I’m launching a new series of posts today, one that seems right for the season and the current level of textual study and activity I see in r/zen.
The conceit for this series is quite simple: flip to a page of the Book of Serenity, stab your finger where your eyes land—and make an OP about the case. (Today my eyes landed here—in Case 44.)
“An excellent case to continue conversations with u/sje397 about the dragon king—as well as interact with my “How to Study Chan Under a Military Dictatorship” series re: studying Zen here in r/zen!” I thought.
“And even better—it’s an excellent case for continuing the recent conversations about literature and literary study of the Ch’an Master’s texts (like the Book of Serenity),” I added a little later.
Here’s the deal. After being nudged by a couple of other users, I made my first audio recording of one of my posts recently. It was fun.
But then when I decided to start this new series on the BoS—I realized there was a further innovation that might also prove useful: making an audiobook reading of each case I comment on in an OP.
(Particulalry with the Book of Serenity, it’s impressive arrangement, and thoroughly piratical style of literary allusion, this might come in useful—seeing as how we seldom see or discuss the full text here.)
Plus, it is easy to do—and who knows? Some people might like it.
Now, as an attempt to match the style of Wansong’s book, I am simply going to choose a few passages and make brief comments on them. Please respond however you would like, if any of these points interest you, or to any other part of the case, commentary, & verse as heard in the recording.
Obvioulsy I already read the whole thing, and have it in my head and would enjoy discussing any part. Haha—heck, I’ll just go listen to it again, too! Bring me what ya brought!
Here’s what I brought (Wansong’s lines interacalated with my own):
[Introduction] A lion strikes an elephant, a garuda strikes a dragon. Flying and running, they still distinguish ruler and subject; a patchrobed monk should remember guest and host.
How does an r/zen user remember guest and host? Wait—are there lions and elephants in r/zen? (Best not speak of dragons norwhisper of garudas. The only way to fend off Garudas is with fire god’s BLOCKHAMMER—as everyone knows!)
[Case] A monk asked Master Xingyang Pou, “A dragon king comes out of the sea, sky and earth are tranquil; how is direct presentation?”
Did I not recently say this to u/sje397? [Linseed: How is direct presentation.]
[Case] The monk said, “Suppose one [Garuda] suddenly appears; then what?”
[Case] Xingyang said, “It’s like a falcon catching a pigeon. If you don’t realize, check in front of the tower; then for the first time you’ll know the real.”
[Commentary] The lord of Ping Yuan, Zhao Sheng, served as minister for the kings Huiwen and Xiaocheng of the kingdom of Zhao; at his house he built a multistoried tower which faced the homes of the populace.
Check in front of the tower? Is Wansong suggesting an appeal to the populace—or recommending an experience / action? Hard to tell with a feather in his cap and his inkwell! Historical ethics are…precisely what they appear to be. The Chinese Ch’an Masters alluding to Chinese history? Tigers flexing rear claws, scratching a wood floor (every 12th year).
[commentary] Among the people was a lame man; a handsome man laughed at him, and the lame one asked for the head of the handsome one. The lord agreed, but didn’t act; half of his house guests left.
The lord loses all of his poets at one go! How will he bring them back?
[commentary] The lord beheaded a convict instead, but the guests adamantly refused to come.
Unforgivable scoundrel. Convict blood is cheap—use it at the laundromat, not court. Handsome blood? The very encrypted Bitcoin of the patchrobed association of Way Faring Strangers! ::opens up blood purse and holds it out thirstily:: “Just design the Ziggurat so it looks like a fashion show on the way up—the flash of paparrazzi bulbs oughta distract from the iron chains on their ankles!” Poet onlookers watching the married feet shackle-step of the handsome: “First time they ever spoke verse—and also the last!”
[commwntary] So finally he cut off the head of the handsome man who had laughed at the lame man, and hung it in front of the tower, to prove it was real; after a year, guests gathered.
A year tax! Appropriate to the crime. Poets return to court.
[commentary] A [painless] cattail whip, showing disgrace, is most difficult to go against; a drawing of a jail made on the ground isn’t capable of deceiving.
Much less so one drawn in lines of imaginary Reddiquette! ::releases cage of pigeons:: Nothing in the Reddiquette about falconry, though.
[Linseed: verse commentary is presented in Tiantong-Golden Eyebrow-Wangsong format. This is an experiment in automatic verse training I called “The Wansong Spotcheck” when I first used it.]
[Tiantong’s Verse] The imperial decree comes down,
[Golden Eyebrow] Military dictatorships hand down ‘un-decrees’.
[Wansong] Listen to the message of the Sage.
[Tiantong’s Verse] The commanding order’s distinct:
[Golden Eyebrow] But which scrubs hear commanding orders in the wind? Few, in the land of un-decrees!
[Wansong] Those who violate it are decapitated.
[Tiantong’s verse] Within the hearland, the emperor
[Golden Eyebrow] I was born in the heartland’s heart—but the emperor drove me out.
[Wansong] The lord faces a thousand countries
[Tiantong] Outside the borders, the general
[Golden Eyebrow] Perched like an Alaska falcon
[Wansong] He occupies one region alone
…
[Tiantong’s Verse] A continuous weave under the loom—naturally there’s a gold needle and jade thread:
[Golden Eyebrow] Guanyin hold’s the needle, but whose thread is that? What?!? There it is trailing the hem of Linseed’s pyjama of choice?!? Hoo1 knew the whole time!!!
[Wansong] It’s hard to fool those with eyes.2
[Tiantong’s verse] Before the seal is wide open emptiness—originally there’s no writing.
[Golden Eyebrow] Before the seal of writing—originally there are no words.
[Wansong] The meaning of the graphs is clear.
[Commentary] The imperial degree extends throughout the land; the king doesn’t travel around. In the Black Robe section of the Book of Rites it says: “When the king’s words are like thread, their issue is like yarn; when the king’s words are like yarn, the issue is like rope. Therefore a great man does not speak frivolous words."
Told you it was the poets who absconded.
[Commentary] My late master Xueyan once cited, “As soon as the narrow-eyed golden needle shows its nose, the long-topped jade thread goes finely through the hole.” This is the bloodline of the Dong succession; unless you are one within it, it is not easy to know.
A jade snake posing as a thread—you mean! I guess that makes patchrobe monks…needle-nosed ply-ers?
Using a seal, you don’t set it on the wind; if the seal stamps space, it doesn’t show any mark. Cang Jie gazed at the round, curved form of a constellation of stars above, examined the markings of turtles and forms of bird tracks below—he collected myriad beauties from all over and put them together to make writing.
Cang Jie—the Yellow Emperor’s historian! How many eyes did he have? At least one more than people who have to lie about history!
All the best written language inventors were “four eyes”–naturally.3 I wonder if that will cut it (🧵) for what’s next? Oops—that was a joke No One will “get”.
That she blows! I’m out of harpoons—but firing off a cannonade at the arrival of the dragon king is standard operating procedure round here.
—Golden Eyebrow
Year of the Tiger
PS: How was the audio reading?
PPS: How as the in-kind literary commentary on Wansong? Interesting? Or does the military dictatorship education show you magic and illusion where there is allusion and conversation? [literati to literati]
PPPS: Look for my never-forthcoming new work, Literary Commentary 101: or, How to Look at a Jewel without Carving Dragons.
1 Who is an owl. 2 Shoulder owls have an “Oh pellet!” moment. 3 Homer cleverly concealed his under a blindfold.
Submitted July 21, 2022 at 09:55AM by golden_eyebrow https://ift.tt/4RneZ30
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