Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (98 page)

Fengxue said, “I spent the summer with your attendant Kuo at Huayan Temple in Xiangzhou.”

Nanyuan said, “You truly saw an adept.”

Nanyuan asked Fengxue, “What’s your opinion about the ‘staff of the South’ [Linji Zen]?”

Fengxue said, “I say it’s quite unusual.”

Fengxue then asked Nanyuan, “What does the master say about the staff in this place?”

Nanyuan picked up his staff and said, “Those unable to endure the staff will not see Linji as their teacher.”

At these words Fengxue deeply realized the great meaning of the Linji house.

Once, when he addressed the monks, Fengxue cited an ancient who said, “I have an arrow. I have sharpened it for many ages. When I shoot it flies through the ten directions. No one can see where it falls to earth.”

Then Fengxue said, “But as for me, I don’t go along with this. I have an arrow that has never been sharpened. It doesn’t shoot through the ten directions. But still, no one can see it.”

A monk then asked, “What is the master’s arrow?”

Fengxue pretended to shoot the monk with a bow and arrow.

The monk bowed.

Fengxue yelled, “Drag this dead fellow out of here!”

Fengxue said to the monks, “Establish one mote of dust and the nation flourishes. The villagers knit their brows in anxiety. Not establishing one mote of dust and the nation is lost. Then the hundred households live in peace. When you understand this, then there is nothing more, and everything is your teacher. If this is not understood, then your teacher is a priest. This teacher and priest can together enlighten the entire world, or blind the entire world. Do you want to know who the priest is?”

Fengxue then slapped his right side and said, “He’s right here.”

Then Fengxue said, “Do you want to know the teacher?”

Fengxue then slapped his left side and said, “He’s right here.”

A monk asked, “The ancient song has no tune. How can one be in harmony with it?”

Fengxue said, “The wooden cock crows at night. The matted dog barks in the daylight.”

In the hall, Fengxue quoted a poem by Hanshan to the monks:

The Brahmin transmigrates through life and death,
His soul always suffering decay and old age.
Even reading a hundred imperial books,
He can’t avoid beatings and chains.
But uttering Namufo even once,
¹⁴¹
And all together attain the Buddha Way.

XINGYANG QINGRANG

XINGYANG QINGRANG (n.d.) was a disciple of Bajiao Huiqing. He lived and taught on Mt. Xingyang in ancient Ezhou (the modern Mt. Jing in Hubei Province). Although little is recorded about this teacher, he is notable as one of the last masters of the Guiyang school of Zen. Subsequently, the Guiyang school passed out of existence, although it was partially absorbed by the Linji tradition. The
Transmission of the Lamp
provides an example of Xingyang’s teachings.

A monk asked Xingyang Qingrang, “How was it in the time before the appearance of the Buddhadharma, when the Buddha of Supreme Wisdom and Penetration sat in meditation for ten kalpas before becoming a buddha?”
¹⁴²

Xingyang said, “Your question truly hits the mark.”

The monk said, “Since he sat in the seat of meditation, why didn’t he attain the buddha way?”

Xingyang said, “Because he had not become a buddha.”

TONGAN GUANZHI

TONGAN GUANZHI was a student of Tongan Daopi. There is no record of his life before becoming a monk, and little about his life as a teacher. The lamp records offer an obscure account of his life and teachings.

When Zen master Tongan Daopi was about to die, he entered the hall and addressed the monks, saying, “The disciples before the stupa are adept, but what about the affair before the five old peaks?”

He asked this question three times, but none of the monks responded.

Finally, Tongan Guanzhi stood up and said, “Beyond the window screen, the chiliocosm is arrayed in the clear night. Everywhere, a song of great peace.”

Daopi said, “You should all be like this foolish ass!”

A monk asked, “How do you sing of the place where duality can’t reach?”