Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (120 page)

As a young man, Tiantai practiced the observances of Huayan Buddhism. At around the age of thirty, he went traveling to visit various eminent Buddhist masters of the era. Among others, he visited the aged student of Dongshan Liangjie, Zen master Longya Judun.

Upon meeting Longya, Tiantai asked, “Why can’t the people of today reach the level of the ancient worthies?”

Longya said, “It’s like fire and fire.”

Tiantai said, “If suddenly there’s water, then what?”

Longya said, “Go! You don’t understand what I’m saying.”

Tiantai also asked Longya, “What is the meaning of ‘the sky can’t cover it, the earth can’t contain it’?”

Longya said, “It’s just like that.”

Tiantai asked repeatedly, but each time Longya gave the same answer.

Finally, when he asked again, Longya said, “I’ve already spoken, now you go find out on your own.”

Pressing on with his travels, one day Tiantai was bathing when the meaning of Longya’s words finally occurred to him. Lighting incense and bowing in the direction of Longya, he said, “Had you told me then, I’d be reviling you today.”

Continuing his travel and study, Tiantai eventually came to Fayan’s temple in Linchuan. Fayan immediately recognized the young priest as a great Dharma vessel. One day, as Fayan presided in the hall, a monk asked him, “What is a single drop of the Cao source?”

Fayan said, “A single drop of the Cao source.” The monk dejectedly retreated.

Later, as Tiantai reflected on this exchange while meditating, he suddenly experienced great enlightenment, with the “obstructions of everyday life flowing away like melting ice.” Tiantai went to Fayan with news of this event. Fayan is reported to have said, “Later you will be the teacher of kings. I won’t compare with the brilliance of your attainment of the ancestral way.”

Tiantai traveled to reside at the home of Tiantai Buddhism, a temple named Baisha (“White Sands”) on Mt. Tiantai. There he found that the records of the Tiantai school were largely lost or in a state of disrepair because of the social upheaval accompanying the end of the Tang dynasty. Tiantai assisted with the retrieval of lost Tiantai doctrinal texts from Korea, thus restoring that school in China. The king of the kingdom of Wuyue invited Tiantai to reside and teach at the famous lake city of Hangzhou and honored him with the title “National Teacher.”
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A monk asked Tiantai Deshao, “In the teaching there is the phrase, ‘the mind is clear and pure, and thus the dharmadhatu is clear and pure.’
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What is ‘clear and pure’?”

Tiantai said, “The kalavinka bird.”
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The monk said, “Are mind and dharmadhatu one thing or two things?”

Tiantai said, “You ask this. Others ask this.”

Tiantai went on to say, “The great way is vast. It encompasses the past and present. It is nameless and formless. It is custom and practice. The virtue that flows from the dharmadhatu is limitless. Mind is also boundless. It is not worldly affairs or what is seen. It is not speech or what is apparent. If it is understood, then this is called ‘revealed wisdom.’
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It is the ultimate principle and the limit of truth. It is mountains, rivers, the great earth, and the myriad things of the universe, like a vast wall of tile and stones not containing the slightest breech. There’s nothing more to say.”

After a long pause, Tiantai said, “Take care.”

Tiantai Deshao addressed the monks, saying, “From time immemorial the Dharma gates of all the buddhas can be likened to a great ocean with innumerable billowing waves. It has never, even for a moment, remained still. It has never been of the realm of existence or nonexistence. Immeasurably vast, it is incandescently manifested. The three realms fit into the point of a feather, and everything from ancient times down to the present is perfectly realized in a single moment. You must completely realize enlightenment—without having a single question remain, nor remembering a single idea, and without resorting to clever talk. The wind, clouds, rivers, and moon—all the myriad things are themselves the Buddhadharma. Don’t deceive yourselves! Oh monks! All of your efforts are meaningless! If you really understand, then it can’t be hidden. There are no worlds that are hidden. There is no dust not revealed. Common persons stand together with all buddhas. Not using a bit of effort, in a single moment you can grasp it. There’s nothing more to say. Take care!”

A monk asked, “The mountains, rivers, and the great earth—from where did all of these things come forth?”

Tiantai said, “From where did this question come forth?”

Late in life, Tiantai returned to the mountain that gave him his name. He passed away there at Guoqing [“Clear Country”] Temple.

TIANPING CONGYI

TIANPING CONGYI (n.d.) was a disciple of Qingxi Hongjin. He lived and taught in Xiangzhou (a region near modern Anyang City in Hebei Province).

A monk asked Zen master Tianping Congyi, “How does someone leave the three worlds?”

Tianping said, “When the three worlds arrive, then you will leave them.”

The monk asked, “What is the style of the master’s house?”

Tianping said, “Revealing earth.”