Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (45 page)

A monk asked, “Before the flower of awakening has come forth, how does one distinguish pure reality?”

Zhaozhou said, “It’s blossomed!”

The monk asked, “Is it purity or is it reality?”

Zhaozhou said, “Purity is reality and reality is purity.”

The monk asked, “What is the transcendent affair of people?”

Zhaozhou said, “I’m part of it. You’re part of it.”

The monk said, “What about before I was ordained?”

Zhaozhou pretended not to hear the monk. The monk remained silent.

Zhaozhou said, “Go! The rock flag has been blown in two by the wind!”

Zhaozhou entered the hall and addressed the monks, saying, “A metal buddha does not withstand the furnace. A wooden buddha does not withstand the fire. A mud buddha does not withstand water. The genuine buddha sits within you. ‘Bodhi’ and ‘nirvana,’ ‘true thusness’ and ‘buddha nature’—these things are just clothes stuck to the body and they are known as ‘afflictions.’ Where is the actual ground-truth revealed?

“Big mind is unborn. The myriad dharmas are flawless. Try sitting for twenty or thirty years, and if you still don’t understand then cut off my head! The empty flowers of delusion and dreams—disciples work so hard to grab them!

“When nothing deviates from mind, then the myriad dharmas are but one thusness. Since it can’t be attained from outside, what will you try to grasp? You’re like goats—haphazardly picking up just anything and keeping it in your mouth!

“I heard Yaoshan say, ‘People ask me to reveal
it
, but when I teach, it is like something taken from a dog’s mouth.’ What I teach is like something taken from a dog’s mouth. Take what I say as dirty. Don’t take what I say as clean. Don’t be like a hound always looking for something to eat.

“Where is the Buddhadharma? Thousands of fellows are seeking Buddha, but if you go looking among them for a person of the Way you can’t find one. If you’re going to be a disciple of Buddha then don’t let the mind’s disease be so hard to cure.

“This nature existed before the appearance of the world. If the world ends, this will not end. From the time I saw my true self, there hasn’t been anyone else. There’s just the one in charge. So what is there to be sought elsewhere? At the moment you have this, don’t turn your head or shuffle your brains! If you turn your head or shuffle your brains it will be lost!”

A monk was traveling to Mt. Wutai. He asked an old woman, “Which way is the road to Mt. Wutai?”

The old woman said, “Just go straight ahead.”

Then the old woman would say, “Another good monk goes on the way.”

A monk reported this to Zhaozhou.

Zhaozhou said, “Wait, and I’ll go check her out.”

The next day Zhaozhou went to the old woman and asked her, “Which way is the road to Mt. Wutai?”

The old woman said, “Just go straight ahead.”

As Zhaozhou was leaving she said, “Another good monk goes on the way.”

Zhaozhou returned and reported this to the monk, saying, “I’ve checked out the old lady of Mt. Wutai for you.”

A monk asked Zhaozhou, “What is the essential meaning of the Buddhadharma?”

Zhouzhou said, “The cypress tree at the front of the courtyard.”

Zen master Zhaozhou said, “Attaining the Way is not difficult. Just disdain choosing. As soon as words are present there is choosing—there is understanding. It’s not to be found in understanding. Is understanding the thing you uphold and sustain?”

A monk asked, “Since it is not found in understanding, what is to be upheld and sustained?”

Zhaozhou said, “I don’t know.”

The monk said, “Since the master doesn’t know what it is, how can you say it isn’t within understanding?”

Zhaozhou said, “Ask and you have an answer. Then bow and withdraw.”

A new monk came to the monastery. He said to Zhaozhou, “I’ve just arrived here. I ask the master to provide me instruction.”

Zhaozhou said, “Have you eaten?”

The monk said, “Yes, I’ve eaten.”

Zhaozhou said, “Go wash your bowl.”

Upon hearing these words the monk was enlightened.

A monk asked, “How old is the master?”

Zhaozhou said, “A long string of pearls without end.”

The monk asked, “Whose Dharma did the master inherit?”

Zhaozhou said, “Congshen’s.”

The monk asked, “If suddenly someone from outside asked the master, ‘What Dharma does Zhaozhou expound?’ what would you say?”

Zhaozhou said, “The salt is expensive but the rice is cheap.”

Zhaozhou heard a novice monk call for permission to enter his quarters for
canqing
.
⁹⁵

Zhaozhou said to his attendant, “You go teach him.”

The attendant went and gave the student instruction. Afterward the novice thanked the attendant.

Zhaozhou said, “The novice has come in the door but the attendant is outside.” ([Later,] Yunju Ci said, “What place is it that the novice entered and the attendant is outside? If you understand this, you can see Zhaozhou.”)

Zhaozhou asked a monk, “How many sutras do you read in one day?”

The monk said, “Sometimes seven or eight. Sometimes ten.”

Zhaozhou said, “Oh, then you can’t read scriptures.”

The monk said, “Master, how many do you read in a day?”

Zhaozhou said, “In one day I read one word.”

Zhaozhou entered the hall and addressed the monks, saying, “When a true person speaks a heresy, all heresies become true. When a heretic speaks a truth, all truth becomes heresy.”