Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (30 page)

Layman Pang was leaving Yaoshan, so Yaoshan had ten “Zen guests” accompany Pang to the main gate.
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The layman pointed to the falling snow and said, “Good snowflakes. Each one not falling any other place.”

At that time, a Zen monk named Chuan asked, “Where do they fall?”

The layman struck him.

Chuan said, “Even a layman should not act so rudely.”

Pangyun said, “A so-called ‘Zen guest’ saying such a thing! Yama [the king of hell] will never release you!”

Chuan said, “What do you mean?”

Pangyun hit him again, saying, “You have eyes like a blind man and your mouth speaks like a mute.”

[Later] Xuedou said, “When he asked the first question I would have made a snowball and hit him with it.”

When Layman Pang was about to die, he said to his daughter, Ling Zhao, “Go look at the sun and see what time it is. Just when it’s noon come and tell me.”

Ling Zhao went to the door and looked out, saying, “The sun has just reached noon, but there’s an eclipse!”

When Layman Pang went to the door and looked out, Ling Zhao went to her father’s seat, placed her hands together, and passed away.

Layman Pang smiled and said, “My daughter’s deftness!”

He then postponed his departure from the world by seven days.

The governor of Xiangzhou came to visit Pangyun and ask about his illness.

Layman Pang said to him, “I ask that you regard everything that is as empty, nor give substance to that which has none. Farewell. The world is like reflections and echoes.”

Then, placing his head on the governor’s knee, Layman Pang passed away. His cremated remains were cast upon rivers and lakes. Monks and laity mourned him, saying that he was actually Vimalakirti. Three hundred of Layman Pang’s poems were left to spread through the world.

MAYU BAOCHE

MAYU BAOCHE (n.d.) of Puzhou was a famous disciple of Mazu. There is no record of his home province, his surname, or the exact dates of his birth and death. He was a close friend of the famous Zen adept Danxia Tianran. The lamp records provide the following account of Baoche’s enlightenment:

Once, while walking with Mazu, Mayu asked, “What is the great nirvana?”

Mazu replied, “Hurried.”

Mayu asked, “What is it that’s hurried?”

Mazu said, “See the water!”

At these words Mayu was awakened.

Zen master Mayu Baoche was using a fan.

A monk asked, “The nature of the wind is eternal and there is no place where it doesn’t reach. So why does the master use a fan?”

Baoche said, “You know that the nature of wind is eternal, but you don’t know that there’s no place it doesn’t reach.”

The monk said, “What is the principle of ‘there is no place
it
doesn’t reach’?”

Baoche fanned himself.

The monk bowed.

Mayu said, “Useless teachers and monks! There are a thousand of them. What are they good for?”

Mayu asked a monk, “Where did you come from?”

The monk didn’t understand.

Mayu asked again, “Where did you come from? Monk! Hey!”

Mayu got down from his seat and grabbed the monk, saying, “Look here! When I ask you to demonstrate the Buddhadharma, just give me an answer!”

The monk said, “Like an eyeless teacher.”

Mayu let go of the monk and said, “I’ll spare you your life and let you breathe.”

The monk bowed.

Mayu tried to grab the monk again, but the monk shook his sleeves and left the hall.

Mayu said, “Don’t pick the three-year bamboo. Get the ten-thousand-year pine!”

Mayu, Nanquan, and another monk went traveling to Mt. Jing. On their way they encountered an old woman shopkeeper.

They asked her, “What’s the way to Mt. Jing?”

She said, “Just go straight ahead.”

Mayu said, “Is there water ahead that is too deep to pass through?”

The old woman said, “It won’t even soak your feet.”

Mayu said, “The rice paddy on the upper terrace is good. The rice paddy on the lower terrace is withered.”

The old woman said, “It’s all been eaten by crabs.”

Mayu said, “The grain is fragrant.”

The old woman said, “There’s no smell.”

Mayu also said, “Where do you live?”

The old woman said, “Right here.”

The three monks went into the woman’s shop. She boiled a pot of tea and set out three cups.

Then she said, “If you masters have a pervasive spiritual knowledge, then drink some tea.”

The three monks looked at each other in surprise, and then the old woman said, “Look at this old crone show her pervasive spirit!” She then grabbed the cups, knocked over the tea pot, and went out.

Once, Baoche and Tianran were hiking in the mountains. Baoche pointed at some fish he saw in a stream.

Tianran said, “Natural. Natural.”
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Baoche waited until the following day, then asked Tianran, “What did you mean yesterday?”

Danxia then lay down in a prone position.

Baoche said, “Blue heavens!”

A monk asked Baoche, “What is the great meaning of the Buddhadharma?”

Baoche was silent.

Later, a monk asked Zen master Shishuang Qingzhu, “What was Zen master Baoche’s meaning?”

Shishuang said, “If the host raises his folded hands in respect, it just does harm. Then you go hauling mud and carrying water.”