Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (143 page)

Congyue said, “Guanxi’s disciples don’t have any brains. If you put on a cotton garment that smells like piss, what good is it?”

Zhi said, “You should go and practice at that place that smells like piss.”

Following Zhi’s instructions, Congyue went and practiced with Zen master Wenhe and deeply realized his great teaching. Later Congyue returned to see Zen master Zhi.

Zhi said, “Now that you’ve seen Guanxi’s disciples, what about the great matter?”

Congyue said, “Had it not been for your instruction, it would have slipped past me my entire life.”

Congyue then bowed in gratitude.

Zen master Doushuai Congyue entered the hall and addressed the monks, saying, “When a person’s eyes and ears are clear, then he resides in a remote mountain valley. The autumn wind rustles the ancient pines and the autumn moon reflects from the cold waters. A patch-robed monk who reaches that place must go still further to realize the truth, for this is still just two apes with four tails hanging down.”

After saying this the master shouted.

Doushuai addressed the monks, saying, “I can’t differentiate anything. I see a hard-shelled turtle and I mistakenly call it soft-shelled. I can’t talk any wondrous talk, or speak about truth. I just flap my lips and drum my tongue. When all the monks in the world see me, they laugh so hard in derision that their tears turn to blood. Don’t I turn their derision to happiness? Are you laughing at me now?”

After a pause, the master said, “I blow a light-hearted tune on my flute and it causes people to forget a lifetime of troubles.”

Doushuai addressed the monks, saying, “First comes the new spring, and then it’s the beginning of summer. The four seasons pass like an arrow. The sun and moon move like a shuttle. Before you know it, a red-faced babe has turned into an old white-hair. You must truly exert yourself and use extraordinary effort. Cultivate your own field, and don’t steal someone else’s seedlings. Applying yourself in this way, your cultivation will certainly result in finally seeing the white ox on snow mountain.”

In [the year 1091], after bathing, the master assembled the monks and recited this verse:

After forty-eight years,
Sacred and mundane are completely killed off.
Although not heroic,
The Longan road is slippery.
²⁰⁵

The master suddenly passed away. In accordance with his wishes, his disciples wanted to scatter his cremated remains in the river. However, before his Dharma heirs could do this, an emissary from the master’s lay disciple, Duke Zhang, arrived to pay tribute and said, “The old master forcefully expounded the way of the ancestral gate. Those who come to honor him must have a place to do so.“ He then ordered the construction of a stupa on Luan Peak at Longan. It was named “True Stillness.”

SIXIN WUXIN, “HUANGLONG WUXIN”

SIXIN WUXIN (1044–1115) was a disciple of Huitang Zuxin. He came from Shaozhou. According to a legend related in the
Wudeng Huiyuan
, Sixin was born with purple skin on his shoulders and right side, giving him the appearance of wearing a monk’s robe. As a young man, he entered Fotuo (“Buddha”) Monastery where he gained ordination. He later traveled to visit the teacher Huanglong Zuxin of the Linji Zen lineage.

Huanglong raised his fist and asked, “If you call it a fist you have erred. If you don’t call it a fist then you’ve avoided the question. What do you call it?”

Sixin didn’t know what to do. He spent two years working on this question before he arrived at a solution. But when he then went to discuss the matter with Huanglong, his teacher didn’t pay any attention and instead became highly agitated. As Sixin tried to explain his insight, Huanglong suddenly yelled, “Stop! Stop! Can you feed people by talking about food?”

This startled and distressed Sixin, who said, “I don’t want to be in this place of broken bows and spent arrows. I appeal to the master’s compassion. Please direct me to a paradise.”

Huanglong said, “A single dust mote flies and heaven is concealed. A mustard seed falls and earth is overturned. Paradise still torments you with confusion. You must completely die so that for unlimited eons to come, with total mind, you can hear.”

Sixin left quickly.

One day, as Sixin was talking with a pilgrim monk named Zhishi Chui, there was a sudden flash of lightning and a loud thunderclap. Sixin was instantly enlightened. He rushed to see Huanglong. Forgetting custom he enthused, “Everyone on earth has attained Zen, but they haven’t awakened to it.”

Huanglong laughed and said, “A practitioner of the first rank! How can I face you?” It was as a result of these events that he received the name Sixin [“Dead Mind”].

Sixin entered the hall and addressed the monks, saying, “It’s deep, obscure, distant, and no person can go there. Did Shakyamuni go there or not? If he went there, why can’t anyone else? If he didn’t go there, who says it’s obscure and distant?”

Sixin addressed the monks, saying, “The mind-seal of the ancestors—its appearance is like the function of an iron ox. When it makes an impression it seals. When it seals the seal is lost. It’s as though it doesn’t disappear, nor does it remain. So does it make a seal or not? At early dawn a monkey picked the golden fruit. At late dusk a phoenix carried away the jade flower.”