The Blue Cliff Record: Master Chih asked him, "Does Your Majesty understand?

The Blue Cliff Record: Mahasattva Fu Expounds the Scripture [67th Case]

CASE

Emperor Wu of Liang requested Mahasattva Fu to expound the Diamond Cutter Scripture.¹ The Mahasattva shook the desk once, then got down off the seat.² Emperor Wu was as­ tonished.³

Master Chih asked him, "Does Your Majesty understand?"⁴ The Emperor said, "I do not understand."⁵ Master Chih said, "The Mahasattva Fu has expounded the scripture."⁶

NOTES

1. Bodhidharma's brother has come. This is not unheard of in fish markets and wineshops, but in the school of the patchrobed monks, it is inappropriate. This old fellow Fu is supposedly so venerable and great, yet he acts like this.
2. He's like a comet bursting out then disappearing. He seems to be right, but is not yet really right. He doesn't bother to create any entangling complications.
3. Twice and three times he's been fooled by someone. Fu too makes him unable to get a grasp.
4. He sides with principle, not with emotion. The elbow does not bend outward. He too should be given thirty blows.
5. What a pity!
6. He too should be driven from the country. Only if Emperor Wu at that time had at once driven Master Chih out of the country along with Mahasattva Fu would he have been an adept. Chih and Fu are two fellows in the same pit, where the dirt is no different.

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Commentary and questions: Vast, empty, and all at once entirely impenetrable like an iron wall; where is it that you would turn to overcome not understanding? Snakes cannot cross, but dragons are free to come and go as they please.

Impossible for those carrying worldly treasures to understand, but quite simple for empty-handed peasants to understand, yet who is the one above and beyond any entangling complications?

Submitted October 18, 2020 at 06:27PM by __WanderingRonin__ https://ift.tt/3k8f10I