Haklenayaśas

The twenty-third ancestor, Venerable Hakurena. When Venerable Manura instructed him, saying:

I possess the supreme great Dharma treasure; you should listen, receive, and transform beings for the future.

Hearing this, the master awakened in accord.

He was a man of the Yueh-chih country. His family name was Brahmin. His father was Senshō, his mother was Kinkō. Because they had no child, they prayed to the golden banner of the seven buddhas. They then dreamed of a divine youth on the summit of Mount Sumeru holding a golden ring, saying, 'I have come.'Upon awakening, she became pregnant. At age seven, while wandering through a village, he saw the people performing licentious sacrifices. He then entered the temple, reprimanded them, and said, 'You falsely arouse calamities and blessings, deluding people. Year after year you waste sacrificial animals, causing harm that is extreme here.'Having spoken, the temple's appearance suddenly crumbled. Because of this, the villagers called him a holy child. At age twenty-two, he left home. At age thirty, he met Venerable Manura.

He was a man of the Yueh-chih country. His family name was Brahmin. His father was Senshō, his mother was Kinkō. Because they had no child, they prayed to the seven buddhas. They then dreamed of a divine youth on the summit of Mount Sumeru holding a golden ring, saying, 'I have come.'Upon awakening, she became pregnant. At age seven, he walked through a village. Seeing the people performing licentious sacrifices, he entered the temple and reprimanded them, saying, 'You falsely arouse calamities and blessings, deluding people. Year after year you waste sacrificial animals, causing harm that is extreme here.'Having spoken, the temple's appearance suddenly crumbled. Because of this, the villagers called him a holy child. At age twenty-two, he left home. At age thirty, he met Venerable Manura. The master is called Hakurena.

Rena is Sanskrit; 'Haku'is the Chinese term. Combining Sanskrit and Chinese, it is called Hakurena.

There were cranes that followed the master, and because of this he was named. However, when he first met Manorhita, there were various wonders. Although each one could be enumerated, I will only mention one cause.

The master asked the Venerable One, saying:

For what reason do I move the crane flock? The Venerable One said: In the fourth kalpa, you once were a bhikshu. When about to attend a gathering at the dragon palace, your disciples all wished to follow along. You observed among the five hundred assembly that not one was capable of making excellent offerings. At that time the disciples said: The master always teaches the Dharma. Those equal in food are also equal in Dharma. Now it is not so. How can there be any sage? You then had them attend the gathering. From abandoning life and proceeding to life, you transformed various lands, but those five hundred disciples, due to meager merit and shallow virtue, were born among feathered beings. Now they are moved by your kindness. Therefore they became a crane flock following along.

Hearing these words, the master said:

By what means shall I enable them to attain liberation? The Venerable One said: I have the unsurpassed Dharma treasure, and so forth.

Truly, the principle of food equality and Dharma equality has no separation between sage and ordinary. However, according to the logic, although master and disciples both went to attend the dragon palace's invitation, because they were incapable of receiving excellent offerings due to bodies of meager merit and shallow virtue, they became feathered beings. This cause should especially be taken as a point of attention for students. Indeed, teaching the Dharma has no distinctions. Food also should be equal. Yet some digest the faithful offerings, some are harmed by the faithful offerings. Reaching this point, it seems not uniform. It should especially be called distinction.

Why is this so? If one sees food, if one sees dharma, even if seeing them as equal, even if understanding them as one, there is still the aspect of seeing dharma, there is still the aspect of seeing food. Both cannot be avoided.

Deluded by a greedy seeking mind, following the teacher to the gathering, he ultimately became a feathered creature. He realized: not having penetrated the principle of food-equality and dharma-equality, he was truly bound by names and forms.

Now, as for such unsurpassable great dharma, what can be called food? What can be called dharma? Which is sacred? Which is ordinary? It is not something that forms and shadows can reach. It is even difficult to name it mind-nature. This dharma is not received from buddhas, not received from ancestors, not given to children, not transmitted from fathers. There is no thing that can be called self or other. From where would the names 'food'and 'dharma'come? How much less could there be a place to go for offerings? How could there be becoming a flock of cranes?

Therefore, carefully focus the eye, thoroughly exert effort, first you must know the numinous vastness and wondrous clarity of your own mind's original nature, be able to maintain it, deepen and mature it purely, and further know that there is the matter of the transmission of the lamp from buddhas and ancestors.

Only then can it be attained.

Even if you clarify the meaning of your own original nature, and the liberation attained is already the same as that of buddhas and ancestors, there is still further the unsurpassable great dharma treasure that should be listened to and received. It can transform throughout the future. This is not the principle of original nature. How much less is it a realm of seeing and hearing? It far transcends the sentiments of past and present, originally not abiding in the distinction between sentient beings and buddhas. Therefore, this person cannot be called a buddha, cannot be called ordinary. If not sitting upright in the hall, one does not engage with the opportunities of both ends. Therefore, though seeking the shadow, it cannot be obtained; though searching for the trace, it cannot be found. When arriving at this point, what thing is mind-nature? What thing is bodhi? All vomited out in one vomit, all excreted in one excretion.

When it is thus, this is the immeasurably great person. If one does not arrive at such a place, one remains an ordinary being, ultimately a sentient being caught in the cycle of birth and death. Therefore, all you virtuous ones, you should carefully perceive and realize, and aspire to shoulder the supreme great dharma treasure. This is precisely what keeps the flesh body of old Shakyamuni warm. Only do not stagnate in names, do not toil over forms. In the study of Zen, one must discern what is true and real.

If one wishes to point out and elucidate this principle, there is a humble saying.

The powdered wall pierces the clouds, the great peak's snow. Utterly pure, without a speck, distinct from the blue sky.