Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (94 page)

Baofu said, “You’re seeking speaking strategies in a mountain spirit’s cave.”

Changqing asked, “Then what would you say?”

Baofu said, “Both hands on the plough, water above the knees.”

During the [year 918], Magistrate Wang of Zhangzhou honored the master’s great reputation by building and supporting the Baofu Zen Monastery and inviting the master to become the abbot and teach there. On the day when the temple opened, Magistrate Wang knelt on his knees and begged the master to speak to the assembly. He even personally supported the master to help him ascend the dais.

The master said, “Why are you making all this into a joke? Still, since you’ve asked three times, I can’t avoid it.”

The master then addressed the crowd, “Worthies! Do you understand? If you understand then you’re no different from the ancient buddhas.”

A monk came forward. Just as he began to speak the master said, “You can’t soar into the clear sky yet! You must wait until rain drenches your head!”

Baofu said, “This affair is like striking flint to make fire. Whether you reach
it
or not, you can’t avoid losing your body and life.”

A monk asked, “I don’t understand whether people who can reach
it
still lose their lives or not.”

Baofu said, “Leaving aside what I just said, can you reach it or not?”

The monk said, “If I can’t, I won’t avoid the derisive laughter of the congregation.”

Once when Zen master Baofu saw a monk he struck a nearby pillar with his staff. He then struck the monk on the head. The monk refrained from expressing pain.

Baofu said, “Why didn’t that hurt?” (Xuanjue said on behalf of the monk, “A wretched teacher.”)

A monk asked, “During the twelve hours of the day how should one be watchful?”

Baofu said, “Be watchful like you are now.”

The monk said, “Why can’t I see something?”

Baofu said, “Quit poking your eyes and calling the spots you see flowers!”

A monk asked, “What do you say about finding meaning in speech?”

Baofu said, “What speech is that?”

The monk looked down and didn’t answer.

Baofu said, “The sword of function is like lightning. Thinking about it is futile!”

Baofu saw a monk counting money. He held out his hand and said, “I beg you for a string of cash!”

The monk said, “How is it that the master could have fallen to such straits?”

Baofu said, “I’ve fallen to these straits.”

The monk said, “If it’s really so, then take a string of cash.”

Baofu said, “How have you fallen to such straits?”

Baofu asked a monk, “Where have you come from?”

The monk said, “From Kwan Yin.”

Baofu said, “Did you see Kwan Yin?”

The monk said, “I saw her.”

Baofu said, “Did you see her right side or her left side?”

The monk said, “When I saw her, I didn’t pass her on the right or left.”

A monk asked, “If one wants to reach the road of no life and death, one must first see the original source. What is the original source?”

Baofu was silent for a long while. Then he said to his attendant, “What was it that that monk just asked me?”

The monk repeated his question.

Baofu yelled, “I’m not deaf!”

A monk said, “I’ve just arrived at the monastery. I ask the master to reveal to me the complete entrance.” Baofu said, “If I were to show you the complete entrance, then I would just bow to you.”

The master lived at Baofu Temple only one year, and during that time not less than seven hundred students gathered there. The benefits they received were too numerous to record. The governor of Fuzhou deeply respected him, memorializing the emperor for him to receive the purple robe. In the third year of the Tian Cheng era [928] the master showed signs of a slight illness. The monks entered his quarters to inquire about him.

Baofu said to them, “We’ve known each other these many years, what artistry could possibly help me?”

The monks said, “There are such arts.” Hearing this did not dispel Baofu’s objections.

He also said to the monks, “During these last ten days my strength has failed. Don’t worry about it. It’s just that my time has come.”

A monk asked, “If your time has come, then will the master go or will the master stay?”

Baofu said, “Speak! Speak!”

The monk said, “If it is thus, then I dare not speak hastily.”