the illumination is wondrous.
When the knowledge is subtle,
there is no thought of discrimination.
When the illumination is wondrous,
there is not the slightest hint.
Where there is no thought of discrimination,
the knowledge is extraordinary with no comparison.
Where there is not the slightest hint,
the illumination has nothing to grasp.
The water is clear to the bottom
where the fish swims without moving.
The sky is vast and boundless
where the bird flies away and disappears.
The point presented here is the manifestation of great function, the awesome presence beyond sound and form, bamboo knots and wood grains [standards] before the parents were born. It is joyously not slandering buddha ancestors, not avoiding the death of body and mind. It is as extraordinary as having a head that is three feet tall and a neck that is two inches short.
The hub of buddhas’ activity: Buddhas do not fail to make buddhas the hub. This hub is manifested. That is zazen.
The turning of the ancestors’ hub: One’s late master spoke beyond words. This understanding is the basis of ancestors, of transmitting dharma, and of transmitting the robe. Turning heads and exchanging faces is the hub of buddhas’ activity. Turning faces and exchanging heads is the turning of the ancestors’ hub.
Is known free of forms: This knowing is not, of course, conscious knowing. Conscious knowing is small. This knowing is not comprehension. Comprehension is created. Thus, this knowing is free of forms. Being free of forms is this knowing. Don’t regard it as all-inclusive knowledge. Don’t limit it to self-knowledge. Being free of forms is “When brightness [duality] comes, meet it with brightness. When darkness [nonduality] comes, meet it with darkness,” “Sit through the skin you were born with.”
Illuminated beyond conditions: This illumination is not illuminating everything or illuminating with brilliance. Being beyond condition is this illumination. Illumination does not turn to conditions, as conditions are already illumination. Beyond means the entire world is not hidden, a broken world does not appear. It is subtle and wondrous. It is interchangeable and not interchangeable.
When the knowledge is subtle, there is no thought of discrimination: Thought as knowledge does not depend on other-power. Knowledge is a shape, and a shape is mountains and rivers. The mountains and rivers are subtle. Subtle is wondrous. When you utilize it, it is lively. When you create a dragon, it is not limited inside or outside of the dragon gate. To utilize a bit of this knowledge is to know by bringing forth mountains and rivers of the entire world with all their force. If you don’t have knowledge by being intimate with mountains and rivers, there is not a shred or scrap of knowledge. Do not grieve that discernment and discrimination come slowly. Buddhas who have already discerned are already being actualized. There is no thought of discrimination means there is already merging. There is already merging is actualization. Thus, there is no thought of discrimination is not meeting even one person.
When the illumination is wondrous, there is not the slightest hint: The slightest is the entire world. The illumination is naturally wondrous and luminous. Thus, it looks as if it hadn’t arrived. Do not doubt your eyes. Do not believe your ears. To directly clarify the source beyond words and not to grasp cases [koans] through words is illumination. This being so, illumination is not comparing, not grasping. To maintain illumination is extraordinary and to accept it as complete is no other than doubting it thoroughly.
The water is clear to the bottom where the fish swims without moving. Water hanging in the sky does not get to the bottom. Furthermore, water that fills a vessel is not as clear as the water mentioned here. Water that is boundless is described as clear to the bottom. When the fish swims in this water, it is not motionless. It goes for myriad miles. There is no way to measure it and there is no shore to limit it. There is no sky for the fish to fly in and no bottom to get to, and there is no shore where someone sees the fish. In fact, there is no one who sees the fish. If you speak of recognizing the fish, there is merely water clear to the bottom. The activity of zazen is just like the fish swimming. Who can measure how many thousands and myriads of miles there are in zazen? Its journey is the entire body going on the path where no bird flies.
The sky is vast and boundless where the bird flies away and disappears: The vast sky does not hang above. What hangs above is not called the vast sky. Furthermore, what encompasses all space is not called vast sky. What is neither revealed nor hidden, neither inside nor outside, is called vast sky. If the bird flies in this sky, it just flies in the sky. The activity of flying in the sky is immeasurable. Flying in the sky is the entire world; it is the entire world flying in the sky. Although we don’t know how far the flying goes, we say it beyond saying—we say flies away. It is “Go away with no string on your straw sandals.” When the sky flies away, the bird flies away. When the bird flies away, the sky flies away. When you speak about the investigation of flying, it is right here. This is the point of steadfast sitting. Even if you go myriad miles, it is right here.
This is “The Point of Zazen” by Zhengjiao. Among the old masters throughout time, no one has written “The Point of Zazen” like this. If the stinky skin bags here and there would try to say something like this, they might not be able to do so in one or more lifetimes. There is no text like Zhengjiao’s. Rujing, my late master, would refer to him on his teaching seat as Old Buddha Hongzhi and would not refer to other teachers as Old Buddha. One who has the eye to see a true person recognizes the voice of buddha ancestors. Thus, we know that there is a buddha ancestor in the lineage of Dongshan.
More than eighty years have passed since the time of Zhengjiao. After his text, I have written my version of “The Point of Zazen.” It is the eighteenth day, the third month, the third year of the Ninji Era [1242]. It has been eighty-five years since Zhengjiao passed away on the eighth day, the tenth month, the twenty-seventh year of the Shaoxing Era [1157]. This is my text:
THE POINT OF ZAZEN
The hub of buddhas’ activity,
the turning of the ancestors’ hub,
moves along with beyond thinking
and is completed in the realm of beyond merging.
As it moves along with beyond thinking,
its appearing is immediate.
As it is completed in the realm of beyond merging,
completeness itself is realization.
When its appearing is intimate,
you have no illusion.
When completeness reveals itself,
it is neither real nor apparent.
When you have immediacy without illusion,
immediacy is “dropping away” with no obstacles.
Realization, beyond real or apparent,
is effort without expectation.
Clear water all the way to the bottom;
a fish swims like a fish.
Vast sky transparent throughout;
a bird flies like a bird.
Although Zhengjiao’s text is not incomplete, zazen may be spoken of in this way. All descendants of buddha ancestors should practice zazen as the single great matter. It is the authentic seal transmitted from person to person.
Written at the Kosho Horin Monastery on the eighteenth day, the third month, the third year of the Ninji Era [1242].
Presented to the assembly at the Yoshimine Temple, Yoshida County, Echizen Province, in the eleventh month, the fourth year of the Ninji Era [1243].
29
GOING BEYOND BUDDHA
DONGSHAN, HIGH ANCESTOR, Great Master Wuben of Mount Dong, Yun Region, is the direct heir of Yunyan, Great Master Wuzhu of Mount Yunyan, Tan Region. He is the thirty-eighth going-beyond ancestor from the Tathagata. He is the thirty-eighth ancestor going beyond himself.
Dongshan once taught the assembly, “Concerning realization-through-the-body of going beyond buddha, I would like to
talk a little.”
A monk said, “What is this talk?”
Dongshan said, “When I talk, you don’t hear it.”
The monk said, “Do you hear it?”
Dongshan said, “Wait till I don’t talk, then you hear it.”
The words spoken here, going beyond buddha, originally came from Dongshan. Other buddha ancestors have studied his words and realized through-the-body going beyond buddha. Know that going beyond buddha is neither causality nor fruition. However, there is realization-through-the-body and complete attainment of you don’t hear it at the moment when I talk.
Without going beyond buddha, you do not realize through-the-body going beyond buddha. Without talking, you do not realize through-the-body going beyond buddha. Going beyond buddha and talking neither reveal each other nor hide each other, neither give to nor take from each other. This being so, talking brings forth going beyond buddha.
When going beyond buddha is actualized, you do not hear it. You do not hear it means buddha-going-beyond-buddha is not heard by the self. At the time of talking, you do not hear it. Know that talking is not stained by either hearing or not-hearing. It is not concerned with hearing or not-hearing.
You are concealed within not-hearing. You are concealed within talking. It is like meeting a person and not meeting a person; being thus and not thus. When you talk, you don’t hear it. The meaning of you don’t hear it is that you are not hindered by the tongue or ears, you are not seen through by the eyes, you are not shielded by body and mind. This is not-hearing. Do not try to take this up and regard it as talking. Not-hearing is not talking. It is just that at the time of talking you do not hear it. Dongshan’s words When I talk, you don’t hear it mean that talking, from beginning to end, is just like wisteria vines entangled with each other. Talking is entangled with talking, it is permeated by talking.
The monk said, Do you hear it? This does not mean that he is asking if the master hears the talking; he is not asking about the master or his talking. Instead, the monk is asking whether he should study direct hearing as the master talks. That is to say, he is asking whether talking is talking and hearing is hearing. Even if you can say something about it, it is beyond your speech.
Examine thoroughly the words of Dongshan, Wait till I don’t talk, then you hear it. At the very moment of talking, there is no direct hearing. Direct hearing comes forth at the moment of not-talking.
It is not that you unfortunately miss the moment of not-talking and must wait for not-talking. Direct hearing is not merely observing. It is true observation. It is not at the moment of direct hearing that talking goes away and is confined somewhere. It is not at the time of talking that direct hearing hides its body in the eye of talking and resounds like thunder. It is just that you do not hear at the time of talking; you directly hear at the time of not-talking.
This is the meaning of I would like to talk a little and realization-through-the-body of going beyond buddha. That is to realize through-the-body direct hearing at the time of talking. This being so, Dongshan said, Wait till I don’t talk, then you hear it. However, going beyond buddha is not before the Seven Original Buddhas. It is the Seven Original Buddhas going beyond.
Dongshan, High Ancestor, Great Master Wuben, taught the assembly, “You should know someone going beyond buddha.”
A monk asked, “Who is someone going beyond buddha?”
The master said, “Not-buddha.”
Later Yunmen interpreted this: “The name is unattainable, the form is unattainable, therefore the person is ‘not.’”
Baofu said, “Buddha-not.”
Fayan also said, “Provisionally, the person is called buddha.”
The buddha ancestor going beyond a buddha ancestor is Dongshan. The reason is that though there are many other buddhas and ancestors, they have never dreamed of the words “going beyond buddha.” If this were spoken to Deshan or Linji, they would not get it right. Neither Yantou nor Xuefeng would be awakened even if their bodies were crushed and shattered with the blow of a fist.
Dongshan’s words realization-through-the-body of going beyond buddha, I would like to talk a little, and You should know someone going beyond buddha cannot be fully realized merely by practice and enlightenment through one, two, three, four, five eons, or one hundred great eons. Only those who study the inconceivable road can realize it.
Know that there is someone going beyond buddha. This is the full activity of playing with the spirit. So, understand going beyond buddha by taking up an ancient buddha and raising a fist. To see through this is to know someone who goes beyond buddha and someone who goes beyond not-buddha.
The words of Dongshan do not mean that you should be someone who goes beyond buddha, or that you should meet someone who goes beyond buddha. He just means that you should know that there is someone who goes beyond buddha. The key to this barrier is not-knowing someone who goes beyond buddha, and not-knowing someone who goes beyond not-buddha.
Someone who goes beyond buddha in this way is not-buddha. When you are asked “What is not-buddha?” consider: You do not call the person not-buddha because the person precedes buddha. You do not call the person not-buddha because the person follows buddha. You do not call the person not-buddha because the person surpasses buddha.
The person is not-buddha merely because of going beyond buddha. “Not-buddha” is so called because buddha’s face is dropped away, buddha’s body and mind are dropped away.
Jingyin, Zen Master Kumu, in Dongjing, whose priest name is Facheng, an heir of Furong, taught the assembly: “As I know about going beyond buddha, I have something to say. Answer now, good students! What is going beyond buddha? Someone has a child who does not have six sense organs and lacks seven consciousnesses. He is a great icchantika, a kind of not-buddha. When he meets a buddha he kills the buddha, and when he meets an ancestor he kills the ancestor. The heavens cannot contain this person. Hell does not have a gate to let him in. All of you! Do you know this person?”
After waiting for a while he said, “If you don’t see saindhava, it’s like talking a lot in deep sleep.”
Not have six sense organs can be described as “The eyeballs have become tallow beads, the nostrils have become bamboo pipes, and the skull has turned into a shit dipper. What is the meaning of all this?”
In this way, the six sense organs are not there. Because there are no six sense organs, this person has gone through the forge and bellows and has become a metal buddha. He has gone through a great ocean and has become a clay buddha. He has gone through the fire and has become a wooden buddha.
Lacks seven consciousnesses means this person is a broken wooden dipper. Although he kills a buddha, he meets the buddha. Because he meets a buddha, he kills the buddha. If he tries to enter the heavens, the heavens are annihilated. If he goes toward hell, hell will burst immediately. If he meets face to face, his face breaks into a smile and there is no saindhava. Although he is in deep sleep, he talks a lot.
Understand that this means all the mountains and the entire land know the self. Jewels and stones are all crushed into pieces. Quietly study and pursue this teaching of Jingyin. Do not neglect it.
Yunju Daoying, who would later become Zen Master Hongjue of Mount Yunju, went to study with High Ancestor Dongshan.
Dongshan said, “What is your name?”
Yunju said, “Daoying.”
Dongshan said, “Say something beyond that.”
Yunju said, “When I say something beyond, I am not called Daoying.”
Dongshan said, “When I was with Yunyan, we spoke just like this.”
Examine in detail the words between this master and disciple. When I say something beyond, I am not called Daoying is Yunju’s going beyond. Know that in addition to the usual Yunju, there is someone beyond, who is not called Daoying. From the moment When I say something beyond, I am not called Daoying is actualized, he is truly Yunju.
However, do not say that he is Daoying when he is going beyond. When he was asked by Do
ngshan, Say something beyond that, even if he had replied, When I say something beyond, I am called Daoying, it would still be the words of going beyond. Why is it so? Yunju immediately leaps into the top of the head and hides his own body. Since he hides his own body, his form is revealed.
Caoshan Benji studied with Dongshan, High Ancestor. Dongshan said, “What is your name?”
Caoshan said, “Benji.”
Dongshan said, “Say something beyond that.”
Caoshan said, “I will not say.”
Dongshan asked again, “Why will you not say?”
Caoshan said, “No-name Benji.”
Dongshan approved it.
It is not that there is nothing to say in going beyond, but there is no saying. Why will you not say? Because of no-name Benji. Therefore, saying in going beyond is no-saying. No-saying in going beyond is no-name. Benji of no-name is saying going beyond. Thus, he is Benji no-name.
Thus, there is no-Benji. No-name drops away. Benji drops away.
Panshan, Zen Master Baoji, said, “The single path of going beyond—a thousand sages, no transmission.”
Treasury of the True Dharma Eye Page 44
