the vast void extending without limit. How can one talk of affirmation and negation?” At these words the master was awakened to the abstruse principle. (t 51: 276c)
[7] "Your minds and Mind ..."
[This phrase] translates 心 心, traditionally taken to mean “from one instant of mind to the next,” so that 心 心不異 would mean, “the mind that does not differ from one instant to the next.” Another interpretation, albeit less frequent, reads the phrase as “the mind that does not differ from every other mind.” We based our translation, “your minds and Mind do not differ,” upon the words of Linji’s teacher Huangbo Xiyun, as found in the jc:
From the time the Tathāgata transmitted his dharma to Mahākāśyapa up to the present, mind has been sealed by Mind, and mind and Mind do not differ. When the seal is impressed upon the void it does not make a mark; when the seal is impressed upon things, it does not make dharma. Therefore mind is sealed by Mind, and mind and Mind do not differ. (t 51: 272c)
Also, in the wl we find the following:
When [Bodhidharma] came from the west he transmitted only mind-buddha. He pointed directly to the truth that the minds of you all are fundamentally none other than buddha and that mind and Mind do not differ. This is what is meant by “patriarch.” (t 48: 384b)
[8] "If mind differs ... manifestations do not differ."
Editor’s note: Sasaki’s original translation for this passage was, “If mind differs, the essential nature and forms will be different. Since mind does not differ, therefore the essential nature and forms are not different.” Yanagida, however, came to interpret 性 and 相, rendered by Sasaki as “essential nature” and “forms,” as, respectively, 心性, “mind essence,” and 心識, “the mind in its various manifestations” (1977, 128). I have followed this interpretation.
Submitted August 27, 2020 at 10:34PM by ZEROGR33N https://ift.tt/3b0xTeh
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