Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (27 page)

Yanguan called to his attendant, saying, “Bring me the rhinoceros fan.”

The attendant said, “It’s broken.”

Yanguan said, “If the fan is broken, then bring me the rhinoceros.”

The attendant didn’t answer. ([Later,] Touzi answered on behalf of the attendant, saying, “I don’t refuse to bring the rhinoceros, but I’m afraid he doesn’t have all his horns.” Zifu Rubao, answering for the attendant, drew a circle and then wrote the word “ox” in the middle of it. Shishuang answered for the attendant, saying, “If I give it to the master it will be gone.” Baoshou Yanzhao said, “The master is of a venerable age. It’s proper for him to call on others.”)

Master Yanguan said to the congregation, “Vast empty space is the drum. Mt. Sumeru is the mallet. Who can play this drum?”

No one in the congregation spoke. (Someone told this story to Nanquan Puyuan. He said, “Old Teacher Wang doesn’t play this broken drum.” Later, Fayan said, “Old Teacher Wang [Nanquan] doesn’t beat it.”)

A Zen master named Fakong came to visit Yanguan and inquired about some ideas expressed in the Buddhist sutras. Yanguan answered each question in turn. When they had finished, Yanguan said, “Since the master arrived here, I haven’t been able to play the host.”

Fakong said, “I invite the master to take the role of host.”

Yanguan said, “It’s late today, so let’s go back to our quarters and take a rest. Tomorrow come here again.”

Fakong then went back to his room.

The next morning, Yanguan sent a novice monk to invite Fakong for another meeting.

When Fakong arrived, Yanguan looked at the novice monk and said, “Aiee! This novice can’t do anything! I told him to go get Zen master Fakong. Instead he went and got this temple maintenance man!”

Fakong was speechless.

[When Yanguan was ill] the temple director, named Faxin, came to see him.

Yanguan said, “Who are you?”

The temple director said, “Faxin.”

Yanguan said, “I don’t know you.”

Later, the master’s condition improved, but he suddenly died at a banquet. He received the posthumous name “Zen Master Enlightened Emptiness.”

DAMEI FACHANG

DAMEI FACHANG (752–839) was a disciple of Mazu. He came from Xiangyang (now the city of Xiangfan in northern Hubei Province.) His lay surname was Zheng. As a youth he is reported to have left home to live at Yuquan Temple in ancient Xingzhou.
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As a young man he was extremely well versed in the Buddhist sutras, and possessed the ability to memorize long scriptural passages with one reading. At the age of twenty he received ordination at Longxing Temple.
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Determined to study Zen, Fachang traveled to study under the great Zen master Mazu Daoyi.

Upon first meeting the great teacher Mazu, Damei asked him, “What is Buddha?”

Mazu said, “Mind is Buddha.”

Upon hearing these words, Damei experienced great enlightenment. He soon moved to Mt. Da Mei [“Big Plum”], where he built a cottage and lived in seclusion.

During the Zheng He era [785–820], a monk in Zen master Yanguan Qi’an’s congregation was collecting wood for making monks’ staffs when he became lost.

Coming upon Zen master Damei Fachang’s cottage, he asked, “Master, how long have you been living here?”

Damei said, “I’ve seen the mountain’s green change to brown four times.”

The monk then asked, “Where’s the road down off of the mountain?”

Damei said, “Follow the flow of the water.”

The monk returned to Yanguan and told him about the monk he’d met.

Yanguan said, “When I was at Jiangxi [studying with Mazu] I saw such a monk there. I haven’t heard any news about him since then. I don’t know if it’s him or not.”

Yanguan then sent a monk to invite Damei to come for a visit.

Damei responded to the invitation with a poem that said:

A damaged tree stump slumps in the forest.
Mind unchanged as springtimes pass.
A woodcutter passes but still doesn’t see it.
Why do you seek trouble by pursuing it?
Limitless lotus leaves on the pool serve as my clothing.
An abundance of pine cones remains for food.
Now people from the world have learned of my home,
So I’ll move my hut to a more secluded spot.

When Mazu heard that Damei lived on the mountain, he sent a monk to call upon him and ask the question, “When you saw Master Mazu, what did he say that caused you to come live on this mountain?”

Damei said, “Master Mazu said to me, ‘Mind is Buddha.’ Then I came here to live.”

The monk said, “These days Master Ma’s teaching has changed.”

Damei said, “What is it?”

The monk said, “Now he says, ‘No mind. No Buddha.’”

Damei said, “That old fellow just goes on and on, confusing people. Let him go ahead and say, ‘No mind. No Buddha.’ As for me, I still say, ‘Mind is Buddha.’”

The monk returned and reported this to Master Mazu.

Mazu said, “The plum is ripe.”

Soon afterward, Damei’s reputation spread widely and students traveled into the mountains to receive his instruction.

Zen master Damei Fachang entered the hall and addressed the monks, saying, “All of you must reverse your mind and arrive at its root. Don’t pursue its branches! Attaining its source, its end will also be reached. If you want to know the source, then just know your own mind. The source of mind is the entire world. The myriad dharmas are the source of mind. When the mind manifests, the innumerable dharmas are thus manifested. And when the mind passes away, the myriad dharmas pass away. Mind does not, however, dependently arise according to conditions of good and evil. The myriad dharmas arise in their own thusness.”

As the monks Jiashan and Dingshan were traveling together they had a discussion.

Dingshan said, “When there is no Buddha within life and death, then there is no life and death.”

Jiashan said, “When Buddha is within life and death, there is no confusion about life and death.”

The two monks couldn’t reach any agreement, so they climbed the mountain to see Damei Fachang.

Jiashan raised their question with Damei and asked, “We’d like to know which viewpoint is most intimate?”