The Blue Cliff Record: Get­ting to where he cuts off the myriad streams, he is free to arise in the east and sink in the west, to go against or to go with, in any and all directions, free to give or to take away.

The Blue Cliff Record: The Highest Meaning of the Holy Truths [1st Case]

POINTER

When you see smoke on the other side of a mountain, you al­ready know there's a fire; when you see horns on the other side of a fence, right away you know there's an ox there.¹ To under­stand three when one is raised, to judge precisely at a glance,­ this is the everyday food and drink of a patchrobed monk.² Get­ting to where he cuts off the myriad streams, he is free to arise in the east and sink in the west, to go against or to go with, in any and all directions, free to give or to take away.³ But say, at just such a time, whose actions are these? Look into Hsueh Tau's trailing vines.

CASE

Emperor Wu of Liang asked the great master Bodhidharma, "What is the highest meaning of the holy truths?"⁴ Bodhidharma said, "Empty, without holiness."⁵ The Emperor said, "Who is facing me?" Bodhidharma replied, "I don't know."⁶ The Emperor did not understand.⁷ After this Bodhidharma crossed the Yangtse River and came to the king­dom of Wei.

Later the Emperor brought this up to Master Chih and asked him about it. Master Chih asked, "Does your majesty know who this man is?"⁸ The Emperor said, "I don't know." Master Chih said, "He is the Mahasattva Avalokitesvara, transmitting the Buddha Mind Seal." The Emperor felt regretful, so he wanted to send an emissary to go invite Bodhidharma to re­turn. Master Chih told him, "Your majesty, don't say that you will send someone to fetch him back. Even if everyone in the whole country were to go after him, he still wouldn't re­turn."⁹

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Wandering Ronin's commentary and questions:

1. Dragon eyes, snake eyes; which would have the greater vantage point?
2. To understand three when one is raised, to understand nothing when everything is raised.
3. Sounds like an extraordinary fellow! haha
4. To even ask such a question is to at once miss the answer.
5. I've never met a god that I couldn't kill with a thought.
6. Even the Venerable Yunmen said that he only had a dark fog in his mind.
7. That's it, that's it! Shame that he missed it.
8. Who is it? Anyone special?
9. If the Emperor had resolve, he would have gone and found Bodhidharma himself.

Submitted October 10, 2020 at 07:44PM by __WanderingRonin__ https://ift.tt/33OIvLn