Rāhulata

The Sixteenth Patriarch, the Venerable Rahulata, served Kanadeva and, hearing of past causes, was awakened.

The master was from the country of Kapila. The so-called past cause refers to when the Venerable Kanadeva, having received ordination and traveling to teach, arrived in the country of Kapila. There was an elder there named Brahmavisuddha. One day, a large ear grew on a tree in the garden, like a mushroom, with a very delicious taste. Only the elder and his second son, Rahulata, picked and ate it. As soon as it was picked, it grew again immediately; when exhausted, it regrew. Other relatives could not see it. At that time, the Venerable Kanadeva, knowing this past cause,

proceeded to their home. The elder asked the reason. The Venerable said: 'In your household, you once made offerings to a certain monk. That monk, however, had not yet clarified his Dharma-eye. Because he vainly received the faithful offerings, he was repaid by becoming a tree mushroom. Only you and your son made offerings with sincere devotion, and thus were able to enjoy it. Others could not.'He asked further: 'Elder, how old are you?'He replied: 'Seventy-nine.'The Venerable then spoke a verse, saying: 'Entering the Way without penetrating the principle, the body is repaid with faithful offerings. You are eighty-one years old; this tree will not grow ears.'Hearing the verse, the elder was even more deeply impressed and submitted. Moreover, he said: 'This disciple is aged and feeble. I cannot serve the master. I wish to relinquish my second son, allowing him to follow the master and leave home.'The Venerable said: 'In the past, the Tathagata

predicted this child, saying he should become a great teaching master in the second five hundred years. Now meeting him accords with past causes.'Immediately, he shaved his head and

The Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp: Arrived in the country of Vira. There was an elder named Brahmavisuddha. One day, a large ear grew on a tree in the garden like a mushroom, with a very delicious taste. Only the elder and his second son Rahulata picked and ate it. As soon as it was picked, it grew again immediately; when exhausted, it regrew. Other relatives could not see it. At that time, the Venerable, knowing this past cause, proceeded to their home. The elder asked the reason. The Venerable said: 'Your household once made offerings to a certain monk.

However, this monk's Dharma-eye was not yet clear. Because he vainly received faithful offerings, he was repaid by becoming a tree mushroom. Only you and your son made offerings with sincere devotion, and thus were able to enjoy it.'

The rest is not so. He asked further: 'How old is the elder?'He replied: 'Seventy-nine.'The Venerable then spoke a verse: 'Entering the Way yet not penetrating the principle, Your body still receives the offerings of faith. You are eighty-one years old, This tree will bear no fruit.'Hearing the verse, the elder was even more deeply moved and filled with admiration. He then said: 'Your disciple is aged and feeble and cannot serve the master. I wish to offer my second son to follow the master and leave home.'The Venerable said: 'In the past, the Tathagata predicted that this child would become the great teaching master in the second five hundred years.'

Now this meeting indeed accords with causes from the past. He then shaved his head and took him as an attendant. He is listed as the Sixteenth Patriarch.

I admonish those people of ancient and modern times who study the Way, who are without shame and without conscience, yet idly associate with the pure stream; who are without knowledge and without share, yet vainly receive the offerings of faith. They often cite this karmic circumstance. Truly, one should feel shame because of this. As a bhikshu, one has left home and entered the Way. One's dwelling place is not our own land. The food and method are entirely not our own possessions. The clothing is entirely not our own work. Even a single drop of water or a single blade of grass—all are things to be received and used. Why is this? All of you people are entirely nurtured by the nation's soil. Under the single heaven, on the nation's soil, there is none that is not the water and land of the king. Yet, when at home, one serves one's parents; when in the nation, one serves one's lord. At such a time, there is the protection of heaven and earth, and one naturally receives the grace of yin and yang. Nevertheless, if one presumptuously vows for the Buddha-dharma, calling oneself such, yet does not serve the parents one should serve, does not serve the lord one should serve—by what means will one repay the kindness of one's parents who gave birth and nurtured? By what means will one repay the kindness of the king's water and land? To enter the Way yet lack the eye of the Way is precisely what should be called a traitor to the nation.

Having already abandoned worldly kindness and entered the unconditioned, it is said one leaves the three realms. Yet, after leaving home, one does not bow to parents,

nor does one bow to the king. Having already borrowed the form of a child of the Buddha, one lodges one's body in the pure stream. Even if one receives what is offered by wife and children, it is entirely not the same as receiving while in the secular world. None of it is not an offering of faith.

After leaving home, one does not bow to parents, nor does one bow to the king. The entire 'Pure Rules of the Chan Monastery'states: 'After leaving home, one's etiquette transcends ordinary sentiments. One does not bow to the ruler, one does not bow to parents.'Yet the ancients said: 'If the eye of the Way is not yet clear, one cannot even chew through a single grain. If the eye of the Way is clear and bright, then even if one uses the sky as a bowl and Mount Sumeru as food, receiving day and night, this is not to incur a debt to the offerings of faith. However, without considering whether the eye of the Way is complete or incomplete, if one rashly becomes a monk thinking to receive people's offerings, and if the offerings are few, one vainly hopes among human relations.'

You must reflect: when you left home and abandoned your native place, you had not a grain of provisions nor a single thread to your name, wandering alone and exposed. You should entrust your body solely for the sake of the eye of the Way and abandon your life for the sake of the Dharma. Could it be that your initial aspiration was merely for fame and profit, for food and clothing? Therefore, there is no need to ask others; simply look back at your own initial aspiration, examine yourself for what is right, and also examine yourself for what is not right. Hence it is said: It is difficult to be as careful at the end as at the beginning. If you truly act as you did at the initial aspiration, who would not become a person of the Way?

Based on this, even if all become monks and nuns, they merely become thieves of the nation. Although the monks of old had not yet clarified the eye of the Way, because their practice did not regress, as a result, they even became tree fungi. As for monks like those of today, when their lives are about to end, King Yama will not pardon you. The gruel and rice of today may turn into molten iron or iron pellets, and when swallowing them, body and mind will become red and rotten as they proceed.

Zen Master Yunfeng Yue said:

Do you not see? The Patriarch said: 'Entering the Way without penetrating the principle, one returns the body to repay the alms.'This is indeed a matter of decisive certainty, ultimately not empty. Venerable ones, you must cherish the light and shadow. Time waits for no one. Do not wait until the day the light of the eyes falls to the ground. If there is not a single merit in the field of black robes, you will fall into the hundred punishments of the iron enclosure. Do not say you were not told.

Therefore, even if all become monks and nuns, they merely become thieves of the nation. Although the monks of old had not yet clarified the eye of the Way, because their practice did not regress, as a result, they even became tree fungi. As for monks like those of today, when their lives are about to end, King Yama will not pardon you. The gruel and rice of today may turn into molten iron or iron pellets, and when swallowing them, body and mind will become red and rotten as they proceed.

Zen Master Yunfeng Yue said: 'Do you not see? The Patriarch said: 'Entering the Way without penetrating the principle, one returns the body to repay the alms.'This is indeed a matter of decisive certainty, ultimately not empty. Venerable ones, you must cherish the light and shadow. Time waits for no one. Do not wait until the day the light of the eyes falls to the ground. If there is not a single merit in the field of black robes, you will fall into the hundred punishments of the iron enclosure. Do not say you were not told.'

O virtuous ones, you are fortunate to have encountered the true Dharma wheel of the Tathagata without disgrace. This is rarer than encountering a tiger in the marketplace. It is even rarer than the single blossoming of the udumbara flower. Examine carefully, study diligently; you must attain clear insight into the Way. Do you not see? Regarding today's circumstances, do not distinguish between sentient and insentient, between dependent retribution and primary retribution. Truly, the monk of former lives has today become a tree mushroom.

The 'Anthology of the Lamp'records: Have you not heard the ancestral master say, 'If one enters the Way without penetrating the principle, one's body will again receive the offerings of devotees'? This is a matter of certainty, never false. Venerable ones, time is precious; it waits for no one. Do not wait until the moment your eyes close in death, when the field of practice lacks even a basketful of merit, and you suffer the pains of a hundred punishments in the iron hell. Do not say you were not warned. When a tree mushroom, it does not know 'I was a monk.'When a monk, it does not know 'I am manifest as the myriad dharmas.'Thus, though sentient beings now possess slight awareness and can somewhat distinguish pain and pleasure, they are no different from tree mushrooms.

Why is this so? The tree mushroom's not knowing you—is this not ignorance?

Your not knowing the tree mushroom is entirely the same. Because of this, there is a separation between sentient and insentient, and distinctions between dependent and primary retribution. When you illuminate the self, what will you call sentient, what will you call insentient? It is not ancient or modern, not sense faculty, object, or consciousness. There is no agent of cutting and nothing to be cut; nothing is made by self or by other. You must thoroughly investigate with great care, and see with body and mind fallen away.

Do not merely take pride in wearing the monk's form and stop at casually leaving the dusty household. Even if you escape the calamity of water, you will likely be troubled by the calamity of fire. Even if you break through worldly defilements, you may still not escape while in the Buddha's presence. How much more so for those who are not like this, who follow things and are deluded by others? Like light feathers or floating dust, they rush east and west, rise and fall in court and wilderness, never treading solid ground,

never reaching a place of true mind. Such types not only waste a single lifetime but also vainly pass through many successive ages.

Do you not know that from ancient times until now, there has never been any mistake, never any separation? You do not yet know that you are. Therefore, you vainly become floating dust. If you do not completely cast it off today, what time will you wait for?

To expound the karmic conditions of the recent past, there is humble speech. Do you wish to hear it?

Alas, the eye of the Way is not clear and pure. Deluded, one repays oneself and others; retribution has not ceased.