Therefore, just as the king finally repented of his actions before the sage and threw down his sword, when we overcome the meditative hindrances (nīvaraṇa) of lethargy and torpor (styāna-middha) and restlessness and worry (auddhatya-kaukṛtya), the original pristine mind is revealed.
[A monk] stated, “Only when the sage practiced forbearance was he then not torn limb from limb. Thus it cannot be claimed that it is the one mind that endures or does not endure.”
The master responded, “You have created the view that nothing is produced, the notion that there is something to endure, and the understanding that there is nothing to seek. These are all damaging.”
[A monk] asked, “When the sage was being dismembered, did he experience pain or not?” He added, “If he didn’t feel anything during this event, then who felt that pain?”
The master answered, “Seeing as you’re not in pain, what could you be looking for here?”
云 祇如仙人忍時 不合更有節節支解 不可一心忍 一心不忍也 師云 你作無生見 忍辱解 無求解 總是傷損 云 仙人被割時 還知痛否 又云 此中無受者 是誰受痛 師云 你既不痛 出頭來 覓箇甚麼.
The questioner here still clings to the routines of practice, so he asks: if we keep building our forbearance to avoid generating the mind that discriminates among things, won’t we be in accord with the one mind? Such a perspective would generate an attachment to the act of forbearance.
Master Huangbo responds tersely (dandao zhiru/dando jigip 單刀直入) from the standpoint of the origin: if you’re not in pain now, then that’s it! Why go through the motions of enduring something?
38. Past, Present, and Future Are Unascertainable
[A monk] asked, “Did Dīpaṃkara Buddha prophecize that [the sage Kṣāntivādin’s eventual attainment of enlightenment, when he would become Śākyamuni Buddha,] would take place within five hundred years or would take longer than five hundred years?”
The master replied, “He could not have prophecized that it would take place within five hundred years. ‘Prophecizing’ means you must never forget your root, abandon the conditioned realm, or cling to bodhi; you need only understand that time is timeless. Thus he could not have prophecized that [Kṣāntivādin’s attainment of buddhahood] would take place within five hundred years or would take longer than five hundred years.”
[A monk] asked, “Has he already understood that the three time periods are unascertainable or not?”
The master replied, “There is not a single dharma that can be ascertained.”
[A monk] asked, “Then why is it said, ‘We pass repeatedly through five-hundred-year periods;/ the extremes of both past and future are long?’ ”209
The master replied, “A five-hundred-year period is long and far away. Remember that [Kṣāntivādin] was then still a sage. Therefore, when Dīpaṃkara Buddha offered him this prophecy, there was in fact not even the slightest dharma to be ascertained.”
問 然燈佛授記 為在五百歲中 五百歲外 師云 五百歲中不得授記 所言授記者 你本決定不忘 不失有為 不取菩提 但以了世非世 亦不出五百歲外別得授記 亦不於五百歲中得授記 云 了世三際相不可得已否 師云 無一法可得 云 何故言 頻經五百世 前後極時長 師云 五百世長遠 當知猶是仙人 故然燈授記時 實無少法可得.
To prophecize someone’s future attainment of enlightenment is a worldly prophecy; a genuine prophecy is “not even a single dharma is ascertainable.” You should be able to completely understand such a principle and put it to use. Of course, the word “use” here means to use without using anything. Worldlings presume that time consists of past, present, and future. In fact, since even a single dharma cannot be ascertained, time is also nothing but an illusion revealed in accordance with causes and conditions. Dīpaṃkara Buddha’s prophecy is made not from a temporal standpoint in which time flows from the past through the present to the future but from the standpoint that not even a single dharma can be ascertained.
In genuine almsgiving, the giver, the recipient, and the gift are all empty. Since a buddha acts without doing anything, prophecizing is also like this: since the giver and recipient of a prophecy and the prophecy itself are each originally empty and pristine, they leave no traces.
The measuring unit of time in this episode, “within five hundred years or longer than five hundred years,” is also an illusion. At that juncture where you turn one thought around and all delusions disappear, there is no room for the slightest sense of time. Therefore the master said, “You need only understand that time is timeless.”
Here, the questioner asks his questions from the standpoint of understanding the meaning of “prophecize” with his discriminating mind, wherein all sorts of mirages are created. However, since Master Huangbo stood at the spot where mirages have not yet been created, he clearly instructs that prophecy means there is not the slightest dharma to be ascertained.
39. The Dharma Body Is Unascertainable
[A monk] asked, “In the scriptural teachings it is said,
By dissipating the distorted views (viparyāsa) I have created over countless kalpas,
I obtain the dharma body without passing through incalculable kalpas.210
“What does this mean?”
The master replied, “If you presume you attain realization by practicing for three incalculable kalpas, you will have no success even after kalpas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. But if in a single kṣaṇa [instant] you obtain the dharma body and directly see the nature, this is the culminating discourse of the three-vehicle teachings. Why is this so? Seeing the dharma body as something that can be obtained is a view associated with the provisional (neyartha) teachings.”
問 教中云 銷我億劫顛倒想 不歷僧祇獲法身者 如何 師云 若以三無數劫修行 有所證得者 盡恒沙劫不得 若於一剎那中獲得法身 直了見性者 猶是三乘教之極談也 何以故 以見法身可獲故 皆屬不了義教中收.
Since the dharma body is formless, it can be neither gained nor lost. Originally, there is not a single dharma. Forms just appear in accordance with causes and conditions. However many eons you may practice, if you abide in or cling to anything, it will be impossible to attain buddhahood. Striving to attain realization brings suffering instead.
If you perceive a pure, calm, and clear place during your practice, it is easy to cling to that place and strive to preserve it and teach others to do the same. Being bound by such a goal is not true practice. If you turn one thought around and attain awakening, you will know that even that awakening is false.
The dharma body is unobtainable. Wake up from your dream and gain the strength you need to digest the principle that is not a dream. If you keep thinking about escaping the dream, you will have great difficulty actually waking from the dream.
Since awakening is universally valid, it is not available only to special people. The definitive teaching that can open someone’s eyes is not something approached gradually over time. To practice by waiting for the mud to sink below the water is a provisional teaching.
Seon is a dharma gate premised on the prospect of sudden awakening. It is a definitive teaching.
40. All Relativity Is Eradicated
[A monk] asked, “Do those who see the dharma and have sudden understanding perceive the patriarch’s intent?”
The master answered, “The patriarch’s mind transcends empty space.”
[A monk] asked, “Does it have limits?”
The master answered, “Limited and limitless are dharmas that involve counting and measuring. The patriarch said, ‘It is neither limited nor limitless, neither non-limited nor non-limitless, because it severs all relativity.’ If you practitioners are still not able get beyond even these three-vehicle teachings, how can you call yourselves Seon adepts? Let me state this as clearly as I can: first-class trainees in Seon should not heedlessly and mistakenly generate discriminative views. ‘A person who has drunk water knows f
or himself whether it is cold or warm.’211 In that kṣaṇa when you are walking or standing, thought-moment after thought-moment will remain undifferentiated. If this is not the case, you will not escape the cycle of rebirth.”
問 見法頓了者 見祖師意否 師云 祖師心出虛空外 云 有限劑否 師云 有無限劑 此皆數量對待之法 祖師云 且非有限量 非無限量 非非有無限量 以絕待故 你如今學者 未能出得三乘教外 爭喚作禪師 分明向汝道 一等學禪 莫取次妄生異見 如人飲水 冷煖自知 一行一住一剎那間 念念不異 若不如是 不免輪回.
Counting and measuring depend on thinking and discriminating. The original real characteristic of things cannot be fathomed through such means. Because the patriarch’s intent, the gist of his teachings, always lies in the origin, it cannot be approached by counting and measuring. It also does not leave any traces.
Since the three vehicles of śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas are teachings that involve sequential stages, you cannot understand through them the patriarch’s intent, which severs all relativity. It is only proper that a real Seon master not only digests the relative teachings of the three vehicles but also penetrates via the mind-to-mind transmission the original real characteristic of things, wherein the ways of words and speech are eradicated and the locus of mental functioning is annihilated.
41. It Is Hard to See the Genuine Relics of the Buddha
[A monk] asked, “The Buddha’s body is unconditioned, so it doesn’t involve anything that can be counted. Why is it, then, that his body yielded eight bushels and four pecks of śarīra [relics]?”
The master replied, “If you have such a view, you’re just seeing fake śarīra, not genuine śarīra.
[A monk] asked, “Do śarīra inherently exist or are they created through the virtue derived from the Buddha’s practice?”
The master answered, “They don’t inherently exist, but they’re also not created through the virtue of his practice.”
[A monk] asked, “If they neither inherently exist nor are created through the virtue of his practice, then why are the Tathāgata’s śarīra so thoroughly tempered and refined that his golden bones survive eternally?”
The master scolded him, saying, “With this sort of view, how can you be called a Seon practitioner? Have you ever seen bones in empty space? All the buddhas’ minds are the same as the great void. What bones are you going to find there?”
[A monk] asked, “What are these śarīra I’ve seen today, then?”
The master answered, “You have produced these from your own delusional mind and perceived that they are śarīra.”
問 佛身無為 不墮諸數 何故佛身舍利八斛四斗 師云 你作如是見 祇見假舍利 不見真舍利 云 舍利為是本有 為復功勳 師云 非是本有 亦非功勳 云若非本有 又非功勳 何故如來舍利 唯鍊唯精 金骨常存 師乃呵云 你作如此見解 爭喚作學禪人作學禪人 你見虛空曾有骨否 諸佛心同太虛 覓什麼骨 云 如今見有舍利 此是何法 師云 此從你妄想心生 即見舍利.
The questioner here directly asks the kind of compelling question ordinary people might want badly to ask, like an itch they want to scratch: the Buddha’s body is unconditioned and therefore formless, so how could it leave relics?
Master Huangbo says that since this question comes from the level of one who just sees relics’ external form, the questioner cannot see genuine relics. Those who open their dharma eyes, which see the real characteristic of all things, clearly know that all sentient beings without exception possess the buddha nature. Those who do not open the dharma eye do useless things, seeking the buddha by chasing forms. Master Huangbo here points out how wrong it is for people to arouse a discriminative mind regarding these material relics and not be able to reflect back on themselves.
Whatever has form, including the relics of the Buddha, is false. Those who cling to forms ask, “Since the Buddha’s relics are obviously present, why do you, Master, deny their existence?” Since genuine relics of the Buddha transcend forms, ordinary people cannot see them.
Although he chastised the questioner, Master Huangbo compassionately instructed practitioners to turn one thought around and accord with the original root and not allow themselves to be dragged around by the delusional mind. Clinging to relics that can be seen by our physical eyes is the delusional mind.
[A monk] asked, “Do you, Master, have śarīra or not? Please show them to us!”
The master replied, “Genuine śarīra are hard to see. Only if you completely pulverize Mount Sumeru into tiny dust motes with your bare hands will you see genuine śarīra. Those who practice Seon and train on the Way must not produce a mind that is grounded anywhere. If you just forget conceptualization, the Buddha’s Way will flourish; but if you discriminate, Māra’s minions will thrive. Ultimately not the slightest bit of dharma, not even as small as a hair, can be ascertained.
云 和尚還有舍利否 請將出來看 師云 真舍利難見 你但以十指 撮盡妙高峰為微塵 即見真舍利 夫參禪學道 須得一切處不生心 祇論忘機即佛道隆 分別即魔軍盛 畢竟無毛頭許少法可得.
Since the questioner, with a discriminative mind, requests Master Huangbo to display his relics, the master engages in a Seon exchange with him.
Long ago, Layman Pang asked Mazu Daoyi, “Who is it who does not keep company with all the dharmas?”
Master Mazu replied, “Wait till you’ve swallowed in one swig all the water of the West River, then I’ll tell you.”212 Through these words, Layman Pang realized the gist of Master Mazu’s teachings.
Although Master Huangbo directly instructs him here, the questioner does not understand. If you arouse even a hair’s breadth of discrimination in the mind, you will be as far from the original root as heaven is from earth. Seon practitioners should immediately overcome the discriminative mind by opening their eyes to the fact that there is no dharma to be ascertained. However, it is also true that it is difficult for ordinary people not to arouse the discriminative mind while immersed in the sense fields, because they are not yet free from the functioning of karmic cause and effect. A discriminative mind may arise in Seon practitioners because of karma, but they should build their strength to see through external phenomena by accepting those phenomena just as they are. If you empty your mind and believe in causality, you will always penetrate to the truth.
42. There Is No Dharma to Be Transmitted
[A monk] asked, “To whom did the [First] Patriarch transmit the dharma?”
The master replied, “He had no dharma to transmit to anyone.”
[A monk] asked, “Why then did the Second Patriarch ask the master to pacify his mind?”
The master replied, “If you say it exists, then the Second Patriarch would have gained the mind by seeking it. However, since he looked for the mind but couldn’t find it, [Bodhidharma] told him, ‘I have already pacified it for you.’ If there were something to gain, you would end up back in production and cessation.”
問 祖傳法付與何人 師云 無法與人 云 云何二祖請師安心 師云 你若道有 二祖即合覓得心 覓心不可得故 所以道 與你安心竟 若有所得 全歸生滅.
Master Huangbo clearly points out that since the dharma cannot be seen, it is not something to be given or received. Nonetheless, the questioner persists: “If there is no dharma to be transmitted, then why did Master Huike, the Second Patriarch, ask Bodhidharma to pacify his mind for him?” Master Huangbo then answers that, since the dharma is formless, it is not an object that can be gained or lost. Whenever somebody says that he or she gains something, that is false. What is false belongs to dharmas that involve production and cessation. It is nothing but a mirage created in accordance with causes and conditions.
Since there is nothing to be gained, the mind can be pacified.
43. Unobstructed Wisdom
[A monk] asked, “Did the Buddha bring an end to ignorance or not?”
The master replied,
“Ignorance is the very site where all buddhas attain the Way.
問 佛窮得無明否 師云 無明即是一切諸佛得道之處.
In the history of humankind, Śākyamuni Buddha was the one who discovered a method for illuminating wisdom, which he then transmitted to the mundane world. Was there anyone before Śākyamuni Buddha who transmitted this method for revealing the wisdom that can remove ignorance? Once the great saint Śākyamuni Buddha showed the causal conditions through which the bright wisdom that had been covered by ignorance could be revealed, changes began to occur. Therefore, there is a huge difference in the quality of life before and after the Buddha appeared in the world.
If you attain realization, you will know that ignorance is the very locus of enlightenment.
“Therefore dependent origination is the site of enlightenment. Every single dust mote and visual object that you see accords with the ideal nature that has no boundaries. Wherever you lift and put down your feet is not separate from the site of enlightenment. The site of enlightenment is unascertainable. I tell you that this quality of being unascertainable is what is called ‘sitting at the site of enlightenment.’ ”
所以緣起是道場 所見一塵一色 便合無邊理性 舉足下足不離道場 道場者無所得也 我向你道 祇無所得 名為坐道場.
The prospect of the Buddha’s enlightenment occurs only at his enlightenment site (bodhimaṇḍa) and nowhere else. Therefore, whether ignorant or wise, material or immaterial, everything arises and changes here without disappearing there.
A Bird in Flight Leaves No Trace Page 27