BCR Twentieth Case: Lung Ya's Meaning of the Coming from the West

Blue Cliff Record Twentieth Case -- Lung Ya’s Meaning of the Coming from the West:

Pointer

Piled in mountains, heaped in ranges, up against walls, pressed against barriers; if you linger in thought, holding back your potential, you'll be bitterly cramped.

Or else, a man may appear and overturn the great ocean, kick over Mount Sumeru, scatter the white clouds with shouts, and break up empty space; straightaway, with one device, one object, he cuts off the tongues of everyone on earth, so that there is no way for you to approach. Tell me, since ancient times, who has ever been this way? To test, I cite this; look!

Case

Lung Ya asked Ts’ui Wei, "What is the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West?”

Wei said, "Pass me the meditation brace."

Ya gave the meditation brace to Wei; Wei took it and hit him.

Ya said, "Since you hit me I let you hit me. In essence, though, there is no meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West."

Ya also asked Lin Chi, "What is the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West?"

Chi said, "Pass me the cushion."

Ya took the cushion and handed it to Lin Chi; Chi took it and hit him.

Ya said, "Since you hit me I let you hit me. In essence, though, there is no meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West."

Selected Yuanwu’s Commentary:

[...] If you can understand it at the very first instant, then you can cut off the tongues of everyone on earth.

[...] Te Shan said, “You must study the living word; don't study the dead word. If you can understand at the living word, you will never forget it; if you understand at the dead word, you won't even be able to save yourself."

When Ya picked up the meditation brace, how could he have not known that Wei was going to hit him? And it won't do to say that Ya didn't understand, for why then did he pass the meditation brace to Wei? But tell me, at the moment he understood, how should Ya have acted? He didn't go to the living water to function, but took himself into the dead water for sustenance. Acting as master throughout, he said, "Since you hit me I let you hit me; in essence, though, there is no meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West."

Hsueh Tou said, “If I had been Lung Ya at that time, when they asked for the cushion and the meditation brace, I would have picked it up and immediately thrown it down right in front of them."

At the time when the two venerable adepts asked for the meditation brace and cushion, Ya could not have but known their intention. It was just that he wanted to make use of that which was within his own breast. Although he was right, nevertheless his use of it was too extreme. Since Lung Ya asked this way, and the two old ones answered this way, why then is there no meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West? When you get here you must know that there's something else extraordinary. Hsueh Tou picks it up to show people:

VERSE

In Dragon Tusk Mountain (translator note: Lung Ya) the dragon has no eyes;
When has dead water ever displayed the ancient way?
If you can't use the meditation brace and cushion,
You should just give them over to Mr. Lu (from commentary; Hsueh Tou).

[...] it is said, "In a clear pool there's no place for the blue dragon to coil up." Has there ever been a fierce dragon in stagnant water? Haven't you heard it said, "Stagnant water cannot conceal a dragon?" If it is a live dragon, it must go to where vast swelling billows of foaming waves flood the heavens. This is to say that Lung Ya went into the dead water and was hit by the others.

Ts’ui Wei said, "Pass me the meditation brace," and Lung Ya gave it to him; isn't this making a living within dead water? Clearly Lung Ya has been given a fine steed; it's just that he doesn't know how to ride it, that he is unable to make use of it.

VERSE

Since this old fellow couldn't put an end to it, again he makes a verse:
Once Mr. Lu has accepted them, why depend on them?
Sitting, leaning - cease taking these to succeed the lamp of the Patriarchs!
It's worth replying: the evening clouds, returning, have not yet come together;
Distant mountains without end, layer upon layer of blue.

"Once Mr. Lu has accepted them, why depend on them?" What is there to depend on? Smash what's before your skull all at once, so that there isn't the slightest bit of concern within your breast. Let go and become clean and at ease. Then what more need is there for something to rely on?

When you get here, when gain and loss, right and wrong, are cut off all at once, and you are clean and at ease, only then do you amount to something.

​

Xuansha said, "This whole earth is an eon of hell; if you do not clarify yourself, this is a serious cramp." It will not do to idle away the time. - Foyan, Instant Zen

Cramped? Chop, chop!

Submitted September 04, 2020 at 01:09AM by Purpleisnotacolor https://ift.tt/3lL9HS1