Case 17 and 20 - Bodhidharma Comes from the West
Note:
I
am compiling a data base of koans. So far there are 1,616 koans in the
database. The koan which asks, in one way or another, the question
“Why did
Bodhidharma (or the Patriarch) Come from the West,” turns up
thirty-two times.
Besides our two entries in the Blue Cliff
Record, the koan-question appears in the Wumenkuan,
the Rinzairoku,
the Record of Layman Pang, the Dentoroku, the Record
of Dongshan, and the Iron
Flute. Thirteen of these entries involve Chao-chou. I will
include the
Chao-chou koans in the discussion about this case.
First, from the Blue Cliff Record:
Case 17
A
monk asked Hsiang Lin,
“What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?
Hsiang
Lin said, “Sitting for a long time becomes
tiresome.”
Case 20
Lung
Ya asked Ts'ui Wei,
“What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the
West?”
Wei
said, “Pass me the
meditation brace.”
Ya
said, “Since you hit me I
let you hit me. In essence though, there is no meaning of the
Patriarch's
coming from the West?”
Ya
also asked Lin chi, “What
is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?”
Chi
said, “Pass the
cushion.”
Ya
took the cushion and
handed it to Lin Chi; Chi took it and hit him.
Ya
said, “Since you hit me I
let you hit me. In essence though, there is no meaning of the
Patriarch's
coming from the West?”
And
now the Chao-chou koans:
- Chao-chou,
when wandering on pilgrimage, came for an interview with Lin-chi. He
arrived just as the master was washing his feet and asked him:
“What is the meaning of the ancestor’s coming from
the West?”
Lin-chi
replied: “Just as
meeting me washing my feet.”
Chao-chou
came closer as if
he wanted to listen better. Lin-chi said: “I am about to
throw out the second
lot of dirty water.” On that, Chao-chou withdrew.
- Chao-chou
arrived at Lin-chi’s place. He was starting to wash his feet
when Lin-chi asked, “What is the meaning of
‘Bodhidharma came from the west?’”
Chao-chou
said, “I am just
washing my feet.”
Lin-chi
came near and
listened attentively.
Chao-chou
said, “If you have
understood, so much the better. If you haven’t understood,
don’t say a word.
What would be the use?”
With
a swing of his sleeves
Lin-chi left.
Chao-chou
said, “For thirty
years I have been on a pilgrimage, and today, because of that man, I
made the
mistake of explaining.”
- A
monk asked, “What is the message of Bodhidharma who came from
the west?”
The
Master descended from
his seat and stood there.
The
monk asked, “Is this the
real message itself?”
Chao-chou
said, “It is
something which is not spoken of.”
- Chao-chou
went to the lecture hall and preached to the people: “This
matter is absolutely clear. Even the greatest ones cannot break away
from it. When I was at Master Kuei-shan’s a monk said,
‘What does it mean, “Our founder came from the
west’” [i.e., what is the meaning of
Ch’an]? Isan said, ‘Bring me that chair.’
If one is a master, this is how one must relate to the people, through
the core of the matter.”
At
that, a monk asked, “What
does it mean, ‘Bodhidharma came from the
west’?”
Chao-chou
said, “The oak
tree in the front yard.”
The
monk said, “Please do
not show the people the object.”
Chao-chou
said, “I will
not.”
The
monk repeated his
question: “What does it mean, ‘Bodhidharma came
from the west’?”
Chao-chou said, “The oak tree in the front yard.”
- A
monk asked, “What does it mean, ‘Bodhidharma came
from the west?’”
Chao-chou
stood up.
The
monk said, “So that’s
what it means.”
Chao-chou
said, “I haven’t
said anything yet.”
- A
monk said, “I will not ask about the various Buddhist
doctrines. But what is the meaning of ‘Bodhidharma came from
the west?’”
Chao-chou
said, “The cow has
given birth. Take good care of it.”
The
monk said, “What is the
meaning of this?”
Chao-chou
said, “I myself
don’t know.”
- A
monk asked, “What is the point of ‘Bodhidharma came
from the west?’”
Chao-chou
said, “It is the
leg of the chair.”
The monk said, “That is what it is, isn’t it?”
Chao-chou
said, “If that is
what it is, you may remove it and take it with you.”
- Someone
asked, “What is the meaning of ‘Bodhidharma came
from the west?’”
Chao-chou
said, “How long
was it that I hung the gourd-bottle on the eastern wall?”
- A
monk asked, “What is the meaning of ‘Bodhidharma
came from the West?’”
Chao-chou
said, “Even if you
did not bring up this ‘meaning’ thing, you would
not fare much better.”
The
monk said, “What is ‘the
origin of all things?’”
Chao-chou
said, “Four eyes
looking at one another. There is no subject other than that.”
- Someone
asked, “What is the meaning of ‘Bodhidharma came
from the west?’”
Chao-chou
said, “A cow broke
out of its stall.”
- A
monk asked, “What is the meaning of ‘Bodhidharma
came from the west?’”
Chao-chou
said, “Why do you
come to this temple cursing me?”
The
monk said, “What have I
done wrong?”
Chao-chou
said, “Being in
this temple, I cannot curse you.”
- Someone
asked, “What is the meaning of ‘Bodhidharma came
from the west?’”
Chao-chou
said, “Moss
growing on one’s front teeth.”
- Someone asked, “What is the meaning of ‘Bodhidharma came from the west?’
Chao-chou
said, “Where did
you get this information?”
Reflections
I
feel whatever I say is useless. It’s all there in the
Chao-chou koans. You’ve seen or heard that this koan has
nothing at all to do
with Bodhidharma, the Patriarch, his coming from the west, or north or
south or
east or anywhere for that matter. It has nothing at all to do with any
meaning.
So what’s the koan all about? In one of the Chao-chou koans a
parenthetical
aside indicates that the question really is,
“What
is the meaning of
Chan, or Zen?”
Or,
“What
is the meaning of
Life?”
“What
is the meaning of
Reality?”
“Why
are we all here in this
room practicing zen?”
“Listening
to this supposed
dharma talk?”
“What
is the meaning of
meaning?”
And
once again please realize that this koan has nothing
at all to do with meaning or Chan or Zen or Life or Reality or the
practice e
of zen or this dharma talk or meaning.
In
order to make a first stumbling approach to this koan
you need to drop all concepts of meaning, zen, life, reality, and so
forth.
Once they are gone, then you can slowly move towards the koan. Then
maybe you
can make a stab at it. Knowing however that whatever you
do—whatever stab you
make will miss. So why stab? Why study? Why bother?
I
don’t know.
Case 17
A
monk asked Hsiang Lin,
“What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?
Hsiang
Lin said, “Sitting for a long time becomes
tiresome.”
Case 20
Lung
Ya asked Ts'ui Wei,
“What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the
West?”
Wei
said, “Pass me the
meditation brace.”
Ya
said, “Since you hit me I
let you hit me. In essence though, there is no meaning of the
Patriarch's
coming from the West?”
Ya
also asked Lin chi, “What
is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?”
Chi
said, “Pass the
cushion.”
Ya
took the cushion and
handed it to Lin Chi; Chi took it and hit him.
Ya
said, “Since you hit me I
let you hit me. In essence though, there is no meaning of the
Patriarch's
coming from the West?”