All the Zen teachers past and present who made analyses of this failed to entirely understand this elder’s application, so they all miss the meaning of repetition. A pity! This definition of so many ranks to indicate the essentials of the school may seem inferior to Linji and Deshan, but when it comes to leading into the essential meaning, how could there be any superiority or inferiority? He actually circulated this summary secretly, to await powerful descendants, because he feared that in later generations there would be no one who personally mastered the teaching, so the true pulse would be lost.
If students first exert all their strength on coming from within the absolute, someday they’ll have a life beyond; then come back and look at the rank of arrival in both to see why it was set up. The verse says,
Two blades cross points, no need to withdraw
an expert is like a lotus in fire.
That is to say, this is not the realm of anyone else but experts who have themselves attained the marvel. Therefore you must first reach that realm.
Now what is the principle of the rank of attainment in both? See how the ancient reached out with expedients so that you wouldn’t linger in the single principle of seeing nature. In scripture, Manjusri represents the great knowledge of seeing nature, while Samantabhadra represents cultivation of practice after enlightenment.8 Li Tongxuan says that even if you have Manjusri’s great knowledge of seeing nature, without Samantabhadra’s refined practice after enlightenment you ultimately fall into the views of the two vehicles.9
It is like the teaching of the Flower Ornament, where true awakening is attained at the moment of initial inspiration, yet fifty kinds of teachings are subsequently practiced. When Sudhana was at the youth Manjusri’s place, he realized initially by faith.10 Then when he met the monk Meghasri from the peak of the mountain of marvel on a separate peak, the totality appeared completely, and he attained the teaching of the light of knowledge seeing everywhere contemplating the realms of all Buddhas. From here he gradually traveled south, through one hundred and ten cities, calling on fifty-three teachers. Then, based on Maitreya’s instruction, he wanted to see Manjusri again. Now Manjusri reached out with his right hand, past one hundred and ten leagues, and patted Sudhana on the head. He said, “Good, good! Good man, without the faculty of faith, the mind is weak, anxious, and regretful. If worthy action is insufficient and you shirk diligent effort, dwelling on a single root of good and thinking a little virtue enough, then you cannot skillfully carry out vows and will not be accepted and protected by good friends. You will not be able to comprehend a truth like this, a principle like this, a teaching like this, a practice like this, a realm like this. Whether in respect to comprehensive knowledge or diverse knowledge, you will be unable to plumb the source or understand completely, or enter in, or know how to explain, or analyze, or realize, or attain.”
When Manjusri pointed this out to Sudhana, as he spoke Sudhana realized countless truths, was imbued with the immeasurable light of great knowledge, entered into the door of Universal Good, and in a single thought saw as many teachers as atoms in a billion worlds, attended them all, respectfully accepted their assignments, and received and carried out their instructions, attaining liberation of the treasury of adornments of knowledge from mindfulness without forgetfulness.
The scripture goes on to say that Sudhana entered a field in a pore of Universal Good, and in taking a single step in the pore crossed as many worlds as atoms in unspeakably, inexplicably many buddha fields, all with equivalent Samantabhadras, Buddhas, fields, practices, and liberations, all entirely the same, equal, none other, none different.
The Combined Treatise says,11
Fifty ways of transcendence in five ranks, five levels of refinement, distinguish breadth and narrowness of knowledge and compassion, rawness and ripeness, liberation and bondage, opposition and accord, combining the different amounts and degrees of virtue and wisdom, to induce aspirants not to consider it sufficient to dwell on one teaching, or even three, four, or five, or ten, a hundred, or a thousand. The purpose is to get them to progress and ascend until they reach the infinitely vast realm of reality as is. That is why five ranks are defined therein.
See how the Buddha so kindly and clearly discussed the ranks of the Way for you. All of these are models of progress in real cultivation after enlightenment, expedients where there are no expedients, grades in the gradeless. This is also true of Dongshan’s five ranks and Linji’s four points of view and four guest-host relations—all of these are models for after enlightenment.12 Students in the present time do not use expedients like these to test their attainment, rejecting them with the cliché, “What donkey-tethering stakes are these?” That does seem so, but still their views have so much dust and sand. Therefore students should not stop at the one principle of seeing nature and leave off there.
1. See Book of Serenity, case 87, for classical commentaries on this story.
2. For more from this master, one of the early luminaries of the Huanglong sect, see The Pocket Zen Reader, pp. 63, 72; and Zen Lessons, cases 127–33.
3. For Yantou (827–87), see Teachings of Zen, p. 32; The Blue Cliff Record, cases 51 and 66, and the biographical supplement on p. 618; Book of Serenity, case 22; Unlocking the Zen Koan, case 13. For Xuefeng (822–908), see “Hsueh-feng” in “The House of Yun-men” in The Five Houses of Zen; The Blue Cliff Record, cases 5, 22, 49, 51, and the biographical supplement on p. 570; Book of Serenity, cases 24, 34, 50, 55; Unlocking the Zen Koan, case 13. For Dahui, see Swampland Flowers; Zen Lessons, cases 145–51; “Zen Master Dahui” in Zen Essence. For Xutang, see Unlocking the Zen Koan, case 20.
4. Master Dongshan was Liangjie (806–69). See The Blue Cliff Record, case 43; Book of Serenity, cases 49, 89, 94, 98. The Rinzai treatment of the five ranks device is different from Dongshan’s, based on the revision of Fenyang. For more on the original structure, see “Caoshan on the Five Ranks” in Timeless Spring; “The House of Ts’ao-Tung” in The Five Houses of Zen; and “The Five States of Lord and Vassal,” the appendix on traditional teaching devices in The Blue Cliff Record. For Hakuin’s treatment, see “The Five Ranks” in Kensho: The Heart of Zen.
5. On this Tendai method of contemplation, see Stopping and Seeing, pp. 113–22.
6. “Three contemplations in one mind” means seeing temporal reality, emptiness, and the middle way all at once. This is a practice of the Tendai school. See Stopping and Seeing, p. 34.
7. The Blue Cliff Record, case 43.
8. For Manjusri, see The Flower Ornament Scripture, books 9–12; for Samantabhadra (Universal Good), see books 36–38. See also book 39, pp. 1159, 1169, 1229, 1502, 1503.
9. See Entry into the Realm of Reality for Li’s commentary on the final book of the Flower Ornament Scripture, which features both figures.
10. The story of Sudhana’s pilgrimage is the subject of the final book of the Flower Ornament.
11. This refers to Li Tongxuan’s commentary on the Flower Ornament Scripture.
12. “Linji’s four points of view” are taking away the subject but not objects, taking away objects but not the subject, taking away both subject and objects, and taking away neither subject nor objects. In the terms of practice used in this treatise, the host stands for seeing nature, and the guest for knowledge of differentiation; the “four guest-host relations” of host and guest are as follows: the guest looks at the host, the host looks at the guest, the guest within the guest, and the host within the host.
[ 5 ]
PASSING THROUGH BARRIERS
Great Master Yunmen said, “On level ground the dead are countless; those who can get out of a forest of thorns are the experts.” This is one of the ancients’ sayings that are hard to penetrate. The present time is totally degenerate; this is referred to as the dead on flat ground. This is why it’s hard to find a genuine Zen teacher.
The Emerging Sun Scripture says, “The wise use insight to refine their minds; like iron in ore, it takes hundreds of smeltings to produce
pure metal, just as it takes constant lapping of the ocean to produce its treasures.”
For this reason, Shoju Rojin said,
Zen monks of recent times who take up the saying that a dog has no buddha-nature and approach it authentically with unalloyed effort all pass through, but as soon as they pass through a little, they think they’ve attained and think they’re enlightened. They talk big, but this is just a major sign of bondage, promoting subjective views and increasing egoism. The garden of the ancestors is still far off on the horizon. If you want to reach genuine comfort, the more you understand the more you bring up, the more you comprehend the more you contemplate, until you actually see the final issue of the Buddhas and Masters as plainly as looking into the palm of your hand.
I ask students to focus your eyes and look—what season is it now? Time is precious. In order to test the teachings you’ve attained, I’ve brought up a number of Buddhist scriptures and treatises. Examine carefully and see whether or not what you have attained accords with the scriptures and treatises. If it is disparate or contrary to the scriptures and treatises, your view is biased and also shallow and simplistic.
Speaking from the perspective of seeing nature, how could there be any reason for not being in accord? Those who can understand thoroughly and develop complete knowledge see each and every one of the infinite teachings of the Buddhas with distinct clarity, recognize each and every one of the infinite expedients of the Buddhas with distinct clarity, clearly comprehend every single insight, every single spiritual capacity, every single liberation, every single state, and all the principles of infinite differentiations. The Three Treatises, Characteristics of Phenomena, Lotus of the Law, Ultimate Demise, Flower Ornament, Introductory, Extended, Transcendent Insight, and Esoteric Ornament merge unhindered, and you see through them all.1 You do not interpret meanings literally; you do not distort the text by the meaning. You do not confuse multiple teachings with one teaching, and you do not contradict one teaching with multiple teachings. Just understand by natural insight, don’t try to figure them out consciously. If you can understand with perfect clarity when you get here, I’ll grant that you have the eye to read scripture.
It’s like the four characteristics in the Scripture of Complete Awareness: These point out dust and sand in views. It says, “States of mind all the way up to realization of the ultimate end of the enlightened and perfect knowledge of pure nirvana are all characteristics of self.” It also says, “States of mind all the way up to complete realization of nirvana are all self, because the mind keeps some understanding. If you thoroughly exhaust the principles realized, all are called characteristics of personality.” It also says,
All people’s realizations and understandings are self and personality. And where the characteristics of self and personality do not reach, keeping possession of objects of understanding is called the characteristic of a sentient being. And what is the characteristic of a life? It means when sentient beings’ minds focus on purity and they have a sense of comprehending something, which all conditioned knowledge cannot see, it is like the root of life. If the mind perceives any awareness, it is all considered sense-data pollution, because what awareness is aware of is not apart from sense data.
This is clearly pointed out in the scripture, but how do you apply it? When your insight is clear, this is the very substance of the appearance of self. Knowing that insight is self and relinquishing it is called the appearance of person. Where self and person do not reach is called the appearance of a being. When all appearances vanish and you transcend everything, you still do not escape life. This is called the final bond. Where do Zen monks settle their bodies and establish their lives?
In the present time, people often think that having no intellectual knowledge is Zen, and so they don’t use scriptures or treatises. Instead they say, “What is the need for scriptures and treatises in the special transmission outside doctrine?” They still don’t realize that when what is outside doctrine is clear, what is in the doctrines doesn’t interfere; but if what is outside doctrine does not admit what is in the doctrines, then what is outside doctrine isn’t true either. Why? Because when a mirror is clear, it doesn’t select what to reflect; if reflections don’t appear, it means the mirror isn’t clear. You are rejecting the images of objects because of the dust covering the mirror.
If you are on the Great Way, you don’t conceive this opinion, especially since there are very deep meanings in the scriptures that can point out so many of your barriers of perception. It is only because your vision is not clear that you repudiate the golden words of the Buddha and cannot find out the hidden meanings in the scriptures that are hard to unlock.
It’s not a matter of making a religion of scriptures and treatises, just of using scriptures and treatises as revealing mirrors, using the teaching to reflect our own nature and using our own nature to reflect the teachings. Both must be clearly comprehended.
Scripture also says,
People of the final age who do not comprehend the four appearances may practice the path with diligent intensity for aeons,2 but this can only be called contrivance—in the end they cannot attain all the realizations of sages. This is the reason it is called the final age of the true teaching. Why? Because the universal self is taken to be nirvana, and having realization and having enlightenment is called fulfillment.
This is quite a lock—don’t misunderstand this passage and think it’s right to have no realization and no enlightenment. This scripture is based on realization of pure complete awareness. Therefore it says, “If people of the final age hope to complete the Way, don’t let them seek enlightenment, as it will only increase their formal learning and magnify their opinion of themselves.”
Subsequently it also uses four illnesses to illustrate sicknesses in perception, called construction, cessation, spontaneity, and extinction. The use of knowledge with a sense of understanding something is called the illness of construction. Going along with the nature of things, being spontaneous whatever happens, is called the illness of spontaneity. Stopping all perceptions so not a single thought arises is called the illness of cessation. Total annihilation and utter quietude without activity is called the illness of extinction.
Now tell me, how do you apply this in practice? Guifeng mistakenly made this interpretation:3 “Now the reason they are considered illnesses is because all four lack observing insight.” Wrong! Isn’t observing insight the substance of the illness of construction? He also says,
Just because they induce the mind to dwell one-sidedly on one practice, failing to find out the whole meaning from good friends, and in their craving for simplicity hold to one and consider that completeness, this is why the scripture denounces them all as illnesses. If you can master them all, without fixation on one, then you can enter the Way through all four.
Wrong, wrong! If you understand this way, what is the advantage? Even if you can comprehend all four principles and the complete meaning is distinctly clear, when you get here it’s like putting thorns in your eyes.
Scriptures such as these have been thoroughly annotated by followers of schools of intellectual interpretation who have all missed Buddha’s deep meaning. Zhenjing’s discourse on everyone realizing criticizes the raw; Heshan repudiates subjective explanation to warn students.4 So if you want to read the ancient teachings, don’t use annotations. Annotations often obliterate the intent of the original text.
This means that the mystic messages in the scriptures that are hard to understand go hand in hand with the aforementioned four appearances, like a poison drum, like a bonfire, like a diamond, like lion milk. If students want to understand the deep meanings mentioned and get rid of the afflictions of views mentioned, first of all don’t construct random interpretations; just contemplate the sayings that are hard to penetrate. One is this: “The cattle of Huai Province eat grain; the horses of Yi Province get full.”
Another is this: “Holding a hoe with empty hands, riding a buffalo while walking on foo
t, someone crosses a bridge—the bridge flows, not the water.” What is the logic of this?
A monk asked Zhaozhou, “Myriad things return to one; where does the one return?” Zhaozhou said, “When I was in Qing Province, I made a cloth shirt that weighed seven pounds.”5
Yunmen said, “Medicine and disease quell each other. The whole earth is medicine—what is oneself?”6
Wuzu said, “It is like an ox going through a window lattice—its head, horns, and four feet have all gone through; why can’t the tail get through?”7
Sushan’s memorial tower incident, Zhaozhou’s example of checking out the woman, Jianfeng’s three kinds of sickness, Huangbo’s dreg slurpers—there are quite a few such koans;8 just take them up according to your psychological affinities and see what they’re about.
This type are all hard to believe, hard to understand, hard to penetrate, hard to enter into. They cannot be seen through easily; like a bonfire, if you get too close they’ll burn your face. They are like a sharp sword—mime with it and you lose your life. Just bring them to mind, don’t misunderstand. These are not objects of logical understanding or objects of discrimination. They are far beyond ordinary sense, conveying signs in a distinct way.
The Undying Lamp of Zen Page 7