A Bird in Flight Leaves No Trace

by Seon Master Subul

  Since the narrator of this exchange several times refers to Pei Xiu as Grand Councilor, it is obvious that this section of the text could not have been recorded by Pei Xiu himself. This exchange occurred during the ninth-century Huichang persecution of Buddhism, when Huangbo hid out among the people. This was a harsh period for Buddhism because Emperor Wuzong 武宗 (r. 840–46) of the Tang dynasty persecuted the Buddhadharma, looting the monasteries and disrobing monks. Master Huangbo also dismissed his congregation and secretly stayed at Kaiyuansi, the only official monastery in the region. There, he happened to meet Pei Xiu, who was captivated by Buddhism. The master laid the foundation for the thriving of the Seon school after the persecution ended.

  Based on his questions, we can see that although Pei Xiu had some understanding of the Buddhadharma, his mind was disturbed by that understanding so he couldn’t truly rest. But you need to have doubts like Pei Xiu’s to open your eyes. Thanks to Pei Xiu’s encounter with the master, the precious teachings of Master Huangbo have been transmitted to us today. How fortunate this is!

  Where are the pupils of Layman Pei Xiu’s eyes?

  26. The Goose King

  The master ascended the hall and said, “You guys are all drunkards. This sort of itinerancy is ridiculed by others. If it’s all so easy, how on earth did we end up like this today? Do you know that there are no Seon masters in the great Tang empire?”

  At that time, a monk asked, “But we see masters appearing right now in all directions, ministering to their followers and guiding congregations. How can you say there are no Seon masters?”

  The master answered, “I didn’t say there is no Seon. I just said there are no masters.”

  Later, Weishan related this episode to Yangshan and asked, “What do you think?”

  Yangshan answered, “The goose king extracts the pure milk [from a milky solution]; he’s not your average duck.”

  Weishan said, “This is really hard to discern!”

  上堂云 汝等諸人盡是酒糟漢 與麼行腳 笑殺他人 總似與麼容易 何處更有今日 汝還知大唐國裡 無禪師麼 時有僧問 祇如諸方 見今出世 匡徒領眾 為什麼卻道無禪師 師云 不道無禪 祇道無師 後溈山舉此因緣問仰山云 意作麼生 仰山云 鵝王擇乳 素非鴨類 溈山云 此實難辨.

  Master Huangbo ascended the hall and preached the dharma at Pei Xiu’s request. From his very first words, the master provoked the audience. This was a time of disruption, immediately following the Huichang persecution of Buddhism. The master gave many admonitions, keenly aware that he had to get people back on the true Buddhist path. “Drunkards” means people who try to practice Buddhism but are still full of intellectual understanding; he criticizes them for not yet opening their eyes.

  The story of the goose king appears in the Buddhist scriptures.173 This king is said to be able to extract just the pure milk from a solution of milk and water. The goose king is an analogy for the buddha, who has the clear dharma eye. Yangshan agreed with Huangbo’s reflection on the reality of the time: that although there was Seon, there were few Seon masters.

  Have you met the goose king yourself?

  27. Bestowing a Name

  One day, Grand Councilor Pei brought along a buddha-image and, kneeling in Hun fashion [hugui/hogwe 胡跪] before the master, said, “Please, master, bestow on me a name!”

  The master called out, “Pei Xiu!”

  Pei Xiu responded, “Yes?”

  The master said, “I’ve given you a name.”

  The Grand Councilor then prostrated.

  裴相一日 托一尊佛於師前胡跪云 請師安名 師召云 裴休 休應諾 師云 與汝安名竟 相公便禮拜.

  Master Huangbo thought highly of Pei Xiu and gave him a great name. If Pei Xiu had been the kind of person who did not understand the master’s words at all, the master would have responded accordingly. However, since Pei Xiu knew what it all came down to, the master gave him a name appropriate to his level.

  This was an unbearable sight to watch with their eyes open. Which buddha’s name is this? It’s a rabbit’s horns and a turtle’s fur. Bah [duo/dol 咄]!

  28. Pei Xiu’s Poem Dedicated to the Master

  Once, the grand councilor offered the master a poem he had written. The master accepted it, sat down, and asked, “Do you get it?”

  The grand councilor answered, “I don’t get it.”

  The master replied, “It may be a little better if you don’t get it. If you try to describe it with paper and ink, what would that have to do with our school?”

  [Pei Xiu’s] poem said:

  Since the great master transmitted the mind seal,

  his seven-foot body has had a pearl in his forehead.

  Ten years have passed since I have roosted by the river in Shu;

  a floating cup crossed to the far bank of the Zhang River today.

  A thousand dragons and elephants [great monks] follow his exalted steps;

  a flower whose scent wafts for ten thousand leagues bears excellent fruits.

  We wish to serve the master as his disciple;

  we know not to whom he will entrust his dharma.

  The master responded:

  The mind is like a boundless sea;

  the mouth spouts red lotuses that revive ailing bodies.

  Although I have a pair of hands with nothing to do,

  I have never used them to salute idle people.

  相公一日上詩一章 師接得便坐卻 乃問 會麼 相公云 不會 師云 與麼不會 猶較些子 若形紙墨 何有吾宗.

  詩曰 自從大士傳心印 額有圓珠七尺身 掛錫十年棲蜀水 浮杯今日渡漳濱 千徒龍象隨高步 萬里香花結勝因 願欲事師為弟子 不知將法付何人.

  師答曰 心如大海無邊際 口吐紅蓮養病身 雖有一雙無事手 不曾祇揖等閑人.

  Pei Xiu opened his eyes thanks to Master Huangbo, so Pei Xiu offered a poem to him, a custom of elite society. Although the master looked coarse, he was infinitely delicate. Coarse and refined simultaneously, his words struck a chord in the hearts of people and made a precious connection with them, pointing them toward the right path.

  The master’s compassion knew no boundaries. What is the greatest meaning of the Buddhadharma?

  29. The Pure Seon of the Tathāgata

  “Now, practitioners of the Way, first release all affinities you have for particular trainings. Neither seek them nor cling to them. When you hear a profound teaching, do not follow it; treat it as a fresh breeze that brushes past your ears but is gone in the blink of an eye. To enter Tathāgata Seon deeply, don’t generate even the merest conception of Seon. From the very beginning, the patriarchs and teachers have transmitted only the one mind. Since there are not two such dharmas, they point to the fact that the mind is buddha.

  夫學道者 先須屏卻 雜學諸緣 決定不求 決定不著 聞其深法 恰似清風屆耳 瞥然而過 更不追尋 是為甚深入如來禪 離生禪想 從上祖師唯傳一心 更無二法 指心是佛.

  Practitioners of the Way should think and act from a proper perspective. If you waste your time on useless pursuits, you will be divorced from the Way. Focus only on resolving the great matter of birth and death, devoting yourself to matters of real consequence. True practitioners do not use their mind like ordinary beings. They do not develop such concepts as good and evil or liking and disliking. Their outward appearances are rather plain and not especially sacred or splendid. However, when true practitioners use their minds with no-thought, even ghosts cannot see them.

  Tathāgata Seon (rulai chan / yeorae seon 如來禪)is typically contrasted to the superior Patriarchal Seon (zushi chan / chosa seon 祖師禪). But here, Huangbo seems to be identifying the two with one another, without positing any hierarchy.

  Later, when Yangshan tested Xiangyan 香嚴 (d. 898), he distinguished Tathāgata Seon from Patriarchal Seon. However, those with the correct eye of the dharma can digest both terms without either obstructing the other. Th
ose without such an eye cling to these terms and attempt to analyze them. This only intensifies the discriminative mind, making them even more ignorant, and their practice yields no benefits.

  A particular word is used in a certain way in a specific time and situation. If those who have not yet opened their eyes study the words alone and act carelessly, they are far removed from true practice.

  “Transcending suddenly the signifiers of virtual and sublime enlightenment, allow absolutely no second thoughts whatsoever. Only then will it be akin to entering our school. How would you preoccupied people engage in such training here?

  頓超等妙二覺之表 決定不流至第二念 始似入我宗門 如斯之法 汝取次人 到這裡 擬作麼生學.

  Tathāgata Seon does not involve such ranks or stages as “virtual enlightenment” or “sublime enlightenment”; it establishes something that is completely perfect, without anything in front of or behind it.

  Master Huangbo gave his thorough instruction from the standpoint of sweeping away every defilement all at once without uttering a word.

  When a Seon master encounters other monks, he should evoke in them such a conviction.

  “Therefore it is said that when you discriminate with your mind, you are bound by the Māra of that very same discriminative mind. When you do not discriminate with your mind, you are bound by the Māra of your undiscriminating mind. When you are not undiscriminating with your mind, you are bound by the Māra of the non-undiscriminative mind. Māra does not come from outside; he issues forth from your own mind. Only the footsteps of bodhisattvas with no supernatural powers cannot be tracked.

  所以道擬心時 被擬心魔縛 非擬心時 又被非擬心魔縛 非非擬心時 又被非非擬心魔縛 魔非外來 出自你心 唯有無神通菩薩 足跡不可尋.

  Saying that you should be neither discriminating nor undiscriminating means that you should attain awakening so that you are finished with such suppositions. Those with understanding accord with the dharma in whatever they say or do; those without understanding are far removed from the dharma, whether they are discriminating or undiscriminating.

  If the Buddha appears, he gets thirty blows. If Māra appears, he gets thirty blows. Who can avoid being struck?

  “If at all times you believe in eternalism, then you are a non-Buddhist holding eternalist views. If you are one who observes the emptiness of all dharmas and generates a view of annihilationism, then you are a non-Buddhist holding annihilationist views. Therefore, ‘The three realms of existence are mind only. The myriad dharmas are consciousness only’: these explanations are given in response to the deviant views of non-Buddhists. If it is said, ‘The dharma body is the ultimate fruition,’ this statement is made in response to people on the three levels of sagacity and the ten stages of sanctity.174

  若以一切時中心有常見 即是常見外道 若觀一切法空作空見者 即是斷見外道 所以三界唯心 萬法唯識 此猶是對外道邪見人說 若說法身以為極果 此對三賢十聖人言.

  Eternalism (śāsvatadṛṣṭi) is the view that everything exists forever. According to this view, for example, even though people die, the self never disappears, and the five aggregates exist forever without ever changing. This is a mistaken view. Annihilationism (ucchedadṛṣṭi) is the opposite of eternalism. It is the view that everything is impermanent and nothing exists in reality. Annihilationists cling to the mistaken view that when people die, nothing is left because everything, including mind and matter, disappears. They are prone to the nihilistic denial of causality and thus make no effort to be moral in their conduct. Eternalism and annihilationism are called the “two extreme views”; they are included in a list of six heterodox views.175

  The Buddhadharma does not deviate from the middle way. In particular, from the standpoint of the original scene in which there is originally no matter, all views, including eternalism, annihilationism, and idealism, as well as such ideas as the three levels sagacity and the ten stages of sanctity, are given as provisional instructions to help people who are one-sided or biased.

  Whenever the Seon master Juzhi was asked about the dharma, he would just hold up one finger.176 While doing so, he would say, “Even though I use this dharma my entire life, I will never be able to use it up.”

  Therefore the nondual dharma that the Buddha and patriarchs transmitted from mind to mind is truly precious. Only those who have real eyes and ears can experience this dharma.

  “Therefore the Buddha eradicated these two types of foolishness: first, the foolishness of subtle conceptual understanding, and second, the foolishness of extremely subtle conceptual understanding.

  故佛斷二愚 一者微細所知愚 二者極微細所知愚.

  During practice, when you have a certain type of experience or have some resolution to your hwadu meditative topic, be especially careful. If you cling to an external object, mistaking it for the dharma, you will get stuck there, unable to go any further. For this reason, agreeable objects are to be feared even more than disagreeable objects.

  “Subtle conceptual understanding” refers to the characteristics of dharmas, because it makes practitioners cling to them unconsciously.

  Pay no attention even to something great that occurs in an extremely tranquil state, for you can get stuck there if you are not careful. If just once you clearly come into conformity with enlightenment, then although you live like a fool without clinging to conceptual understanding, everything will eventually be clearly revealed to you.

  “This is how it was for the Buddha, so why would he say anything about virtual enlightenment and sublime enlightenment? You people are all just drawn toward the light and want nothing to do with the darkness. You seek awakening and try to avoid defilements and ignorance. You then say that a buddha is awakened but sentient beings are deluded. With such a perspective, you may cycle through the six rebirth destinies for a hundred kalpas or a thousand lifetimes, but you will never reach an end to it. Why? Because you slander the intrinsic self-nature of all the buddhas.

  佛既如是 更說什麼等妙二覺來 所以一切人但欲向明 不欲向闇 但欲求悟 不受煩惱無明 便道佛是覺 眾生是妄 若作如是見解 百劫千生輪迴六道 更無斷絕 何以故 為謗諸佛本源自性故.

  There is a reason the doctrinal traditions of Buddhism lay out a series of stages to practice. Those stages serve as provisional methods for sentient beings to arouse faith, deepen that faith, and eventually open their dharma eyes. However, what stages are there in the original place? To bring about a greater breakthrough, “relinquish doctrine and enter Seon.” Leave behind all extreme views at once and realize that all sentient beings are originally buddhas.

  “He [the Buddha] clearly told you that buddhas are not light and sentient beings are not dark, for the dharma is neither light nor dark. Buddhas are not strong and sentient beings are not weak, for the dharma is neither strong nor weak. Buddhas are not wise and sentient beings are not foolish, for the dharma is neither wise nor foolish.

  他分明向你道 佛且不明 眾生且不闇 法無明闇故 佛且不彊 眾生且不弱 法無彊弱故 佛且不智 眾生且不愚 法無愚智 故.

  The perspective on dharma taken here by Master Huangbo is that of the Supreme Vehicle. It will be easy for those without ears to hear it incorrectly.

  The Buddha provided expedient means so that we could follow a training that will lead us step by step to enlightenment. Why do Seon masters confuse us by denying all such steps? If you misunderstand their approach and ask such a naïve and superficial question, you will be unable to practice the dharma of the Supreme Vehicle.

  Therefore Patriarchal Seon focuses on those with the appropriate capacity. It is like an angler who can cast a rod over the water and hook a jumping fish without using any bait; he need not place a weir in the stream to trap his prey.

  Master Huangbo here is firm and resolute in his attitude toward the Buddhadharma; he takes the middle way of nonduality, where no distinction is made b
etween buddhas and sentient beings, between wisdom and foolishness.

  “You stick out your heads and claim you understand Seon. But as soon as you open your mouths, an illness strikes. You speak not of the root but only of branches. You speak not of delusion but only of awakening. You speak not of the essence but only of implementation. This is utterly worthless talk.

  是你出頭總道解禪 開著口便病發 不說本 祇說末 不說迷 祇說悟 不說體 祇說用 總無你話論處.

  Without thoroughly understanding the fundamental root, people nonetheless claim to understand Seon and offer explanations. Those explanations are nothing but delusions. When bright-eyed Seon masters were asked about the dharma, they would just hold up a finger or say, “The cypress tree in the courtyard.” Had they tried to explain it, the moment they opened their mouths, they would have been estranged from the essence. Therefore, it is said, “prolix verbal explanations are arsenic powder.”177 If you penetrate the meaning right away, as soon as you hear the master’s words, you will have a breakthrough; but if you do not, it will then be like “adding frost to snow,”178 and you will be left with an even bigger question.

  A truly compassionate Seon master does not give exhaustive explanations about the dharma. Rather, he helps his students develop their sense of doubt. As this doubt grows larger, it becomes a ball of doubt that fills the entire universe. When you explode such a ball of doubt, you will be a hero who has resolved the great matter of birth and death.

  “All dharmas may originally be not existent, but neither are they now nonexistent. Although conditionally generated, they are also not existent; although those conditions disappear, they are not nonexistent. The root is also not existent, because the root is not a ‘root.’ The mind is not the mind, because the mind is not a ‘mind.’ Signs are also not a sign, because a sign is not a ‘sign.’ Therefore it is said that once there are neither dharmas nor the original mind, you will understand the mind that is the ‘mind-dharma.’ That dharma is in fact not-dharma, and not-dharma is in fact that dharma. Because it is neither dharma nor not-dharma, this mind is the mind-dharma.