Zen Humor
DRUNK
Japanese Zen master Oda Sesso (1901-66), abbot of Daitokuji monastery, warned,
“There is little to choose between a man lying in the ditch heavily drunk on
rice liquor, and a man heavily drunk on his own ‘enlightenment’!”
GENEROSITY
The saintly Japanese Zen hermit, poet, calligrapher, friend of children and
benefactor to the poor, Ryokan (1758-1831), lived austerely and simply in a
little hut below a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to find
nothing there to steal. So he went off into the night. Ryokan caught up with
him: “You may have come a long way to visit me, and you should not return empty
handed. Please take my clothes as a gift.” The bewildered thief took the clothes
and slunk away. Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon. “Poor fellow,” he mused,
“I wish I could give him this beautiful moon!”
PURE NOTHING
Bodhidharma was regarded by later Chan tradition as the first Patriarch of this
“meditation” school of Buddhism (Chinese: Chan;
Japanese: Zen; Korean: Seon, from the Indian Sanskrit word Dhyana).
Bodhidharma is alleged to have come from south India to south China around 527
CE and to have visited Emperor Wu-di, founder of the Liang dynasty at Nanjing
and one of Buddhism’s greatest all-time patrons in China.
In a fanciful tale invented well over a
century after Bodhidharma's time, it is said that Emperor Wu asked Bodhidharma
about the highest meaning of noble Truth, and Bodhidharma replied, “Vast
emptiness, there is no noble Truth.” “Who, then, is standing before me?” “I
don’t know,” said Bodhidharma. Emperor Wu then asked the enigmatic Indian sage
how much karmic merit he, the emperor, had accumulated by building monasteries,
ordaining monks, sponsoring translations and copies of scriptures and making
Buddhist art-images. Bodhidharma was quite blunt: “No merit whatever!” And he
left the region.
SHOW ME YOUR EGO-MIND
One of the most famous legends spun about Bodhidharma is that the seeker Huike
(Chinese WadeGiles: Hui-k'o) patiently stood deep in the nocturnal snow outside
the old master’s cave, yearning for instruction. He finally hacked off his own
left forearm and presented it as a demonstration of his sincere aspiration for
complete enlightenment. (In Daoxuan’s earlier and likely more accurate account,
wandering bandits had cut off his arm.) Bodhidharma told Huike: “This
enlightenment is not to be sought through another.” Huike begged to have his
agitated self or mind pacified. The sage retorted, “Show me your self and I
will pacify it.” Huike said “I’ve sought it many years but can’t get hold of
it.” Bodhidharma then declared: “There! It is pacified once and for all!” Upon
hearing this, suddenly Huike completely
awakened to his transcendent
True Nature before/beyond the ego-self. He was free in/as his Ever-Free Nature.
(Huike would retrospectively later be designated the “second Patriarch” of a
“Chan School” of Buddhism by authors writing around 700 CE).
But now, what about that forearm—was it still
with Huike? Did he care? Was he not the fullness and wholeness of Perfect
Realization? In any case, now we know where Hakuin (d.1768) got his famous Zen koan: "What
is the sound of one hand?"
And if you pity Huike for that silly old lost
forearm, he's still got one very good arm with which to smack you!
THE WISE MAN
Daoxin (Tao-hsin, 580-651), the so-called "4th Chinese Chan
Patriarch," the actual first Chan master of a settled monastic community,
stated: “The wise man does nothing, while the fool is always tying himself up.”
PRAYER FLAG
Some monks were sitting quietly in the garden of a Buddhist monastery on a
calm, beautiful day. The prayer flag on the roof started fluttering and
flapping in a breeze. A young monk observed: “Flag is flapping.” Another monk
said: “Wind is flapping the
flag.” The Chan master Huineng (whom Southern School Chan regards as 6th
Patriarch), overhearing the two monks talking, declared: “It is your minds that
are flapping.” Centuries later another famous Chan monk, Wumen Huikai
(1183-1260), commented on this episode: “Flag, wind, minds flapping. Several mouths were
flapping!”
THE RIVER
Two Zen monks, Tanzan and Ekido, traveling on pilgrimage, came to a muddy river
crossing. There they saw a lovely young woman dressed in her kimono and finery,
obviously not knowing how to cross the river without ruining her clothes.
Without further ado, Tanzan graciously picked her up, held her close to him,
and carried her across the muddy river, placing her onto the dry ground. Then
he and Ekido continued on their way. Hours later they found themselves at a
lodging temple. And here Ekido could no longer restrain himself and gushed
forth his complaints: “Surely, it is against the rules, what you did back
there…. Touching a woman is simply not allowed…. How could you have done that?
… And to have such close contact with her! … This is a violation of all
monastic protocol…” Thus he went on with his verbiage. Tanzan listened
patiently to the accusations. Finally, during a pause, he said, “Look, I set
that girl down back at the crossing. Are you still carrying her?”
(Based on an autobiographical story by Japanese master Tanzan, 1819-1892)
DROP IT
A young monk brought two potted plants into the monastery’s garden while the
Zen master looked on. “Drop it,” instructed the master. The young monk gently
let down one pot. “Drop it,” again ordered the master. The monk let go the
second pot. “DROP IT!” roared the master. The young monk stammered, “But… I have
nothing more to drop.” “Then take it away,” said the old master, smiling.
FINAL TRANSMISSION
A wise old Zen master, very near death, lay quietly on his mat with his eyes
closed, all his disciples gathered around. Kneeling closest to him was his
number one disciple, a longtime practitioner who would succeed the old man as
head of the monastery. At one point the old master opened his eyes, and
lovingly gazed at each and every one of his disciples assembled in the crowded
room. Finally his glance rested on his successor, and he managed to speak his
last words to the man: “Ah, my son, you have a very thorough knowledge of the
teachings and scriptures, and you have shown great discipline in keeping the
precepts. Your behavior has, in fact, been flawless. Yet there is one more
thing remaining to be cleared up: you still reek and stink of ‘Zen’!”
WHO ARE YOU?
Keiji, a long-time Zen student, approached his master and said: “I don’t see
how there can be any enlightenment that sets you free once and for all. I think
we just get ever greater glimpses of Buddha-nature, the vastness that is our
true Reality. It’s an ever-expanding process.” The master, looking
penetratingly at Keiji, replied. “That may be what you think. But what is your
experience, your experience right now?” Keiji looked momentarily confused. “My
experience right now, Master?” “Yes. Do you know yourself as Keiji, having
ever-expanding experiences of Buddha-nature? Or do you know yourself as Buddha-nature, having the
experience of Keiji?”
ZEN MASTER BANKEI ON OUR UNBORN TRUE-NATURE
The renown Japanese Zen master Bankei Yotaku (1622-93) drew huge multitudes to
hear his pithy teaching, Fu-sho! “Unborn!” Meaning, “Don’t get ‘born’—abide as your
Unborn Buddha-Nature.” A woman suffering under patriarchal East Asian norms
once complained to Master Bankei that her gender was a karmic obstacle. He
retorted: “From what time did you become a woman?”
Bankei never wanted anyone to become fascinated by anything other than our
Infinite Nature. And so, when a monk stepped forth in a vast assembly and
proudly told Bankei, “I diligently chant the Light Mantra night and day and my
body emits rays of light,” Bankei replied: “Those rays of light of yours are
nothing but the flames of the evil passions consuming your body.”
In a two-line section of his famous poem, Honshin No Uta,
Bankei says: “It's the buddhas I feel sorry for: with all those ornaments they
wear / They must be dazzled by the glare!”
A monk wondered why Bankei used none of the methods of fabled Chan/Zen masters
of yore, such as the stick, the shout, the slap. Bankei replied, “I know how to
use the three inches”—i.e., his tongue, to tell people they are really Unborn!
Bankei criticized fellow Japanese Zen teachers who hid their own failure to
realize Unborn Buddha-nature with, instead, a mish-mash of confusing old
Chinese-language koan-anecdotes, the “dregs and slobber of the Chan
Patriarchs” as he called the ancient lore! And he chided the overly clever who
are deluded by their own cleverness. “I tell my students, 'Be stupid'!... What
I'm talking about isn't the stupidity of (mindless) stupidity or (clever)
understanding. That which transcends stupidity and understanding is what I mean by
stupidity.”
THE MASTER’S TEACHING
The illustrious Chan adept Mazu (Ma-tsu, 709-88) in his youth is said to have
asked his master Nanyue (677-744), “What great spiritual truth do you teach?”
Nanyue raised his fan. Mazu remarked, “Is that all? Nothing else?” Master
Nanyue then lowered his fan.
COMMENTING ON A STORY
Mazu's enlightened disciple Yanguan Qi'an (Yen-kuan Ch'i-an; 750-842) was told
the story of how a monk asked the teacher Damei, "What is the essential
meaning of Buddhism?" Damei had answered, "There is no essential
meaning." Upon hearing this, Yanguan commented, "It's one coffin with
two corpses."
EMPTINESS
When Tesshu (1836-88), the famous Japanese samurai master of the sword, was
young and headstrong, he visited one Zen master after another. Once he went to
visit Master Dokuon and triumphantly announced to him the classic Buddhist
teaching that all that exists is empty, there is really no you or me, and so
on. The master listened to all this in silence. Suddenly he snatched up his
pipe and struck Tesshu’s head with it. The infuriated young swordsman would
have killed the master there and then, but Dokuon said calmly, “Emptiness is
sure quick to show anger, is it not?” Tesshu left the room, realizing he still
had much to learn about Zen. He later became fully enlightened and founded the
art of “no-sword.”
THE TRULY WISE OLD MONK
A young Zen monk was recognized by his teacher as having experienced an initial
breakthrough enlightenment (Japanese: satori, kensho). His
teacher then told the young man that, for realizing complete, irreversible
enlightenment (Sanskrit: anuttara-samyak-sambodhi), he would need to study under a certain wise old
master whose small temple was situated in another part of the country. And so
the young man set off to meet the old master. After several weeks of travel, he
finally arrived at the remote temple. The sentry told him that all the other
monks were working at their daily chores, and sent the young man straightaway
to the meditation hall to meet the venerable master.
Entering the meditation hall, the young monk
espied an old man doing repeated prostrations to a simple statue of the Buddha,
softly chanting the name of Buddha Amida (who saves all sentient beings from
suffering). The young man was shocked. Having realized from his teacher the
basic truth that the Self or Buddha-nature is formless openness-emptiness,
utterly transcendent and all-pervasive, he was a bit disturbed to see the old
man apparently still caught up in such “dualistic” practices—ritually bowing to
an idol and chanting with devotion to a mythical Buddha.
And so he came up to the aged monk,
introduced himself, and, from his “truly enlightened” perspective, proceeded to
lecture the old man on the futility and stupidity of worshipping mere forms.
Finally, his brief rant over, he realized that, having traveled such a long way
to meet the “master,” he should probably ask the old monk for whatever wisdom
he had to share. “So, old man, what can you tell me about full enlightenment?”
In response, the master smiled, said nothing,
and resumed sincerely bowing in gratitude before the statue of the Buddha,
gently invoking the Name of Amida on behalf of all beings….
And, in a flash, the young man fully
understood the way of true spirituality, and he, too, began spontaneously to
bow alongside the old master.
EXPERIENCES
A student went to see his meditation teacher and said, “My situation is
horrible! I feel so distracted most of the time, or my legs ache, or I’m
repeatedly falling asleep. It’s terrible.” Said the teacher matter-of-factly,
“It will pass.”
A week later, the student returned to his
teacher. “My meditation is wonderful! I feel so aware, so peaceful, so alive!”
The teacher told him, “It will pass.”
MIND
Chan master Fayan (Fa-yen, 885-958) interrupted an argument among some monks
concerning the relationship of mind to reality by posing to them a question:
“Over there is a large boulder. Do you say that it is inside or outside your
mind?” One of the monks replied, “From the Buddhist viewpoint everything is an
objectification of mind, so that I would have to say that the stone is inside
my mind.” Quipped Fayan, “Your head must be very heavy!”
PROPER FUNCTIONING
Chan master Yunmen (864-949) put it so simply, “When walking just walk. When
sitting just sit. Above all, don’t wobble.”
THE KANSHIKETSU
The famous Zen abbess of the 20th century, Rev. Shundo Aoyama relates (in her
book Zen Seeds): “The Zen term kanshiketsu literally means ‘shit-stick.’ In China, a monk calling on Zen Master
Yun-men asked, ‘What is a buddha?’ Yun-men replied, ‘A dried shit-stick.’ When
the abbot or any of the teachers is away from a temple for a week or so, the
novices think nothing of it. But if there were no toilet paper, they would
quickly feel its absence! Shit-sticks, which were used in former days for the
same purpose, could be washed and re-used any number of times. Shit-sticks
become dirty to clean us. If these are not buddhas, what is? Out of gratitude
for them, I recognize the shit-stick as a buddha.”
THE POET AND THE MASTER
Garma C. Chang relates the story of Su Dongpo (Su Tung-p'o), a celebrated poet
and devout Buddhist of the Song Dynasty, who was close friends with Fo-ying, a
brilliant Chan master. Fo-ying's temple was on the Yangxi River’s west bank,
while Su Dongpo's house stood on the east bank. One day Su Dongpo paid a visit
to Master Fo-ying and, finding him absent, sat down in his study to wait.
Finally bored with waiting, he began to scribble poetic verses on a sheet of
paper he found on a desk, signing them with the words, "Su Dongpo, the
great Buddhist who cannot be moved even by the combined forces of the mighty
Eight Worldly Winds." (These are gain, loss, defamation, eulogy, praise,
ridicule, sorrow and joy.) After a while longer of waiting, Su Dongpo got tired
and left for home.
When Master Fo-ying returned and saw Su
Dongpo's composition on the desk, he added the following line after the poet’s
signature line: "Rubbish! What you have said is not better than breaking
wind!" and sent it to Su Dongpo. When Su Dongpo read this outrageous
comment, he was so furious that he crossed the river on the nearest boat, and
hurried once again to Fo-ying’s temple. Catching hold of the master’s arm, Su
Dongpo cried: "What right have you to denounce me in such language? Am I
not a devout Buddhist who cares only for the Dharma? Are you so blind after
knowing me for so long?"
Master Fo-ying looked at him quietly for a
few seconds, then smiled and slowly said: "Ah, Su Dongpo, the great
Buddhist who claims that the combined forces of the Eight Winds can hardly move
him an inch, is now carried all the way to the other side of the Yangxi River
by a single puff of wind from the colon!"
ANTAIJI TEMPLE
This famous little Zen temple in northern Kyoto (in 1976 re-located away from
the encroaching city to a remote mountain location in northern Hyugo
prefecture), was inspired by the very simple, yet deep style of zazen taught by
reformer “Homeless Kodo” Sawaki Roshi (1880-1965). Antaiji was very popular
with the most serious zazen practitioners from all over Japan and from abroad
in the 1960s and 1970s, during which time it was led by Roshi Kosho Uchiyama
(d.1996). The five-day sesshins were notable for their complete focus on
sitting and walking meditation—no chanting of scriptures or dharanis (mantras),
no interviews with the master, or anything else. The Rev. Shundo Aoyama tells
that at the close of one five-day sesshin meditation intensive, when some
talking was finally allowed, Master Uchiyama declared to the group of ardent
meditators: “The zazen practice here amounts to nothing, no matter how long you
sit. But it would really come in handy if you were to be put in jail.”
DOGEN’S RETURN
Dogen Zenji (1200-53), the illustrious Japanese master who founded Soto Zen in
Japan in 1233, had four years of Chan training in China from 1223-7, over two
years under master Rujin (Ju-ching), frequently receiving personal instructions
from the master in his chamber. While in China, Dogen procured or copied
valuable texts, including at least one major
koananthology
and also the major Chinese Chan monastic rule-book. At some point after his
return to Japan, he was asked, “What noble teachings have you brought back?” He
replied, “I have returned empty handed!”
A CAREER
 |
| Zen Master Harada Sogaku |
Japan’s Zen Master Harada Sogaku (1870-1961) once wrote in verse: “For 40 years
I’ve been selling water by the bank of a river. Ho! Ho! My labors have been
wholly without merit.”
HOLY FOOL
Harada-roshi taught: “My admonition is this: be a Great Fool! A petty little
fool is nothing but a worldling. But a Great Fool is a Buddha!”
VISIONS
Harada’s successor Yasutani (1885-1973) declared: “To see a beautiful vision of
a celestial Buddha does not mean that you are any nearer to becoming one
yourself!”
KEEPING WARM
Danxia Tianran (739-824), a famous disciple of 8th-century Chan masters Mazu
and Shitou, was spending a night at a ruined temple with a few traveling
companions. It was fiercely cold and no firewood was to be found. Danxia went
to the Buddha-shrine hall, took down the sacred wooden image of the Buddha, and
set it ablaze to warm himself. Reproached by his friends for this act of
sacrilege, he said: “I was only looking for the sharira (sacred
relic) of the Buddha.” “How can you expect to find sharira in a piece of wood?”
asked his fellow travelers. Replied Danxia, “Ah, well then, I am only burning a
piece of wood after all. Shall we burn a few more?”
WORDS
Some officials came to see the Chinese emigre Chan/Zen master Lanqi Daolong (J:
Daikaku Zenji; 1213-78) of Kamakura, Japan, and complained that the one page Hridaya Sutra ("Heart Scripture"), chanted daily in Zen monasteries, is too
long and difficult to read. They preferred the 7-syllable mantra given by
Nichiren of the New Lotus school (Namu Myoho Renge Kyo) or even the
6-syllable Nembutsu (Namu Amida Butsu) of the Pure Land Buddhist school.
Daikaku listened to them and said, “If you want to recite the Zen scripture, do
it with just one word. It is the six- and seven-syllable phrases which are far
too long!”
Master Setsuo would present this story of
Daikaku to his own pupils: “The Zen school says that the Buddha in all his 49
years of preaching never uttered a single word. But our Old Buddha (Daikaku)
declares one word to lead the people to salvation. What is that word? What is that one great word?! If you cannot find it your whole life will be spent
entangled in creepers in a dark cave. If you can say it, with that leap of
realization you will pervade heaven and earth.” Those to whom Setsuo gave this
riddle over the years tried the word “Heart” and the word “Buddha,” also the
words “God,” “Truth,” “mantra,” etc., but none of them hit it.
So what is that one word?
POSTMORTEM
Before Japanese Rinzai Zen Master Takuan Soho (1573-1645) died, this great
scholar-artist-teacher instructed: “Bury my body on the mountain behind the
temple; throw earth on it and go away. No scripture reading, no offerings—go on
with your meals. Afterwards, no pagoda, no monument, no posthumous name or
title, and certainly no biography full of dates!” At his final moment, he wrote
the Chinese character for yume ("dream"), put down the brush, and died.
NAME OF AMIDA BUDDHA
 |
| Kokkuji Temple |
When, earlier in his ministry as a famous Zen roshi, Takuan was asked by a monk
whether he ever performed the sacred Nembutsu recitation of the holy Name of
Amida Buddha, he replied, “No, never.” “Why not?” “Because I don’t want my
mouth polluted!” Yet it's funny: Takuan had spent years in his youth involved
in chanting Amida's name as a member of the Pure Land devotional Buddhist sect!
Later, in his little text Reiroshu,
Takuan told the following story:
When Ippen Shonin met Zen master Hotto Kokushi, the founder of the
Kokokuji Temple in Yura village, he said, “I have composed a poem.” Master
Kokushi said, “Let's hear it.” Ippen recited:
When I chant,
Both Buddha and self
Cease to exist,
There is only the voice that says,
Namu Amida Butsu.
Kokushi said, “Something's wrong with the
last couple of lines, don't you think?” Ippen then confined himself in Kumano
and meditated for twenty-one days. When he passed by Yura again, he said to the
Master, “This is how I've written it”:
When I chant,
Both Buddha and self
Cease to exist.
Namu Amida Butsu,
Namu Amida Butsu.
Kokushi nodded his enthusiastic approval,
“That's it!”
SPEECH-SILENCE
Chinese Chan master Yiduan (I-tuan, 9th century), a disciple of Nanquan,
declared: “Speech is blasphemy! Silence is a lie! Above speech and silence,
there is a way out.”
TRADITION
When Chan master Yunmen (Yün-men, 864-949) was asked by a monk for details
about the life and teaching of ancient sage Nagarjuna, the renowned Indian
master of the 2nd century, considered a primary Patriarch of Chan/Zen and other
schools of Buddhism, Yunmen smilingly replied: “In India there are ninety-six
classes of heretics, and you belong to the lowest.”
SUCCESSION
When Huineng (638-713), regarded by Shenhui's "Southern School" of
Chan Buddhism as the 6th Patriarch, was allegedly asked on what basis he
succeeded the 5th Patriarch in this lineage of Buddhism, Huineng is said to
have instantly replied, “Because I do not understand Buddhism.”
PRACTICE
One of Huineng’s supposed successors, Master Nanyue, came upon young Mazu who
had been ardently spending all his days sitting in meditation at a temple. The
master asked Mazu, “What are you doing?” “I’m practicing meditation.” “Why?”
asked the master. Said Mazu, “I want to attain enlightenment; I aim to become a
Buddha.” Master Nanyue thereupon picked up a rough tile lying nearby and began
to vigorously rub it against a rock. “What are you doing?” asked Mazu. Said the
master, “I want to make this tile into a mirror.” “How is it possible to make a
tile into a mirror?” asked Mazu. Retorted Nanyue: “How is it possible to become
a Buddha by doing meditation?… If you keep the Buddha seated, this is murdering
the Buddha.”
Modern-era Soto Zen master Shunryu Suzuki
(1904-71) clarifies: “We practice zazen meditation to naturally express True
Nature, not to ‘attain enlightenment.’” And one of Zen master Sengai’s
(1751-1837) famous cartoonist Zen paintings shows a smiling frog sitting on a
lily pad, with the caption: “If by seated meditation one becomes a Buddha…
[implication: then all frogs are Buddhas!]”)
WHO IS THE BUDDHA?
A monk asked Chan master Baizhang (Pai-chang, 749-814), “Who is the Buddha?”
Baizhang answered: “Who are you?”
WHAT IS BUDDHA?
A monk asked famous Chan Master Zhaozhou Congshen (Chao-chou, 778-897): “What
is the Buddha?” The master replied: “The one in the hall.” The monk said, “But
the one in the hall is an image, a mere statue, a lump of mud.” Zhaozhou
agreed, “That’s true.” “So,” persisted the monk, “what is the Buddha?” Zhaozhou
responded: “The one in the hall!”
THE CONTEST
One summer day the venerable old Zhaozhou proposed a little contest of Zen
repartee with his attending disciple, Wenyuan: to see who could identify
himself with the lowest thing in the scale of human values. Zhaozhou began: “I
am a donkey.” Wenyuan: “I am the donkey’s buttocks.” Zhaozhou: “I am the
donkey’s dung.” Wenyuan: “I am a worm in the dung.” Zhaozhou, unable to think
of a rejoinder, asked, “What are you doing there?” Replied Wenyuan: “I am
spending my summer vacation!” Zhaozhou laughingly conceded defeat.
ELIXIR IN THE PURE-LAND
A monk asked Zhaozhou, “What is that which is spiritual?” The Master replied,
“A puddle of piss in the Pure Land [of Amitabha Buddha].” The monk said, “I ask
you to reveal it to me.” Zhaozhou said, “Don’t tempt me.”
KNOWING NOTHING
A monk asked Zhaozhou, “I have come here and know nothing. What are my duties?”
Zhaozhou said, “What’s your name?”
The monk said, “Huihan.”
Zhaozhou retorted, “A fine ‘knowing nothing’ that is!”
ENTERING HELL
An official asked Zhaozhou, “Will the master go into hell or not?”—likely
referring to Bodhisattva Kshitigarbha/Dizang’s activity of liberating beings in
the hell-states.
Zhaozhou replied, “I entered hell long ago.”
The official asked him, “Why do you enter hell?”
Zhaozhou: “If I don’t enter hell, who will teach you?”
READING
Zhaozhou asked a monk, “How many sutras do you read in a day?”
The monk said: “Maybe seven or eight. Sometimes even ten.”
Zhaozhou said, “Oh, then you can’t read scriptures.”
The monk asked, “Master, how many do you read in a day?”
Zhaozhou: “In one day I read one word.”
HERESY
Zhaozhou entered the Dharma hall and addressed the monks, saying, “When a true
person speaks a heresy, all heresies become true. When a heretic speaks a
truth, all truth becomes heresy.”
DUST
One day Zhaozhou was sweeping. A monk asked, “The master is a great worthy. Why
are you engaged in the lowly task of sweeping?”
Zhaozhou said, “Dust comes in from outside.”
The monk replied, “This is a pure temple. Why, then, is there dust?”
Zhaozhou said, “Ah, there’s some more dust.”
A GREAT MAN
A monk asked Dasui Fazhen of Sichuan (Ta-sui Fa-chen; 878-963) what is the sign
of a truly great man? Dasui replied, “He doesn’t have a placard on his
stomach.”
LIVING ALONE
Dasui asked a departing monk, “Where are you going?” The monk said, “I’m going
to live alone on West Mountain.” Dasui asked, “If I call out to the top of East
Mountain for you, will you come or not?” The monk replied, “Of course not.”
“Ah,” said Dasui, “you haven’t yet attained ‘living alone.’”
LIPS
One time when many people assembled to hear Dasui, he contorted his mouth into
a pained position and said, “Is there anyone here who can cure my mouth?” Monks
and laypersons all vied with each other to offer medicines and potions, but
Dasui refused them all. Seven days later he slapped himself and his mouth
resumed normal appearance. He then declared, “Those two lips have been drumming
against each other all these years—up until now no one has cured them!” He then
sat upright and died.
A CUP OF TEA
In the early 20th century, Zen master Nan-in received a university professor
who came to ask about Zen. But instead he only talked on and on about his own
ideas. Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then, while the
man continued to speak, Nan-in kept on pouring the tea. The professor watched
the overflow until he could no longer restrain himself. “You fool! It is
overfull. No more will go in!” Nan-in replied, “Like this cup, you are also too
full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you
first empty your mind?”
ELOQUENT SPACE
When the old warrior Hosokawa Shigeyuki (1434–1511) retired as daimyo or
territorial lord of Sanuki Province, he became a Zen priest. One day he invited
a visiting scholar-monk, Osen Kaisan (1429–93), to see a landscape-painting he
himself had brushed in ink on a recent trip to Kumano and other scenic spots on
the Kii Peninsula. When the scroll was opened, there was nothing but a long,
blank sheet of paper. The monk Osen, struck by the emptiness of the
"painting," exclaimed:
Your brush is as tall as Mount Sumeru,
Black ink large enough to exhaust the great earth;
The white paper as vast as the Void that swallows up all illusions.
(—from a story related by William Scott Wilson, The One Taste of Truth: Zen and the Art of Drinking
Tea, 2012)
ALL ENLIGHTENED
Someone asked Soto Zen master Shunryu Suzuki (1904-71): “What do you think of
all of us crazy Zen students?” He replied: “I think you're all deeply enlightened....
Until you open your mouths.”
IMPRESSED BY THE MONKS
When Catholic missionary St. Francis Xavier was touring Japan, he was
graciously hosted in 1549 by the extraordinarily friendly master Ninshitsu of
Fukusho-ji Soto Zen monastery, near Kagoshima. Strolling through the temple
grounds one day, Xavier saw monks meditating in great repose and dignified
appearance. “What are they doing?” he asked Ninshitsu. The master laughed,
“Some are calculating contributions received the past month, others are
wondering how to get better clothing, and still others are thinking of vacation
and past times. In short, no one here is doing anything of importance!”
FORTUNE
A Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near Zen master Hakuin,
who at that point was still young, evidently in his 30s or 40s. One day the
girl's parents suddenly discovered she was pregnant and were very angry when
she refused to confess the man's identity. After much harassment she at last
named the monk Hakuin. Furious, the parents went to confront the master. He
would only say, “Is that so?” Shortly after the child was born it was brought
to Hakuin. By this time he had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him,
but he took very good care of the child, obtaining milk from neighbors and all
else the child needed. A year later the girl could not stand it any longer. She
told her parents the truth—the child's real father was a young man working at
the fish market. At once the girl's parents rushed to see Hakuin, apologetically
explaining and begging forgiveness, and humbly asking to bring the child back
to its mother and real father. Hakuin happily yielded the child to them, saying
only: “Is that so?”
PICTURE
From DT Suzuki: Wang the court-official once asked a monk, “All beings are
endowed with the Buddha-nature; is it really so?” Monk: “Yes, it is so.” Wang
pointed at the picture of a dog on the wall and asked, “Is this, too, supplied
with the Buddha-nature?” The monk did not know what to say. Whereupon the
official gave him the answer: “Look out, the dog bites!”
NAMES
One of the gong'an (Jap.: koan) cases in the Biyan lu (Pi-yen lu or Blue Cliff Record) has Yangshan Huiji (9th cent.)
asking Sansheng Huiran, “What is your name?”
Sansheng said, “Huiji.”
“Huiji?!” Yangshan Huiji said, “That’s my name!”
“Well then,” said Sansheng Huiran, “my name is Huiran.”
Yangshan roared with laughter.
Nine centuries later, in commenting on the
first line of this case, Hakuin Zenji said of Huiji’s initial question of
Huiran: “It is like a policeman interrogating some suspicious fellow he has
found loitering in the dark.” Hakuin observes of the next two lines: “this is
no place for lame horses and blind asses,” before commenting on the penultimate
line: “Their singing together and handclapping, their drumming and dancing—it
is as if the spring blossoms had their reds and purples competing against one
another in the new warmth.”
POEMS FROM HERMIT SHIWU
Poems by the Chan hermit Shiwu (1272-1352), a.k.a. Chinghong / Stonehouse:
My hut isn’t quite six feet across
surrounded by pines bamboos and mountains
an old monk hardly has room for himself
much less for a visiting cloud
Standing outside my pointed-roof hut
who’d guess how spacious it is inside
a galaxy of worlds is there
with room to spare for a zazen cushion
My mind outshines the autumn moon
not that the autumn moon isn’t bright
but once full it fades
no match for my mind
always full and bright
as to what the mind is like
why don’t you tell me?
WHAT DOES THE BUDDHA LOOK LIKE?
—Daoquan (Tao-ch’uan), a 12th century Chan master, wrote a verse:
Make it out of clay or wood or silk
paint it blue or green and gild it with gold
but if you think a buddha looks like this
the Goddess of Mercy (Guanyin) will die from laughter.
FIRST PRINCIPLE
A monk asked master Zhu’an Shigui (1083-1146), “What is the first principle?”
Shigui said, “What you just asked is the second principle.” [Phenomena!]
WHAT DO YOU CALL IT?
Case 43 of the Wumenguan tells that Chan master Shoushan Xingnian (926-93)
(whom scholars credit as real founder of the Linji Chan school) once held up a
bamboo staff before the assembly and said, “If you say it’s a staff, you’re
grasping at words; if you say it’s not a staff, you’re turning away in
nonsense. What do you say?”
It is said that, in the next century, the
Chan master Huitang Zuxin (1025-1100), when interviewing a monk in the abbot’s
quarters, would often raise a fist and say, “If you call it a fist, I’ll hit
you with it. If you don’t call it a fist, you’re being evasive. What do you
call it?”
What a copy-cat! So what happens when
Shoushan's staff emerges out of the Void to meet Huitang's fist... What you
call that??
INSIDE-OUTSIDE
A student spoke up in the assembly at one of the centers of Korean Son/Zen
master Seung Sahn (Soen-sa nim, 1927-2004), saying, “It seems that in
Christianity God is outside me, whereas in Zen God is inside me, so God and I
are one, correct?”
Soen-sa said, “Where is inside? Where is outside?” Said the
student: “Inside is in here; outside is out there.” Asked Soen-sa: “How can you
separate? Where is the boundary line?” “I’m inside my skin, and the world is
outside it.” Soen-sa then said, “This is your body’s skin. Where is your mind’s
skin?” “Mind has no skin.” “Then where is your mind?” “Inside my head,” said
the student. “Ah, your mind is very small. (Laughter all around.) You must keep
your mind BIG. Then you will understand that God, Buddha, and the whole
universe fit into this BIG MIND.” Then, holding up his watch, Soen-sa said, “Is
this watch outside your mind or inside it?” “Outside,” said the student.
Soen-sa replied in his usual playful fashion: “If you say ‘outside,’ I will hit
you thirty times. If you say ‘inside,” I will hit you thirty times.”… After a
silence, Soen-sa continued: “Don’t make inside or outside. Okay?”
PUT IT DOWN
On another occasion, Soen-sa nim quoted to a student the ancient Chan/Zen
teaching, “Originally all things are empty.” “Yet,” said Soen-sa, “you want to
attain enlightenment. This is funny.... Put it down! Put it down! [Let it go!]
Now, this is funny. What is there to put down?”
SPEAKING OF THE TEACHER
A visiting monk was taking leave of master Wufeng (9th cent.). The master said
to him, “When you travel around, don’t slander me by saying that I am here.”
The monk said, “I won’t say you’re here.” The master asked, “Where would you
say I am?” The visiting monk held up one finger (to symbolically express the
Zen intuition of oneness). “Ah,” said the master, “you have already slandered
me.”
THE INTERVIEW
(The following story uses Japanese spellings for Chinese names:)
The nun Mujaku, before she was ordained, sometimes visited great master Daiye
(Dahui, 1089-1163) for instruction in his private quarters. He had seven women disciples
but Mujaku was the most beautiful. Head monk Manan, likely concerned about his
master's reputation in the community, objected strongly to her visits. Daiye,
who knew her great virtue, told Manan he should go interview Mujaku. Manan
reluctantly agreed and went to see Mujaku at her small home. She came out to
meet Manan and asked him, “Will you make it a spiritual interview or a worldly
interview? “A spiritual interview,” said Manan. Mujaku went into her room and
in a moment she told him to come in. He did so and there found Mujaku lying
face upwards on the bed without any clothes. He pointed at her and began a Zen
dialogue: “What is in there?” She replied, “All the Buddhas of the three worlds
and all the patriarchs and great priests everywhere— they all come out from
here.” Manan said to her: “And would you let me enter, or not?” Mujaku replied:
“A donkey might pass; a horse may not pass.” Befuddled, Manan said nothing, and
Mujaku declared: “The interview with the head monk is ended.” She rolled over
and showed her backside. Manan turned red and left. Daiye later told Manan:
“The old gal had some insight, didn’t she? She outfaced head monk Manan!”
BROTHER DISCIPLES
The illustrious reviver of Korean Son/Seon (Zen) Buddhism for the modern era,
master Kyongho Song-u (1846-1912), had many great dharma-successors. The most
formidable was Mangong Wolmyon (1871-1946). Once, Mangong and Suwol
(1855-1928), an older dharma successor of Kyongho, were sitting together in
conversation. Suwol picked up a bowl of browned rice, a favorite Korean snack,
and spoke in the paradoxical language typical of Son/Zen: “Don’t say this is a
bowl of browned rice. Don’t say this is not a bowl of browned rice. Just give
me one word.” Mangong reached over, took the bowl from Suwol and threw it out
of the window. Suwol was very pleased, “Very good. That’s wonderful!”
CIRCLES
A monk once made a circle in the air and asked Son master Mangong, “Why is it
that all the monks of the world between the sky and the ground cannot get into the
middle of this circle?” Mangong also made a circle and said, “Why is it that
all the monks cannot go out from the middle of this circle?” (They cannot leave
their changeless Real Nature!)
A FORMAL DISCOURSE
One day Chan master Yangqi (Yang-chi, 992-1049), after meditating with the
large assembly of monks, got up to give the formal lecture on the way of
enlightenment. Gazing out at all the monks, he instead began laughing. “Ha! Ha!
Ha! What’s all this? Ha! Ha! Please go to the back of the hall and drink some
tea!”
The saintly Japanese Zen hermit, poet, calligrapher, friend of children and
benefactor to the poor, Ryokan (1758-1831), lived austerely and simply in a
little hut below a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to find
nothing there to steal. So he went off into the night. Ryokan caught up with
him: “You may have come a long way to visit me, and you should not return empty
handed. Please take my clothes as a gift.” The bewildered thief took the
clothes and slunk away. Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon. “Poor fellow,” he
mused, “I wish I could give him this beautiful moon!”
PURE NOTHING
Bodhidharma was regarded by later Chan tradition as the first Patriarch of this
“meditation” school of Buddhism (Chinese: Chan; Japanese: Zen;
Korean: Seon, from the Indian Sanskrit word Dhyana).
Bodhidharma is alleged to have come from south India to south China around 527
CE and to have visited Emperor Wu-di, founder of the Liang dynasty at Nanjing
and one of Buddhism’s greatest all-time patrons in China.
In a fanciful tale invented well over a century after
Bodhidharma's time, it is said that Emperor Wu asked Bodhidharma about the
highest meaning of noble Truth, and Bodhidharma replied, “Vast emptiness, there
is no noble Truth.” “Who, then, is standing before me?” “I don’t know,” said
Bodhidharma. Emperor Wu then asked the enigmatic Indian sage how much karmic
merit he, the emperor, had accumulated by building monasteries, ordaining
monks, sponsoring translations and copies of scriptures and making Buddhist
art-images. Bodhidharma was quite blunt: “No merit whatever!” And he left the
region.
SHOW ME YOUR EGO-MIND
One of the most famous legends spun about Bodhidharma is that the seeker Huike
(Chinese WadeGiles: Hui-k'o) patiently stood deep in the nocturnal snow outside
the old master’s cave, yearning for instruction. He finally hacked off his own
left forearm and presented it as a demonstration of his sincere aspiration for
complete enlightenment. (In Daoxuan’s earlier and likely more accurate account,
wandering bandits had cut off his arm.) Bodhidharma told Huike: “This
enlightenment is not to be sought through another.” Huike begged to have his
agitated self or mind pacified. The sage retorted, “Show me your self and I
will pacify it.” Huike said “I’ve sought it many years but can’t get hold of
it.” Bodhidharma then declared: “There! It is pacified once and for all!”
Upon
hearing this, suddenly Huike completely awakened to his
transcendent True Nature before/beyond the ego-self. He was free in/as his
Ever-Free Nature. (Huike would retrospectively later be designated the “second
Patriarch” of a “Chan School” of Buddhism by authors writing around 700 CE).
But now, what about that forearm—was it still with Huike?
Did he care? Was he not the fullness and wholeness of Perfect Realization? In
any case, now we know where Hakuin (d.1768) got his famous Zen koan:
"What is the sound of one hand?"
And if you pity Huike for that silly old lost forearm,
he's still got one very good arm with which to smack you!
PERFECTION
In the poetic little Chan wisdom treatise, Xinxin Ming (WadeGiles: Hsin
Hsin Ming, 8th century, fancifully attributed to the so-called "3rd
Chan Patriarch," Sengcan / Seng-t’san, d.606), we hear the following: “One
in all, all in one—if only this is realized, no more worry about your not being
‘perfect!’”
THE WISE MAN
Daoxin (Tao-hsin, 580-651), the so-called "4th Chinese Chan
Patriarch," the actual first Chan master of a settled monastic community,
stated: “The wise man does nothing, while the fool is always tying himself up.”
PRAYER FLAG
Some monks were sitting quietly in the garden of a Buddhist monastery on a
calm, beautiful day. The prayer flag on the roof started fluttering and
flapping in a breeze. A young monk observed: “Flag is flapping.” Another monk
said: “Wind is flapping the flag.” The Chan master Huineng (whom
Southern School Chan regards as 6th Patriarch), overhearing the two monks talking,
declared: “It is your minds that are flapping.” Centuries
later another famous Chan monk, Wumen Huikai (1183-1260), commented on this
episode: “Flag, wind, minds flapping. Several mouths were
flapping!”
THE RIVER
Two Zen monks, Tanzan and Ekido, traveling on pilgrimage, came to a muddy river
crossing. There they saw a lovely young woman dressed in her kimono and finery,
obviously not knowing how to cross the river without ruining her clothes.
Without further ado, Tanzan graciously picked her up, held her close to him,
and carried her across the muddy river, placing her onto the dry ground. Then
he and Ekido continued on their way. Hours later they found themselves at a
lodging temple. And here Ekido could no longer restrain himself and gushed forth
his complaints: “Surely, it is against the rules, what you did back there….
Touching a woman is simply not allowed…. How could you have done that? … And to
have such close contact with her! … This is a violation of all monastic
protocol…” Thus he went on with his verbiage. Tanzan listened patiently to the
accusations. Finally, during a pause, he said, “Look, I set that girl down back
at the crossing. Are you still carrying her?”
(Based on an autobiographical story by Japanese master Tanzan, 1819-1892)
WHO ARE YOU?
Keiji, a long-time Zen student, approached his master and said: “I don’t see
how there can be any enlightenment that sets you free once and for all. I think
we just get ever greater glimpses of Buddha-nature, the vastness that is our
true Reality. It’s an ever-expanding process.” The master, looking
penetratingly at Keiji, replied. “That may be what you think. But what is your
experience, your experience right now?” Keiji looked momentarily confused. “My
experience right now, Master?” “Yes. Do you know yourself as Keiji, having
ever-expanding experiences of Buddha-nature? Or do you know yourself as
Buddha-nature, having the experience of Keiji?”
ZEN MASTER BANKEI ON OUR UNBORN TRUE-NATURE
The renown Japanese Zen master Bankei Yotaku (1622-93) drew huge multitudes to
hear his pithy teaching, Fu-sho! “Unborn!” Meaning, “Don’t get
‘born’—abide as your Unborn Buddha-Nature.” A woman suffering under patriarchal
East Asian norms once complained to Master Bankei that her gender was a karmic
obstacle. He retorted: “From what time did you become a woman?”
Bankei never wanted anyone to become fascinated by anything other than our
Infinite Nature. And so, when a monk stepped forth in a vast assembly and
proudly told Bankei, “I diligently chant the Light Mantra night and day and my
body emits rays of light,” Bankei replied: “Those rays of light of yours are
nothing but the flames of the evil passions consuming your body.”
In a two-line section of his famous poem, Honshin No Uta, Bankei
says: “It's the buddhas I feel sorry for: with all those ornaments they wear /
They must be dazzled by the glare!”
A monk wondered why Bankei used none of the methods of fabled Chan/Zen masters
of yore, such as the stick, the shout, the slap. Bankei replied, “I know how to
use the three inches”—i.e., his tongue, to tell people they are really Unborn!
Bankei criticized fellow Japanese Zen teachers who hid their own failure to
realize Unborn Buddha-nature with, instead, a mish-mash of confusing old
Chinese-language koan-anecdotes, the “dregs and slobber of the Chan
Patriarchs” as he called the ancient lore! And he chided the overly clever who
are deluded by their own cleverness. “I tell my students, 'Be stupid'!... What
I'm talking about isn't the stupidity of (mindless) stupidity or (clever)
understanding. That which transcends stupidity and
understanding is what I mean by stupidity.”
THE MASTER’S TEACHING
 |
| Mazu |
The illustrious Chan adept Mazu (Ma-tsu, 709-88) in his youth is said to have
asked his master Nanyue (677-744), “What great spiritual truth do you teach?”
Nanyue raised his fan. Mazu remarked, “Is that all? Nothing else?” Master
Nanyue then lowered his fan.
APPROPRIATE TEACHINGS
Mazu's primary successor at his two communities at Mt. Gonggong and Hongzhou,
Xitang Zhizang (Hsi-t'ang Chih-tsang; 738-817), was asked by a layman, “Is
there a heaven and hell?” Xitang replied, “There is.” Layman: “Is there really
a Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha (Buddhist assembly)?”
“There is.” The layman asked a few more similar questions, to each of which Xitang
affirmed, “There is.” The layman then wondered, “Is the master sure there’s no
mistake about this? I once visited Master Jingshan, who said there isn’t a
single thing.” Xitang asked him, “Do you have a wife and children?” The layman
replied, “Yes.” Xitang further asked: “Does Master Jingshan have a wife and
children?” “No.” Xitang concluded, “Then it’s okay for Jingshan to say there
isn’t a single thing.”
VISITING TEACHER
When Chan Master Deshan (Te-shan, 782-865) arrived at Guishan monastery, he
carried his bundle with him into the teaching hall, where he crossed from east
to west and then from west to east. He looked around at all the monks assembled
and said, “There’s nothing here, simply no one at all.” Then he went out.
EMPTINESS
When Tesshu (1836-88), the famous Japanese samurai master of the sword, was
young and headstrong, he visited one Zen master after another. Once he went to
visit Master Dokuon and triumphantly announced to him the classic Buddhist
teaching that all that exists is empty, there is really no you or me, and so
on. The master listened to all this in silence. Suddenly he snatched up his
pipe and struck Tesshu’s head with it. The infuriated young swordsman would
have killed the master there and then, but Dokuon said calmly, “Emptiness is
sure quick to show anger, is it not?” Tesshu left the room, realizing he still
had much to learn about Zen. He later became fully enlightened and founded the
art of “no-sword.”
THE TRULY WISE OLD MONK
A young Zen monk was recognized by his teacher as having experienced an initial
breakthrough enlightenment (Japanese: satori, kensho).
His teacher then told the young man that, for realizing complete, irreversible
enlightenment (Sanskrit: anuttara-samyak-sambodhi), he would need
to study under a certain wise old master whose small temple was situated in
another part of the country. And so the young man set off to meet the old
master. After several weeks of travel, he finally arrived at the remote temple.
The sentry told him that all the other monks were working at their daily
chores, and sent the young man straightaway to the meditation hall to meet the
venerable master.
Entering the meditation hall, the young monk espied an old
man doing repeated prostrations to a simple statue of the Buddha, softly
chanting the name of Buddha Amida (who saves all sentient beings from
suffering). The young man was shocked. Having realized from his teacher the
basic truth that the Self or Buddha-nature is formless openness-emptiness,
utterly transcendent and all-pervasive, he was a bit disturbed to see the old
man apparently still caught up in such “dualistic” practices—ritually bowing to
an idol and chanting with devotion to a mythical Buddha.
And so he came up to the aged monk, introduced himself,
and, from his “truly enlightened” perspective, proceeded to lecture the old man
on the futility and stupidity of worshipping mere forms. Finally, his brief
rant over, he realized that, having traveled such a long way to meet the
“master,” he should probably ask the old monk for whatever wisdom he had to
share. “So, old man, what can you tell me about full enlightenment?”
In response, the master smiled, said nothing, and resumed
sincerely bowing in gratitude before the statue of the Buddha, gently invoking
the Name of Amida on behalf of all beings….
And, in a flash, the young man fully understood the way of
true spirituality, and he, too, began spontaneously to bow alongside the old
master.
THE MOON OF ENLIGHTENMENT
Zen masters have often spoken of Enlightenment as like the moon shining brightly
in the dark sky, while the Zen Buddhist teachings are like a finger pointing up
toward the moon. Too many people, however, instead of gazing at the great moon,
prefer to relentlessly suck on the finger!
AUTHENTICITY
An old Zen saying: “In matters of religion, most persons prefer chewing the
menu to actually eating the food!”
EXPERIENCES
A student went to see his meditation teacher and said, “My situation is
horrible! I feel so distracted most of the time, or my legs ache, or I’m repeatedly
falling asleep. It’s terrible.” Said the teacher matter-of-factly, “It will
pass.”
A week later, the student returned to his teacher. “My
meditation is wonderful! I feel so aware, so peaceful, so alive!” The teacher
told him, “It will pass.”
HOLY ANCESTORS
A monk asked master Xuefeng Yicun (Hsueh-Feng, 822-908) what were the essential
teachings of the Buddha and holy Patriarchs. Old Feng replied, “The Buddha is a
bull-headed jail-keeper and the Patriarchs are horse-faced old maids!”
MIND
Chan master Fayan (Fa-yen, 885-958) interrupted an argument among some monks
concerning the relationship of mind to reality by posing to them a question:
“Over there is a large boulder. Do you say that it is inside or outside your
mind?” One of the monks replied, “From the Buddhist viewpoint everything is an
objectification of mind, so that I would have to say that the stone is inside
my mind.” Quipped Fayan, “Your head must be very heavy!”
MIND: PART TWO
Chan master Huangbo (Huang-po, d.850s) said: “Many people are afraid to empty
their own minds lest they plunge into the Void. Ha! What they don’t realize is
that their own Mind is the Void.”
MIND: PART THREE
Huangbo is said to have been unusually tall. Master Nanquan (Nanchu'an)
couldn't help but remark: “Your body is unusually big—isn’t your straw hat too
small?” Huangbo replied: “Perhaps... but the entire universe is within it.”
ENLIGHTENMENT: PART ONE
The formidable Japanese Rinzai Zen master Hakuin (1686-1768) spoke: “If you
want to get at the pristine truth of egolessness, you must once and for all let
go your hold and fall over the precipice!”
ENLIGHTENMENT: PART TWO
Concerning terms for enlightenment and liberation like “Bodhi,” “Nirvana,”
etc., Chinese Chan master Linji Yixuan (Lin-chi I-hsuan, d.867) is alleged by
later sources to have said: “These words are a stake to which donkeys are
fastened!”
ENLIGHTENMENT: PART THREE
When asked about “enlightenment,” wise old Bishop Nippo Syaku (1910-91), head
of a few Ekayana Buddhist temples in California, replied in his halting,
heavily accented English: “Ah, enlightenment… You can’t fall into it. You can’t
fall out of it!”
ENLIGHTENMENT: PART FOUR
Zenkei Shibayama (1894-1974), overseer of the large Rinzai Zen Nanzen-ji branch
of temples, once related: “There is a common saying [in Japanese Zen], “Miso
(bean paste) with the smell of miso is not good miso. Enlightenment with the
smell of enlightenment is not the real enlightenment.”
PROPER FUNCTIONING
Chan master Yunmen (864-949) put it so simply, “When walking just walk. When
sitting just sit. Above all, don’t wobble.”
SAME - DIFFERENT
Yunmen sang:
The cloud and the moon, both the same.
Valleys and mountains, each different.
Are they one, or are they two?
Wonderful! Splendid!
THE KANSHIKETSU
The famous Zen abbess of the 20th century, Rev. Shundo Aoyama relates (in her
book Zen Seeds): “The Zen term kanshiketsu literally
means ‘shit-stick.’ In China, a monk calling on Zen Master Yun-men asked, ‘What
is a buddha?’ Yun-men replied, ‘A dried shit-stick.’ When the abbot or any of
the teachers is away from a temple for a week or so, the novices think nothing
of it. But if there were no toilet paper, they would quickly feel its absence!
Shit-sticks, which were used in former days for the same purpose, could be
washed and re-used any number of times. Shit-sticks become dirty to clean us.
If these are not buddhas, what is? Out of gratitude for them, I recognize the
shit-stick as a buddha.”
THE POET AND THE MASTER
Garma C. Chang relates the story of Su Dongpo (Su Tung-p'o), a celebrated poet
and devout Buddhist of the Song Dynasty, who was close friends with Fo-ying, a
brilliant Chan master. Fo-ying's temple was on the Yangxi River’s west bank,
while Su Dongpo's house stood on the east bank. One day Su Dongpo paid a visit
to Master Fo-ying and, finding him absent, sat down in his study to wait.
Finally bored with waiting, he began to scribble poetic verses on a sheet of
paper he found on a desk, signing them with the words, "Su Dongpo, the great
Buddhist who cannot be moved even by the combined forces of the mighty Eight
Worldly Winds." (These are gain, loss, defamation, eulogy, praise,
ridicule, sorrow and joy.) After a while longer of waiting, Su Dongpo got tired
and left for home.
When Master Fo-ying returned and saw Su Dongpo's
composition on the desk, he added the following line after the poet’s signature
line: "Rubbish! What you have said is not better than breaking wind!"
and sent it to Su Dongpo. When Su Dongpo read this outrageous comment, he was
so furious that he crossed the river on the nearest boat, and hurried once
again to Fo-ying’s temple. Catching hold of the master’s arm, Su Dongpo cried:
"What right have you to denounce me in such language? Am I not a devout Buddhist
who cares only for the Dharma? Are you so blind after knowing me for so
long?"
Master Fo-ying looked at him quietly for a few seconds,
then smiled and slowly said: "Ah, Su Dongpo, the great Buddhist who claims
that the combined forces of the Eight Winds can hardly move him an inch, is now
carried all the way to the other side of the Yangxi River by a single puff of
wind from the colon!"
ANTAIJI TEMPLE
This famous little Zen temple in northern Kyoto (in 1976 re-located away from
the encroaching city to a remote mountain location in northern Hyugo
prefecture), was inspired by the very simple, yet deep style of zazen taught by
reformer “Homeless Kodo” Sawaki Roshi (1880-1965). Antaiji was very popular
with the most serious zazen practitioners from all over Japan and from abroad
in the 1960s and 1970s, during which time it was led by Roshi Kosho Uchiyama
(d.1996). The five-day sesshins were notable for their complete focus on
sitting and walking meditation—no chanting of scriptures or dharanis (mantras),
no interviews with the master, or anything else. The Rev. Shundo Aoyama tells
that at the close of one five-day sesshin meditation intensive, when some
talking was finally allowed, Master Uchiyama declared to the group of ardent
meditators: “The zazen practice here amounts to nothing, no matter how long you
sit. But it would really come in handy if you were to be put in jail.”
DOGEN’S RETURN
Dogen Zenji (1200-53), the illustrious Japanese master who founded Soto Zen in
Japan in 1233, had four years of Chan training in China from 1223-7, over two
years under master Rujin (Ju-ching), frequently receiving personal instructions
from the master in his chamber. While in China, Dogen procured or copied
valuable texts, including at least one major koananthology and also
the major Chinese Chan monastic rule-book. At some point after his return to
Japan, he was asked, “What noble teachings have you brought back?” He replied,
“I have returned empty handed!”
A CAREER
Japan’s Zen Master Harada Sogaku (1870-1961) once wrote in verse: “For 40 years
I’ve been selling water by the bank of a river. Ho! Ho! My labors have been
wholly without merit.”
HOLY FOOL
Harada-roshi taught: “My admonition is this: be a Great Fool! A petty little
fool is nothing but a worldling. But a Great Fool is a Buddha!”
VISIONS
Harada’s successor Yasutani (1885-1973) declared: “To see a beautiful vision of
a celestial Buddha does not mean that you are any nearer to becoming one
yourself!”
THE MASTER'S DHARMA TALK
Chan master Linji (Lin-chi, d.867) is said by the later (inauthentic)
Song-dynasty "crazy wisdom" Chan literature to have displayed a
famously fiery approach with students—involving iconoclasm, paradoxical
dialogue, explosive shouting (the famous kwatz!) and even
slapping/striking (though scholar Albert Welter has documented how such
accounts should not be taken at face value). In any case, the image of Linji
inspired the influential Linji Chan school in China (later known as Rinzai Zen
in Japan). Among the transcribed talks we have from Linji, here are
excerpts—some of which may be genuine sayings from Linji—on how he chided
students (and certain fellow teachers!) for their obtuseness in not awakening
to the Buddha-nature "right before/behind your eyes" as he called it:
“O you, followers of Truth… do not be deceived by others. Inwardly or
outwardly, if you encounter any obstacles, lay them low right away. If you
encounter the Buddha [as merely a mind object], slay him; if you encounter the
Patriarch, slay him; if you encounter the parent or the relative, slay them all
without hesitation, for this is the only way to deliverance. Do not get
yourself entangled with any object, but stand above, pass on, and be free. As I
see those so-called followers of Truth all over the country, there are none who
come to me free and independent of objects. In dealing with them, I strike them
down any way they come…. There are indeed so far none who have presented
themselves before me all alone, all free, all unique. They are inevitably found
caught by the idle tricks of the old masters! … They are all ghostly
existences, ignominious gnomes haunting the woods, elf-spirits of the
wilderness. They are madly biting into all heaps of filth. O you, why are you
wasting all the pious donations of the devout [who give to the monastery]! Do
you think you deserve the name of ‘monk’ when you are still entertaining
mistaken ideas of Zen? You are putting another head over your own! What do you
lack in yourselves? O you, followers of Truth, what you are making use of at
this very moment is none other than what makes a Patriarch or a Buddha. But you
do not believe me, and stupidly seek it outwardly…. There are no realities
outside, nor is there anything [any “thing”] inside you may lay your hands on!”
And elsewhere Linji said: “Students nowadays do not know the Dharma. They are
like goats, nuzzling and nibbling at everything they come across. They cannot
distinguish the servant from the master, nor the guest from the host.”
Other sayings from Linji or attributed to him: “What is the frantic hurry to
deck yourselves in a lion's skin when all the while you are yapping like wild
foxes? A real man has no need to give himself the airs of a real man!”
“Monks,… I spent twenty years with my late master, Huangbo. Three times I asked
him on the essence of Buddhism, and three times he beat me. It was as if he had
caressed me with a branch of fragrant sage. Now I feel like tasting a sound
beating again; who can give it to me?” A monk stepped forward and said, “I
can.” The master took up his stick and handed it to him. The monk hesitated to
take hold of it. So the master hit him.
“A student wearing chains presents himself before the [mediocre or false]
teacher. The teacher then puts another set of chains on him. The student is overjoyed.
Neither the one nor the other are capable of discernment…. Followers of the
Way, the true sentiment is very difficult, the Buddha-Dharma is a profound
mystery. But if you understand, you smile. … Even if there is no form, the
brightness shines of itself. But students have not enough faith. So they cling
to names and phrases and try to find the meaning of these names. For fifty
years and more they run about carrying their corpses, their staffs and
bundles.”
HELP
The famously "rogue" Rinzai Zen Master Ikkyu (d.1481), later the
abbot of Japan's Daitokuji monastery, told a visitor: “I'd like to offer
something to help you. But in the Zen School we don't have a single thing!”
THE TEACHINGS
So wisely unattached are the Zen masters to the elements of their own
tradition, that the great Zen painter Sengaku (1750-1837) could sketch an
image—almost incredible in the context of most other religions—of a monk
leaning over to relieve himself of intestinal gas, with the accompanying
calligraphy inscription: “One Hundred Days of Buddhist Spiritual Teaching!”
KEEPING WARM
Danxia Tianran (739-824), a famous disciple of 8th-century Chan masters Mazu
and Shitou, was spending a night at a ruined temple with a few traveling
companions. It was fiercely cold and no firewood was to be found. Danxia went
to the Buddha-shrine hall, took down the sacred wooden image of the Buddha, and
set it ablaze to warm himself. Reproached by his friends for this act of
sacrilege, he said: “I was only looking for the sharira (sacred
relic) of the Buddha.” “How can you expect to find sharira in a piece of wood?”
asked his fellow travelers. Replied Danxia, “Ah, well then, I am only burning a
piece of wood after all. Shall we burn a few more?”
Tianran Roasting the Buddha, painting by Sengai Gibbon (1750-1837)
 |
| Touzi Daitong |
WHAT IS THE BUDDHA?
Touzi Daitong (T’ou-tzu Tai-t’ung, d.914), a mentor to famous Chan master
Zhaozhou (Chao-chou), was once asked, “What is the Buddha?” His considered
response: “The Buddha!”
When Nanyuan Huiyong (860-930) was likewise asked (it’s a very popular question
in Chan tradition!), “What is the Buddha?” He replied, “What is not the
Buddha?” Another time his answer was, “I never knew him.” On a third occasion,
when asked “What is the Buddha?”—Nanyuan replied, “Wait until there is one—then
I’ll tell you.”
SELF
Master Xuansha (Hsüan-sha, 9th century) was asked by a monk, “What is my self?”
Hsüan-sha retorted, “What would you do with a self?” This same Master Xuansha
once described the existential situation: “We are here as if immersed in water
head and shoulders underneath the great ocean, and yet how piteously we are
extending our hands for water!”
LIES
An old Indian-Chinese Buddhist tradition holds that someone who makes false
statements concerning the Dharma, the spiritual Way or Truth, will lose all his
facial hair. So Chan master Cuiyan (Ts’ui-yen, 9th to 10th century), at the end
of one summer spiritual intensive remarked to all those assembled, “Since the
beginning of this summer session, I have talked much. Please see if my eyebrows
are still there!”
WORDS
Some officials came to see the Chinese emigre Chan/Zen master Lanqi Daolong (J:
Daikaku Zenji; 1213-78) of Kamakura, Japan, and complained that the one page Hridaya
Sutra ("Heart Scripture"), chanted daily in Zen monasteries,
is too long and difficult to read. They preferred the 7-syllable mantra given
by Nichiren of the New Lotus school (Namu Myoho Renge Kyo) or even the
6-syllable Nembutsu (Namu Amida Butsu) of the Pure Land Buddhist school.
Daikaku listened to them and said, “If you want to recite the Zen scripture, do
it with just one word. It is the six- and seven-syllable phrases which are far
too long!”
Master Setsuo would present this story of Daikaku to his
own pupils: “The Zen school says that the Buddha in all his 49 years of
preaching never uttered a single word. But our Old Buddha (Daikaku) declares
one word to lead the people to salvation. What is that word? What is
that one great word?! If you cannot find it your whole life will be
spent entangled in creepers in a dark cave. If you can say it, with that leap
of realization you will pervade heaven and earth.” Those to whom Setsuo gave
this riddle over the years tried the word “Heart” and the word “Buddha,” also
the words “God,” “Truth,” “mantra,” etc., but none of them hit it.
So what is that one word?
POSTMORTEM
 |
| Zen Master Takuan Soho |
Before Japanese Rinzai Zen Master Takuan Soho (1573-1645) died, this great
scholar-artist-teacher instructed: “Bury my body on the mountain behind the
temple; throw earth on it and go away. No scripture reading, no offerings—go on
with your meals. Afterwards, no pagoda, no monument, no posthumous name or
title, and certainly no biography full of dates!” At his final moment, he wrote
the Chinese character for yume ("dream"), put down
the brush, and died.
NAME OF AMIDA BUDDHA
 |
| Zen roshi |
When, earlier in his ministry as a famous Zen roshi, Takuan was asked by a monk
whether he ever performed the sacred Nembutsu recitation of the holy Name of
Amida Buddha, he replied, “No, never.” “Why not?” “Because I don’t want my
mouth polluted!” Yet it's funny: Takuan had spent years in his youth involved
in chanting Amida's name as a member of the Pure Land devotional Buddhist sect!
Later, in his little text Reiroshu, Takuan
told the following story:
When Ippen Shonin (13th cent.; later a father of Pure Land
Buddhism) met Zen master Hotto Kokushi, the founder of the Kokokuji Temple in
Yura village, he said, “I have composed a poem.” Master Kokushi said, “Let's
hear it.” Ippen recited:
When I chant,
Both Buddha and self
Cease to exist,
There is only the voice that says,
Namu Amida Butsu.
Kokushi said, “Something's wrong with the last couple of
lines, don't you think?” Ippen then confined himself in Kumano and meditated
for twenty-one days. When he passed by Yura again, he said to the Master, “This
is how I've written it”:
When I chant,
Both Buddha and self
Cease to exist.
Namu Amida Butsu,
Namu Amida Butsu.
Kokushi nodded his enthusiastic approval, “That's it!”
SPEECH-SILENCE
Chinese Chan master Yiduan (I-tuan, 9th century), a disciple of Nanquan,
declared: “Speech is blasphemy! Silence is a lie! Above speech and silence,
there is a way out.”
TRADITION
When Chan master Yunmen (Yün-men, 864-949) was asked by a monk for details
about the life and teaching of ancient sage Nagarjuna, the renowned Indian
master of the 2nd century, considered a primary Patriarch of Chan/Zen and other
schools of Buddhism, Yunmen smilingly replied: “In India there are ninety-six
classes of heretics, and you belong to the lowest.”
SUCCESSION
 |
| Huineng |
When Huineng (638-713), regarded by Shenhui's "Southern School" of
Chan Buddhism as the 6th Patriarch, was allegedly asked on what basis he
succeeded the 5th Patriarch in this lineage of Buddhism, Huineng is said to
have instantly replied, “Because I do not understand Buddhism.”
PRACTICE
 |
| Master Nanyue |
One of Huineng’s supposed successors, Master Nanyue, came upon young Mazu who
had been ardently spending all his days sitting in meditation at a temple. The
master asked Mazu, “What are you doing?” “I’m practicing meditation.” “Why?”
asked the master. Said Mazu, “I want to attain enlightenment; I aim to become a
Buddha.” Master Nanyue thereupon picked up a rough tile lying nearby and began
to vigorously rub it against a rock. “What are you doing?” asked Mazu. Said the
master, “I want to make this tile into a mirror.” “How is it possible to make a
tile into a mirror?” asked Mazu. Retorted Nanyue: “How is it possible to become
a Buddha by doing meditation?… If you keep the Buddha seated, this is murdering
the Buddha.”
Modern-era Soto Zen master Shunryu Suzuki (1904-71)
clarifies: “We practice zazen meditation to naturally express True Nature, not
to ‘attain enlightenment.’” And one of Zen master Sengai’s (1751-1837) famous
cartoonish Zen paintings shows a smiling frog sitting on a lily pad, with the
caption: “If by seated meditation one becomes a Buddha… [implication: then all
frogs are Buddhas!]”)
WHO IS THE BUDDHA?
 |
| master Baizhang |
A monk asked Chan master Baizhang (Pai-chang, 749-814), “Who is the Buddha?”
Baizhang answered: “Who are you?”
WHAT IS BUDDHA?
 |
| Master Zhaozhou Congshen |
A monk asked famous Chan Master Zhaozhou Congshen (Chao-chou, 778-897): “What
is the Buddha?” The master replied: “The one in the hall.” The monk said, “But
the one in the hall is an image, a mere statue, a lump of mud.” Zhaozhou
agreed, “That’s true.” “So,” persisted the monk, “what is the Buddha?” Zhaozhou
responded: “The one in the hall!”
THE CONTEST
One summer day the venerable old Zhaozhou proposed a little contest of Zen
repartee with his attending disciple, Wenyuan: to see who could identify
himself with the lowest thing in the scale of human values. Zhaozhou began: “I
am a donkey.” Wenyuan: “I am the donkey’s buttocks.” Zhaozhou: “I am the
donkey’s dung.” Wenyuan: “I am a worm in the dung.” Zhaozhou, unable to think
of a rejoinder, asked, “What are you doing there?” Replied Wenyuan: “I am
spending my summer vacation!” Zhaozhou laughingly conceded defeat.
ELIXIR IN THE PURE-LAND
A monk asked Zhaozhou, “What is that which is spiritual?” The Master replied,
“A puddle of piss in the Pure Land [of Amitabha Buddha].” The monk said, “I ask
you to reveal it to me.” Zhaozhou said, “Don’t tempt me.”
KNOWING NOTHING
A monk asked Zhaozhou, “I have come here and know nothing. What are my duties?”
Zhaozhou said, “What’s your name?”
The monk said, “Huihan.”
Zhaozhou retorted, “A fine ‘knowing nothing’ that is!”
ENTERING HELL
An official asked Zhaozhou, “Will the master go into hell or not?”—likely
referring to Bodhisattva Kshitigarbha/Dizang’s activity of liberating beings in
the hell-states.
Zhaozhou replied, “I entered hell long ago.”
The official asked him, “Why do you enter hell?”
Zhaozhou: “If I don’t enter hell, who will teach you?”
READING
Zhaozhou asked a monk, “How many sutras do you read in a day?”
The monk said: “Maybe seven or eight. Sometimes even ten.”
Zhaozhou said, “Oh, then you can’t read scriptures.”
The monk asked, “Master, how many do you read in a day?”
Zhaozhou: “In one day I read one word.”
HERESY
Zhaozhou entered the Dharma hall and addressed the monks, saying, “When a true
person speaks a heresy, all heresies become true. When a heretic speaks a
truth, all truth becomes heresy.”
DUST
One day Zhaozhou was sweeping. A monk asked, “The master is a great worthy. Why
are you engaged in the lowly task of sweeping?”
Zhaozhou said, “Dust comes in from outside.”
The monk replied, “This is a pure temple. Why, then, is there dust?”
Zhaozhou said, “Ah, there’s some more dust.”
A GREAT MAN
A monk asked Dasui Fazhen of Sichuan (Ta-sui Fa-chen; 878-963) what is the sign
of a truly great man? Dasui replied, “He doesn’t have a placard on his
stomach.”
LIVING ALONE
Dasui asked a departing monk, “Where are you going?” The monk said, “I’m going
to live alone on West Mountain.” Dasui asked, “If I call out to the top of East
Mountain for you, will you come or not?” The monk replied, “Of course not.”
“Ah,” said Dasui, “you haven’t yet attained ‘living alone.’”
LIPS
One time when many people assembled to hear Dasui, he contorted his mouth into
a pained position and said, “Is there anyone here who can cure my mouth?” Monks
and laypersons all vied with each other to offer medicines and potions, but
Dasui refused them all. Seven days later he slapped himself and his mouth
resumed normal appearance. He then declared, “Those two lips have been drumming
against each other all these years—up until now no one has cured them!” He then
sat upright and died.
A CUP OF TEA
In the early 20th century, Zen master Nan-in received a university professor
who came to ask about Zen. But instead he only talked on and on about his own
ideas. Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then, while the
man continued to speak, Nan-in kept on pouring the tea. The professor watched
the overflow until he could no longer restrain himself. “You fool! It is overfull.
No more will go in!” Nan-in replied, “Like this cup, you are also too full of
your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first
empty your mind?”
ELOQUENT SPACE
When the old warrior Hosokawa Shigeyuki (1434–1511) retired as daimyo or
territorial lord of Sanuki Province, he became a Zen priest. One day he invited
a visiting scholar-monk, Osen Kaisan (1429–93), to see a landscape-painting he
himself had brushed in ink on a recent trip to Kumano and other scenic spots on
the Kii Peninsula. When the scroll was opened, there was nothing but a long,
blank sheet of paper. The monk Osen, struck by the emptiness of the
"painting," exclaimed:
Your brush is as tall as Mount Sumeru,
Black ink large enough to exhaust the great earth;
The white paper as vast as the Void that swallows up all illusions.
(—from a story related by William Scott Wilson, The One Taste of Truth:
Zen and the Art of Drinking Tea, 2012)
INTERPRETING
During Zen’s early history in Japan, the émigré Chinese Chan masters
instructing their pupils often had to make use of interpreters to communicate
with these Japanese students of Zen. Chan master Wuxue Zuyuan (Japanese: Mugaku
Sogen, 1226-86) was brought over to succeed Lanqi Daolong (d. 1279) as head of
Kenchō-ji monastery, and then in 1282 he founded the majestic Engaku-ji
monastery in the forests of northern Kamakura, under Regent Hōjō Tokimune’s
patronage. Lord Tokimune was a personal student of Wuxue, but the spiritual
master never forgot that Tokimune was Japan's ruler. When, during the sanzen
question and answer sessions between Master Wuxue and Lord Tokimune, it was
time for the master to playfully strike the disciple for incomprehension or
encourage greater efforts (the usual custom among Chan masters by this point in
China’s Chan development), Wuxue delivered the slaps to the
interpreter, not to Lord Tokimune. So who really became enlightened
here—Tokimune or his interpreter? Or both? Or neither?
ALL ENLIGHTENED
Someone asked Soto Zen master Shunryu Suzuki (1904-71): “What do you think of
all of us crazy Zen students?” He replied: “I think you're all deeply
enlightened.... Until you open your mouths.”
IMPRESSED BY THE MONKS
When Catholic missionary St. Francis Xavier was touring Japan, he was
graciously hosted in 1549 by the extraordinarily friendly master Ninshitsu of
Fukusho-ji Soto Zen monastery, near Kagoshima. Strolling through the temple
grounds one day, Xavier saw monks meditating in great repose and dignified
appearance. “What are they doing?” he asked Ninshitsu. The master laughed,
“Some are calculating contributions received the past month, others are
wondering how to get better clothing, and still others are thinking of vacation
and pasttimes. In short, no one here is doing anything of importance!”
FORTUNE
A Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near Zen master Hakuin,
who at that point was still young, evidently in his 30s or 40s. One day the
girl's parents suddenly discovered she was pregnant and were very angry when
she refused to confess the man's identity. After much harassment she at last
named the monk Hakuin. Furious, the parents went to confront the master. He
would only say, “Is that so?” Shortly after the child was born it was brought
to Hakuin. By this time he had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him,
but he took very good care of the child, obtaining milk from neighbors and all
else the child needed. A year later the girl could not stand it any longer. She
told her parents the truth—the child's real father was a young man working at
the fish market. At once the girl's parents rushed to see Hakuin,
apologetically explaining and begging forgiveness, and humbly asking to bring
the child back to its mother and real father. Hakuin happily yielded the child
to them, saying only: “Is that so?”
PICTURE
From DT Suzuki: Wang the court-official once asked a monk, “All beings are
endowed with the Buddha-nature; is it really so?” Monk: “Yes, it is so.” Wang
pointed at the picture of a dog on the wall and asked, “Is this, too, supplied
with the Buddha-nature?” The monk did not know what to say. Whereupon the
official gave him the answer: “Look out, the dog bites!”
NAMES
One of the gong'an (Jap.: koan) cases in the Biyan
lu (Pi-yen lu or Blue Cliff Record) has Yangshan Huiji
(9th cent.) asking Sansheng Huiran, “What is your name?”
Sansheng said, “Huiji.”
“Huiji?!” Yangshan Huiji said, “That’s my name!”
“Well then,” said Sansheng Huiran, “my name is Huiran.”
Yangshan roared with laughter.
Nine centuries later, in commenting on the first line of
this case, Hakuin Zenji said of Huiji’s initial question of Huiran: “It is like
a policeman interrogating some suspicious fellow he has found loitering in the
dark.” Hakuin observes of the next two lines: “this is no place for lame horses
and blind asses,” before commenting on the penultimate line: “Their singing
together and handclapping, their drumming and dancing—it is as if the spring
blossoms had their reds and purples competing against one another in the new
warmth.”
POEMS FROM HERMIT SHIWU
 |
| Chan hermit Shiwu |
Poems by the Chan hermit Shiwu (1272-1352), a.k.a. Chinghong / Stonehouse:
My hut isn’t quite six feet across
surrounded by pines bamboos and mountains
an old monk hardly has room for himself
much less for a visiting cloud
Standing outside my pointed-roof hut
who’d guess how spacious it is inside
a galaxy of worlds is there
with room to spare for a zazen cushion
My mind outshines the autumn moon
not that the autumn moon isn’t bright
but once full it fades
no match for my mind
always full and bright
as to what the mind is like
why don’t you tell me?
WHAT DOES THE BUDDHA LOOK LIKE?
—Daoquan (Tao-ch’uan), a 12th century Chan master, wrote a verse:
Make it out of clay or wood or silk
paint it blue or green and gild it with gold
but if you think a buddha looks like this
the Goddess of Mercy (Guanyin) will die from laughter.
PUT IT DOWN
Fushan Yuan (991-1067) said to Daowu Zhen: The case of those who, while their
study has not yet arrived on the Way, still flash their learning and run off at
the mouth with intellectual understanding, using eloquence and sharpness of
tongue to gain victories, is like outhouses painted vermillion—it only
increases the odor.
TEACHERS AND GOATS
Master Mi-an said, "The reason this [Chan] path has not been flourishing
in recent years is nothing else but the fact that those who are acting as
teachers of others do not have their eyes and brains straight and true. They
have no perception of their own, but just keep fame and fortune and gain and
loss in their hearts. Deeply afraid that others will say they have no stories,
they mistakenly memorize stories from old books, letting them ferment in the
back of their minds so they won’t lack for something to say if seekers ask them
questions. They are like goats crapping: the minute their tails go up,
innumerable dung balls plop to the ground!"
THE TRUE SELF
Zen master Fushan Fayuan (991-1067) entered the Dharma hall and addressed the
monks, “I won’t speak any more about the past and present. I just offer the
matter before you now in order for you to understand.” A monk then asked, “What
is the matter before us now?” Fushan said, “Nostrils.” The monk asked, “What is
the higher affair?” Fushan replied, “The pupils of the eye.”
FIRST PRINCIPLE
A monk asked master Zhu’an Shigui (1083-1146), “What is the first principle?”
Shigui said, “What you just asked is the second principle.” [Phenomena!]
WHAT DO YOU CALL IT?
Case 43 of the Wumenguan tells that Chan master Shoushan
Xingnian (926-93) (whom scholars credit as real founder of the Linji Chan
school) once held up a bamboo staff before the assembly and said, “If you say
it’s a staff, you’re grasping at words; if you say it’s not a staff, you’re
turning away in nonsense. What do you say?”
It is said that, in the next century, the Chan master
Huitang Zuxin (1025-1100), when interviewing a monk in the abbot’s quarters,
would often raise a fist and say, “If you call it a fist, I’ll hit you with it.
If you don’t call it a fist, you’re being evasive. What do you call it?”
What a copy-cat! So what happens when Shoushan's staff
emerges out of the Void to meet Huitang's fist... What you call that??
NO DEFILEMENT
In his chamber, the eminent Chan master Dahui Zonggao (Ta-hui Tsung-kao,
1089-1163) asked a monk, “The Way does not require practice, but it must not be
defiled. What is the undefiled way?” The monk said, “I don’t dare answer.”
Dahui: “Why not?” Monk: “I’m afraid of defilement.” Dahui said, “Good! Bring in
the broom for sweeping shit!” The monk was flustered. Dahui drove him out of
the room with blows.
INSIDE-OUTSIDE
A student spoke up in the assembly at one of the centers of Korean Son/Zen
master Seung Sahn (Soen-sa nim, 1927-2004), saying, “It seems that in
Christianity God is outside me, whereas in Zen God is inside me, so God and I
are one, correct?” Soen-sa said, “Where is inside? Where is outside?” Said the
student: “Inside is in here; outside is out there.” Asked Soen-sa: “How can you
separate? Where is the boundary line?” “I’m inside my skin, and the world is
outside it.” Soen-sa then said, “This is your body’s skin. Where is your mind’s
skin?” “Mind has no skin.” “Then where is your mind?” “Inside my head,” said
the student. “Ah, your mind is very small. (Laughter all around.) You must keep
your mind BIG. Then you will understand that God, Buddha, and the whole
universe fit into this BIG MIND.” Then, holding up his watch, Soen-sa said, “Is
this watch outside your mind or inside it?” “Outside,” said the student.
Soen-sa replied in his usual playful fashion: “If you say ‘outside,’ I will hit
you thirty times. If you say ‘inside,” I will hit you thirty times.”… After a
silence, Soen-sa continued: “Don’t make inside or outside. Okay?”
PUT IT DOWN
On another occasion, Soen-sa nim quoted to a student the ancient Chan/Zen
teaching, “Originally all things are empty.” “Yet,” said Soen-sa, “you want to
attain enlightenment. This is funny.... Put it down! Put it down! [Let it go!]
Now, this is funny. What is there to put down?”
SPEAKING OF THE TEACHER
A visiting monk was taking leave of master Wufeng (9th cent.). The master said
to him, “When you travel around, don’t slander me by saying that I am here.”
The monk said, “I won’t say you’re here.” The master asked, “Where would you
say I am?” The visiting monk held up one finger (to symbolically express the
Zen intuition of oneness). “Ah,” said the master, “you have already slandered
me.”
THE INTERVIEW
(The following story uses Japanese spellings for Chinese names:)
The nun Mujaku, before she was ordained, sometimes visited great master Daiye
(Dahui, 1089-1163) for instruction in his private quarters. He had seven women
disciples but Mujaku was the most beautiful. Head monk Manan, likely concerned
about his master's reputation in the community, objected strongly to her
visits. Daiye, who knew her great virtue, told Manan he should go interview
Mujaku. Manan reluctantly agreed and went to see Mujaku at her small home. She
came out to meet Manan and asked him, “Will you make it a spiritual interview
or a worldly interview? “A spiritual interview,” said Manan. Mujaku went into
her room and in a moment she told him to come in. He did so and there found
Mujaku lying face upwards on the bed without any clothes. He pointed at her and
began a Zen dialogue: “What is in there?” She replied, “All the Buddhas of the
three worlds and all the patriarchs and great priests everywhere— they all come
out from here.” Manan said to her: “And would you let me enter, or not?” Mujaku
replied: “A donkey might pass; a horse may not pass.” Befuddled, Manan said
nothing, and Mujaku declared: “The interview with the head monk is ended.” She
rolled over and showed her backside. Manan turned red and left. Daiye later
told Manan: “The old gal had some insight, didn’t she? She outfaced head monk
Manan!”
BROTHER DISCIPLES
The illustrious reviver of Korean Son/Seon (Zen) Buddhism for the modern era,
master Kyongho Song-u (1846-1912), had many great dharma-successors. The most
formidable was Mangong Wolmyon (1871-1946). Once, Mangong and Suwol (1855-1928),
an older dharma successor of Kyongho, were sitting together in conversation.
Suwol picked up a bowl of browned rice, a favorite Korean snack, and spoke in
the paradoxical language typical of Son/Zen: “Don’t say this is a bowl of
browned rice. Don’t say this is not a bowl of browned rice. Just give me one
word.” Mangong reached over, took the bowl from Suwol and threw it out of the
window. Suwol was very pleased, “Very good. That’s wonderful!”
CIRCLES
A monk once made a circle in the air and asked Son master Mangong, “Why is it
that all the monks of the world between the sky and the ground cannot get into
the middle of this circle?” Mangong also made a circle and said, “Why is it
that all the monks cannot go outfrom the middle of this circle?”
(They cannot leave their changeless Real Nature!)
MEDITATION RETREAT
At his talk at the end of a week-long intensive meditation retreat, the great
Chan master Hsüan-hua (Pinyin: Xuanhua, 1918-1995) concluded: “Now we have
finished. Everyone stand and we will bow to the Buddha three times to thank
him. We thank him because, even if we did not have a great enlightenment, we
had a small enlightenment. And if we did not have a small enlightenment, at
least we didn't get sick. Well, if we got sick, at least we didn't die! So
let's thank the Buddha.”
