Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (24 page)

XITANG ZHIZANG

XITANG ZHIZANG (735–814) was a student of Mazu Daoyi. He came from Qianhua City in ancient Qian Province.
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When young, he had an unusually noble appearance. People said that he would likely be an “assistant to the Dharma King” (a servant of Buddha). After receiving ordination at the age of twenty-five, he went traveling, and finally came to study under Mazu Daoyi. A fellow student of Baizhang, they together received Dharma transmission from Master Ma.

Among Zhizang’s numerous disciples were the Korean monks Jilin Daoyi and Hongshe. These two adepts transmitted Zen to their native country. There, they helped to establish the “Nine Mountains,” nine prominent schools of Korean Zen.

One day Mazu dispatched Zhizang to Changan to deliver a letter to the National Teacher [Nanyang Huizhong].

The National Teacher asked him, “What Dharma does your teacher convey to people?”

Zhizang walked from the east side to the west side and stood there.

The National Teacher said, “Is that all?”

Zhizang then walked from the west side to the east side.

The National Teacher said, “This is Mazu’s way. What do you do?”

Zhizang said, “I showed it to you already.”

One day Mazu asked Zhizang, “Why don’t you read sutras?”

Zhizang said, “Aren’t they all the same?”

Mazu said, “Although that’s true, still you should do so for the sake of people [you will teach] later on.”

Zhizang said, “I think Zhizang must cure his own illness. Then he can talk to others.”

Mazu said, “Late in your life, you’ll be known throughout the world.”

Zhizang bowed.

The magistrate Lu Sigong invited Mazu to come to his prefecture for a length of time and convey the teaching. At that time, Zhizang, receiving from Mazu his hundred-sectioned robe, returned to his home province and began receiving students.

A monk asked Zen master Zhizang, “There are questions and there are answers. There is distinguishing guest and host. What about when there are no questions or answers?”

Zhizang said, “I fear it’s rotted away!”

After Zhizang became abbot of the Western Hall [in Chinese,
Xitang
], a layperson asked him, “Is there a heaven and hell?”

Zhizang said, “There is.”

The layman then asked, “Is there really a Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha—the three jewels?”

Zhizang said, “There are.”

The layman then asked several other questions, and to each Zhizang answered, “There are.”

The layman said, “Is the master sure there’s no mistake about this?”

Zhizang said, “When you visited other teachers, what did they say?”

The layman said, “I once visited Master Jingshan.”

Zhizang said, “What did Jingshan say to you?”

The layman said, “He said that there wasn’t a single thing.”

Zhizang said, “Do you have a wife and children?”

The layman said, “Yes.”

Zhizang said, “Does Master Jingshan have a wife and children?”

The layman said, “No.”

Zhizang said, “Then it’s okay for Jingshan to say there isn’t a single thing.”

The layman bowed, thanked Zhizang, and then went away.
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Zen master Zhizang died on the eighth day of the fourth month in [the year 814]. The emperor Xuan Zong gave him the posthumous name “Zen Master Great Expounder of the Teaching.” The emperor Mu Zong renamed him “Zen Master Great Awakening.”

DAJU HUIHAI

ZEN MASTER DAJU HUIHAI, whose name means “Great Pearl Wisdom Sea,” lived and taught in the late eighth and early ninth century. Daju was a senior and foremost disciple of Mazu Daoyi. He came from Yue Province, a place in Southeast China, and became a monk with a preceptor named Zhi at Great Cloud Temple, also in Yue Province. Daju Huihai is said to have had a bulbous forehead, which led to his Dharma name “Great Pearl.”

His biography relates that upon first meeting Mazu, the following exchange took place:

Mazu asked, “From where have you come?”

Great Pearl said, “From Yue Province.”

Mazu then asked, “What were you planning to do by coming here?”

Great Pearl said, “I’ve come to seek the Buddhadharma.”

Mazu then replied, “I don’t have anything here, so what ‘Buddhadharma’ do you think you’re going to find here? You haven’t seen the treasure in your own house, so why have you run off to some other place?”

Great Pearl then said, “What is the treasury of the wisdom sea?”

Mazu then said, “It is just who is asking me this question, that is your treasury. It is replete, not lacking in the slightest, and if you realize its embodiment then why would you go seeking it elsewhere?”

Upon hearing these words, Daju perceived his fundamental mind unobstructed by thinking. He ardently thanked and honored Mazu [for this instruction].

The paradox at the heart of Zen, and the antimetaphysical way that Zen approached this paradox, are at the center of the following exchange between a Tripitaka master—a teacher of the Buddhist Vinaya (Precepts) school—and Zen master Great Pearl: