Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (99 page)

Tongan said, “There is no place where this can be encountered. But within the mystic principle it is never lost.”

A monk asked, “Everywhere are words and phrases, but they are all exhausted in the present moment. I come before the master to request that you point directly at
it
.”

Tongan said, “If it is not revealed before the eyes, there’s no confusion after the words.”

A monk asked, “What is the transcendent matter?”

Tongan said, “Pivoting but not changing position. Any special sign is bad.”

XIANGLIN CHENGYUAN

XIANGLIN CHENGYUAN (908–87) was a disciple of Yunmen Wenyan. He came from the city of Mianzhu in Hanzhou (a location in Sichuan Province). As a youth, he entered Zhenxiang Monastery in Chengdu City. There, at the age of sixteen, he took his vows.

The
Wudeng Huiyuan
provides this story about the young monk:

One day, while hoeing in the field with the other monks, Xianglin heard a monk yell, “Look! The Su house is on fire!”
¹⁴³

Xianglin, not seeing anything, said, “Where’s the fire?”

The monk said, “Don’t you see it?”

Xianglin said, “No, I don’t.”

The monk then said, “This blind fellow!”

For some time all the monks said that Xianglin suffered a failing.

Xianglin later traveled widely, eventually becoming the disciple and Dharma heir of the great teacher Yunmen. After serving Yunmen for several years he returned to Chengdu to assume the abbacy of the Tianwang Monastery. In the year 964, he moved to the Xianglin Monastery on Mt. Chingcheng. There, he preached the Dharma in the style of the Yunmen school for more than twenty years.

A monk asked Master Xianglin Chengyuan, “Why does sweet-tasting cream turn into poison?”
¹⁴⁴

Xianglin said, “Paper from Daojiang is expensive.”

A monk asked, “How is it that when one observes form, one thus observes mind?”

Xianglin said, “Just when it comes, where does it return to?”

A monk asked, “What is it when mind and environment are both gone?”

Xianglin said, “Eyes open, sitting asleep.”

A monk asked, “What is the meaning of the phrase, ‘concealing the body in the Big Dipper’?”

Xianglin said, “The moon like a curved bow. A light rain and big wind.”

A monk asked, “What is the mind of all buddhas?”

Xianglin said, “Clarity. From beginning to end, clarity.”

A monk asked, “How can I understand this?”

Xianglin said, “Don’t be deceived by others.”

A monk asked, “What is the master’s special medicine?”

Xianglin said, “It’s not other than a common taste.”

The monk said, “How about those that eat it?”

Xianglin said, “Why not taste it and see?”