Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (76 page)

After Dongshan died and the mourning period for the monks had passed, Shushan went to Mt. Gui in Tanzhou. There, he heard Guishan [Da’an] address the monks, saying, “Worthies who are on a pilgrimage, you must sleep in sound and form. You must sit and you must lie down in sound and form.”

Shushan came forward and said, “What is a phrase that does not fall into sound and form?”

Guishan raised his whisk into the air.

Shushan said, “This is a phrase that falls into sound and form.”

Guishan then lowered the whisk and went back to his quarters.

Shushan felt no affinity with Guishan, and so he told Xiangyan of his intention to leave.

Xiangyan asked him, “Why don’t you stay here a little longer?”

Shushan said, “The teacher and I do not have affinity.”

Xiangyan said, “Why so? Will you tell me about it?”

Shushan then described the foregoing incident.

Xiangyan said, “I have a saying.”

Shushan said, “What is it?”

Xiangyan said, “When words emanate there is no sound. Before form there are no things.”

Shushan said, “Fundamentally, there is a person here.”

Shushan then said to Xiangyan, “Hereafter, if you find a place to serve as abbot, I’ll come to see you there.”

He then said goodbye to Xiangyan.

Guishan later said to Xiangyan, “Is the short worthy who asked about sound and form here?”

Xiangyan said, “He’s gone away.”

Guishan said, “Did he tell you about what he asked me?”

Xiangyan said, “Yes, and I gave him an answer concerning it.”

Guishan asked, “What did he say?”

Xiangyan said, “He deeply approved my answer.”

Guishan said, “I think that short disciple has some tall points. He just arrived here. In the future if he finds a place to abide, then on that mountain there won’t be firewood to burn or water to drink.”

Shushan heard that the teacher Guishan An of Fuzhou said to his congregation, “There are phrases that are not phrases. They are like a creeping plant that relies on a tree for support.”

Shushan then went into the mountains of Fuzhou to see Dagui An. When he arrived, Dagui was doing masonry work on a wall.

Shushan asked him, “I’ve heard that the master has said, ‘There is a phrase that is not a phrase. It’s like a creeping plant that relies on a tree for support.’ Have you said this or not?”

Dagui said, “Yes.”

Shushan then asked, “If suddenly the tree falls down and the creeper withers, to where do the words return?”

Dagui put down the masonry board and laughed out loud. Then he walked back to his abbot’s quarters.

Shushan followed him, saying, “I’ve sold my shirt and walked three thousand li to come here, just to ask you this question. How can the master treat me like this?”

Dagui then yelled to his attendant, saying, “Give two hundred cash to this monk!”

Then Dagui said to Shushan, “In the future, a one-eyed dragon’s instruction will help you break through.”

The next day, when Dagui addressed the monks in the hall, Shushan stepped forward and asked, “The principle of the dharmakaya is deep and profound. It is a realm beyond good and evil. What is an affair that is beyond the dharmakaya?”

Dagui lifted his whisk into the air.

Shushan said, “This is an affair of the dharmakaya.”

Dagui then asked Shushan, “What is an affair beyond the dharmakaya?”

Shushan grabbed the whisk, broke it in two, threw it on the ground, and then retreated into the congregation.

Dagui said, “Dragons and snakes are easy to tell apart. I’m hard to fool.”

Later, Shushan heard about a teacher named Mingzhao Qian who was teaching in Wuzhou. He had only one eye. Shushan went straight there and paid his respects to Mingzhao.

Mingzhao said to him, “Where have you come from?”

Shushan said, “From Minzhong [Fuzhou].”

Mingzhao then asked, “Did you go see Dagui An there?”

Shushan said, “Yes.”

Mingzhao said, “What did he say?”

Shushan then told Mingzhao what Dagui said.

Mingzhao said, “It may be said that from beginning to end, Dagui was correct. But you haven’t encountered his words.”

Shushan did not yet understand, and he asked Mingzhao, “If suddenly the tree collapses and the creeper withers, to where do the words return?”

Mingzhao said, “You’ve made Dagui laugh again!”

When Shushan heard these words, he experienced great enlightenment.

Shushan then said, “Before, Dagui’s laughter contained a knife.” He then faced in the direction of Dagui’s monastery and bowed in belated gratitude.

Shushan went to see Jiashan. Once when Jiashan was addressing the monks, Shushan asked, “I’ve heard that the master has said, ‘Before the eyes there are no dharmas. The meaning is before the eyes.’ What about a dharma that is not before the eyes?”

Jiashan said, “Shining streams of moonlight, unreflected by the clear pond.”

Shushan made as if to overturn the meditation platform.

Jiashan said, “Your Reverence! What are you doing?”

Shushan said, “Dharmas not before the eyes cannot be attained!”

Jiashan said, “Everyone! Look! Here is a military commander!”

When Shushan was about to die, he composed the following verse:

My way lies outside the blue emptiness.
White clouds have no place to drift.
In the world is a rootless tree,
Yellow leaves sent back by the wind.

LUOPU YUANAN

LUOPU YUANAN (834–98) was a disciple of Jiashan Shanhui. He came from ancient Linyou (now located in modern Jiangxi Province). Ordained at the age of twenty, he was well versed in Buddhist scriptures and doctrine. He studied under Linji Yixuan and served as his attendant. Later he practiced under Jiashan Shanhui for many years, becoming his Dharma heir. After leaving Jiashan, he first lived at Lizhou (now Li County in Hunan Province) on Mt. Luopu, where he gained his mountain name. He then lived at Suxi (in modern Hunan Province).

Luopu was known as a skilled expounder of Dharma, and students came from throughout China to study under him.

Linji once praised Luopu before the congregation, saying, “Here is an arrow of the Linji school. Who dares to withstand its point?” Linji bestowed Dharma transmission upon Luopu, giving him the Dharma name Yizu [“Already Complete”].

When Luopu was acting as Linji’s attendant, a scriptural master came to meet with Linji.

Linji asked the scriptural master, “If there is a person who understands the three vehicles and twelve divisions of scripture, and there is another person who does not understand the three vehicles and twelve divisions of scripture, then do you say these two people are the same or different?”

The scriptural master said, “What they understand is the same. What they don’t understand is different.”

Luopu interjected, saying, “How can you say such a thing? Talking about ‘same’ and ‘different’!”

Linji looked at Luopu and said, “What are you doing?”

Luopu then shouted.

Linji sent away the scriptural master, then asked Luopu, “Do you think it’s appropriate to shout at me?”

Luopu said, “Yes.”

Linji then hit him.

Some time later, when Luopu prepared to leave Linji, Linji asked him, “Where are you going?”

Luopu said, “I’m going south.”

Linji took his staff and drew a circle in the air. Then he said, “Pass through this and then go.”

Luopu shouted.

Linji hit him.

Luopu bowed and then left.

The next day, Linji entered the hall and said, “Beneath the gate of Linji is a red-tailed carp. Shaking its head and wagging its tail, it goes south. I don’t know in whose pickled vegetable pot it will drown.”

Luopu traveled for a year, and then came to Mt. Jia, where he built a hut and stayed. He remained there a year without visiting Zen master Jiashan’s monastery [on the same mountain]. Jiashan wrote a letter and instructed a monk to take it to Luopu. Luopu received the letter, then went back and sat down without reading it. He then extended his hand to the monk [as if to say, “Do you have something else?”].

When the monk didn’t answer, Luopu hit him and said, “Go back and tell your teacher about this.”

The monk recounted to Jiashan what had happened.

Jiashan said, “If he opens the letter, then he’ll come here within three days. If he doesn’t open it, then no one can save him.”

Three days later, Luopu came. Upon coming before Jiashan, he didn’t bow, but just folded his hands and stood there.

Jiashan said, “A chicken is roosting in a phoenix’s nest. They aren’t the same species. Go away!”

Luopu said, “I’ve come from afar to seek your teaching style. I ask you to receive me.”

Jiashan said, “Before me there is no you. I am not over here.”

Luopu shouted.

Jiashan said, “Stop! Stop! Don’t be crude. The moon, though eclipsed by clouds, remains the same. But every valley and peak is different. It’s not that you can’t cut off the tongues of everyone on earth. But can you make a tongueless man talk?”

Luopu was lost in thought.

Jiashan hit him.

Luopu then acquiesced to Jiashan.