Dongshan’s record series #10
Later, during a memorial service before Yün-yen's portrait, a monk asked, "When the former master said, 'Just this person,' was it actually this?"
Tung-shan replied, "It was."
The monk said, "What did he mean?"
"At that time I nearly misunderstood the former master's intent," said Tung-shan.
The monk said, "I wonder if the former master actually knew reality."
Tung-shan said, "If he didn't know reality, how could he have known such a way in which to answer? If he knew reality, why did he go to the trouble of answering that way?"
To me, this is about becoming a teacher. Help me out where you can, please...
Now Yunyen is dead. Dongshan is lighting incense, bowing, chanting probably, “officiating” at a Memorial service for his late teacher. The sub would be horrified to see him going on like a peacock, dressed in robes! Nonetheless, that’s what he was doing. It’s a living). Out of who knows where, monk says:
"When the former master said, 'Just this person,' was it actually this?"*
“It was”, says Dongshan.
“What did he mean?” says the monk. Donshan’s been asked questions before, but he was often on “the other side” of them. This time, he’s talking to a monk, not an Ancestor. Pressure’s on off!
Dongshan, remembering Yunyen’s “Just this person” says: “At that time, I nearly misunderstood the former master’s intent”. The “nearly” to me is super important. Of his own memory of doubt, he is direct. It connects to his stream awakening – “I nearly misunderstood” (but then I didn’t - gurgle, splash, gurgle, gurgle).
Is the monk impertinent? He says “I wonder if the former master actually knew reality.” I don’t know what to make of that – is he wisful? Or does it show more insight and clout than that? I’m tempted to see it as the former, as just an honest question, because Dongshan’s answer is both trap and release.
If he didn't know reality, how could he have known such a way in which to answer? If he knew reality, why did he go to the trouble of answering that way?
This subtle turn shows Dongshan teaching at last.
To the moon!
\Does anybody know if there’s any other translation that inflects toward something like: The monk said “Yunyen’s words were “Just this person”, right?”)
Submitted April 22, 2021 at 07:52AM by bigSky001 https://ift.tt/2QOQ5RP
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