(BCR, c. 98)
This is one of my top favorite cases from the Blue Cliff Record, and probably the whole canon.
It’s got everything: comedy, teaching, and badass Zen quotes. Plus it is simple and very easy to understand.
I’ve been meaning to write about it for a few days now, and I didn’t originally intend to cover it in quite so much detail, but recent failures and disappointments in the r/zen community have prompted some expanded discussion.
However, I’m going to start from my first, brief, treatment of it and then expand into the core of the case towards the end.
(Intro)
Collecting the causes, producing the result, completing the beginning, completing the end. Face to face, there is nothing hidden, but fundamentally I have never explained.
If there is suddenly someone who comes forth and says, "All summer we've been asking for instruction; why have you never explained? Wait till you've awakened, then I'll tell you.”
Tell me, do you think that this is avoidance of direct confrontation, or do you think it has some other merit?
To test, I cite this to see.
Zen Masters “test”.
It’s what they do.
But what are they testing?
Why, your understanding of enlightenment of course!
Pretending like Zen Masters don’t talk about enlightenment, that enlightenment is secondary, or that anyone that talks about enlightenment is somehow disqualified, is simply giving ammunition to trolls.
Who are “trolls”?
People who come to a Zen forum without the primary motivation of studying and/or discussing Zen.
What is “ammunition” for trolls?
Excuses.
In the warnings appended to the WuMenGuan, the first one says:
To Follow the compass and keep to the rule is to tie oneself without a rope.
So obviously, asking people about their enlightenment is not a “disqualifier” … unless you aren’t enlightened, of course.
If you aren’t enlightened, then you have no business talking about enlightenment except for from within the context of your ignorance about it.
But that’s a matter of “honesty”, not a rule about enlightenment.
Zen Masters don’t “explain” enlightenment and HuangBo said that there are “no teachers” of Zen because the lack of enlightenment is the core realization of enlightenment.
As Zen Masters (ironically) explained over and over: providing explanations and “dharmas” are the sort of “compasses and rules” mentioned in the aforesaid warnings which will only bind you.
You have to get the understanding yourself.
But then … that means me talking about it and explaining it is not really doing any harm.
There’s nothing to explain … so nothing is hidden … and nothing is explained by talk.
See? Zen is actually extremely easy if you just let it be. (But you aren’t letting it be if you are lying.)
What is actually harmful, though, is setting up “dharmas” which others will follow and thereby get ensnared.
This is the real proscription of the Zen Masters.
Such dharmas would include things like “(k)Not Zen”, “uPaYa / eXpEdIeNt MeAnS / fInGeRz PoInTiNg @ dA mEwN”, and “Shh! Don’t say ‘enlightenment’!”
The amount of fraudulence in this forum is simply astounding.
It’s sort of beautiful, in a way.
(From XueDou’s verse)
Followers of the Ch'an house
Like to be scornful.
Having studied till their bellies are full, they cannot put it to use. …
(From YuanWu’s Verse Commentary)
"Followers of the Ch'an house like to be scornful; having studied till their bellies are full, they can't put it to use." This fellow [T’en P’ing, from the case] understood, as far as understanding goes; it's just that he couldn't use it.
He always gazed at the cloudy sky and said he understood so much Ch'an; but when he was heated a little in the fireplace, it turned out that he couldn't use it at all.
My late Master Wu Tsu said, "There is a kind of person who studies Ch'an like stuffing cakes in a crystal pitcher; it can't be turned over any more, it can't be cleaned out, and if you bump it, it immediately breaks. If you want to be lively and active, just study ‘leather bag’ Ch'an: even if you smash it down from the highest mountain, it still won't break, it won't burst."
An Ancient said, "Even if you can grasp it before it is spoken, this is still remaining in the shell, wandering within limitation; even if you can thoroughly penetrate upon hearing a phrase, you still won't avoid crazy views on the way."
This forum is full of scornful people who can’t put it to use.
Pretty much every troll is “scornful.”
Every liar; every charlatan; every fake-ass internet-guru wannabe who comes wandering in here with an agenda and their entitled sense of messiah-hood; they are all scornful of Zen, if not of the other members of this forum as well.
But overall, Zen is the target of scorn for all deceivers in here … whether they be deceivers of self or others … they are mad at Zen.
They are mad at enlightenment.
As the popular meme goes … “mad cuz bad?”
XueDou says “yes” … “they are mad that they can’t put it to use.”
As FoYan said:
What I talk of here is something that others neglect. I casually pick it up from a trash heap and ask people about it, but they cannot say anything.
(Instant Zen)
Finally, we’re here; the crux of this OP: “leather bag Zen”
Someone asked me recently, what it would take to shake my confidence in my understanding of Zen?
What it would take is one of two things, both with supernatural roots: either (a) someone demonstrates to me that there is, actually, an “enlightenment of attainment” that is achieved by a specific practice or method and yields specific results; e.g. flying around like Neo in The Matrix; manifesting fire from the palm of your hand; telepathy; etc. or (b) a direct supernatural experience, specifically a second “mind” entering my mind and somehow demonstrating to me that there is not, after all, “one mind”.
Anything short of that is pwned by my enlightenment, which I understand to be the same enlightenment as all the great sages of the past, and nothing less than the complete, unexcelled enlightenment of Buddha himself.
What’s awesome about it is that your opinion on it means very little to me, and has absolutely no impact on my enlightenment at all.
If that makes you angry then tough titties; you’re just gonna have to deal with it.
My recommendation is that you study Zen for yourself so that you can have your own enlightenment … but you do you … it’s what you’re gonna do anyway.
But don’t get mad when I pwn you!
I practice “leather bag Zen”.
No one can break it.
But what is “crystal pitcher cake Zen”?
That is every sort of fake Zen peddled by lying, deceiving pigs.
There is always some lynchpin in the understanding of these people that will shatter the whole thing when triggered.
(Very often, that trigger is the topic of “enlightenment” itself.)
REAL Zen–leather bag Zen--is indestructible. Like a building with its cornerstone placed on the diamond rock of reality, it will never crumble.
Everything else in comparison, is just a house of cards.
Sucks to suck; what can I say?
People will still try to blame me for it.
(Case)
When the Master of T'ien P'ing was traveling on foot, he called on Hsi Yuan. He always would say, "Do not say you understand the Buddhist Teaching; I cannot find a single man who can quote a saying.”
One day Hsi Yuan saw him from a distance and called him by name: "Ts'ung Yi!”
P'ing raised his head; Hsi Yuan said, "Wrong!”
P'ing went two or three steps; Hsi Yuan again said, "Wrong!”
P'ing approached; Hsi Huan said, "These two wrongs just now: were they my wrongs or your wrongs?”
P'ing said, "My wrongs.”
Hsi Yuan said, "Wrong!”
P'ing gave up.
Hsi Yuan said, "Stay here for the summer and wait for me to discuss these two wrongs with you,” but P'ing immediately went away.
Later, when he was dwelling in a temple, he said to his community, "When I was first traveling on foot, I was blown by the wind of events to Elder Ssu Ming's place: twice in a row he said 'Wrong!' and tried to keep me there over the summer to wait for him to deal with me. I did not say it was wrong then; when I set out for the South, I already knew that it was wrong.”
This troll!
As YuanWu notes:
T'ien P'ing had once called on the Master of Chin Shan. Because he had gone to various places and attained this tumip-Ch'an and put it in his belly, everywhere he went he scornfully opened his big mouth and said, "I understand Ch'an, I understand the Way."
He always said, "Do not say you understand the Buddhist Teaching; I cannot find even a single man who can quote a saying."
His stinking breath affected others, and he only indulged in scorn and contempt.
In the Lankavatara Sutra it says that eating onions and turnips will block you from Buddhahood.
What a fragile enlightenment that would be!
The Zen Masters use these meme as an insult for fakers, belching out foul breath from the pits of their rotten stomachs. The only engage in scorn and contempt … (but then, what is the other option?)
Some people will be tempted to say, “But wait! Aren’t you saying that you ‘understand Ch’an; understand the Way?”
A fair question … if it wasn’t riding on such noxious fumes.
Such a question (usually, but not always) presumes that the questioner is themselves capable of understanding Zen and judging another’s understanding.
YuanWu says something similar about TienPing:
T'ien P'ing immediately went away. He seemed to be right, but wasn't really. Then again, I don't say he wasn't right; it's just that he couldn't catch up. Nevertheless, he still had something of the air of a patchrobed monk.
YuanWu is offering some redeeming comments for TienPing.
He had the right idea … but he was still too full of himself. Even though he said “there is no one who can understand”, he himself thought he understood. And although he thought he understood in his non-understanding, he only indulged in scorn and contempt for others not understanding.
(Clear-eyed readers will see where this cookie crumbles)
XiYuan saw him from a distance and called his name.
TienPing looked up and XiYuan said “Wrong!”
What was wrong? Responding like an ordinary person?
(If you think this, then you are attached to purity.)
Ping tries to ignore Xi and keeps walking to which Xi says, “Wrong!” again.
What was wrong this time? If responding was wrong, why was ignoring him wrong?
Here, Ping gives up and approaches.
Xi askes, “Were these my wrongs or your wrongs?”
Ping lowers himself, dejected, and says “my wrongs” and Xi says, “Wrong!”
Does that mean that they were Xi’s wrongs?
What if Ping had responded saying that they were Xi’s?
Would he have said “Right,”? Or would he have said “Wrong”?
If he said “Wrong”, again, could that have been right?
There is ONLY one way to understand what Xi was doing: you have to be enlightened yourself.
YuanWu:
When T'ien P'ing later was dwelling in a temple, he said to his community, "When I was first traveling on foot, I was blown by the wind of events to Master Ssu Ming's place. Twice he said 'Wrong!' and tried to have me pass the summer there to wait for him to deliberate with me. I did not say it was wrong then; when I set out for the South, I already knew that it was wrong."
This old fellow has said quite a bit; it's just that he's fallen into seventh and eighth place, shaking his head thinking, out of touch.
When people these days hear him saying, "When I set out for the South, I already knew that it was wrong," they immediately go figuring it out and say, "Before even going on foot travels, there is naturally not so much Buddhism or Ch'an; and when you go foot traveling, you are completely fooled by people everywhere. Even before foot travels, you can't call earth sky or call mountains rivers; fortunately there is nothing to be concerned about at all."
This is the “(k)Not Zen” view.
If you all entertain such common vulgar views, why not buy a bandanna to wear and pass your time in [a crime] boss's house?
Yikes!
What is the use? Buddha's teaching is not this principle. If you discuss this matter, how could there be so many complications?
If you say, "I understand, others do not understand," carrying a bundle of Ch'an around the country, when you are tried out by clear-eyed people, you won't be able to use it at all.
Thanks for proving my point YuanWu!
“Enlightenment”, “No Enlightenment” .. it doesn’t matter for you if you aren’t enlightened.
I don’t want you people to settle for turnip-enlightenment.
I want you to have the real thing.
But there’s only one way to get it: you have to study Zen while you’re here.
And you can’t study Zen while you’re here, if you’re lying about Zen.
If you’re lying about Zen, you’ll end up mad like the trolls, or sad like TienPing. But either way: you’ll be belching up onions and turnips for your whole stinking lifetime.
So why not just study Zen while you’re here?
FoYan:
You can only attain realization if you don't deceive yourself.
(Instant Zen)
Submitted May 30, 2022 at 09:32PM by OinkerDoinkerBoinker https://ift.tt/mlZSxWV
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