“I simply teach you to comprehend your original mind. The moment you comprehend it, you will find no sign of comprehension. There is no sign of either comprehending it or not comprehending it, for those are unascertainable. Those who get it just get it, without thinking that they have done so, just as those who don’t get it also don’t think that they have done so, either. How many people thus far have understood this sort of dharma? As the question goes, ‘How many people in this world have forgotten themselves?’
祇教你了取本心 當下了時 不得了相 無了無不了相 亦不可得 如此之法 得者即得 得者不自覺知 不得者亦不自覺知 如此之法 從上巳來 有幾人得知 所以道 天下忘己者 有幾人.
The Way is already fully revealed. Whether practitioners realize it or not, it is always present. Since those who clearly understand it are in accord with the law of causality, they receive it without receiving anything. Since those who do not understand it ignore the law of causality, they create even greater karma for themselves.
Such a teaching is a provisional means by which those who have realized the true reality of the original mind guide their students to attain awakening. This teaching is not something that students should approach intellectually. Practitioners who digest these words should not cling to anything or abide anywhere.
“If now you try to comprehend it through one faculty, one sense object, one scripture, one doctrine, one realm, one time, one name, or one word that is presented to your six sense organs, how would you be any different from a wooden marionette? You might presume that a person could suddenly appear who generates no understanding with regard to one name or one characteristic, but I say that you could search for such a person throughout every world in the ten directions and never succeed in finding one.
如今於一機一境一經一教一世一時一名一字 六根門前領得 與機關木人何別 忽有一人出來 不於一名一相上作解者 我說此人盡十方世界覓 這箇人不可得.
Since the physical body is an insentient thing, it is no different from a wooden marionette. However, what you see, hear, sense, and know is clearly revealed right before you. If you name it buddha nature, fundamental essence, or dharma body, you will be as foolish as the simpleton who, thinking he has lost his head, looks for another head to put on top of his existing head.189
Every one of you makes use of your original face to see, hear, sense, and know. But if you are not yet sure about what it is, you must use your doubt about your fundamental origin to collapse your mental wall.
“Since that person would be second to none, he would succeed to the status of a patriarch; pristine and free from anything extraneous, he would be considered a member of the Śākya clan. It is said that when the king attains buddhahood, his princes follow him in going forth into homelessness. This idea is extremely difficult to understand.
以無第二人故 繼於祖位 亦云釋種 無雜純一故言 王若成佛時 王子亦隨出家 此意大難知
The moment you attain awakening, this one mind alone is clearly revealed. At that moment, since your mind is pure, free from any admixture, you will be worthy of being called a member of the Śākya clan. If the one mind is revealed, nothing further needs to be done, and all the myriad things will attain buddhahood simultaneously.
It is like when the king abdicates the throne and ordains as a monk, his princes and vassals must all follow him into the Buddhist order.
“I teach you only to stop seeking. If you seek, you will fail. This is like a simpleton who shouts out from the top of a mountain: as the echo resounds through the valley, he runs down the mountain, chasing the sound, but is unable to locate it. When he shouts from below and it echoes from the peak, he chases it back up the mountain.
祗教你莫覓 覓便失卻 如癡人山上叫一聲 響從谷出 便走下山趁 及尋覓不得 又叫一聲 山上響又應 亦走上山上趁.
You cannot obtain the nature no matter how hard you try. The moment you open your mouth or give rise to a thought, you are off the mark. But if you just let go, it will be revealed to be right before your eyes. Practitioners know why this is so. You may not have learned this yet through practice, but if you have affinities with this practice, investigate the point of such words.
Those who only study the words generate intellectual understanding and do not try to find a way out of it. They wander around their entire lives with no prospect of attaining awakening, not knowing that they are being deceived by mirages. Therefore, bright-eyed Seon masters seek not to offer explanations but to guide their students to generate the sense of doubt.
“Those who, like this, follow the echo in search of its source for a thousand lifetimes and ten thousand kalpas are folks who are born in vain and die for naught. If you make no sound, there will be no echo. Nirvāṇa has nothing to be heard, nothing to be known, nothing that resounds; it leaves no tracks and no traces. If you can be thus, you will draw nigh to the abode of the patriarchs.”
如是千生萬劫 祇是尋聲逐響人 虛生浪死漢 汝若無聲 即無響 涅槃者 無聞無知無聲 絕跡絕蹤 若得如是 稍與祖師鄰房也.
To seek nirvāṇa does not mean to cease thinking. Rather, no matter how many thoughts you generate, you accord with the real characteristic of things that generates not a single thought. Those who clearly realize this know how to distinguish between right and wrong. They are untarnished in every motion they make. Though moving all day long, they move without actually being in motion. Those who do not realize this may practice all their lives but will remain far from awakening.
If you happen to encounter the Buddha’s teachings and enter the Buddhist Way, go a step further and open your eyes to the Buddhadharma. Stand at the spot where the teachings and the dharma are nondual. Open your eyes to the fact that there is originally nothing to be let go of. Know how to empty your mind by living in accord with the causes and conditions of the mundane world.
Master Huangbo must have thoroughly studied Buddhist doctrine before he attained awakening. His teachings reveal the fruits of the strenuous efforts he made even after he opened his eyes. Accordingly, his encounter with Linji demonstrates his supreme level, transcending words and letters. Had Huangbo simply offered explanations to Linji, the latter would never have seen even a shadow of the truth. As an extreme tactic, Huangbo hit Linji three times with his staff. He beat him without mercy, frightening Linji. After opening his eyes during his visit with the monk Dayu 大愚 (d.u.), Linji thanked Huangbo for his beating, realizing Huangbo’s compassionate action had led him to awakening.
Pei Xiu was not so different. When Pei Xiu first met Huangbo and asked him about the truth, Huangbo flung him to the ground, like a dog taking a bite out of something. This jolted Pei Xiu to wake up from his dream. Huangbo’s action was not merciless; it was in fact a truly merciful act.
30. A Ram’s Horns
[Pei Xiu] inquired, “I humbly request your instruction on the passage ‘There is no such sword in my armory.’ ”190
The master replied, “The royal armory has the nature of empty space. It is able to contain the worlds throughout empty space in all the ten directions, none of which are separate from your mind. We also can call this Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattva. If you say that it either exists or does not exist, or that it neither exists nor does not exist, then these all turn into a ram’s horns. A ram’s horns are what you are seeking.”
[Pei Xiu] asked, “Is there an actual sword in the royal armory then or not?”
The master answered, “This is also a ram’s horns.”
[Pei Xiu] asked again, “If originally there is no actual sword in the royal armory, then why is it said that the prince took a sword from the royal armory and left for another kingdom? Why do you alone say there is no sword?”
The master replied, “ ‘Leaving with a sword’ is an analogy for an emissary of the Tathāgata. If you say that the prince left with an actual sword from the royal armory, you imply that he took something from the armory. N
o one can carry off anything that, at its original source, has the nature of empty space. What does this statement mean? Even though you presume you get it, it is a ram’s horns.”
問 如王庫藏內 都無如是刀 伏願誨示 師云 王庫藏者 即虛空性也 能攝十方虛空世界 皆總 不出你心 亦謂之虛空藏菩薩 你若道是有是無 非有非無 總成羊角 羊角者 即你求覓者也. 問 王庫藏中有真刀否 師云 此亦是羊角 云 若王庫藏中本無真刀 何故云 王子持王庫中真刀 出至異國 何獨言無 師云 持刀出者 此喻如來使者 你若言 王子持王庫中 真刀出去者 庫中應空去也 本源虛空性 不可被異人將去 是什麼語 設你有者 皆名羊角.
According to the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, a prince had a poor friend. The friend saw the prince’s marvelous sword and coveted it. One day, the prince left for another country. Talking in his sleep, the friend kept saying, “The sword! The sword!” People thought he had stolen the sword, so they captured him and took him to the palace. The king asked him about the sword, but the friend answered that, since he had just seen the sword and hadn’t stolen it, he could be cut open and the king still wouldn’t find the sword either on or inside his body. When the king interrogated him about the shape of the sword, the friend answered that it was shaped like a ram’s horns. The king laughed, saying, “There is no such sword in my armory, so how could the prince display such a sword?”
The Buddha offered this simile: a bodhisattva-mahāsattva, who was like an emissary for the Tathāgata, appeared in the world, preached the dharma, and left the world, just like that prince who showed his friend a marvelous sword for just a moment and then left for another land. He added that people talking this and that about the dharma was like the friend talking in his sleep, “The sword! The sword!” and saying that the sword looked like a ram’s horns. To remove the discriminative delusions of such people, the Buddha said, “There is no such a sword in my armory.”
Every one of us is the king of the six countries that rule over our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. The royal armory, which refers to our original mind, is of the nature of empty space. If we are compelled to name it, all we can say is that it is called Bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha (Womb of Empty Space). Saying that empty space is either existent, nonexistent, or neither existent nor nonexistent is nothing but conceptual proliferation. To cure sentient beings’ chronic disease of clinging to something that does not originally exist, the Buddha said, “There is no such a sword in my armory.” We should keep in mind here the Buddha’s intent.
The final, and most difficult, task in Buddhist practice is to eliminate the subtle delusions, the ram’s horns in this simile.
31. Kāśyapa and Ānanda
[Pei Xiu] asked, “Kāśyapa received the mind seal of the Buddha and became a person who transmitted words, didn’t he?”
The master answered, “Yes.”
[Pei Xiu] replied, “If he transmitted words, he must not have escaped from being a ram’s horns.”
The master answered, “Kāśyapa comprehended his original mind for himself, so he was not associated with ram’s horns. If you comprehend the Tathāgata’s mind, you will perceive the Tathāgata’s intent. One who then perceives the Tathāgata’s physical characteristics belongs to the Tathāgata’s emissaries and becomes a person who transmits words. Consequently Ānanda, who served as the Buddha’s attendant for twenty years, only perceived the Tathāgata’s physical characteristics, so the Buddha scolded him, saying, ‘If you view me only as being the savior of the world, you cannot escape being a ram’s horns.’ ”
問 迦葉受佛心印 得為傳語人否 師云是 云若是傳語人 應不離得羊角 師云 迦葉自領得本心 所以不是羊角 若以領得如來心 見如來意 見如來色相者 即屬如來使 為傳語人 所以阿難為侍者二十年 但見如來色相 所以被佛訶云 唯觀救世者 不能離得羊角.
Those who awaken to the mind and illuminate the nature have the power to rule the entire world while seated on a bejeweled throne. However, those who cling to such externalities are nothing but emissaries. If you turn one thought around, you will become a host, but if you follow one thought, you cannot avoid being an emissary.
A stupid dog chases a dirt clod someone throws, but a bright-eyed lion bites the person who threw it. Those who perceive only the outward appearance of the Tathāgata cannot escape characteristics. But if they awaken to the Tathāgata’s original mind, they perceive the Tathāgata’s intent and live as a master of the world.
Ānanda served as the personal attendant of the Buddha for twenty-five years and listened to many of the Buddha’s sermons. However, he was unable to open his eyes while the Buddha was alive. Only after the Buddha’s death was Ānanda finally able to attain awakening and receive the dharma, thanks to Kāśyapa.
In later generations, Xianglin Chengyuan 香林澄遠 (908–87) served for a long time as the personal attendant for Master Yunmen Wenyan. Yunmen frequently called him, saying, “Attendant Yuan!” When Chengyuan would answer, Yunmen would teach him by asking him, “What is it [that’s answering]?” Despite Yunmen’s persistent instruction, Chengyuan was unable to gain any spiritual breakthrough. Eighteen years later, when Chengyuan finally attained awakening, Yunmen said to him, “I will not call you any longer.” Chengyuan’s disciple was Zhimen Guangzuo 智門光祚 (d. 1031), whose disciple was Xuedou Zhongxian. Xuedou compiled the Hundred Old Cases with Verse Commentary (Baize songgu 百則頌古), which provided the Chan cases that were was incorporated into the Blue Cliff Record. Therefore no small merit accrued from Master Yunmen asking “What is it?” for eighteen years.
32. Cutting through Wisdom with Wisdom
[Pei Xiu] asked, “What does it mean that ‘Mañjuśrī brandished his sword in front of Gautama’?”191
The master replied, “Five hundred bodhisattvas attained the knowledge of their previous lifetimes and perceived the karmic obstructions created during their past lives. ‘Five hundred’ refers to your body, which consists of the five aggregates. Since they perceived the obstructions created during their past lives, they sought out the Buddha and sought out the bodhisattvas and nirvāṇa. Consequently, Mañjuśrī raised his sword of wisdom and slayed this view that posits a buddha mind that is existent.192 Therefore he was told, “You have slayed it well.”
[Pei Xiu] asked, “What is this sword?”
The master answered, “The liberated mind is this sword.”
[Pei Xiu] asked, “Since the liberated mind is this sword, [Mañjuśrī] cut through the view that the buddha mind exists. How then will we be able to eliminate the mind that is so easily able to eradicate views?”
The master answered, “You can use nondiscriminative wisdom (nirvikalpajñāna) to eradicate the discriminative mind that posits the view of existence.”
[Pei Xiu] asked, “If I have the view of existence and seek out the buddha mind, I can eradicate [this view] with nondiscriminative wisdom. How then does the sword of wisdom exist?”
The master answered, “If nondiscriminative wisdom cuts through the views of existence (asti) and nonexistence (nāsti), then nondiscriminative wisdom would also be unascertainable.”
[Pei Xiu] said, “I cannot cut through wisdom with wisdom or cut through a sword with a sword.”
The master said, “If a sword cuts through a sword, each sword cuts through the other; therefore those swords are also unascertainable. If wisdom cuts through wisdom, each type of wisdom cuts through the other; therefore those wisdoms are also unascertainable. This is exactly the same as when ‘doe and fawn died together.’ ”193
問 文殊執劍於瞿曇前者 如何 師云 五百菩薩得宿命智 見過去生業障 五百者即你五陰身是 以見此夙命障故 求佛求菩薩涅槃 所以文殊將智解劍 害此有見佛心故 故言你善害 云 何者是劍 師云 解心是劍 云 解心既是劍 斷此有見佛心 祇如能斷見心 何能除得 師云 還將你無分別智 斷此有見分別心 云 如作有見有求佛心 將無分別智劍斷 爭奈
有智劍在何 師云 若無分別智 害有見無見 無分別智亦不可得 云 不可以智更斷智 不可以劍更斷劍 師云 劍自害劍 劍劍相害 即劍亦不可得 智自害智 智智相害 即智亦不可得 母子俱喪 亦復如是.
According to Sources of the Five Lamplights [of Chan],194 when the Buddha preached the dharma to the congregation on Vulture Peak, there were five hundred bhikṣus in attendance. Through the superknowledge of recollecting their past lives (pūrvanivāsānusmṛti), these bhikṣus all saw the heinous deeds they had performed in their past lives, such as killing their fathers and mothers, and were concerned that they would not be able to attain awakening in these very bodies. At that moment, Mañjuśrī perceived their doubt, so he appeared brandishing a sword and, relying on the Buddha’s awesome power, harassed the Buddha. The five hundred bhikṣus then praised Mañjuśrī, realizing that the Buddha and the sword both had the same identical characteristic, since there was no sword that could be used to kill and no Buddha that could be killed.
Our bodies that consist of the five aggregates of material form, sensations, perception, volitional factors, and consciousness can never be free from karmic obstructions. Therefore those who misunderstand that their bodies are what will be liberated try hard to remove their karmic obstructions. Over many years, they make every effort to remove defilements. However, the dharma of nonduality means that “form is emptiness.” If you realize this principle, then “defilements are bodhi” and “karmic obstructions are sublime functions.” It is like the principle by which a lotus flower blooms in the mud. When defilements and bodhi are unified in the middle way, karmic obstructions and nirvāṇa are nondual.
Therefore Mañjuśrī removes the cause of discrimination by slashing through these views of the existence of karmic obstructions and the buddha mind with his sword of wisdom.
A Bird in Flight Leaves No Trace Page 24