Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (153 page)

A monk asked, “What is it before the lotus comes out of the water?”

Kaifu said, “People and gods
gassho
.”
²²⁹

The monk asked, “What about after it comes out of the water?”

Kaifu said, “Nothing’s stopping you from seeing for yourself.”

A monk asked, “What does it mean when the words arrive but the meaning does not arrive?”

Kaifu said, “The Rui grass fundamentally has no roots.
²³⁰
Believers make use of it.”

The monk asked, “What does it mean when the meaning arrives but the words do not arrive?”

Kaifu said, “Receiving the barbed point, not reading the balance scale.”

The monk asked, “What is it when meaning and words both arrive together?”

Kaifu said, “The Mahakaruna does not extend its hands.
²³¹
The entire Buddha body is a clear eye.”

The monk asked, “What is it when neither meaning nor words arrive?”

Kaifu said, “You go to Xiexiang. I go to Tai.”

On the fourth day of the eleventh month of [the year 1113], Kaifu washed his hair and bathed. The following day he gave a talk in the afternoon in which he urged the monks to continue their practice of the Way. He offered them all a sincere farewell. As the sun went down he sat in a cross-legged posture and passed away. His disciples recovered the master’s relics and placed them in a stupa.

TIANTONG ZONGJUE

TIANTONG ZONGJUE (n.d.) was a disciple and Dharma heir of Zhenxie Qingliao. He came from Hezhou.
²³²
Zongjue left home at the age of sixteen and gained ordination two years later. He first studied Zen under Zuzhao Daohe, a master of the Yunmen lineage. After Zuzhao retired from teaching, Zongjue proceeded to study under the Caodong teacher Qingliao, becoming his Dharma heir and a transmitter of the Caodong lineage. In 1132, Zongjue became abbot of Yuelin Temple.
²³³
He remained at Yuelin for twenty-three years before becoming abbot at Mt. Xuedou. Four years later [1159], he moved to Tiantong Monastery, where he obtained his mountain name and forcefully expounded the Dharma for three years until his death in 1162.

A monk asked Tiantong Zongjue, “What is the Way?”

Tiantong said, “Stop making signposts at the crossroads.”

Zongjue entered the hall and addressed the monks, saying, “Across the empty eon, the single body extends beyond the world. Uniting with the ultimate is not attained through meaning, nor can its genuine sign be transmitted through words. It is found in unperturbed empty stillness; the white clouds breaking across cold mountains; the ethereal light penetrating the darkness; the lustrous moon that follows the arrival of night. When it is thus, how does one walk the path? Right and wrong have never departed from the fundamental standpoint. Through the length and breadth of the universe, why need one speak of causation?”

Twenty-second Generation

DAHUI ZONGGAO, “FORI”

DAHUI ZONGGAO (1089–1163) was a disciple of Yuanwu Keqin (Foguo). He came from Ningguo (located in modern Anwei Province). He left home at the age of seventeen to live at Huiyun (“Wisdom Cloud”) Temple on Mt. Dong, and received ordination there the following year.

According to the
Wudeng Huiyuan
, as a young man Dahui happened to encounter a copy of
The Record of Yunmen
. He felt strangely familiar with the text, as though he had previously studied it. Later, he traveled and practiced under various Zen masters, becoming familiar with the prevailing Zen currents of the era.

Dahui ascended Treasure Peak to study under a Zen master named Zhan Tangzhun.
²³⁴
Zhan recognized Dahui’s unusual ability and assigned him to work as his personal attendant. But Dahui’s obstinate personality clashed with his teacher, leading to an exchange in which Zhan ridiculed the young student, saying, “You haven’t experienced enlightenment and the problem is your intellectual understanding!”

Later, Zhan became very ill. Calling Dahui to his side before he died, he directed him to seek out Yuanwu Keqin and apply himself diligently as his student.

Soon, Dahui traveled to Yuanwu’s residence, Tianning Temple, where he heard the master address the monks.
²³⁵

In his talk, Yuanwu spoke of an incident in which a monk asked Yunmen, “What is the place where all buddhas come forth?” Yunmen answered, “The water on East Mountain flows uphill.”

Then someone in the audience asked Yuanwu, “What is the place where all buddhas come forth?”

Yuanwu said, “Warm breezes come from the South, but in the palace there’s a cold draught.”

Upon hearing these words, Dahui’s “past and future were cut off.” Although there was movement, forms were unmanifested. He felt himself sitting in a still, barren place.

Yuanwu continued speaking, “It hasn’t been easy, but you’ve made your way to this great field. What a pity if you were now to die and not be able to attain life. It’s a great error to rely on words. Without knowing where you’ll fall, just let go of the edge of the cliff. Let yourself do it. After you wake up you won’t be deceived again. You must believe in this.”

Thereafter, Dahui was selected to be an attendant in the wood hall. In this post, each day he accompanied the patrons of the temple when they waited to see and then entered the abbot’s quarters for interviews. Yuanwu always said to them, “It’s like words without words. Like a creeper held up by a tree.”

Once when Yuanwu asked Dahui a question, Dahui started to answer when Yuanwu cut him off by saying, “No! No!”

After six months had passed, Dahui asked Yuanwu, “I’ve heard that previously you questioned Wuzu about this phrase, but I don’t know what he answered.”

Yuanwu laughed but did not reply to Dahui’s question.

So Dahui said, “At that time you posed this question to everyone. Why not say it again now?”