(DaHui's Treasury of the Eye of True Teaching: Vol. 1; T. Cleary)
297
The master known as the Oven Breaker did not reveal his name or surname. His speech and action were inscrutable. He lived in seclusion on Mt. Song.
There, the mountain villagers had a shrine which they considered most sacred. In it there was only an oven. People far and near constantly held ceremonies, cooking many living creatures to death.
One day the master, accompanied by attendant monks, went into the shrine; he knocked the oven three times with his staff and said, “Tsk! This oven is just a construction of clay and brick; where does the holiness come from, whence does the sanctity arise, to cook living creatures to death this way?”
He knocked it three more times, and the oven collapsed.
The master said, “It’s broken, collapsed!”
Suddenly, someone in a blue robe and tall hat appeared and bowed to him.
The master said, “Who are you?”
He said, “I was originally the spirit of the oven of this shrine. For a long time I have been subject to consequences of action. Now that you’ve explained the principle of no origin to me, I’ve been freed from this place and born in heaven; I came just to thank you.”
The master said, “This is your inherent nature, not my imposed explanation.”
The spirit bowed again and disappeared.
The attendant monks asked, “We’ve been attending you for a long time, but have not received expedient direction. What indication of method did the spirit get to be born in heaven right away?”
The master said, “I just said to him, ‘This is a construction of clay and bricks; where does the holiness come from, whence does the sanctity arise?’ I had no reasoning for him besides this.”
The attendant monks stood there thinking.
The master said, “Understand?”
They said, “No.”
The master said, “Why don’t you understand inherent nature?”
The attendant monks were enlightened at once.
Later there was a Chan master YiFeng who cited this to National Teacher An. The National Teacher said in praise, “This guy thoroughly understands the oneness of beings and self. He can be said to be like the bright moon in the sky, visible to all. It’s hard to fathom the line of his speech.”
If you get this case, you get it; I don't need to explain.
If you don't get it:
The Oven Breaker asked his monks why they didn't understand their inherent nature.
This implies that something about the scene that unfolded had something to do with "inherent nature".
So let's think about some bullet points:
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OB says, "This oven is just a construction of clay and brick; where does the holiness come from, whence does the sanctity arise, to cook living creatures to death this way?"
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OB breaks the oven and a spirit comes out, it says, "you’ve explained the principle of no origin to me."
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OB relies, "This is your inherent nature, not my imposed explanation."
So it seems "inherent nature" has something to do with "the principle of no origin" (Possibly: "anatta") and that OB's explanation of the principle of no origin was:
This oven is just a construction of clay and brick; where does the holiness come from, whence does the sanctity arise, to cook living creatures to death this way?
When the spirit says that he now feels freed and liberated from hearing this explanation, OB says:
This is your inherent nature, not my imposed explanation
...
Submitted March 16, 2021 at 09:56PM by The_Faceless_Face https://ift.tt/2Q04WZl
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