Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (159 page)

TIANTONG RUJING (1163–1228) was a disciple and Dharma heir of Zu’an Zhijian. Rujing came from the city of Weijiang in ancient Mingzhou (near modern Ningbo City in Zhejiang Province). During his life he lived at a succession of famous temples including Qingliang Temple at Nanjing and Jingzi Temple on the south edge of West Lake in Hangzhou. He eventually resided at Tiantong, where he taught and transmitted the Buddhadharma to the famous Japanese monk Eihei Dogen.
The Record of Rujing
reveals Dogen’s teacher to be among the most poetically expressive of all the Zen ancients. He effused his Dharma talks with wonderful natural allusions and poetry of the highest order. The following passages are from
The Record of Rujing.

Once, when sitting in his abbot’s quarters, Zen master Tiantong Rujing said, “Gouge out Bodhidharma’s eyeball and use it like a mud ball to hit people!”

Then he yelled, “Look! The ocean has dried up and the ocean floor is cracked! The billowing waves are striking the heavens!”

Rujing addressed the monks, saying, “This morning is the first day of spring. The poetry of the pomegranate blossoms enters its samadhi. How can such words be expressed?”

Rujing lifted his whisk and said, “Witness a single red speck of the myriad karmic streams! The spring colors that move us need not be many.”
²⁴¹

Rujing entered the hall and said, “The willows are adorned with waistbands, and plum blossoms fall onto your sleeves. You catch a glimpse of the orioles. Dance like the great wind!”

Then Rujing said, “Whose realm is this? At the foot of the Jingzi Temple gate—the heads of tuber plants appear.”

Zen worthies from all directions assembled at Qingliang Temple [a temple in Nanjing City where Tiantong then resided as abbot].

Tiantong addressed them, saying, “The great way has no gate! It jumps off the heads of you Zen worthies who have assembled from every direction. Emptiness is without a path. It goes in and out of the nostrils of the host of Qingliang Temple. Attendees here today are the thieving descendants of the Tathagata—the calamitous offspring of Linji!

“Aiyee! Everyone is dancing crazily in the spring wind. The apricot blossoms have fallen and the red petals are scattered on the breeze!”

Zen master Tiantong Rujing entered the hall. Striking the ground with his staff he said, “This is the realm of vertical precipice.”

Striking the floor again he said, “Deep, profound, remote, and distant. No one can reach it.”

He struck again and said, “But supposing you could reach this place, what would it be like? Aieee! I smile and point to the place where apes call. There is yet another realm where the numinous traces may be found.”

Tiantong addressed the monks, saying, “Thoughts in the mind are confused and scattered. How can they be controlled? In the story about Zhaozhou and whether or not a dog has buddha nature, there is an iron broom named ‘Wu.’ If you use it to sweep thoughts, they just become more numerous. Then you frantically sweep harder, trying to get rid of even more thoughts. Day and night you sweep with all your might, furiously working away. All of a sudden, the broom breaks into vast emptiness, and you instantly penetrate the myriad differences and thousand variations of the universe.”

Tiantong addressed the monks, saying, “The clouds mindlessly drift past the mountain cliffs. Four years ago, or just yesterday, is today. In due course, water returns to its source. Four years hence, or just today, is yesterday.”

Tiantong then raised his whisk and moved it in a great circle, saying, “If I must present this to you here, then I say that every year is a good year. Every day is a good day. So tell me, how can this be verified? Where clouds and water meet they laugh ‘Ha, Ha!’ Their laughter spontaneously fills the wind and sunlight.”

Twenty-fourth Generation

YUELIN SHIGUAN

YUELIN SHIGUAN (1143–1217) was a disciple of Dahong Zuzheng. He taught at Wanshou (“Long Life”) Temple in Suzhou around the year 1200. Other details of his life are sketchy. He is remembered primarily as the teacher who transmitted the Dharma seal of Linji Zen to the famous priest Wumen Huikai.

Twenty-fifth Generation

WUMEN HUIKAI, “HUANGLONG,” “FOYAN”

WUMEN HUIKAI (1183–1260) was a student of Yuelin Shiguan. Huikai came from Hangzhou, the site of West Lake and numerous famous Zen temples. Lamp records indicate that he started his Zen study with the master Yuelin Shiguan of the Yangqi branch in the Linji tradition, who gave him the kōan “Wu” as the focus of his study. Wumen worked with this famous kōan for six years without progress. Finally, he vowed not to sleep until he penetrated the heart of this Zen gate. Finally, as he stood in the Dharma hall, he heard the bell sound for the midday meal and suddenly realized profound enlightenment. He then wrote a verse that included the following: