Blue Cliff Record, Case 89

Yunyan asked Daowu, “How does the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion use so many hands and eyes?”

Daowu said, “It’s just like a person in the middle of the night reaching in search of a pillow.”

Yunyan said, “I understand.”

Daowu said, “How do you understand it?

Yunyan said, “All over the body are hands and eyes.”

Daowu said, “What you said is all right, but it’s only eighty percent of it.”

Yunyan said, “I’m like this, elder brother. How do you understand it?”

Daowu said, “Throughout the body are hands and eyes.”

Continue reading →

Gateless Gate, Case 19

Joshu asked Nansen, “What is the Way?”

“Ordinary mind is the Way,” Nansen replied.

“Shall I try to seek after it?” Joshu asked.

“If you try for it, you will become separated from it,” responded Nansen.

How can I know the Way unless I try for it?” persisted Joshu.

Nansen said, “The Way is not a matter of knowing or not knowing. Knowing is delusion; not knowing is confusion. When you have really reached the true Way beyond doubt, you will find it as vast and boundless as outer space. How can it be talked about on the level of right and wrong?”

With those words, Joshu came to a sudden realization.

Continue reading →

I wanted share something with a seasonal theme, given that spring is almost here. I realize that the spring equinox passed several weeks ago; a day on which the season undoubtedly arrived somewhere, perhaps in Maryland or New Jersey. However those of us who have endured the last few weeks punctuated with spells of cool, damp, weather, giving us frequent downpours of frigid rain and flooding the rivers, know that here in Maine spring has not arrived; we are mired in “mud season.” So, I thought that it would be a good time to look at a koan with a pleasant taste of nature to lift our spirits.

From the Mumonkan, Case 37:
A monk asked Joshu in all earnestness. “What is the meaning of the patriarch’s coming from the west?”

Joshu said, “The oak tree there in the garden.”

And from the Book of Serenity, Case 47:
A monk asked Zhaozhou, “What is the living meaning of Chan Buddhism?”

Zhaozhou said, “The cypress tree in the yard.”

Continue reading →

When the Master was about to die, the head monk asked him, “Your Reverence, a hundred years from now where will you be?” “I shall be a water buffalo at the foot of the hill,” said the Master. “Will it be alright for me to follow you?” asked the head monk. “If you follow me, you must hold a stalk of grass in your mouth,” was Puyuan’s reply.

Puyuan is Nanquan Puyuan. This encounter appears in the Entangling Vines or the Shumon Kattoshu, in the biographical sketch on Nanquan. I find the monk’s question rather curious, why is he asking the Master where he will be a hundred years after his death? Perhaps the question is just what it appears to be, the monk simply wants to learn what the Master believes will happen after death. Nanquan’s response is even more curious. “I shall be a water buffalo at the foot of the hill.” Is he answering the monk’s question as to where he will be long after his death? Continue reading →

Blue Cliff Record, Case 22

Hsueh Feng taught the assembly saying, “On South Mountain there’s a turtle-nosed snake. All of you people must take a good look.”

Ch’ang Ch’ing said, “In the hall today there certainly are people who are losing their bodies and their lives.”

A monk related this to Hsuan Sha. Hsuan Sha said, “It takes Elder Brother Leng (Ch’ang Ch’ing) to be like this. Nevertheless, I am not this way.”

The monk asked, “What about you, Teacher?”

Hsuan Sha said, “Why make use of ‘South Mountain’?”

Yun men took his staff and threw it down in front of Hsueh Feng, making a gesture of fright. Continue reading →

Blue Cliff Record, Case 21

A monk asked Chih Men, “How is it when the lotus flower has not yet emerged from the water?”

Chih Men said, “A Lotus flower.”

The monk said, “What about after it has emerged from the water?”

Men said, “Lotus leaves.”

Reflections
This is a koan of transformation. A koan of birth and death. This is a koan of before and after. This koan is similar, but not quite, to the koan, “Show me the face you had before your parents were born.” Or, “What is that plant before it has risen from the earth?” Continue reading →

Blue Cliff Record, Case 18

Emperor Su Tsung asked National Teacher Hui Chung, “After you die, what will you need?”

The National Teacher said, “Build a seamless monument for me.”

The Emperor said, “Please tell me, Master, what the monument would look like?”

The National Teacher was silent for a long time; then he asked, “Do you understand?”

The Emperor said “I don’t understand”

The National Teacher said, I have a disciple to whom I have transmitted the Teaching, Tan Yuan, who is well versed in this matter. Please summon him and ask him about it.”

After the National Teacher passed on, the Emperor summoned Tan Yuan and asked him what the meaning of this was. Tan Yuan said:

South of Hsiang, north of T’an;
(Hsueh Tou added the comment, “A single hand does not make random sound.”)

In between there’s gold sufficient to a nation.
(Hsueh Tou added the comment, “A rough-hewn staff.”)

Beneath the shadowless tree, the community ferryboat;
(Hsueh Tou added the comment, “The sea is calm, the rivers are clear.”)

Within the crystal palace, there’s no one who knows.”
(Hsueh Tou added the comment, “He has raised it up.”) Continue reading →

Blue Cliff Record, Cases 17 and 20

Note: I am compiling a database 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?”

Continue reading →

Blue Cliff Record, Case 15

In a previous talk I spoke about Case 14 of the Blue Cliff Record. I will focus on Case 15 in this talk. I will use both the translations of Thomas Cleary and J. C. Cleary, The Blue Cliff Record, as well as Katsuki Sekida, in his book Two Zen Classics Mumonkan & Hekiganroku.

I am going to follow an outline of study that I sometimes use to work with koans. The outline has seven sections.

1. The Case. This is what would be quoted in daisan.
2. Analysis and understanding.
3. Key Word
4. Rewrite of the case in my own words
5. Teaching of the case
6. A poem that presents or expresses my understanding of the teaching of the case.
7. The Presentation in daisan.

The Case

(Cleary translation)

A monk asked Yun Men, “When it’s not the present intellect, and it’s not the present phenomena, what is it?”

Yun Men said, “An upside-down statement.”

(Sekida translation)

A monk asked Ummon, “What is it when no thought is stirring and nothing presents itself?”

Unman said, “No preaching on Oneness.” Continue reading →

Blue Cliff Record, Case 14

A monk asked Yun Men, “What are the teachings of a whole lifetime?”

Yun Men said, “An appropriate statement.”

Reflections
Yun Men appears in cases six and eight of the Blue Cliff Record. He was the successor of Hsueh Feng, and he’s the guy who, in Case eight, asked questions and answered them himself. This teaching form is known as tai-yu, or “substitute sayings,” in which you answer a question posed by yourself on behalf of your audience, or else you supply an answer to a question or saying of an earlier Master, substituting for a speechless monk in a story; Yun Men also originated pieh-yu, or “alternative saying,” a reply or remark given as an alternate to another in a story, or an alternate reply to one of his self-posed self-answered questions. Continue reading →