Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (157 page)

A monk asked Shigui, “What is the first principle?”

Shigui said, “What you just asked is the second principle.”

A monk asked, “Does a dog have buddha nature? Zhaozhou said, ‘Wu.’ What did this mean?”

Shigui said, “Just once bitten by a snake, and thereafter afraid of a broken rope in a well.”

A monk asked, “What is the meaning of ‘wordless words, a creeper clinging to a tree’?”

Shigui said, “A thief’s heart is empty.”

In [the year 1146] Shigui called together the congregation, elders, and persons of the order to give them final instructions. The next day he bathed, sounded the bell to assemble the monks, and sat down. He then quietly passed away. On the day of his cremation, his pallbearers each received a portion of his sacred relics. The rest were placed in a stupa on Mt. Gu.

YUE’AN SHANGUO, “DAGUI”

YUE’AN SHANGUO (n.d.) was a disciple of Kaifu Daoning. He came from ancient Xinzhou (an area in what is now Jiangxi Province). He lived and taught at Moon Hermitage on famous Mt. Gui. Yue’an transmitted the Dharma seal of Yangqi Zen to Wumen Huikai, the compiler of the
Gateless Gate
.

Yue’an posed a kōan to his students, which was later included by Wumen Huikai as case eight in the
Gateless Gate
, entitled “Xi Zhong’s Cart.”
²³⁸

Master Yue’an asked a monk, “If you disconnected each end of the hundred spokes on Xi Zhong’s cart, and removed the axle, what principle would be clearly revealed?”

The
Wudeng Huiyuan
indicates that Master Yue’an’s narrative did not stop with this question, but continued as follows:

Upon speaking thus, Yue’an used his staff to draw a circle in the air. He then said, “Never fail to recognize the scale’s balance!”

He then stood up, got down from the meditation platform, thanked the hall attendant, and went out.

Zen master Yue’an entered the hall and addressed the monks, saying, “An escaped wild tiger has a bell around its neck. It strikes fear in everyone, and they flee in terror. Grabbing the lustrous pearl from the blue dragon’s lair! Lighting up heaven and illuminating earth! This old mountain monk speaks before you today, but it’s beyond my words of praise. All of you! What are you doing here?”

Yue’an then raised his whisk and said, “My eyebrows! They’re falling out again!”

He then threw down his whisk and left the hall.

Yue’an addressed the monks, saying, “When mind is born, dharmas are also born. When mind passes away, all dharmas pass away. When mind and dharmas are all forgotten, a turtle is called the Great Tortoise [that upholds the earth]. Zen worthies! Can you speak or not? If you can speak, then I’ll give you the abbot’s staff! If you can’t speak, then just go back to the monk’s hall and drink some tea!”

A monk asked, “Why did Bodhidharma sit facing a wall for nine years?”

Master Yue’an said, “The fish swims in muddy water.”

A monk asked, “The Second Ancestor bowed three times. Why did he receive the marrow?”

Yue’an said, “When the ground is fertile the eggplants are big.”