Thirty-second case of The Blue Cliff Record: Elder Ting Stands Motionless

Thirty-second case of The Blue Cliff Record: Elder Ting Stands Motionless

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POINTER

The ten directions cut off, a thousand eyes abruptly open; when one phrase cuts off all streams, myriad impulses cease. Are there after all any who will die together and be born to­ gether? The public case is completely manifest, but if you can­ not get it together, please look at the Ancients' trailing vines:

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CASE

Elder Ting asked Lin Chi, "What is the great meaning of the Buddhist Teaching?"¹

Chi came down off his meditation seat, grabbed and held Ting, gave him a slap, and then pushed him away.² Ting stood there motionless.³ A monk standing by said, "Elder Ting, why do you not bow?"⁴

Just as Ting bowed,⁵ he suddenly was greatly enlightened.⁶

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NOTES

1. So many people are at a loss when they get here. There is still this here. Oh, why is he so feeble-minded?
2. Today he caught him. He's kind as an old woman. No patchrobed monk in the world can leap clear.
3. He's already fallen into the ghost's cave. He's already stumbled past. He can't avoid losing his nostrils.
4. On neutral ground there is a man who can see through it all. He has completely attained the other's power. When someone dies in the eastern house, the people of the western house help them mourn.
5. He uses diligence to make up for his incompetence.
6. Like finding a lamp in the darkness; like a poor man finding a jewel. (Still, this is) adding error upon error. But tell me, what did Elder Ting see, that he bowed?

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Wandering Ronin's superfluous and unskillfully dualistic commentary... tread lightly, he doesn't know shit. And I don't mean not knowing shit in that awesome and esoteric mysterious Zen master way; I mean the way that will somehow fuck up and actually lessen your own understanding of the Great Matter. He can sometimes be funny though: Holy shit... fuck you, me! Wow, what an asshole. He's kind of a love him or hate him sort of guy, but I'm the one that's always the life of the party, baby. Ahem. Now that we have that weirdass meta-critique out of the way, I would like to say that Elder Ting Stands Motionless is one of my absolute favorite cases from the Blue Cliff Record. I don't care about dualism right this very second, so I'm going to just say that outright. Why is this case on the Greatest Hits list?

Elder Ting asks a 'question', which if you know what I know in Zen is an egregious and blasphemous affront to all of humanity. How dare he try to learn something? Lin Chi does his Zen master thang: look, Mother Hubbard, I'm sick and tired of these god damn snakes on this god damn plane. What did the five fingers say to the face? SLAP. Is that enough enlightenment for yo ass?

Elder Ting literally cannot believe what just happened. Did this Mother Hubbard actually just grab and slap me? What the actual fuck...!! Now, this, my good people, is the crucial cream-filled center: Elder Ting was quite obviously still bound to the world of form, so Great Dragon Lin Chi bit directly into that meal that Ting left out chained to the stake for him. Mmmm... tastes like pork! Definitely needs more barbecue sauce, but fuck it. A free meal is a free meal.

What is really interesting here is that it is one of the few cases where an unnamed monk leaps into the fray, which is exactly what let Elder Ting know what time it was. Elder Ting, why do you not bow? Now marinate that in your dome for a minute. Damn, that's some NBA-level Scottie Pippen assist shit right there. "Elder Ting, why do you not bow?" may be the greatest assist by a non-Zen master in the books. Then in the notes on what happens next when Ting bows: He uses diligence to make up for his incompetence. If there is anything for a Mother Hubbard to learn on this fine day, it is that sentence right there. Align yo self until it is time, fools! Now, tell me I'm wrong.

Submitted April 27, 2019 at 06:15PM by WanderingRoninXIII http://bit.ly/2Vxgapn