Thing 2

Have you read the 26th case from the Book of Serenity?

Yangshan pointed to a snow lion and said, “Is there any that can go beyond this color?”

Yunmen said, “At that point I’d have pushed it over for him.”

Xuedou said, “He only knows how to push down, he doesn’t know how to help up.”

Tiantong wrote a verse about it,

One knocks down, one sets up—the lion in the snowy garden.

Careful about transgression, he embosoms benevolence.

Courageous in action, he sees his duty.

Pure light shining in the eyes is like being lost from home—

Turning around in clear purity is after all to fall into that state.

Patchrobed mendicants ultimately have nothing to rely on:

Dying the same, born the same, which is ‘this,’ which ‘that’?

News of warmth bursts the plum—spring comes to the cold branches.

A freezing gale makes leaves drop—autumn clarifies the runoff water.

And Wansong commented on the verse,

Yunmen knocks down, Xuedou sets up; Yangshan points to the lion and wants us to transcend this color—three legs of the pot, it won’t do to lack any of them. The three mysteries and three essentials are all herein. Yangshan feared people would settle in clear blankness—isn’t this “careful about transgression, he embosoms virtue”? Pointing it out, he makes people go beyond this color—is this not “courageous in action, he sees his duty”? Yunmen also feared settling down in uniformity—is this not “careful about transgression, he embosoms virtue”? So then he pushed it down for him—this too is “courageous in action, he sees his duty.” Xuedou feared people would just know how to push down—this is “careful about transgression, he embosoms virtue.” Beyond this, he can raise up—this is “courageous in action, he sees his duty.” Haven’t you heard how Zhaozhou said, “I do not abide in clarity”—indeed, it’s because “pure light shining in the eyes is like being lost from home—turning around in clear purity is after all to fall into this state.” If you only know how to push down and don’t know how to set up, what are you capable of? A genuine monk is like a pearl rolling in a bowl—although born the same and dying the same, yet they do not dwell in birth and death; although there is no ‘this’ or ‘that,’ provisionally we establish ‘that’ and ‘this.’ As for the final two lines, ‘sometimes under the gate of the great sun, sometimes before the hall of the bright moon.’ In the eternal sky of ten thousand ages, one morning’s wind and moon, morning mushrooms and cicadas. Tell me—what time and season is this right now? ‘For a time, be like an old tree, like wintry skeletal branches; be about to pursue the spring breezes, about to enter the burned-out fields.’

Yangshan pointed with the snow lion. Yunmen, in pushing it over, upheld it. Xuedou, in helping up, bogs it down. Tiantong observes the seasons, so he is able to turn, no need for clarity. Only Wansong understood him, but he feared people would die by the verse—is this not “careful about transgression, he embosoms virtue”? So he explains for everyone—is this not “courageous in action, he sees his duty”? The clarity of his words blinds the eyes and hurts the ears. The old monk reveals the family jewel, but no one appreciates him. Baizhang’s fox turned into an old tree. How can a snow lion compare? Before you grab its tail, you must see through.

Submitted July 12, 2022 at 09:02AM by astroemi https://ift.tt/vtEZKxe