Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (135 page)

In the year 1104 the emperor Hui Zong heard of Furong’s reputation and presented him with the honored purple robe and the title “Zen Master Samadhi Illumination.” Furong refused the robe as being inappropriate and incurred the emperor’s wrath. The emperor demanded that Furong take up residence in Zizhou [a place in modern Shandong Province]. Furong refused to submit to this as well. Eventually the emperor had a change of heart and honored Furong, building a temple for him at Furong. Furong moved to that location, assumed its mountain name, and remained there, teaching a great number of students, for the rest of his life.

On the fourteenth day of the eighth lunar month in [the year 1118], Furong asked for a brush and paper. He then wrote this verse:

I’m seventy-six years old,
My causational existence is now completed.
In life I did not favor heaven,
In death I don’t fear hell.
Hands and body extend beyond the three realms.
What stops me from roaming as I please?

Soon after writing this verse the master passed away.

Nineteenth Generation

YUNAN KEWEN, “ZHENJING,” “BAOFENG”

YUNAN KEWEN (1025–1102), also known as Baofeng, was a disciple of Huanglong Huinan. Baofeng came from ancient Jiafu (now known as Jia County in Henan Province). He is recorded to have been a scholar, learned in non-Buddhist as well as Buddhist disciplines. He received ordination at the age of twenty-five. When he first studied under Huanglong, he failed to gain the import of his teaching. He then traveled to Xiangcheng, where he studied under a monk named Shun. That teacher posed to him the same words that Baofeng had heard previously from Huanglong, whereupon he finally grasped Huanglong’s meaning and gained enlightenment. He then returned to Huanglong and became his Dharma heir. Later in his life, Baofeng assumed the abbacy at Mt. Dong, and later founded a new temple at Bao Peak in Longxing (near modern Nanchang City).

While spending the summer at Mt. Gui,
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Baofeng heard the story of a monk who asked Yunmen, “Isn’t the Buddhadharma like the moon reflected in water?”

Yunmen said, “The clear wave does not penetrate the Way.”

Baofeng, hearing this story, gained a great insight.

Baofeng later went to study under Huanglong, but he couldn’t grasp his teaching.
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Baofeng said, “I have some good points, but this old fellow doesn’t acknowledge them.” He then went to Xiangcheng, where he met with the monk Shun.

Shun asked, “Where did you come from?”

Baofeng said, “I came from Huanglong.”

Shun said, “What did Huanglong say recently?”

Baofeng said, “Recently the provincial governor asked Huanglong to assume the abbacy of Huangbo, and Huanglong thereupon offered this teaching: ‘Chanting adulation above the bell tower, planting vegetables below the platform. Someone offers turning phrases, then assumes the abbacy.’ And when he ascended the seat, he said, ‘A ferocious tiger sits on the road. A dragon goes to reside at Huangbo.’”
¹⁹⁹

Without hesitating Shun said, “Assuming the seat, he offered a single turning phrase, and then he assumed the abbacy of Huangbo. But as for the Buddhadharma, he doesn’t even see it in his dreams.”

At these words Baofeng realized great enlightenment and finally understood Huanglong’s meaning. He then returned to Huanglong.

Huanglong said, “Where have you come from?”

Baofeng said, “I’ve come especially to pay you my respects.”

Huanglong said, “Right now I’m not here.”

Baofeng said, “Where have you gone?”

Huanglong said, “To do communal work at Mt. Tiantai. To go hiking on Mt. Nanyue.”

Baofeng said, “In that case, this student is in charge.”

Huanglong said, “Where have the sandals beneath your feet come from?”

Baofeng said, “Bringing the texts of seven hundred fifty songs from Mt. Lu.”

Huanglong said, “How did you get to be in charge?”

Baofeng pointed at his sandals and said, “How could I not be in charge?”

Huanglong was startled.

On the day he assumed the abbacy [at Bao Peak], Zen master Baofeng offered incense to the sacred figures.

[Later] he halted the questioning from the congregation, saying, “Stop the questions! You are just asking about Buddha and Dharma, but you don’t know the source of Buddha and Dharma. Where do you say they come from?”

Baofeng then dropped one foot off of the dais and said, “Formerly, Huanglong himself put forth a command, and all the buddhas in the ten directions dared not oppose it; all the generations of ancestors and all the saints dared not contravene it. The innumerable Dharma gates, all of the sublime mysteries, the seal on the tongue of every teacher in the world, [all of these things] don’t dare deviate from it. But leaving aside ‘not deviating from it,’ where is the seal? Do you see it? If you can see it, then there is no such thing as ‘monk’ and ‘layperson,’ no ‘universal’ and no ‘particular.’ Everything partakes of it. If you don’t see it, then I’ll take it back.”

Baofeng then withdrew his leg, shouted, and said, “A soldier drills with the (military) seal. A general marches with the military colors. If you ask about Buddha’s hand or a donkey’s foot or some old country teacher, then you’ll get thirty painful strikes from the staff. Is there not something unpleasant in the hall today? If there is, then don’t obstruct it. If there isn’t, then this old monk is deceiving you. Therefore, our Great Enlightened World-Honored One, in former times in the country of Magadha, on the eighth day of the twelfth month, upon the appearance of the morning star, suddenly was enlightened to the great Way, and the great earth and all beings in one moment became Buddha. Now, Shakyamuni’s disciples are in the eastern country of China in the city of Yunyang of the great Song dynasty, on the thirteenth day of the sixth month. When the bright sun appears, will there be another enlightenment?”

He then moved his whisk in a circle and said, “I don’t dare deceive you! You are all Buddha!”

The following passages are from
The Record of Kewen
.

Zen master Yunan Kewen said to the congregation, “Everyone! Has your self-belief gone far enough? If you’ve reached the zenith of belief in self, then you know that self-nature is fundamentally Buddha. When you thus realize no belief in self, then you’ve become a Buddha. But because of ancient delusion, when a person hears this, it’s difficult for him to forsake his belief [in self]. The speech and words of the virtuous, from ancient times down to the present, throughout the current of Zen, have been nothing but the buddha nature of the saints flowing out and being set forth. But what flowed forth was just the branch. Buddha nature is the root.

“These days many people seek the branch but reject the root, forgetting the true and falling into the false, they have harmed the Buddhadharma. What an annoyance it is for them that they should remember that the words and phrases of the ancients were for the sake of Zen and the Way! If not for Bodhidharma’s coming from the west, there’d be no Zen to be passed on. It was all for the sake of beings to individually realize their own self-nature and become buddhas, for beings to personally bring forth the entire Buddhadharma. Moreover, it was for the transformation of the universal spirit, whereby all beings are seen to be, in themselves, complete and perfect, and without the need to falsely seek anything outside of themselves.

“If people today seek something outside of themselves, then they cover up the root and will never gain awakening. If one always acts as guest, whereby the countless treasures belong to others, then it is just delusive thinking, and ultimately the flowing cycle of birth and death can’t be avoided.”