Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (43 page)

Changsha sent a monk to ask a question of Zen master Hui, who was a fellow student with Changsha under Nanquan.

The monk asked Zen master Hui, “What was it like after you saw Nanquan?”

Hui was silent.

The monk asked, “What was it like before you saw Nanquan?”

Hui said, “There couldn’t be anything more.”

The monk returned and told Changsha about this conversation.

Changsha then showed the monk a verse that said:

Atop a hundred-foot pole, an unmoving person,
Although he’s gained entry, he hasn’t reached the truth.
He must step forth from the top of the pole,
Then the world in ten directions is the complete body.

The monk then asked, “If one is at the very top of a hundred-foot pole, how does one step forward?”

Changsha said, “The Lang Province mountains. The Li Province rivers.”

The monk said, “I don’t understand.”

Changsha said, “The four seas and five lakes are splendid within it.”

Changsha and Yangshan were enjoying the moon.

Yangshan said, “Everyone is completely endowed with this, but they are unable to make use of it.”

Changsha said, “I invite you to use it now.”

Yangshan asked, “How would you use it?”

Changsha knocked Yangshan down with a shove to the chest, then stepped on him.

Yangshan said, “Whoa, just like a tiger!” (Changqing Huileng said, “Before they were one family. Afterward they were not of one family.” He also said, “Heresy is difficult to support.”)

From this time forward Changsha was known to all as “The Tiger.”

A monk asked, “Fundamentally, can people become buddhas or not?”

Changsha said, “Do you think that the emperor of the Great Tang still plows a field and harvests the rice?”

The monk said, “I still don’t understand who it is who becomes a buddha.”

Changsha said, “It’s you that becomes a buddha.”

The monk was silent.

Changsha said, “Do you understand?”

The monk said, “No.”

Changsha said, “If someone trips on the ground and falls down, and then they use the ground to get up again—does the ground say anything?”

A monk asked, “‘Form is emptiness; emptiness is form.’ What does this mean?”

Changsha said, “Listen to this verse of mine:

An obstruction is not a barrier,
A passage is not empty.
If people understand in this manner,
Mind and form are fundamentally the same.

Changsha also said:

“Buddha nature grandly manifests,
But passions obscure abiding nature.
When the selfless nature of beings is realized,
How does my face differ from Buddha’s?”

A monk asked, “What is my mind?”

Changsha said, “All worlds in the ten directions are your mind.”

The monk said, “If so, then there’s no particular place where my body is manifested.”

Changsha said, “
It is
the place where your body is manifested.”

The monk said, “
What
is the place where it manifests?”

Changsha said, “The great ocean, vast and deep.”

The monk said, “I don’t understand.”

Changsha said, “Dragons and fish frolic freely, leaping and diving.”

Changsha eulogized his teacher Nanquan, saying, “Great and august Nanquan! His teaching shows the origin of the three worlds—an eternal diamond—radiating limitlessly. He manifested numberless buddhas. Now he’s gone back.”

Long before, upon his enlightenment under Nanquan, Changsha had composed the following verse:

Today I’ve returned to my old home’s gate,
And Nanquan speaks intimately of the entire universe.
All things reveal the ancients’ meaning.
The prodigal regrets unfilial acts.

To this verse Nanquan responded with another that said:

Today’s great function is not discussed,
For Nanquan speaks not of the entire universe.
Returning home is the affair of descendants,
The ancients never left the gate.

ZHAOZHOU CONGSHEN

ZHAOZHOU CONGSHEN (778–897) was a disciple of Nanquan. He came from ancient Caozhou (near the modern city of Heze in Shandong Province). Zhaozhou’s first great awakening was at the age of eighteen. After receiving ordination on Mt. Song as a young man, he found guidance for several decades under Nanquan, until that teacher’s death. At that time, while already in his fifties, Zhaozhou set out traveling to further cultivate his practice. During this period he met several illustrious teachers such as Huangbo, Jiashan, Yanguan, and others. Eventually, Zhaozhou was invited to settle and teach at the Kwan Yin Monastery located in Zhaozhou (now the Bailin Monastery in Zhaoxian City, Hebei Province).
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Zhaozhou’s fame spread throughout China. Although he had thirteen Dharma heirs, his lineage soon died out.

Among the many stories and kōans concerning Zhaozhou, it is “Zhaozhou’s Wu!” that is the most famous. This story is the first great kōan gate through which countless Zen students have passed.