Keisei-sanshoku

The Great Way of Buddha Śākyamuni is truly immeasurable in scope. In the West [in India], it was the four dhyāna and the eight samādhi. In the West, it was the entirety of the Basket of teachings [the Tripiṭaka]. After its transmission to the East, to Great China, it became the Zen of the Patriarchs. This Zen of the Patriarchs is not what is called the Zen of the West. Without debating what did or did not exist among the ancient sages, it carries within itself its own fundamental principle. Such is the Meaning of the coming of the Patriarch from the West.

The awakening poem of Su Dongpo

Su Zizhan (Dongpo/Tōba) said:

The sounds of the stream are precisely the Great Tongue [of the Buddha];
Is not the form of the mountains the pure Body [of the Dharma]?
This night, eighty-four thousand stanzas —
How could they ever be presented to someone?

This stanza is Dongpo's awakening stanza. He was residing with the prior of the Chengtian-sì temple; that night, he heard the stream and attained the Way. He brought this stanza and presented it to his old master.

The old master read it. Without declaring "Is this an awakening stanza or not?", he simply said: "Admirable, admirable!" This "admirable" expresses that the love [of masters] for those who have attained the Way is today as it was in former times — such is the meaning.

The principle of the poem

One must thoroughly examine the principle of this stanza.

"The sounds of the stream are precisely the Great Tongue": the Great Tongue is one of the thirty-two marks of the Buddha. This Great Tongue is a vast and long tongue. It is longer and greater than the tongue of all sentient beings. It is with this Great Tongue that [the Buddha] turns the Wheel of the Dharma and preaches. The sound of the stream is this Great Tongue. The Great Tongue is the sound of the stream.

"Is not the form of the mountains the pure Body?": the pure Body is the Dharma Body. The form of the mountains is this pure Dharma Body. The pure Dharma Body is the form of the mountains.

The awakening of Xiangyan — the pebble and the bamboo

Formerly, Zen master Xiangyan Zhixian, having once heard the sound of a stone fragment striking bamboo, suddenly attained awakening. He composed this stanza:

With one stroke, I forget everything I knew.
No further need for cultivation and practice.
In every movement, I manifest the ancient Way.
I no longer fall into silent indifference.
In every place, no trace to seek —
The dignity [of the Dharma] is beyond sounds and forms.
Those who have realized the Way everywhere
All say this is the highest faculty.

The awakening of Lingyun — the peach blossoms

Likewise, Zen master Lingyun Zhiqin, after thirty years of contemplating peach blossoms, suddenly attained awakening. He composed this stanza:

For thirty years I sought the sword —
How many times the leaves fell, how many times the branches grew back!
From the moment I saw the peach blossoms,
Until today, not a single doubt remains.

These sounds of the stream and forms of the mountains (keisei-sanshoku) are all, integrally, the actualized presence (genjō) of the Buddha's Way.