Snow in August (8 page)

Boundless:

Have pity on you, all of you!

Crowd:

Get out of the way, you idiot!

Let people pass! You devil you!

My goodness, she’s got scabies all over her!

Boundless:

Oh no, I don’t. It’s you who’ve got muck all over your bodies, not me!

Crowd:

Leave her alone. She practices the Dhuta discipline. She wants to get rid of life’s trials!

An ascetic nun! Amitabha!

Boundless:

(
Sings loudly
.)

Oh Boundless Treasure, there is boundless treasure in you,

Boundless wonders and boundless profundity…(Exit)

[
Bell ringing fades
.

Act II　Scene 3

In Which Huineng Gives His First Lesson in the Pulpit

[
Pitter Patter of rain gradually becomes louder. Enter Huineng slowly. His head is shaved. He is dressed in a short gown made of coarse cloth and trousers, the legs of which are tied. He also has on a pair of straw sandals. He stops to listen to the crisp sound of the falling rain, stretching out his hands to catch the raindrops
.

Huineng:

(
Sings
.)

The hounds you drove,

To go after deer and doe;

In caves and sheds of straw,

To hunt was to live,

A wild man in the mountains.

They wanted to steal the Dharma,

They wanted to hunt you down;

Then like a bolt from the blue,

You are honored and hailed,

A teacher of Heaven and men.

(
Huineng looks up and lets the rain fall on his face. Enter Yinzong in a hurry
.)

Yinzong:

Master, what are you doing?

Huineng:

Watching the rain and listening to my heart.

Yinzong:

All the monks are gathered in the hall waiting for you to lecture them on the
Dharma
.

Huineng:

Huineng has no
Dharma
to talk about. That which can be spoken is not the
Dharma
.

Yinzong:

(
He waits patiently, his hands hanging by his side
.)

You are the true successor of Buddha. Everybody is looking up to you. With due respect, I must insist on the Master’s exposition so that all present will be enlightened!

Huineng:

Huineng is unworthy of your respect and your compliments. I’m afraid that it’d be futile even if I spoke.

Yinzong:

It all depends on one’s
karma
. If the people are enlightened, then the merits will indeed be boundless.

Master, please change into the
Dharma
robe you have inherited.

Huineng:

Dharma
robe or no Dharma robe, what is the difference?

Yinzong:

If you had on an ordinary
kasaya
robe, you would be a mere lay brother, and only I would recognize your true identity. If you had on the
Dharma
robe, then everyone would know that you are the true inheritor of the
Dharma
. For the sake of the glory of the Buddhist order, and for the sake of the enlightenment of the deluded, I hereby request the Master to ascend the pulpit in the
Dharma
robe!

Huineng:

Then Huineng will have no choice but to do that which he would not normally do. What indulgence! (
Bows and smiles
.)

Please go in first. I will follow shortly.

[
Yinzong smiles in approval. Exit. Bell tolls loudly. Exit Huineng
.

Enter the monks hurriedly one after another
.

Enter Yinzong. Bell tolling stops
.

Yinzong:

Two hundred years ago in the Southern Dynasties, there was a tripitaka master by the name of True Meaning. He planted two
bodhi
trees on both sides of this pulpit. He also told his disciples to take good care of the trees, for later a Bodhisattva would come and perform the Supreme
Dharma
ceremony. We are really fortunate today because this prophecy has come true. I welcome to this pulpit Master Huineng, Bodhisattva-in-person and true successor to the patriarchs. He will lecture us on the teachings of the East Mountain Temple School.

[
Enter Huineng in Dharma robe
.

Huineng:

(
Smiling
.)

Let me sit under the tree here. The shade cools me.

Greetings, everybody. Allow me to be honest with you. I don’t know how to read. I can’t understand the words in the sutra. If you want exegesis on the sutra, you should read the book yourselves. But I have one way to the
Dharma
, it has neither name nor words, neither eye nor ear, neither body nor concept, neither language nor manifestation, neither head nor tail, neither inside nor outside, nor anything in between, neither presence nor absence, neither cause nor effect, it neither comes nor goes, and it is not green, yellow, red, black or white. May I put the question to the learned members in the audience: what is this way?

[
The monks look at one another, afraid to answer the question. Shenhui, a young apprentice monk, stands up
.

Discipline Teacher:

Young apprentice, what do you think you are doing?

Shenhui:

I can’t stand sitting down any more. My legs are numb.

Discipline Teacher:

Then go away and do your work. Don’t cause trouble here!

Huineng:

Young people cannot sit still. Let him stand up. My way resides in the minds of everybody, but you have not been able to understand your mind and see your own nature. Let me hear what you have to say. (
Smiles
.) This way of mine has no rules.

Shenhui:

Teacher, teacher, I have to pee!

Discipline Teacher:

Watch what you’re doing! You’ll be punished for this!

Huineng:

If you don’t let the kid go he may burst. Go ahead, go.

[
Exit Shenhui running. All are relieved and break out in laughter
.

Discipline Teacher:

Quiet! Quiet! The lecture is in session! Be serious!

[
Monks stop laughing out of fear
.

Huineng:

It’s serious, but it’s also not serious. Mental state comes from the mind. If the mind is free, then it will be purified and beget wisdom.

(
“Small drum” drum beat, imitating the clip clop of a running horse
.)

Discipline Teacher:

What’s the matter?

(
Enter messenger from the prefecture government hurriedly, holding a horsewhip
.)

Messenger:

His Excellency Prefect Wei Ju wishes to deliver this letter to the Grand Master Yinzong, Abbot of Dharma Nature Temple!

Yinzong:

(
Rises to receive the letter. Finishes reading
.)

Prefect Wei, the officers at the prefecture government and scholars from the four corners of the earth have learned that Master Huineng, true successor to the Buddha, has graced the county of Nanhai with his presence. Thereby an invitation has been extended to the Master to make accessible to all the door to the truth of the
Dharma
, to choose an auspicious hour and date to lecture on the Maha Prajnaparamita Sutra of the Mahayana School. On the same day let there be a magnificent ceremony, and let the pulpit be opened to receive all believers, encompassing monks or laymen, so that all the people will be delivered from their sufferings! The messenger is awaiting your reply by his horse. What, may I ask, is the Master’s wish?

Huineng:

It is my destiny that has brought me here. Let us choose a day so that we can combine the two lectures into one.

Yinzong:

Messenger, please convey the Master’s wish to Prefect Wei.

[
Exit Messenger. “Small drum” drum beat. Clip clop sound fades
.

Huineng:

Let’s call it a day. (
Stands up
.)

Yinzong:

Let us all retire to our rooms to ponder on the question the Master has just asked. In this way his effort will not have been wasted and we will all benefit from his enlightening lecture.

[
The monks get up and look at one another. Exit. Enter Shenhui
.

Shenhui:

What’s this? It’s all done? But I only went to pee! What did the monk talk about? What kind of
Dharma
is this?

Discipline Teacher:

What do you think?

Shenhui:

I knew it. If it wasn’t the same old Buddha in the sutra, the stuff we’ve been chanting day in, day out?

Discipline Teacher:

You garbage mouth! Hold your tongue! You’ve violated the rules of the temple. Give him a few smacks on the bottom! Master Huineng, do not spoil him!

Huineng:

(
Yells
.)

I’ve told you clearly that the Dharma has no name. How did you come up with a name?

Shenhui:

The monk asked me, so I had to give it a name. If he hadn’t asked about it, then it wouldn’t have to have a name.

Huineng:

(
Hits Shenhui with a club
.)

Let me give you a thump with my club! Did you feel the pain?

Shenhui:

Yes and no.

Huineng:

Where was the pain?

Shenhui:

My bottom.

Huineng:

Where was there no pain?

Shenhui:

The club.

Yinzong:

Do not bother the Master any longer. Go! Go!

Huineng:

What’s his name, this naughty little kid?

Yinzong:

His name is Shenhui. He has come here to learn the sutra and the disciplines. Let me ask him to leave the temple then.

Huineng:

Let him stay. My feet are not well. Keep him by my side to look after me.

Yinzong:

Holiness, where would you like to take up your residence?

Huineng:

This temple is right next to the city centre. Whatever happens here, the officials will surely know about it. If I stay, the temple will lose its peace and quiet. I’m used to living in the mountains, so I think I’d better return there.

Yinzong:

Does the Master have any specific place to go? I’ll have to report to the Prefect on your whereabouts.

Huineng:

After the
Dharma
gathering, I’ll likely go back to the mountains in Caoxi in Shao Prefecture. I stayed there for some time before, it seems that I still need to be there to complete my destiny with the place.

[
Exit both. The faint ringing of a bell can be heard coming from backstage. Silhouette of the back of Boundless Treasure appears
.

Enter Singsong Girl amid music, singing from the orchestra pit downstage
.

Singsong Girl:

(
Sings
.)

A beautiful body,

A load of memories,

A story hidden in the bottom of the heart,

Only to recall but not to tell.

Boundless Treasure is you,

Boundless Treasure is me.

Walking, walking, keep on walking,

Who can understand the profound meaning?

[
Huineng is seen in the pulpit wearing the Dharma robe. Silhouette of Boundless Treasure disappears. Enter Crowd
.

Huineng:

(
Lectures
.)

Learned men and women!

All humans inherently possess the wisdom of
Bodhi Prajna
, but due to the delusions in their minds, they fail to achieve enlightenment by themselves.

As for my way to enlightenment, its aim is no thought, its essence is no form, and its foundation no attachment.

What do we mean by no form? It is that when you are in the world of forms, you are not attached to any form.

What do we mean by no thought? No thought means you are not absorbed by any thoughts when you are thinking.

And what do we mean by no attachment? No attachment is in the self-nature of all humans.

Our thoughts should not have any attachments. If all our thoughts, past, present and future, are linked together without any interruption, then the
Dharmakaya
, the essence body, will be able to detach itself from the
Rupakaya
, the physical body.

When we are engaged in thinking, we should not be attached to anything. Even if only one thought is attached, all the others will be attached. This is known as bondage. If we can be detached from all thoughts, then we will not be burdened by any bondage.

Singsong Girl:

(
Loudly
.)

This is the mystery of a Buddhist nun who is herself a woman of mystery. Only a woman can solve it. But women, every single one of them, all suffer from various attachments of their own; they can’t free themselves to solve the mystery. Then how can a monk, who is not a woman, be free to solve it?

(
Sings
.)

Sadness in the heart of love,

Entangling yet so refined;

Like a mist or a cloud,

It lingers and circles,