Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán: Entanglement Is Not Entanglement, Zen Is Not Zen, the Dead Tree's Dragon Song Illuminates the Great Thousand Worlds. (Preface–Nine) Revised Version
2006/9/28 11:50:41
Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán : Entanglement Is Not Entanglement, Zen Is Not Zen, the Dead Tree's Dragon Song Illuminates the Great Thousand Worlds
Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán
(Preface)
Were it not for Chan, the ancient Chinese culture once dominated by Confucianism and Taoism would hardly be worth mentioning; were it not for Chan, ancient Chinese civilization could scarcely have reached its present unattainable heights. For ancient Chinese civilization and culture attained their solitary peak, standing proud before the world, through Chan. Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism and the School of Mind, feeding on Chan's cold leftovers, could still produce a grand spectacle — how much more so Chan itself!
Bodhidharma came east; a single sandal returned west. Standing like a thousand towering peaks, the intention of the flower-holding was leaked between the carrying of water and the chopping of wood; the flower blossomed into five petals, the heart of world-salvation was proclaimed amid the naming of schools and the judging of teachings. Xuansha said: "If we speak of this matter, it is like a piece of farmland whose four boundaries have been delineated, the deed written, and sold to all. Only the central tree still belongs to this old monk." Exhaust all subtle debates, deplete the world's pivotal mechanisms — it is but a single hair placed in the great void, a single drop in a vast gorge. Yongming said: "All summer long I've been chattering with you fellows — let's see if Cuiyan's eyebrows are still there!" Every person, since beginningless time, has been chattering east and west, this arising and that perishing — tell me, are the eyebrows still there?
All worldly and world-transcending learning and knowledge — whether philosophy, science, art, religion, society, faith, the hundred schools, Eastern sages, Western philosophers, gods, demons, and ghosts — none escape this "exhausting all subtle debates, depleting the world's pivotal mechanisms." Those who merely sigh about placing a hair in the great void or a drop in the gorge are like people moaning without illness; those who vainly recognize placing the great void in a hair or the gorge in a drop are like those who imprison themselves within lines drawn on the ground. No matter what thousand tricks you employ to steal Xuansha's tree, all you'll see is a heap of fallen trees, withered vines, and rotten firewood.
Fleeing entanglement to seek Chan, guarding Chan to become entangled — those who take scholarship and practice as Chan have been many since ancient times. How could they know that Chan is: non-scholarship yet scholarship, non-practice yet practice, non-knowing yet knowing, non-acting yet acting, non-mind yet mind, non-matter yet matter? Such things as scholarship, practice, knowing-and-acting, mind-and-matter are all self-entangling, self-binding for no reason! Chan is: non-Chan yet Chan, non-entanglement yet entanglement; Shakyamuni is neither existent nor non-existent, Kashyapa is neither present nor absent; the robe of Dongshan is still transmitted, the Dharma of Caoxi is not received. Entanglement is not entanglement, Chan is not Chan — the dead tree's dragon song illuminates the great thousand worlds!
For since Yunmen and Fayan, the great opening of gong'an and huatou methods has coincided with the daily decline of the school. The so-called masters of various lineages, their own eyes unclear, blindly transmitting and recklessly practicing — Chan thereby became increasingly intellectualized, practice-ized, Confucianized, Taoized, politicized, mystified. Its failure is not surprising. If one takes Chan to be the textual scholarship of Confucianism and Taoism or body-mind cultivation, such an understanding is laughable and pitiable. Chan — heaven and earth cannot cover it, past and present cannot contain it. Neither mind nor matter, yet both mind and matter — how can one draw lines to imprison oneself and merely languish in the phantom city!
A world without Chan is like a person without eyes. A person without eyes can still substitute with ears, tongue, nose, body, and mind; a world without Chan has no substitute whatsoever. Yet Chan is without gain or loss. I do not worry about Chan's presence or absence — I only worry about the world's people losing their eyes. This book, from the most practical angle and the deepest breadth, restores Chan to its original face, presents the deepest-level clash between Chinese and Western cultures, and analyzes the most comprehensive issues of worldly philosophy, science, art, religion, and society. Herein, we judge only by insight, not by fame. Famous philosophers and great masters of all ages can hardly escape scrutiny — lions and wild foxes need not be debated, for they distinguish themselves.
Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán's poems:
Vast and distant horizon, vast and distant autumn; foolish clouds and drunken sun flow halfway up the mountain. Pity the one river crossing the empty sky — ten thousand acres of mist and waves cannot dispel the sorrow.
Ten thousand mountains of wind and rain, ten thousand mountains of autumn; turbid water churns heaven and grinds the earth in its flow. A single leaf drifting on the vast ocean's sun — let there be joy, let there be sorrow.
A whole sky of wind and rain, a whole sky of autumn; rivers and seas, a wandering life, let the water flow. White birds and green mountains enter the eyes from time to time — nothing troubles heaven and earth, and idle sorrow settles.
An instant of spring light, an instant of autumn; where in all heaven and earth is there no elegance? Eyes hearing, ears seeing — spanning past and present; who composes the new verse, who speaks of sorrow?
Vast and distant horizon, vast and distant autumn; heaven and earth, one river, ancient and present flow. Shamanka clouds and Chu rain hasten dusk and dawn — half into longing, half into sorrow.
Heaven and earth dream their way through how many springs and autumns; an instant of wind and cloud, the passing years flow. Sword-courage and zither-heart hold vast spirit level — Mount Sumeru trampled, the sorrow of life and death broken.
A lifetime of wind and rain, a lifetime of autumn; heaven and earth a hollow boat, clear and murky flow. Waves chasing white gulls, a dream of lakes and seas — red dust everywhere enters destitute sorrow.
Cracking open the mountain's spring and ocean's autumn; a mote of dust, heaven and earth compete in elegance. Ears hearing, eyes seeing form the past and present; sun and moon tilt and sway — what is the sorrow beneath sorrow?
Vast and distant horizon, vast and distant autumn; colorful clouds and misty water flow through emptiness. Who pities what follows the west wind on the western ridge — the ground covered with longing, the ground covered with sorrow.
The whole city in wind and rain, the whole city in autumn; one river crosses the sky, heaven and earth flow. Alone ascending the solitary peak, pouring out a hundred measures — parting the clouds, whistling away the sorrow of all ages.
A bout of wind and rain, a bout of autumn; still the same green mountains pillowing the blue stream. Blood-splattered long rainbow piercing heaven and earth — Xihe's whip cracks, the six dragons fall in sorrow.
Eternal empty sky through spring and again autumn; a dawn of wind and moon, a sudden streaking flow. Deep in the chaotic peaks, beneath the slanting sun — leaves fall, flowers fly, sorrow sorrows itself.
(One)
There is this sort of fellow who misunderstands Chan's principle of "not establishing words," foolishly clinging to the departure from speech, not knowing that departing from speech is speech and speech is departing from speech — establishing yet not establishing, speaking yet not speaking. There is this sort of fellow who mistakes dhyana, meditation, and seated meditation for Chan — like grinding a brick to make a mirror, laughable and pitiable. There is this sort of fellow who mistakes liberation for Chan, not knowing that what can be liberated is not liberation, true liberation is non-liberation — no one binds you, who seeks liberation? There is this sort of fellow who mistakes God-like things for Chan, yet Chan is neither arising nor ceasing, both arising and ceasing — what has it to do with speculative constructs like God? There is this sort of fellow who mistakes the Buddha-realm for Chan, not knowing that Buddha and Mara are one, purity and defilement are non-dual — neither Buddha nor Mara, yet both Buddha and Mara. Walking beyond Vairochana's crown, freely coming and going between heaven and hell — whose Buddha, whose realm? There is this sort of fellow who mistakes "I am Chan" or "mind is Buddha," not knowing that Chan is neither mind nor Buddha, yet both mind and Buddha — self yet non-self, non-self yet self. There is this sort of fellow who mistakes "no practice, no realization" for Chan, yet with practice and realization, when was there ever practice and realization? Practicing yet not practicing, realizing yet not realizing — Chan is: non-practice yet practice, non-realization yet realization. Originally nothing to realize, realization has no origin — then what is "no practice, no realization"? There is this sort of fellow who mistakes "spontaneous naturalness" for Chan — but who is spontaneous, who is natural? Without self there is no such-ness, without such-ness there is no self — neither spontaneous nor natural; spontaneous naturalness is not natural, natural spontaneity is not spontaneous. There is this sort of fellow who mistakes "everything is empty" for Chan — yet everything is emptiness and emptiness is everything; everything being empty is not empty, everything not being empty is all empty; emptiness cannot be emptied, what can be emptied is not emptiness. There is this sort of fellow who mistakes "ordinary mind" for Chan — but what mind is not ordinary? What is the original ordinary mind? Mind is originally mindless, mindless yet mind — ordinary is not constant, not constant yet constant. There is this sort of fellow who mistakes Chan as something that can be investigated or entered — but what can be investigated is not investigation, what can be entered is not entry; who investigates, who enters?
Chan: not abandoning a single dharma, not establishing a single dharma, not leaving a single dharma surplus, not lacking a single dharma; not having a single dharma, not being without a single dharma. Those who see Chan do not constitute Chan; those who do not see Chan also do not constitute Chan. What is Chan? Chan is everything, everything is Chan. What is not Chan? Chan is not everything, everything is not Chan. If one clings to "illuminating the mind and seeing one's nature" as Chan, this too is a great error. What can be illuminated is not illumination, what can be seen is not seeing; without illumination there is inherent illumination, without seeing there is inherent seeing — illuminating the mind and seeing one's nature is indeed like seeking medicine when there is no illness. Bodhidharma came east — an illusory sea of dust arose, attracting headless flies to chase this stinking meat in a great clamor.
Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán's poem:
A drop from the source of Cao, the water of Cao's source; a thousand layers of Song Mountain, Song Mountain's peaks. Skulls of past and present, eyes of past and present; heaven and earth's voices crack — blood splattered and mottled.
(Two)
Since Yunmen and Fayan, Chan has greatly flourished and then declined — now there remain only those who count sand, tally treasures, and feed on others' spittle. Chan: without past, without present, yet both past and present — what has it to do with old fellow Shakyamuni or the child Bodhidharma? As for the likes of Huineng — even as Yunmen said, "strike dead and feed to the dogs" — what harm to Chan? What harm to Huineng? Even if the Five Houses and Seven Schools could encompass heaven and earth, shining gloriously for a thousand years — what would they add to Chan? What would they add to the Five Houses and Seven Schools?
There is this sort of spittle-feeding fellow who takes "not establishing words, a special transmission outside the teachings, directly pointing to the human mind, seeing one's nature and becoming Buddha" as the essential principle of Chan. Yet there is no mind to point to, what can point is not mind; there is no Buddha to become, what can become is not Buddha — how then to recklessly discuss "directly pointing to the human mind, seeing one's nature and becoming Buddha"? How can one generate discrimination between "outside the teachings" and "within the school"? Chan texts within the great canon are already abundant — how then to rashly claim "not establishing words, a special transmission outside the teachings"? Same and different — these are the deluded discriminations of foolish people. Not only is there no difference between the school and the teachings, but the hundred schools, gods and demons, orthodox and heterodox, heaven and hell, right and wrong — with respect to Chan, what difference, what sameness?
If anyone says Chan has something transmitted, it is all reckless nonsense. If Kashyapa gained something from Shakyamuni's holding up a flower, or if Bodhidharma transmitted something to Huike's severed arm, then Shakyamuni, Kashyapa, Bodhidharma, and Huike were all blind rats. Chan: nothing transmitted, nothing gained — then what is transmitted, what is gained? But if one rigidly clings to "Chan has nothing transmitted, nothing gained," then one is spinning a cocoon to trap oneself — laughable and pitiable!
Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán's poem:
The floating world is full of clumsy intentions; all calculations end in missed moments. Looking up or bowing down, truth is also false; floating or sinking, what is, is already not. True and false are both meaningless; right and wrong are both plentiful in transgression.
Riding a crane to Yangzhou, chasing deer toward the capital. The crane's wings snap as it breaks through; the deer dies — how many return? Spring returns, willows turn green; winter arrives, rain and snow fall.
Blue water leaps across the mountains; the white horse flies past the gap. Whose mind gazes at sun and moon? Whose ears listen to mockery? All affairs are originally illusory transformations — deer and crane cannot be prayed for.
Ascending those stones of the southern mountain — how towering is the southern mountain! Rolling hills, dense forests, tangled undergrowth; paths between fields, wheat seedlings fat and lush. Craggy peaks hide strange beasts; gradual slopes pace the golden pheasant.
High cliffs covered in cool shade; secluded valleys filled with white angelica. Heaven collapses, suddenly pouring rain; startled clouds scatter the bright glow. Fierce winds snap coiling trees; rushing floods breach stone embankments.
Coiled dragons dance golden claws; wild stallions break free of jade rings. Mountains shaved of a thousand feet of soil; seas drained of ten thousand layers. Where mountain and sea exhaust their traces — the moon is bright, stars not yet sparse.
Flowing light plays five colors; sword energy brushes the rainbow robe. Trees amid the clouds, misty and gentle; flowers at the valley bottom, lush and fragrant. Heaven and earth tucked in a sleeve; sun and moon mere motes in the dust.
Driving horses to hunt the autumn plain; casting a line to fish the summer shoal. Occasionally becoming an ephemera's extinction; sometimes giving birth to the tiger-dragon's might. Boundless without clarity or turbidity — serenely continuing the zither's tune.
(Three)
There is this sort of fellow who recklessly intellectualizes Chan, using a pitiable discriminating mind to establish this principle and that characteristic, fabricating grand interpretations and comprehensive systems — ending up as mere bookworms who measure the ocean and count the sand. If one rashly discusses "wherever you stand, all is truth," then what can stand is not standing, all that is established is not so — standing has nothing to stand on; who is true, who is false? If one rashly discusses "everything is already accomplished," then the present has nothing to present, what can be accomplished is not accomplishment — all accomplishment is not so; who is present, who accomplished? If one rashly discusses "the gate of non-duality," then non-dual yet dual, dual yet non-dual — discrimination and non-duality; who discriminates, who distinguishes? If one rashly discusses "not abiding in anything," then not abiding yet abiding, abiding yet not abiding — who abides in everything, everything abides in whom? If one rashly discusses "utterly nothing gained," then understanding has nothing to understand, gaining has nothing to gain — no gain is still gain; who understands, who gains? If one rashly discusses "subject and object both extinguished," then subject objects the subject, object subjects the object; subject subjects the object, object objects the subject — who is subject, who is object? Subject who, object who? Extinguished yet not extinguished, both yet not both — subject extinguishes subject, both not subject and not object!
Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán's poem:
Birthless, joy fills all day; whence comes the doubt of life and death? Having doubt comes from fearing having; having fear is self-winding silk. Floating clouds — fame for ten thousand ages; dung — a monument for a thousand years.
This body has nowhere to lodge; before dwelling, already departed. Willows by the river, leaning tenderly; deer in the forest, calling gently. Every day is a good day; every moment is flower-time.
Tides rise and tides fall; the moon waxes and the moon wanes. The world originally has no affairs; why bother with action or inaction? Do not steal the pearl from the dust; do not cling to wonders in the Dharma.
The bright pearl — does it belong to existence? Calling it non-existent is also folly. Neither existence nor non-existence can be established; one is still in the ghosts' scheming. Sitting, watch heaven and earth revolve; standing, watch heaven and earth hang down.
Geese in formation — wind passes over water; blossoms fall — the moon approaches the branch. Every dharma is undefiled; every mote of dust is unabandoned. Vast and open, both ordinary and holy are extinguished; serenely entering joy and sorrow.
Life and death met with a single laugh; purity and defilement — both left to their own. The grace of sentient beings in life and death; the compassion of sentient beings in purity and defilement. Empty flowers perform the Buddha's work; illusory mirrors play with the Demon Master.
Rushing to a thousand kalpas with a thousand bodies; undergoing hardship, following a single vow. Avici Hell — has emptiness been emptied? Bodhi — has the time arrived? Zither songs naturally placid and free — do not peer into the moon.
(Four)
Beyond such intellectualized speculation, the delusory practice-ification is also a favored pastime of the lion's parasites. Never mind their one-track dry sitting — even their ten-thousand-mile pilgrimages, when have they ever moved half a step? Even their enduring through ten thousand kalpas, their ten thousand sharira relics — what have these to do with Chan? Knowing is not knowing, acting is not acting — even one who knows and acts is still a dolt!
Those in Confucianism and Taoism who favor so-called scholarship and practice like to discuss the relationship between knowing and acting. Such as: knowing is easy but acting difficult; knowing is difficult but acting easy; knowing precedes acting; knowing follows acting; knowing and acting are unified; knowing is acting. All such varieties are born from dry wisdom and wild imagination. Yet outside knowing there is no acting, outside acting there is no knowing — non-knowing is knowing, non-acting is acting. Even one is not one — what unity, what oneness?
Those in philosophy who favor so-called scholarship and practice like to discuss the relationship between mind and matter. Such as: mind is one and matter is two; mind is two and matter is one; mind and matter are one suchness; mind and matter are dualistic; neither mind nor matter; both mind and matter. All such varieties are born from dry wisdom and wild imagination. Yet outside mind there is no matter, outside matter there is no mind — non-mind is mind, non-matter is matter; non-both is both, mind-matter matter-mind. One yet not one, two yet not two — not one, not two; who is the one, who is the two?
Those in religion who favor so-called scholarship and practice like to discuss the relationship between bondage and liberation, sacred and mundane, pure and defiled. Such as: God is sacred and I am mundane; God liberates and I am bound; God and I are one; God is pure and I am defiled. All such varieties are born from dry wisdom and wild imagination. Yet self is originally not self, God is originally not God, sacred is originally not sacred, mundane is originally not mundane, one suchness is not such, such oneness is not one — liberation becomes bondage, purity becomes defilement. Non-cause is cause, non-becoming is becoming — cause and becoming, becoming and cause; who causes, who becomes?
Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán's poem:
Life is a dream — what is the dream like? Geese fall on autumn mountains, the moon falls into the lake. Half a life always harboring a thousand-year grudge; an entire life forever standing at the fork in the road.
Who seeks life and who seeks death? Who plays master and who plays slave? Who arrives at the gateless, pathless place? The gateless place was always the dead person's den.
Who is lost and who is awake? Who is pure and who is defiled? Who possesses the thing of no gain, no realization? No-gain has already withered the great tree.
In the dead person's den, gnawing on the great tree — in Zhuangzi's dream, provoking the butterfly to weep. Weeping shatters the autumn mountain's moon beneath the lake — the startled goose looks back toward Tianzhu.
(Five)
Chan is everything and not everything. Chan as such is Chan-the-school and not Chan-the-school. Chan-the-school is not Chan-the-school, yet named Chan-the-school. Those who cling to Chan's so-called history for scholarship — it has nothing to do with Chan-the-school, and nothing to do with Chan. For what is unrelated to what is unrelated still has much that is related — Chan's so-called history also unfolds within this unrelated relatedness.
Shakyamuni held up a flower, Kashyapa smiled; Bodhidharma came from the west, the flower blossomed into five petals — true or not, false or not, those who know will know; there is no need to investigate and no necessity to investigate. The dispute between so-called Tathagata Chan and Patriarch Chan is nothing but stirring up trouble where there is none. Even one who comprehends Patriarch Chan remains a fellow standing below the steps. As for matters like the staff-blow and shout, gong'an, huatou, and sharp exchanges — these are nothing but making unnecessary trouble out of nothing.
Chan: confusion that is not confusion, entanglement that is not entanglement; non-awakening that is awakening, non-liberation that is liberation. Those who seek liberation have no liberation; those who do not seek liberation also have no liberation — through liberation comes entanglement, through awakening comes confusion. The so-called sudden awakening is not sudden awakening but named sudden awakening. The so-called three barriers are not three barriers but named three barriers. The Buddha-Dharma has no excess; Chan has no excess; heaven, earth, past, and present have no excess — yet even so, every matter herein still requires penetrating through one by one. The so-called penetrating through is not penetrating through but named penetrating through.
Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán's poem:
Pitiful, the guests caught in the net, revolving and tumbling of their own accord. The four elements — who makes them abide? Heaven and earth — who enters the cauldron?
Form and spirit: empty, without existence — what binds, and what is bound? Dependent arising is not one body — like illusions, mutually reflecting and gleaming.
Confused recognition of things from the start; worry arising from tender years in weakness. The five aggregates are deludedly woven into fabric; form and vessel can never be relied upon.
Dust-thoughts chase after conditions; the three realms — a vast, desolate expanse. Habitual tendencies from past lives dissolve with each step; do not let the field of merit grow thin.
The blind turtle crosses the bitter sea; the hollow log — how could it be caught? Floating splendor, a dream in the mirror — in an instant, the boat has already gone to the ravine.
Where is the poor son's garment? The bright pearl is truly there, solid and sure.
(Six)
The worst misunderstanding of Chan is taking it to be an individual's body-mind cultivation and refinement — extending to lip-flapping and pen-pushing as Chan. Such Chan is truly a pointless game of bored literati and the idle class. Those who use this so-called Chan to deceive and swindle have been many throughout the ages.
For if Chan is scholarship and learning, then it is the most radically revolutionary scholarship and learning, making all rulers tremble. Chan is the doctrine that negates all doctrines. Chan is the thought that negates all thought. Chan is the order that negates all order. Chan is the faith that negates all faith. Chan is the science that negates all science. Chan negates everything, including itself. And yet Chan is also the doctrine that affirms all doctrines, the thought that affirms all thought, the order that affirms all order, the faith that affirms all faith, the science that affirms all science. Chan affirms everything, including itself.
Chan is: non-thought yet thought, non-doctrine yet doctrine, non-order yet order, non-faith yet faith, non-science yet science. Chan is not the imaginings of mysticism. Chan does not in the slightest contradict what is heard with ears and seen with eyes. Chan is without past, without present — eternally past, eternally present. Chan is unrelated to and yet related to such things as race, skin color, culture, thought, tradition, morality, and class. Chan is not exclusively human — all sentient beings throughout the universe, past, present, and future, existing or non-existing, visible or invisible, all types regardless of high or low, sacred or mundane, are unrelated to yet related to it, absolutely equal and non-dual.
Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán's poem:
Everywhere under heaven and earth is pure — whence comes filth and defilement? All things are equal without difference — only the vulgar generate clinging love.
The lotus boat, empty and without substance — can carry anything at all. Recognize the treasure in your garment — do not be obstructed by words.
(Seven)
All religions and faiths in the world, though seemingly different, are essentially the same: those not of my kind are demons and evil; those who do not believe in me are evil and demonic. So-called "those who follow prosper, those who resist perish" — all are the karma of greed, anger, ignorance, doubt, and pride. Chan: no self to make a self, no kind to make a kind; no negation to negate, no Chan to be Chan; no Buddha to become, no Mara to destroy — all sameness and difference, all compliance and defiance, all absolutely equal.
What is called equality has no one who makes it equal — it is originally equal, so why would equality be needed? If the equal must be made equal to be equal, then whoever makes it equal must stand above — this is not equality. All who advocate equality in the world are the sort who hang a sheep's head but sell dog meat, truly using the word "equality" to spread heresy, mislead the masses, and seek private gain.
All sentient beings, since beginningless time, are absolutely equal. If someone preaches that one thing, one person, or one event can stand above all other things, persons, or events, that person is merely rampant with the five poisons of greed, anger, ignorance, doubt, and pride. Those who believe in such persons and their words have their own greed, anger, ignorance, doubt, and pride resonating — it's all a farce. Chan is: neither god nor saint, neither God nor Master, the non-human that humanizes all, the non-thing that makes all things, neither mind nor self, neither Buddha nor Mara.
All that can equalize and all that is equalized — the "can" and the "is" — are all the coming together of causes and conditions. Chan is: neither can nor is, neither cause nor condition. Sentient beings are not equal because of Chan; sentient beings do not become Buddha because of Chan. Those who take Chan to be "illuminating the mind, seeing one's nature, sudden awakening, becoming Buddha" are gravely mistaken. There is no Buddha to become, no Mara to destroy — Buddha Buddhas while Mara Maras, Mara Maras while Buddha Buddhas — all the deluded mind's self-entanglement in samsara. Heaven and hell, Buddha and Mara, human and ghost — created only by mind, minded only by creation. The so-called samsara is truly samsara without anything actually cycling.
Everything is originally equal, neither can nor is — yet there exists all worldly inequality. If everything had to be made equal to be equal, then in this world there would be no so-called inequality. All inequality in the world is originally without basis — all is created by mind and speech, and fixed by humans through greed, anger, ignorance, doubt, and pride. All that can equalize inequality into equality is originally without basis — all is created by mind and speech, and fixed by humans through greed, anger, ignorance, doubt, and pride. All inequality in the world can only be removed through inequality; yet this so-called removal is originally no removal — it is simply inequality being inequality.
The world's inequality is originally without basis; causes and conditions combine to produce and extinguish it, ever-changing and unsettled. Those in the world who, because of this, create scholarship, learning, faith, and religion — vainly seeking to explain and construct the world with their respective so-called theories of equality and unified logic and structure — are all grasping at air and chasing shadows, deluded and vain. Chan is: neither worldly nor world-transcending. The world is originally equal. The so-called "originally" is neither origin nor coming, yet named "originally."
Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán's poem: Three realms' deluded dust invades the sea's color; a single star, wordless, pillows the sky's cold. A mad dragon breaks its feet, startled, plunging down the rapids — splashing jade, the Dragon Spring plucked upon the fingertip.
(Eight)
Compared to equality, people today are even more fond of discussing so-called freedom. Those who preach freedom, like those who preach so-called equality, are all the sheep-head-dog-meat sort who spread heresy, mislead the masses, and thereby seek private gain. Freedom: who is the self, whose self? Who is the origin, whose origin? Without self, where is the origin? With self, what origin? As with equality — the one who can free is not free, what is freed is also not free. Self itself is not self; without self, there is no origin — what is there to discuss about freedom?
Yet there are those who wish to establish an axiomatic definition of freedom using principles of axiomatization. Axioms, however, are originally without anything public and without any principle — they are the hegemonic game of language. Traced to their source, they are the collective karma of greed, anger, ignorance, doubt, and pride. Collective karma is originally without basis — utterly empty. Chan is: neither public nor principle. Originally there are no axioms — yet in this world, axioms exist.
Chan is not emptiness — yet in this world, ultimate emptiness exists. Chan is not existence — yet in this world, wondrous existence exists. Those who cling to Chan as "originally not a single thing — where could dust alight?" are gravely mistaken. Emptiness is not emptiness; non-emptiness is true emptiness. Existence is not existence; non-existence is wondrous existence. All things and events in the world are originally pure — where is the dust, and where is the dust?
Entanglement: originally there is no one who entangles and nothing entangled, yet it is named entanglement. If there truly were one who entangles and something entangled, then in the world there would be no such thing as entanglement. Those who seek to escape entanglement are entangled; those who do not seek to escape are also entangled. Entanglement's non-entanglement — who exits, who enters? The one who can exit and enter, what is exited and entered — that is entanglement. Non-entanglement yet entanglement — truly there is no exiting or entering. Entanglement is precisely freedom.
Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán's poem:
Casting the urn into the vast sea — how frequent the dreams; a single leaf with the waves, four positions of host and guest. The Milky Way, clear sky, stars strewn across the wilds; lapis lazuli, jade-pure, the universe without dust.
Tossed through the six paths — all sharing the same illness; rolling through the three realms — not a second body. The nine-five of war and the seven-eight of cunning — grasping at fruit while chasing conditions, ever more lost in cause.
(To be continued)
Since only ten thousand characters can be written, the ninth section can only be placed in the comments below!
Replies
缠中说禅 2006/9/29 19:03:10
Happy holidays, everyone!
缠中说禅 2006/9/28 12:12:32
Since only ten thousand characters can be written, the ninth section can only be placed here!
(Nine)
Freedom is entanglement. In the world, those who enter and exit entanglement and vainly seek liberation do so through no more than four paths: first, seeking in things external to the mind; second, seeking in a mind external to things; third, groping about where mind and matter are one suchness; fourth, exploring between what is neither mind nor matter. Beyond these, there is no other path. All four are deluded mind's calculative fabrication — mere prattle.
Those who seek in things external to the mind project mind onto matter; mind is then a function of matter. The so-called "investigating things and extending knowledge" means exhausting the principle of things and acting accordingly, and thus the mind is liberated. This necessarily presupposes that the principle of things exists and that the mind can apprehend things. The so-called "principle of things" is in truth deluded mind's calculative fabrication. Only with this thing does this thing's principle exist. The so-called universal principles that we can know exist first because of this universe we inhabit, and this universe of ours is in truth the manifestation of our collective karma — how could this be the only universe? Those who seek in things external to the mind are in truth seeking in the collective karma of our own manifestation — mutually entangling, mutually continuing: an illusory play.
Those who seek in a mind external to things imagine that mind can be liberated apart from matter. But apart from matter, how can mind exist? Some say that what cannot be apart from matter is the deluded mind, but there is an eternally abiding true mind — without going, without coming, originally liberated, capable of being the master of all things. This is truly the raving of someone with heat stroke. These people attempt to discard the false and preserve the true, not knowing the truth of the false's falseness and the falseness of the truth's truth — seeking truth is actually falseness, discarding falseness leaves no truth. Our minds are the collection of material phenomena; this mind originally has nowhere to lodge — mutually entangling, mutually continuing: an illusory play.
Those who grope about where mind and matter are one suchness speculate that so-called mind-matter monism is the true source of the universe — outside mind there is no matter, outside matter there is no mind; exhausting mind then exhausts principle, exhausting principle then resolves mind; returning to the root and source, one liberation liberates all, one resolution resolves all. The discourse of these people is extremely popular; present-day so-called Chan practitioners are full of such talk. Yet the myriad dharmas returning to one — the one is still the root of birth and death. The so-called returning to the root and source: there is originally no root, the source is not a source; what can be root and source is neither root nor source — mutually entangling, mutually continuing: an illusory play.
Those who explore between what is neither mind nor matter establish a source that is neither mind nor matter and depend upon it for liberation. Some call it God, some call it deity, some call it the True Lord, some call it Truth, some call it Liberation, some call it the Master, some call it Brahman, some call it the Great Dao, some call it True Emptiness — such varieties are too many to enumerate. These people are truly indulging in deluded fantasy, fabricating the negation of mind and matter to establish what is neither mind nor matter, not knowing that non-mind is mind, non-matter is matter — "not establishing" is establishing everywhere. Mutually entangling, mutually continuing: an illusory play.
The so-called "beyond these four, there is no other path" — is Chan, which has departed from the above four kinds of prattle. Chan is: neither other nor path; other and pathless yet not pathless, pathless and other yet not other. "Path" means Way; "no other path" means the true Way; the true Way is non-Way yet Way; non-Way yet Way means departing from the four propositions and cutting off the hundred negations.
Poem:
Red dust intoxicated, entering how many walled cities; an instant's sorrows and joys poured as wine. The years sing back, the heart far and great; heaven and earth's shadows stir, the eyes void and bright.
All conditions, all self, all the same illness; neither false nor true, neither a second name. Hiding one's body in the Eastern Sea while the mountain gallops its horse — Tiantai's Huading peak; now what do you make of it?