Case 8 - Ts'ui Yen's Eyebrows
At
the end of the summer
retreat Ts'ui Yen said to the community, “All summer long
I've been talking to
you brothers; look and see if my eyebrows are still there.”
Pao
Fu said, “The thief's
heart is cowardly.”
Ch'ang
Ch'ing said, “Grown.”
Yun
Men said, “A barrier.”
Background
and some Questions
Players
in this koan are
Ts’ui
Yen (Suigan)
Pao
Fu (Hafuku)
Ch’ang
Ch’ing (Chokei)
Yun
Men (Ummon)
All
four are disciples of Xuefeng Yicun (Hsueh-feng
I-ts’un) (Seppo).
Cleary
says Ts’ui Yen was a successor of Hsueh Feng. But
three others, Pao fu, Ch’ang Ch’ing and Yun Men are
listed in the Lineage
charts in Ferguson’s book as Xuefeng’s successors
whereas Ts’ui Yen is not. In
fact Ts’ui Yen does not appear at all in the entire Lineage
Chart. Also,
according to Cleary, hardly anything is known about Ts’ui Yen
whereas Pao Fu
and Ch’ang Ch’in appear in several koans and Yun
Men went on to be the founder
of a school or sect in his name, became quite famous in his own time,
as well
as ours, and appears in many koans.
The
question therefore, is was Ts’ui Yen the teacher of
the summer retreat when he speaks to the
“community,” as he seems to be? It is
significant that he doesn’t refer to the members of the
community as students
or disciples, but as “brothers.” (In Secrets
it is “brethren.”) Sekida omits the pronoun
altogether and translates “… I have
talked to you…”
So,
was he the leader/teacher of the Summer Retreat? And
what role did Pao Fu, Ch’ang Ch’ing, and Yunmen
play in the retreat?
Pao
Fu calling Ts’ui Yen a thief supports the view that
Ts’ui Yen was a teacher, for a teacher is often considered to
be a thief, in
the sense that one of the roles of the teacher is to
“steal’ away the
conceptions, as well as misconceptions of their
students—indeed to steal away
whatever it is the student holds on to. Cleary has Pao Fu say that the
“thief’s
heart is cowardly…”
Sekida
has Pao Fu say , “He who commits theft has a
guilty conscience.”
The
internet version of the koan says, “The robber’s
heart
is terrified.”
So
why would the teacher, if Ts’ui Yen is the teacher, be
worried?
Did
he indeed talk too much during the summer retreat? If
he was the teacher it doesn’t matter how much he talks. If he
was not the
teacher than it becomes another matter. Teachers talk others listen.
Talking by
others is tolerated a bit, but too much talking is not.
So
were his “brothers” commenting on Ts’ui
Yen verbosity?
The
three comments seem to be evaluative criticisms of
Ts’ui Yen performance. Pa Fu’s comment can mean,
“You didnt dare to challenge
your students and left them with all their crap.”
Ch’ang
Ch’ing’s one word comment,
“grown” could mean,
“Rather than lose your eyebrows you’ve grown
massive bushes!” Which could mean
he may have talked too much and managed not to say much of anything!
Thereby,
concurring with Pa Fu’s assessment.
Yunmen’s
“barrier” is the most enigmatic of the three
responses. What is the barrier? Ts’ui Yen’s lack of
eyebrows? Ts’ui Yen’s
massive growth of eyebrows? Ts’ui Yen’s concern
with his own performance? In
other words, did Ts’ui Yen’s ego get in the way of
his teaching? Could this be
the teaching of the koan? When teaching forget yourself. Forget your
eyebrows.
Forget how you're doing. Forget how what you say or do will be
received. Forget
you're teaching. Just be.
Shades
of Dogen Zenji’s masterful “Genjo Koan.”
To
study the Buddha Way is
to study the self.
To
study the Self is to
forget the self.
To
forget the Self is to be
authenticated by the myriad things.
To
be authenticated by the
myriad things is to drop off
the
mind-body of oneself and
others.
So
is Yunmen telling Ts’ui Yen that he failed to drop off
the mind-body of himself and others? Thereby creating the barrier of
his own
self and not transmitting dharma, and so his bushy eyebrows?
Wattaya
think?
At
the end of the summer
retreat Ts'ui Yen said to the community, “All summer long
I've been talking to
you brothers; look and see if my eyebrows are still there.”
Pao
Fu said, “The thief's
heart is cowardly.”
Ch'ang
Ch'ing said, “Grown.”
Yun
Men said, “A barrier.”