Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (130 page)

Huanglong quoted a saying by Yunmen to the congregation, saying, “‘Across the broad plain are innumerable corpses. Those who pass through the forest of thorns are true adepts.’”

He then lifted his whisk and said, “You in the assembly! If you truly call it a broad plain covered with corpses, and you don’t call it a whisk, then you haven’t yet passed through the forest of thorns!”

Huanglong then got down and left the hall.

Huanglong addressed the monks, saying, “Great surging waves, vast and expansive, their billowing whitecaps fill the sky! The ones who pass through them and reach the other shore, they have righteously shed worldly concerns. They have left the solitary oarsman behind and their eyebrows are no longer knit with anxiety. If I were to ask for a single phrase from someone who has quieted the wind and pacified the waves, what would it be? Is there anyone here who can speak it? If there’s no one who can speak then I’ll do it for you.”

After a long pause, Huanglong said, “The fisherman hums a carefree song. The woodsman sings a high melody!”

Huanglong addressed the monks, saying, “The sun comes up in the east. The moon goes down in the west. Coming up; going down. From ancient times until today, all of you have completely understood this; completely observed this. It is Vairochana Buddha; limitless and fathomless…. The myriad things of our daily lives all exist in accordance with conditions. All of you! Why don’t you see? It’s concealed from you by your countless emotions. If you look deeply into causation, then you will not miss what is sacred, nor will you transcend the shadows and traces…. If, in clarity, not a single thought is born, you will be akin to the shining sun and moon, and at one with the revolving firmament. Then the Great Jailer God will give your brains an evil poke that obliterates them!”

Huanglong addressed the monks, saying, “This is the first day of the interval between practice periods. Worthy monks of the congregation! Practice the Way joyfully! At night on the long meditation platform, you can stretch your legs and fold them again whenever you please—not according to someone’s instructions. When the sun comes up you get out of bed and eat some breakfast cakes. When you’ve eaten your fill you can relax.

“At just such a time, what you are doing cannot be called ancient or contemporary. It cannot be considered good or evil. Demons and gods can’t find a trace of it. The myriad dharmas are not its partner. Earth can’t contain it and heaven can’t cover it. Although it’s like this, you still must have pupils in your eyes and blood in your veins. Without pupils in your eyes how do you differ from a blind person? Without blood in your veins, how do you differ from a dead person? Thirty years from now, you won’t be able to blame me!”

When he finished speaking, Huanglong got down from the seat and left the hall.

Huanglong, while addressing the monks, quoted a teaching by the monk Daju, saying, “‘When body, speech, and mind are pure, what is called Buddha appears in the world.
¹⁸⁸
When body, speech, and mind are impure, what is called Buddha is extinguished.’

“What a wonderful message! The ancients, according to circumstances, offered expedient means. They talked about a method for each of you here to find an entrance. Since you have an entrance, you must also find an exit. When you climb the mountain you must reach the top. When you go into the sea you must reach the bottom. If you climb a mountain but don’t reach the top, then you can’t know the vastness of the universe. If you enter the sea but don’t reach the bottom, then you can’t know the depth of the sea. When you know the vastness of the universe and the depth of the sea, then with one kick you can knock over the four seas.
¹⁸⁹
With one shove you can push over Mt. Sumeru. And when you let go, no one, even in your own family, can recognize you.

“The sparrow sings and the crow caws in the willow tree!”

The story of Huanglong’s death is narrated in the
Wudeng Huiyuan
.

One day, Huanglong entered the hall and addressed the monks, saying, “This mountain monk has little talent and sparse virtue, yet I’ve borne the task of being a teacher. So, not being blind to original mind, not deceiving the ancestors, not avoiding birth and death, I now avoid birth and death. Due to not leaving the wheel, I now leave the wheel. That which is not cast off is thus now cast off. That not realized is now completely realized. Thus the light of Buddhism that has passed down from the World-Honored Great Enlightened One is that not a single Dharma can be obtained. What is it that was transmitted to the Sixth Ancestor in the dead of night at Huangmei?”

Huanglong then recited the following verse:

Attaining not attaining,
Transmitting not transmitting,
How can one speak of
Returning to the root and attaining the essence?
Recalling the leaks in her old dwelling,
To what house does the new bride travel?

The next day at noon, Huanglong assumed a cross-legged sitting posture and passed away. His memorial stupa was placed on the hill before the temple. He received the posthumous title “Zen Master Universal Enlightenment.”

YANGQI FANGHUI

YANGQI FANGHUI (992–1049) was a disciple of Shishuang Chuyuan. He is known as the founder of the Yangqi branch of the Linji school. All of the Linji Zen schools in the world today are spiritual descendants of this branch. Yangqi’s home was the city of Yichun in Yuanzhou (now in Jiangxi Province). As a child he was clever and well spoken. As a young man he is reported to have run afoul of authorities in his job as a tax administrator and was forced to flee into obscurity. He later became a monk at Jiufeng in Duanzhou (west of modern Guangzhou City). Traveling to the region of ancient Tanzhou, he studied under the eminent teacher Shishuang Chuyuan and became his Dharma heir. Later, he gained his mountain name while serving as abbot at the Putong Monastery at Mt. Yangqi. In the year 1046, Yangqi moved to Haihui Temple in Tanzhou.

Yangqi taught the principle that Zen is manifested in everyday events, and the great way of emancipation is to be sought in the common activities of people’s lives.