Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (140 page)

The monk said, “My previous teacher did not speak in this manner. What do you mean?”

Dagui said, “The pilgrim finally knows suffering.”

The monk said, “Ten years in the red dust, but today the solitary body is revealed.”

Dagui said, “Frost on top of the snow.”

A monk asked, “What is the buddha within the city?”

Dagui said, “In the ten-thousand-person crowd, not leaving signs.”

The monk asked, “What is the buddha in the village?”

Dagui said, “A muddy pig. A scabby dog.”

The monk asked, “What is the buddha in the mountain?”

Dagui said, “Stopping people’s coming and going.”

A monk asked, “How was it before Niutou met the Fourth Ancestor?”

Dagui said, “Cold hair standing straight.”

The monk asked, “After seeing him, then what?”

Dagui said, “Sweat streaming from the forehead.”

Dagui addressed the monks, saying, “Not using thought, it is known. Not employing considerations, it is resolved. Luling rice is expensive. Zhenzhou turnips are big.”

Dagui entered the hall and addressed the monks, saying, “An ancient buddha said, ‘Formerly at Varanasi I turned the Dharma wheel of the four noble truths.’
²⁰³
[This was] diving into the pit or jumping into the moat. Today I again turn the most sublime, unsurpassed, great wheel of Dharma, adding mud to the ground. If there were no ladder of historical development leading down to this time, then how could one transcend objects?”

Dagui then paused from speaking. After some time he said, “Pop your head out beyond heaven and see! Who is the one at the middle?”

Dagui addressed the monks, saying, “Grasping empty forms, chasing echoes—it belabors your spirit. Wake up from your dream and the dream is gone. Then what other matter is left? Old Deshan is on all of your eyebrows and eyelashes, do you all feel him? If you’ve experienced this then you’ve awakened from your dream and the dream is gone. If you haven’t experienced this, then you are grasping empty forms and chasing echoes. This will go on without end.”

During [the year 1132], Dagui, though not ill, recited the following verse:

Last night three times,
Sudden wind and thunder,
The clouds dispersed and left vast space.
The moon sets beyond the river.

He then sat silently for a long while, then suddenly bade the monks farewell and passed away.

DANXIA ZICHUN

DANXIA ZICHUN (1064–1117) was a disciple of Furong Daokai. He came from the ancient city of Zitong (now in Sichuan Province). He was ordained at the age of twenty.

Danxia entered the hall and addressed the monks, saying, “Within the cosmos, inside the universe, at the very center, there is a jewel concealed in form mountain. Dharma master Zhao says that you can only point at tracks and speak of traces of this jewel, and that you cannot hold it up for others to see. But today I split open the universe, break apart form mountain and hold it forth for all of you to observe! Those with the eye of wisdom will see it.”

Danxia hit the floor with his staff and said, “Do you see? A white egret stands in the snow, but its color is different. It doesn’t resemble the clear moon or the water reeds!”

Danxia entered the hall and said, “Deshan spoke as follows, ‘My doctrine is without words and phrases, and truthfully, I have no Dharma to impart to people.’ You can say Deshan knew how to ‘go into the grass’ to save people. But he didn’t ‘soak the whole body in muddy water.’ If you look carefully you see he has just one eye. But as for me, my doctrine has words and phrases, and a golden knife can’t cut it open. It is deep, mysterious, and sublime. A jade woman conceives in the night.”

Danxia entered the hall and said, “At high noon it still lacks half. In the quiet night it is still not complete. Households haven’t known the intimate purpose, always going and coming before the clear moon.”