Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán: Entanglement Is Not Entanglement, Zen Is Not Zen — A Dead Tree's Dragon Song Illuminates the Great Thousand Worlds (I)

2006/2/1 11:38:34

There is a type of fellow who misapprehends the Chan school's principle of "not establishing words," clinging absurdly to the abandonment of language, not knowing that abandoning language is itself language, and language is itself the abandonment of language — established yet not established, spoken yet unspoken. There is a type of fellow who mistakes dhyana, samadhi, or seated meditation for Zen — like polishing a brick to make a mirror, laughable and pitiable. There is a type of fellow who mistakes liberation for Zen, not knowing that what can be liberated is not liberation; true liberation has no liberation — no one has bound you, so who seeks liberation? There is a type of fellow who mistakes God or similar fabrications for Zen, yet Zen is neither arising nor ceasing, both arising and ceasing at once — what has it to do with speculative fabrications like God? There is a type of fellow who mistakes the Buddha's realm for Zen, not knowing that Buddha and Mara are one and the same, purity and defilement are non-dual. Neither Buddha nor Mara, both Buddha and Mara — treading beyond the crown of Vairocana, coming and going freely between heaven and hell, who is the Buddha and whose is the realm? There is a type of fellow who mistakes the self for Zen, claiming "mind is Buddha," not knowing that Zen is neither mind nor Buddha, yet is mind and is Buddha — self yet not-self, not-self yet self. There is a type of fellow who mistakes "no cultivation, no realization" for Zen, yet where there is cultivation and realization, when has there ever truly been cultivation or realization? Cultivating yet not cultivating, realizing yet not realizing — Zen is: not-cultivation that is cultivation, not-realization that is realization. Originally there is nothing to realize; realization has no origin — so what is "no cultivation, no realization"? There is a type of fellow who mistakes "letting things take their natural course" for Zen — yet who lets and who courses? Without self there is no nature, without nature there is no self; neither letting nor coursing, neither self nor nature — letting things course is not natural, and natural is not letting things course. There is a type of fellow who mistakes "all is emptiness" for Zen — yet all is emptiness and emptiness is all; "all is empty" is not empty. Emptiness cannot be emptied; what can be emptied is not emptiness. There is a type of fellow who mistakes "ordinary mind" for Zen — yet what mind is not ordinary? Mind is originally no-mind, no-mind yet mind; ordinary is extraordinary, extraordinary yet ordinary. There is a type of fellow who mistakes Zen for something that can be investigated and entered — yet what can be investigated is not investigation, what can be entered is not entry. Who investigates? Who enters?

Zen does not discard a single dharma, does not establish a single dharma, does not leave over a single dharma, does not lack a single dharma; does not possess a single dharma, does not lack a single dharma. To see Zen — that is not Zen. Not to see Zen — that is also not Zen. What then is Zen? Zen is all things, and all things are Zen. What then is not Zen? Zen is not all things, and all things are not Zen. If one clings to "illuminating the mind and seeing one's nature" as Zen, this too is a great error. What can be illuminated is not illumination; what can be seen is not seeing. Without illumination there is original illumination; without seeing there is original seeing. "Illuminating the mind and seeing one's nature" is much like seeking medicine when there is no illness. Bodhidharma came east, and an ocean of phantoms and dust arose, drawing countless headless flies to chase after this stinking flesh with their clamorous uproar.

A verse:

A single drop from Caoxi — Caoxi water,
A thousand layers of Songshan — Songshan mountain.
Skulls of past and present, eyes of past and present,
Heaven and earth crack with sound, splattered with blood.