Blue Cliff Record: Case XI

Huang Po, instructing the community, said, "All of you people are gobblers of dregs; if you go on travelling around this way, where will you have Today? Do you know that there are no teachers of Ch'an in all of China?" At that time a monk came forward and said, "Then what about those in various places who order followers and lead communities?" Huang Po said, "I do not say that there is no Ch'an; it's just that there are no teachers. "

This one is very easy to understand. If you're confused, ask somebody.

But you must know that to make it clear is exactly to make it not clear. If you can pierce through one [koan] , you won't be concerned to ask others whether you understand clearly or not.

-Dahui

I am going to quote Yuanwu, and give Xuedou's verse. I think some people forget, based off the fact that I once forgot, that Yuanwu is a well respected Zen Master in their own rite. The more I read the BCR, the more I enjoy their sermons, above and beyond the case itself. Feel free to leave your thoughts and questions below; there is more than one way to solve the case, and lots of diligent, clear-eyed, and intelligent people to discuss with here.

In addition, these are some cool posts discussing topics within the scope of the koan; even recently:

1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6

Pai Chang said, "After this, won't you be a successor of the Great Master Ma?" Huang Po said, "No. Today, because of the master's recital, I've gotten to see the Great Master Ma's great capacity and its great function; but if I were to succeed to Master Ma, in the future I would be bereft of descendants."Pai Chang said, "It is so, it is so. If your view equals your teacher, you have less than half your teacher's virtue; only when your wisdom goes beyond your teacher are you worthy to pass on the transmission. As your view is right now, it seems that you have ability which transcends any teacher." You must see for yourself how father and son act in that house before you begin to understand.

...

Again one day Huang Po asked Pai Chang, "How has the vehicle of the school that comes down from ancient times been demonstrated and taught?" Pai Chang was silent for a long time; Huang Po said, "You shouldn't let posterity be cut off." Pai Chang said, "I thought you were the man." Then he got up and went into his abbot's quarters.

...

After Huang Po was dwelling (in a temple as a teacher), his active edge was sharp and dangerous. When Lin Chi was in his community, Mu Chou was the head monk. (Mu Chou) asked (Lin Chi), "How long have you been here? Why don't you go ask (Huang Po) a question?" Chi said, "What would you have me ask?" The head monk said, "Why don't you go ask what is the essential meaning of the Buddha Dharma?" Chi then went and asked (Huang Po); three times he was beaten and driven out. He took leave of the head monk, saying, "I have been bidden to ask the question three times by you, and have been beaten and driven out. Perhaps my affinity is not here; for now I will leave the mountain." The head monk said, "If you're going, you should bid farewell to the master (Huang Po) first." The head monk went beforehand and said to Huang Po, "The questioning monk is a very rare one; why don't you work on him to make him into a tree to provide cool shade for people of later times?" Huang Po said, "I already know." When Chi came to take leave, Po said, "You don't need to go anyplace else; just go to the riverbank at Ta An and see Ta Yu." When Chi got to Ta Yu, he related the preceding story and said, "I do not know where my fault was." Ta Yu said, "Huang Po was so kind, he exerted himself to the utmost for you; why do you go on speaking of fault or no fault?" Chi was suddenly greatly enlightened: he said, "There's not much to Huang Po's Buddha Dharma." Ta Yu grabbed and held him and said, "You just said you were at fault; now instead you say there's not much to the Buddha Dharma." Chi hit Ta Yu in the side three times with his fist; Yu pushed him away and said, "Your teacher is Huang Po; it has nothing to do with me."

Yu wasn't a hitter. That's fine. All these stories have the same theme. What?

In T'ang times they liked to revile people by calling them "gobblers of dregs," so many people say that Huang Po was reviling the people. Those with eyes see for themselves what he was getting at. The whole idea is to let down a hook to fish out people's questions. In the assembly there was a Ch'an man who didn't fear for his body or life, so he could come forth this way from the crowd to question Huang Po, saying, "Then what about those in various places who order followers and lead communities?" And he makes a good point, too. After all the old fellow Huang Po couldn't explain, so instead he broke down and said, "I don't say there is no Ch'an, just that there are no teachers." But tell me, where does his meaning lie? That essence of the school that has come down from ancient times-sometimes holding, sometimes letting go, sometimes killing, sometimes giving life, sometimes releasing, sometimes gathering up-I dare to ask all of you, what would be a teacher of Ch'an? As soon as I speak this way, I've already lost my head. People, where are your nostrils? (A pause) They've been pierced through!

XUEDOU'S VERSE

His cold severe solitary mien does not take pride in itself;/Solemnly dwelling in the sea of the world, he distinguishes dragons and snakes./Ta Chung the Son of Heaven has been lightly handled;/Three times he personally felt those claws and fangs at work.

Yuanwu says:

If you understand what happened here, you are free in all directions: sometimes you stand alone on a solitary peak, sometimes you stretch out in the bustling market place. How could you one-sidedly hold fast to a single corner? The more you abandon, the more you aren't at rest; the more you seek, the more you don't see; the more you take on, the more you sink down... Wholeheartedly discard the marvelous wonders of the principle of Buddha Dharma; let it all go at once, and then you will after all have gotten somewhere, and wherever you are it will naturally become manifest.

How can the mountain torrent be held back?/Eventually it must return to the great ocean to become waves.

-Hsuan Tsung