Gatha 4 - 8
Commented by Master Yung Hsi, translated by Dr Chou Hsiang-Kuang
4
(Original) Chi Tz'u Ch'ien Hsin Men | Yu Jen Pu K'o Hsi
(English version) For example, this system of realizing the Essence of Mind | Is beyond the comprehension of the ignorant.
The words ch'ien hsin men indicate the Dharmaparyaya [exegesis] of the Tung Shan School of Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch of the Chinese chan School. This Dharmaparyaya discusses how to realize the essence of mind; it does not convey any idea of meditation and liberation. The essence of mind is pure and clear. Both sage and layman have this same mind.
The words yu jen refer to those people who have no wisdom, it includes the clever man. In other words, it refers to those Hearers in whom there is ignorance about the Law [Dharma]. The ignorant about the Law are divided into two sects; the one observes egolessness, impermanence and unclean forms [Skr.: asubha]; they are ignorant about the Mahāyana-teaching. This [sect] is called the ignorance about the Law which is the Hīnayāna. The other sect, although they have obtained the inferior stages of attainment, and although they understand the Mahāyāna-teachings — as they turned from Hīnayāna to Mahāyāna — is called non-ignorance about the Law of Hīnayāna. These two sects(1) are not included in the Dharmaparyaya that realises the essence of mind, because the Great Vehicle [Mahāyāna] still differs from the Supreme Vehicle in the same realm.
The Chapter of the Sudden School and Gradual School in the Sūtra spoken by the Sixth Patriarch, [when seated on] the High Seat of the Treasure of the Law [the Platform Sūtra] says:
'The priest [shang, Grand Master] Sheng Hsiu asked his disciple Chih Chen(2) to go to [the monastery of] Tsao Hsi to attend lectures there.
— 'How does your teacher instruct his disciples?' asked Patriarch Huineng.
— 'He often tells us to concentrate our mind on purity contemplation, to keep the squatting [crosslegged] posture all the time and not to lie down', answered Chih Chen.
— 'To concentrate the mind on purity contemplation,' said the Patriarch, 'is an infirmity and not Chan (Dhyana). To restrict oneself to the squatting posture all the time is logically unprofitable. Listen to this gatha: —
A living man sits and does not lie down all the time
While a dead man lies down and sits not.
On this physical body of ours
Why should we impose the task of squatting.
Making obeisance a second time, Chih Chen remarked: 'Though I have studied the Dhyana doctrines for nine years under the priest [Grand Master] Sheng Hsiu, my mind has not yet been awakened to the attainment of enlightenment. But as soon as you speak to me, my mind is enlightened ...'
— 'The teaching of your teacher,' answered the Patriarch, 'is for guidance of the followers of the Mahāyāna School, while mine is for the Supreme School. Because some realize the Dharma quicker and deeper than others, that's why the difference in interpretation ....
Listen to my gātha: —
'To free the mind from all improprieties is the commandment of the essence of mind.
To free the mind from all perturbations is the wisdom of the essence of mind.
That which neither increases nor decreases is the vajra(3)
Coming and going are different phases of samādhi'.(4)
Having heard this, Chih Chen felt sorry [humbled] and thanked the Sixth Patriarch Huineng for his instructions. He then submitted the following gātha:
'The self is nothing but a phantasm, created by the union of the panca-skandha.
And phantasm can have nothing to do with the absolute reality.
To hold that there is Tathāgata for us to attain or to return thereto
Also falls within the category of Impure Dharma.'
The Sixth Patriarch approved it.
This is why we have said that the Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna are not embraced by the Dharmaparyaya of the essence of mind.
To corroberate this we may turn to a gātha written by the enlightened Chang Ch'u, as follows: —
'The bright light silently shines on countless places as [many as] the sands of the Ganges.
The layman and the wise man both belong to the same family, as they have the same soul.(5)
Where mental activity did not come into action, the essence of mind is completely revealed.
When the six guna(6) start functioning, this original nature is [as] covered by the clouds.
To vanquish defilements is like increasing sickness of ignorance.
To turn to the Tathāgata is also a heretical practice.
We should follow the worldly circumstances without any worry.
Nirvana and samsara(7) are like flowers in the sky.'
Therefore we may understand that the Chan School does not establish any Dharma. Ignorant people do not have the capacity to receive the Dhyana doctrine, neither do the clever.(8)
Once there was a Dhyana teacher by name of Nien, from the Hsiu Hills. He lived near the end of the Tang dynasty. For twenty years he used to continuously recite the Saddharma Pundarīka Sūtra.(9) Hence he was known as Nien Fa Hua, the Reciter of the Saddharma Pundarīka. In his old age he was employed as a receptionist at the vihāra of Dhyana teacher Chao, of Fung Hsueh. One day Dhyana teacher Nien stood by the side of Dhyana teacher Chao who shed tears and said:
— 'Unfortunately now the Lin-chi sect(10) of the Chan School is done with [ has fallen to the ground.]
— 'I have seen many people in this preaching hall, is there no-one to succeed you?' said Nien.
— 'There are many clever people, but few among them have realised the essence of mind,' replied Chao.
— 'What about me?' said Nien.
— 'A long time already I thought of you, but I'm afraid that you will not give up the Saddharma Pundarīka,' replied Chao.
— 'I can do,' said Nien, 'so let me know your thoughts.'
Dhyana teacher Chao went into the preaching hall to tell the story of how Buddha picked up the flower, and how he, with his blue eyes, looked at the assembly. After that Chao said [to Nien], 'Now, what will you say? If you say: 'I keep silent', it will be like speaking, you will obliterate the ancient sages. So, what will you say?'
Dhyana teacher Nien dusted off his sleeves(11) and went. Dhyana teacher Chao threw his stick on the floor(12) and went back to his room.
Afterwards the attendant asked Dhyana teacher Chao, 'How did the Nien Fa Hua face you that time?'
Chao replied, 'Nien Fa Hua knows by now.'
This is how the attendant learnt that when Dhyana teacher Chao asked his 'what will you say', he at the same time transmitted the Dharma to Nien. Later Dhyana teacher Nien came to the hills of Hsiu Shan to preach the Chan doctrine. The Lin-chi sect flourished under him.
Let's mull over Dhyana teacher Chao's There are many clever people, but few among them have realised the essence of mind. This sencetence leads us to the conclusion that there was no place for clever men to realize their own nature, and that being so, could ignorant people be able to receive it? I shall quote a gātha as follows: —
The Path of Truth is without a gate.
To clever men it overflows, while ignorant people are unable to approach it.
If a person holds it, and neither overflows, nor approaches it
He will also be unable to enter the Path of Truth.
The universal reveals infinite illusory forms,
But the sages will agree with them by their mindlessness.
The blazing sun shines at midnight.
The wooden ox trembles, and the iron lion began to howl angrily.(13)
Do you see it?
Notes:
(1) [Yung Hsi refers to the Small Vehicle and that of the Pratyéka-buddha. In the following words he, spiritual son of master Huineng, emphasises that only the chan-practitioners in the line of Tung Shan should have complete realisation of the Dharma, a line of thought also found in some corners of esoteric Buddhism.]
(2) [Wong Mou-Lam's edition has Chi Shing, resp Shin Shau. The dots (...) are pieces of text omitted by Yung Hsi. The first series of dots is a piece on sīla (morality), dhyāna (meditation), and prajña (wisdom). The second series of dots discusses how everything is born from the essence of mind. The rest of the citation follows Wong Mou-Lam's rendering.]
(3) Diamond, used metaphorically for the essence of mind.
(4) [Being in a meditative state of mind.]
(5) [In Confucianism this should be understood as "the all emcompassing atmosphere".]
(6) See for guna gathas 2 - 3.
(7) Birth and death.
(8) [This is a free rendering of Confucius' The intelligent go beyond it and the dull do not reach it.]
(9) [The Lotus Sūtra.]
(10) [Jap.: Rinzai]
(11) [The ceremonial garnment, the hai-qing, has long and wide sleeves. When you sit on the floor they get dusty. When you get up, you wipe the dust off.]
(12) [In a sign of quitting.]
(13) [The wooden ox. In the Han dynasty, they invented the wheelbarrow, which was for carrying loads too heavy for a normal person's back to support. The wheelbarrow was originally wood, so the Chinese nick named it the 'wooden ox'.
Source: China Art.
There was The Iron Lion of Cangzhou (Chinese: Tie Shi Zi), a cast iron sculpture located in the town of Cangzhou in Hebei Province, China, about 180 kilometers southwest of Beijing. Cast in 953 AD, the iron lion is the largest known and oldest surviving iron-cast artwork in China. It is also known as the "Sea Guard Howler".
Source: Wikipedia
The line "The wooden ox trembles, and the iron lion began to howl angrily", is an adaptation of "When a wooden man breaks into a song | a stone woman gets up to dance", a line in the Song of the Precious Mirror Samādhi by Tung-shan Liang-chieh (807-869), who represented the "Eastern" line of Chan that master Yung Hsi tries to elucidate. Another Chan-master, 20th-21th century Sheng Yen, interprets this as Chan's refusal to make an intrinsic distinction between animate and inanimate, "a wooden man might very well sing, but it would be a soundless song, and a stone woman might dance, but it would be a dance with no movement."]
5
(Original) Shui Chi Sui Wan Pan | He Li Hai Kuei Yi
(English version) We may explain it in ten thousand ways | But all those explanations may be traced back to one principle.
The word shui means to preach, and the words wan pan mean very many. In other words, there are many opportune teachings and convenient methods that suit the occasion. The word li means the one undivided truth. The gatha 'But all those explanations may be traced back to one principle' illustrates the Chan Buddhists who speak to the people who come to seek the truth. Sometimes the Chan Buddhists do not approve of their ideas, sometimes they do. Sometimes they indulge it, and sometimes they seize it. This can be compared to administering medicine for different kinds of illnesses. Therefore, there are many methods, but their being identical to the truth of the one undivided principle is the same.
As a matter of fact, the oneness is a provisional name. Our ancient sage said: 'Originally there was no duality, therefore oneness cannot be established.' This is called 'the road of words and speech is cut short and the mind rests in non-attachment.' That is to say, these things cannot be explained by words, and cannot be imagined by thought. Because oneness cannot be explained, we gave it a provisional name, and that [name giving] means that oneness has an opposite [i.e. amounts to speaking in dualities]. That is why it evolves and many things issue from it.(1) So Lao Tze said, 'Tao produced oneness. Oneness produced duality. Duality evolved into trinity, and trinity evolved into the ten thousand (infinite) things.'(2) It means that Tao is not dual. When there is no duality, there must be oneness. Since in the Tao there is no duality, we think of it as oneness. Hence we know that oneness comes from the Tao. Therefore the statement, 'Tao produces oneness.' And since we call it oneness, which has a passive and an active side, the combination of passive and active makes two. Therefore it said, 'Oneness produces duality.' Two plus one[ness] is three, therefore, 'Duality evolved into trinity.' Trinity can lead to countless things, so it says, 'Trinity evolved into ten thousand things.'(3)
The Doctrine of the Mean(4) says: ''The Way of Heaven and Earth may be completely declared in one sentence — They are without doubleness, and so they produce things in a manner that is unfathomable.'
Such an idea shows an identity with Lao Tze's teachings. This same Doctrine of the Mean also says, 'It next spreads out, and embraces all things. Unroll it, and it fills the universe; roll it up and it retires and lies hidden in mysteriousness.' Hence we learn that the school of Confucianism also knows this mind and this principle.
These passages teach us that oneness and the ten thousand things are comparable to nature embracing utility(5) as water embraces the waves. Comparing the ten thousand things with oneness, is [saying that] utility embraces nature, as waves embrace water.
Therefore the Patriarch said, 'In this system of mine one prajña produces eighty four thousand ways of wisdom, since there are that number of defilements for us to cope with. But when one is free from defilements, wisdom reveals itself and will not be separated form the essence of mind.'(6)
The Chan Buddhists' speaking about the essence of mind should be in accord with its intuitional principle. Compare it with one drop of water in the ocean. Hundreds of rivers once contained this water, but [once the water reached the ocean] the taste of one drop is the same as everywhere else in the ocean.(7) The water in those hundreds of rivers had different tastes, [but] the nature of water, its power of soaking is [everywhere] the same.
Any word or sentence of the Chan Buddhist is meant to suit the occasion. Therefore Ma Tzu said, 'Mind is Buddha'. Again he said, 'It is neither mind nor Buddha'.(8) Chao Chow said, 'The dog has no buddha-nature'. Again he said, 'the dog has buddha-nature'.(9)
No patriarch of the Chan School ever administers the same method for realising the essence of mind.
This is the explanation of the gathas, 'We may explain it in ten thousand ways | But all those explanations may be traced back to one principle.'
Notes:
(1) [See also page 2 where the venerable said, 'Sakyamuni Buddha is the father of the 'Four Forms of Birth', and where the footnote said that Buddha = Dharmakaya.]
(2) [See www.budsas.org/ebud/ebdha180.htm for an historical appreciation of the term 'oneness' in Taoism and early Chinese Buddhism.]
(3) [It is possible that master Yung Hsi had knowledge of the discussions that were lead by Prince Chao Ming wo lived in the 5th-6th cent., who organised scholarly debates between himself and a number of learned monks among whom were Fa-Yän and Seng-min. Yung Hsi's 'two plus one' and so on seems almost literally taken from the accounts of the said debates (Swanson, 1989, pp 58-60). In discussing the following gatha nr. 11 he seems to build on this line of discussing that seems to be taken from Lao-Tze, or at least is heavily inspired by Lao-Tze. See also footnote 2.]
(4) [A Chinese Classic containing sayings of Confucius. See www.hm.tyg.jp/~acmuller/contao/docofmean.htm]
(5) [See also page 1 where the commentator says, 'The hrdaya (heart) is the nature, and the speech means utility. Hrdaya means origin, and the speech is the end. The origin can cover the end.']
(6) [Wong Mou-Lam's rendering is used by the translator.]
(7) [A metaphor from the Avatámsaka Sutra.]
(8) [Another version runs: 'Ta-mei asked Ma-tsu: 'What is Buddha?' Ma-tsu responded: 'This very mind is Buddha' and the way stood open to Ta-mei. (A monk was sent out to find Ta-mei in his hermitage, and to inquire how he fared) He asked him (i.e. Ta-mei), "What is Ma-tsu teaching these days?" "Not mind, not Buddha," replied the monk. ...]
(9) [There is another version according to which Chao Chow, in reply to the question, 'has dog Buddhanature', answered with wu, meaning — according to the 21rst century commentator — 'the question does not apply'.
However, the Korean zen tradition sticks to the simple answer of 'no': "A monk asked Seon Master Zhaozhou, 'Does a dog have Buddha-nature?' The Seon Master replied, 'It does not' (mu, no)."]
6
(Original) Fan Nao An Tse Chung | Chang Hsu Sheng Hui Jih
(English version) To illuminate our gloomy tabernacle which is stained by defilements | We should constantly set up the Light of Wisdom.
The words fan nao mean defilement. There are six fundamental defilements, to wit: desire, disgust, delusion, pride, doubt and evil [wrong] views. The evil views are again divided into five kinds:
1 Satkayadrsti, i.e. the view that there is a real self, an ego, and a mine and yours.
2 Antargraha, extreme views, e.g. [the view that there is] extinction and/or permanence.
3 Mithya[drsti], perverse views that deny cause and effect etc.
4 Drstiparamarsa, stubborn perverted views, viewing inferior things as superior, ...
5 Sila-vrata-paramarsa, rigid views in favour of rigorous ascetic prohibitions, ...
Any common man, or even a fool can produce desire, disgust, delusion, pride and doubt; these are called the five dull runners. The five evil views can only be produced by clever men, they are calle the keen runners. Combined together we have the ten runners. They keep people from freeing themselves from the defilements of the Three Realms. Therefore they are called the fundamental defilements.
There are twenty subsidiary defilements that are engendered by the fundamental defilements. These are anger, enmity, hypocrisy, vexation, envy, selfishness, dishonesty, deceit, harmfulness, arrogance, shamelessness, impudence, recklessness, sloth, faithless idleness, carelessness, forgetfulness, confusion and injustice. From shamelessness down to injustice they are called the ten bonds that bind men to mortality. Therefore Dhyana teacher Jen, living in the Yi Shan (hills) said in his Essay of Oath and Vow: 'The ten runners and the ten bonds will make people fall into the stream of birth and death.'
Human beings are covered by defilements and cannot attain the stages of Tao.
It is just like a man who remains in a dark house and cannot see things. So the Sixth Patriarch taught people to observe 'The prajña, or wisdom of meditative enlightenment in reality.'
In short, whenever we walk or stay, or sit or lie down without [conscious] thinking, without [having a conception of] form, without [mentally] abiding [in thoughts], we make our original wisdom like the blazing sun in the sky. At that time the light of the essence of mind will be revealed. Therefore the gatha says, To illuminate our gloomy tabernacle which is stained by defilements | We should constantly set up the Light of Wisdom. Stress must be laid upon the word 'constantly'; [if we are not constant] our struggle is of no use.
7
(Original) Hsieh Lei Fan Nao Chih | Cheng Lai Fan Nao Ch'u
(English version) Erroneous views keep us in defilement | While right views remove us from it.
When false thoughts arise, the erroneous views are there too, and then our desire, hatred and ignorance are produced. If we know it as false, the false thought disappears, and then it's called right view. When right views come, the defilements come to an end.
Dhyana teacher Tsung Mi said,
'When the thought comes, you notice it; after you noticed it, it will go away.'
Our ancient virtuous said,
We shall not be afraid of false thought when they arise, but we shall be afraid when we notice it too late.'
Once upon a time there was a monk who asked the ancient virtuous, 'How to prevent thieves(1) from coming into our homes?'
— 'There is no grievance in knowing the thieves,' said the virtuous one.
— 'If I know them, how shall I deal with them?'
— 'Degrade them to the country beyond birth and death.'
This is just a good comment on the gathas that run, Erroneous views keep us in defilement | While right views remove us from it.
Note:
(1) False thoughts.
8
(Original) Hsieh Cheng Liang Pu Yung | Ching Chin Chin Wu Yu
(English version) But when we are in a position to discard both of them | We are then absolutely pure.
'Erroneous' and 'right' are both relative terms. If we remove the erroneous and retain the right, the right becomes false. We must discard both extremes of erroneous and right. [It should be as if there is] pure and plain water of the mind in which there is no Dharma to be obtained. The Inscription of a Believing Mind, written by the Third Patriarch [Seng-T'san](1) says:
'There is nothing to retain, and nothing to remember.'
Again he said, 'Duality comes from oneness, and oneness cannot be retained;
If there is not one thought being born from the mind, the ten thousand (infinite) dharmas will remain as they are.'
If we want to conquer our desires by reason and intellect, if we want to change false into right, [these two] are still relative things, [they will be] like the tortoise crawling over the earth; the traces will be there.
If we solely hold the right, and consider it as a concrete thing, then we can only attain to gentlemanship in the School of Confucianism. Then it would be like recognizing a thief for a son. Therefore, when we come to the gatha [nr 7] 'While right views remove us from it', the Sixth Patriarch immediately removed the above idea and said, 'when we are in a position to discard both of them.' It coïncides with the meaning in The Inscription of a Believing Mind that says,
If we cease action and go back to the state of quietness,
The state of quietness will be the more violent
because the people hold the views of the two extremes [opposites] of cessation and action.
But they don't know that cessation and action both spring from the mind.
Once mind has ceased, all actions will cease;
when the mind is in action, all things will be in action.
Therefore, cessation and action are one.
This is called 'the one undivided truth'.
If we do not realize it we remain impeded by the two extremes;
then [at that time] the achievements of the two will be lost.
We must know the true form of the Dharmadhātu;
The absolute reality is a complete vacuum;
The vacuity will form the absolute reality;
The complete vacuity is not voidness and
the absolute reality is not reality.
Reality and non-existence are terms that have no real meaning.
To deny existence is actually [confirming the extreme of] non-existence.
To follow [the notion of] voidness is to go contrary to voidness [itself].
Because 'right' and 'wrong' indicate the two extremes: you discriminate [you compare these two in a perpetuum]. Once you discriminate you fall through the door [that leads to] birth and death. Then it has become the 'function of knowing.'
That's why Dhyana teacher Chih Chang said,
'The original awakening substance
will flow and transpose according to circumstance.
Don't enter the Patriarch's room for instructions,
[for] we shall approach the two extremes in vague and lofty ways.'
This gave a monk the opportunity to quote a gatha composed by Dhyana teacher Wu Lun: —
'Wu Lun has ways and means
To insulate the mind from all thoughts.
When circumstances react not on the mind
The Bodhi tree grows steadily.'
Hearing this, Patriarch Huineng said, 'This gatha indicates that the composer has not yet fully realized essence of mind. Putting the teachings into practice binds you even more tightly [into fetters].'
He showed the monk his own gātha,
'Huineng has no ways and means
To insulate the mind from all thoughts.
Circumstances often react on the mind —
I wonder how the Bodhi-tree can grow.'
This gātha comments the ideas that we find in when we are in a position to discard both of them | We are then absolutely pure.
Note:
(1) [The Third Patriarch died in 606. He is alternately called either Shen-hsiu, or Seng-t'san, Chien-Chih].
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