Dongshan’s record series #9
Just prior to leaving his master, Yunyan, Dongshan approached him and asked,
“If after many years, someone should ask if I am able to portray your likeness, how should I respond?”
Having remained quiet for a while, Yunyan said, “Just this person.” Dongshan was lost in thought.
Yunyan said, “Jie Achariya, having assumed the burden of this Great Matter, you must be very cautious.”
Dongshan remained dubious about what Yunyan had said. Later, as he was crossing a river, Dongshan glimpsed
his own reflection in the water below, and experienced a great awakening
as to the meaning of the previous exchange.
Dongshan immediately composed the following gatha:
DONGSHAN’S STREAM GATHA
Taking heed not to seek it elsewhere,
as if it were distant from myself,
I now go on alone,
yet I meet him everywhere.
He is now exactly me,
but I am not now him.
You should meet in this way,
for only then can you realize thus.
This is probably the most famous of the cases in Dongshan’s record. To “portray a likeness” is probably about transmission – a delicate matter – “Can I say that I am your descendant?” There is a lot of quiet here – Yunyan’s silence, and Dongshan being lost in thought. A post yesterday talked about understanding and not understanding. This exchange is touching on all that, I think. Look at this celebrated Master, still “remaining dubious”. People here will leap, take up a staff and beat someone (or themselves) like this, missing the deepest, sweetest water because they see a couple of scraps of garbage floating by. Dongshan is serious, Yunyan recommends caution. A lot of people enter, serious about settling their hearts. Why shout at them without examination or pause? Didn't Zhaozhou get up for such people, while remaining lying down for Princes?
And how about Dongshan’s “great awakening”? Is all that stuff over? Is it hyperbole? A religious trick? I don’t think so. Maybe you see it differently.
Dongshan’s stream gatha scoops everything you need into a small, hand-sized cup. But for the very busy, it can be condensed to:
He is now exactly me,
but I am not now him.
After this, Dongshan’s record changes into a new phase...
Submitted April 21, 2021 at 05:26AM by bigSky001 https://ift.tt/2P4ZHrc
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