Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (85 page)

A monk asked, “What is it when one has a question but doesn’t speak?”

Bajiao said, “Without going out of the monastery, you take a thousandmile journey.”

A monk asked, “What is the self?”

Bajiao said, “Facing south and seeing the Big Dipper.”

Bajiao addressed the monks, saying, “It’s like a person who’s traveling who suddenly encounters a ten-thousand-fathom-deep hole, and moreover, behind him a wild fire is pursuing him. On both sides are forests of thistles. The only way forward is into the hole, and going back means getting burned by the fire. Thistles obstruct both sides. How can a person get out of such a situation? If someone can get out of this, then he is in accord with the transcendent path. If he can’t escape then he’s lost!”

A monk said, “I wish to see if the master can speak of the Way.”

Bajiao said, “I thought it was a merchant on a great ship, but after all it was just a peddler from Dangzhou.”

A monk asked, “Without asking about principles or points of discussion, I invite the master to point directly at the original face.”

Bajiao sat upright, silently.

The monk asked, “Isn’t it that when a thief comes you must beat him, when a guest comes you must greet him? So what do you do when a thief and guest both arrive?”

Bajiao said, “In the room there are a pair of worn-out grass sandals.”

The monk said, “If the sandals are worn out, do they have any use or not?”

Bajiao said, “If you use them, then wherever you go—before you unlucky, behind you misfortune.”

A monk asked, “What is the meaning of ‘concealing the body in the Big Dipper’?”

Bajiao said, “Nine, nine, eight, ten, one.”

Then Bajiao said, “Do you understand?”

The monk said, “I don’t understand.”

Bajiao said, “One, two, three, four, five.”

A monk asked, “What is a phrase that penetrates the dharmakaya?”

Bajiao said, “The first principle cannot be queried. The second principle does not cease.”

The monk said, “I don’t understand.”

Bajiao said, “Get past the third principle, then I’ll show you.”

TONGAN DAOPI

TONGAN DAOPI (n.d.) was a disciple of Yunju Daoying. Little is recorded of his life. He is known to have been the abbot of the Tongan Monastery on Mt. Fengchi in Hongzhou, near modern Nanchang City. He is remembered for preserving the Caodong Zen lineage and passing the Dharma seal of Dongshan on to his student Tongan Guanzhi.

A monk asked Zen master Tongan Daopi, “What is a seamless monument?”

Tongan said, “Om! Om!”

The monk asked, “Who is the person inside the monument?”

Tongan said, “Many people are visiting here today from Jianchang.”

A monk asked, “What if one understands everything with one look and then leaves?”

Daopi said, “Fine. So why have you come back here?”

A monk asked, “What is the master’s family style?”
¹³²

Daopi said, “The golden hen gathers her chicks into the Milky Way. The pregnant jade rabbit scurries into the crape myrtle bushes.”

The monk asked, “If suddenly a guest arrives, how do you treat him?”

Daopi said, “At early dawn a monkey picked the golden fruit. At late dusk a phoenix carried away the jade flower.”