Baika

My late master, the Ancient Buddha of Tiantong, was the thirtieth-generation abbot of the Jingde Monastery on Mount Taibai in Qingyuan Prefecture of the Great Song Dynasty. Ascending the hall to address the assembly, he said: "Tiantong's first phrase of midwinter: gnarled and rugged, the old plum tree. Suddenly it blooms: one flower, two flowers, three, four, five flowers, countless flowers. Their purity cannot be praised; their fragrance cannot be praised. Scattering, they form spring's visage, blowing upon the plants and trees; each and every patch-robed monk's crown is bald.

Abruptly, there is the strange transformation of a violent storm, and further, the great earth is rolled together, snow boundless. The old plum tree is utterly without reason; the freezing cold rubs, and the nostrils ache." Now, the old plum tree that is expounding here is utterly without reason; it suddenly blooms and naturally bears fruit. Sometimes it makes spring; sometimes it makes winter. Sometimes it makes a violent wind; sometimes it makes a torrential rain. Sometimes it is the patch-robed monk's crown; sometimes it is the ancient buddha's eye.

Sometimes it becomes plants and trees; sometimes it becomes pure fragrance. Its abrupt, divine transformations and wonders cannot be exhausted. And further, the great earth and the high heavens, the bright sun and the clear moon, these are the tree's merit producing further merit from the old plum tree. It is the entwining vines binding vines. When the old plum tree suddenly blooms, the flowers bloom and the world arises. The time when the flowers bloom and the world arises is precisely spring arriving. At this time, there is the one flower that opens five petals. At this time of the one flower, there are indeed three flowers, four flowers, five flowers.

There are a hundred flowers, a thousand flowers, ten thousand flowers, a hundred million flowers. And further, there are countless flowers. All these flower blooms are the unpraisable one branch, two branches, countless branches of the old plum tree. The udumbara flower, the utpala flower, and the like are likewise the one branch, two branches of the old plum tree flower. Generally speaking, all flower blooms are the benevolent gift of the old plum tree.

There is an old plum tree among humans and in the heavens; within the old plum tree, humans and heavens are established as merit. The hundreds and thousands of flowers are called human and heavenly flowers. The myriads and billions of flowers are buddha-ancestor flowers. Such a time is called 'all buddhas appear in the world.' It is called 'the ancestral teachers originally came to this land.

The ancient buddha, my former master, ascending the hall and addressing the assembly, said: "When Gautama lost his eyes, in the snow there was but a single branch of plum blossoms. Now everywhere has become thorns and brambles, yet I laugh at the spring wind blowing in tangled confusion." To turn this Dharma wheel of the ancient buddha now to the utmost extreme of the whole world is the very season for all humans and devas to attain the Way. Even down to the clouds, rain, wind, water, and to the grasses, trees, and insects, there is none who does not receive the benefit of the Dharma. The heavens, earth, and lands too are turned by this Dharma wheel and are vividly alive.

To hear the Way that has never been heard means to hear and grasp the Way now. To obtain what has never been obtained means to be praised for obtaining and grasping the Dharma now. Unless it is vague, ordinary merit and virtue, it is a Dharma wheel that cannot be seen or heard. Now, within and beyond the one hundred and eighty provinces of the great Song country, there are mountain temples and village temples, their number beyond calculation. Within them, many are the cloud-and-water monks.

Yet, those who have not seen the ancient buddha, my former master, are many; those who have seen him must be few. How much fewer must be those who have seen or heard his words. How could those who have met and inquired with him be many? How many are not permitted into the inner quarters? How then could one be allowed to bow to the skin, flesh, bones, marrow, eyes, and face of the former master? The ancient buddha, my former master, did not easily permit just any monk to seek entry. He would often say, "A head accustomed to no mind for the Way cannot be in my place," and would immediately chase them out.

When they left, he would say, "What does a person not of one original share want to do?" Such stray dogs are noisy people; they cannot be admitted. I saw this clearly and heard it directly. I secretly thought: what karmic roots do they have that, though they are people of this country, they are not allowed to dwell together? What good fortune do I have that, though I am a seed from a distant foreign land, I am not only permitted to enter, but can go in and out of the inner quarters as I wish, bow to the venerable form, and hear the Dharma?

Though I am foolish and dull, it is no vain connection but a good affinity. When the former master taught in the Song dynasty, there were those who managed to meet him and those who did not. The ancient buddha, my former master, has now left the Song dynasty; it is darker than a dark night. Why? Because before and after the ancient buddha, my former master, there is no ancient buddha like him, therefore it is so. Thus, late learners of the present who would see and hear this should not think that people and devas of other places also see and hear such a Dharma wheel as this now, or engage in study and practice. The plum blossom in the snow is a single manifestation, a fleeting flower.

How many times in ordinary days, while bowing and seeing the correct Dharma eye of my Buddha, the Tathagata, have I idly blinked and missed the moment, failing to break into a smile? Now, I correctly transmit and undertake that the plum blossom in the snow is precisely the Tathagata's eye. Taking it up, I make it the eye on the crown of the head and the pupil within the eye.

Further, arriving within the plum blossom and exhaustively investigating the plum blossom, a cause for further doubt and attachment has not yet arisen. This is already the eye of "In heaven and on earth, I alone am the honored one"; it is the honored one within the Dharma realm. Therefore, the heavenly flowers in the heavens, the human flowers among humans, the mandarava flowers raining from the sky, the great mandarava flowers, the manjusaka flowers, the great manjusaka flowers, and all flowers of the endless lands in the ten directions are all the retinue of the plum blossom in the snow.

Because they receive a portion of the plum blossom's grace and virtue and bloom, a hundred billion flowers are the retinue of the plum blossom and should be called small plum blossoms. Even empty flowers, earth flowers, flowers of samadhi, and so on are all the great and small retinue of flowers of the plum blossom. Within the flowers, a hundred billion lands are made; the blooming in the lands is all due to the grace of this plum blossom. Apart from the grace of the plum blossom, there is not another drop of dew or rain of grace.

All life veins are made from the plum blossom. Do not merely study the snow-covered ground of Shaolin on Mount Song. It is the Tathagata's eye. It illuminates above the head and illuminates below the feet. Do not merely study the snow of the Snow Mountains and the snow palace; it is the correct Dharma eye of old Gautama. The five eyes are exhaustively investigated here. The thousand eyes should be perfectly accomplished in this eye. Truly, within the bodily and mental radiance of old Gautama, there is not a single mote of the true aspect of all dharmas that is not exhaustively investigated.

Though humans and devas have their distinctions, though ordinary and holy are separated by sentiment, the snow-covered ground is the great earth, and the great earth is the snow-covered ground. If it were not the snow-covered ground, there would be no great earth in the whole world. This complete roundness, inside and out, of the snow-covered ground is the eye of old Gautama. Know that the flower and the ground are entirely unborn; the flower is unborn. Because the flower is unborn, the ground is unborn. Because flower and ground are entirely unborn, the eye is unborn.

"Unborn" means unsurpassed bodhi. The seeing and grasping at just this time is "the plum blossom is but a single branch." The speaking and grasping at just this time is "in the snow, the plum blossom is but a single branch." The ground and flowers are ever being produced. To further call this the snow-covered ground is that the whole, inside and out, is snow-covered ground. The whole world is the mind-ground; the whole world is the sentiment of flowers. Because the whole world is the sentiment of flowers, the whole world is the plum blossom. Because the whole world is the plum blossom, the whole world is Gautama's eye. "Now everywhere" is the mountains, rivers, and great earth.

When arriving at the matter, arriving at the time, it is all the immediate presence of "I originally came to this land to transmit the Dharma and save deluded sentient beings; one flower opens five petals; the fruit forms of itself." Though there is coming from the West and gradual spread to the East, it is the plum blossom's "now everywhere." That the immediate presence of now is like this is called "becoming thorns and brambles." On the great branches, there is the "now" of old branches and new branches; on the small twigs, there is the "everywhere" of old twigs and new twigs. One should study the place in the arrival; one should study the arrival in the now.

The three-four-five-six within the flower is the numberless within the flower. The flower fully possesses the profound and vast merit of the inner aspect and reveals the lofty and great merit of the outer aspect. This outer and inner is the blooming of the one flower. Because it is but a single branch, there is no other branch, no other kind. To call the everywhere of the single branch "now" is old Gautama. Because it is but a single branch, the transmission is directly to the direct heir.

Therefore, "the shōbōgenzō which I have, I transmit to Mahakashyapa. What you attain is my marrow." Because such immediate presence everywhere is, without exception, not a place where the great, honored, noble life does not arise, it is "opening five petals"; the five petals are the plum blossom. Therefore, there are the seven buddha ancestors. The twenty-eight ancestors in the West, the six ancestors in the East, and there are the nineteen ancestors. All are the "opening five petals" of the single branch; the single branch of the five petals. Having studied and investigated the single branch and having studied and investigated the five petals, it is the correct transmission, the entrusted transmission, the meeting of the plum blossom in the snow. Having turned body and turned mind within the verbal vein of "but a single branch," the clouds and moon are the same; the valleys and mountains are each distinct.

Yet, fellows without the eye for study once said: "The 'five petals' means taking the five generations in the East and the first ancestor as one flower, lining up five generations, and because they do not appear in ancient and modern, before and after, it is called 'five petals.'" Such words are not worth raising for examination. These are not even the skin bags of studying buddha and studying ancestors; they are pitiable. How could the Way of the five petals and one flower be only five generations? Has it not been spoken since the Sixth Ancestor? They do not reach the level of a child's talk. Do not see or hear such things even in dreams.

Our late teacher, the ancient buddha, once ascended the teaching seat on New Year’s Day and said, “The primal beginning opens the fortune; the ten thousand things are all renewed. I humbly consider the great assembly: the plum blossoms open in early spring.” Quietly contemplating this, even if the old ancient awl of past, present, and future is the naked body throughout the entire ten directions, unless it is the Way of “the plum blossoms open in early spring,” who could be called one who exhaustively expresses this? Our late teacher, the ancient buddha alone, is the ancient buddha within ancient buddhas.

His essential teaching is that the ten thousand springs are quickened, borne along by the opening of the plum blossoms. The ten thousand springs are the merit of one or two plum blossoms. A single spring indeed fully renews the ten thousand things; it makes the ten thousand dharmas the primal beginning. “Opens the fortune” is the correct eye. “The ten thousand things” are not only those of past, present, and future; they include even before King Vairocana and the future.

Because the immeasurable, inexhaustible past, present, and future are all said to be renewed, this renewal has cast off renewal. Therefore, it is “I humbly consider the great assembly.” “I humbly consider the great assembly” is so because it is thus.

Our late teacher, the Ancient Buddha of Tiantong, once addressed the assembly from the high seat, saying: "When a single word is mutually attuned, it remains unchanged for ten thousand ages. The willow's eyes sprout new twigs; plum blossoms fill the old branches." That is to say, the bodhi-practice of a hundred great kalpas is, from beginning to end, the mutual attunement of a single word. The effort of a single instant is, throughout past and future, equally unchanged for ten thousand ages. Causing the new twigs to flourish and luxuriate, and causing the eye-pupils to manifest and illuminate—though they are called new twigs, they are the eye-pupils.

Though it is said that there is no principle apart from the eye-pupils, one investigates this as the new twigs. One should study the "new" by investigating how all things are entirely new. "Plum blossoms fill the old branches" means the plum blossoms are wholly the old branches; they penetrate the old branches. The old branches are precisely the plum blossoms. For example, flower and branch are the same twig investigated, flower and branch are the same twig born, flower and branch are the same twig filling.

Because flower and branch are the same twig filling, "I have the True Dharma, which I entrust to Mahākāśyapa." Every face fully holds up the flower; every flower fully breaks into a smile.

The ancient buddha, my former master, once ascended the teaching seat and addressed the assembly, saying, "The willow adorns the waist-sash; the plum blossom binds the arm-guard." That arm-guard is not Shu brocade or the He jade disk; it is the plum blossom blooming. The plum blossom blooming is "following me, I attain you.

King Prasenajit, while inviting the Venerable Piṇḍola to a meal, asked, "I have heard that you personally saw the Buddha. Is this so or not?" The Venerable, using his hand, lifted his eyebrows and showed him. The Ancient Buddha, my former teacher, composed a verse saying: "Lifting his eyebrows, he answers the question; having personally seen the Buddha, he does not deceive. To this day, he is worthy of offerings throughout the fourfold world; spring is on the plum branches, bearing the cold of the clouds." This story concerns King Prasenajit inquiring of the Venerable whether he had seen the Buddha or not. To speak of 'seeing the Buddha' is to 'become a buddha.' To speak of 'becoming a buddha' is 'lifting the eyebrows.' Even if the Venerable had merely realized the fruit of arhatship, if he were not a true arhat, he could not see the Buddha. If he does not see the Buddha, he cannot become a buddha. If he does not become a buddha, lifting the eyebrows would not be the Buddha.

Therefore, know this: as a disciple who received the face-to-face transmission from Śākyamuni Buddha, having already realized the four fruits and later awaiting the Buddha's appearance in the world, how could the Venerable not see Śākyamuni Buddha? This seeing of Śākyamuni Buddha is not 'seeing the Buddha.' We have studied and come to understand that seeing Śākyamuni Buddha as Śākyamuni Buddha is 'seeing the Buddha.' It is because King Prasenajit attained the eye of study and inquiry that he encountered the skillful hand of lifting the eyebrows. One who has personally seen the Buddha's essential Way must quietly possess the eye of study and inquiry. This spring is not within the human realm, nor is it limited to the buddha-land; it is on the plum branches. How do we know it is so? By the lifting of the eyebrows in the cold snow.

Our late teacher, the ancient buddha, said, "The original face is without birth and death; spring abides in the plum blossoms, entering the painted scene." When painting spring, one should not paint the poplar, plum, peach, or plum trees. One should paint spring itself. To paint the poplar, plum, peach, and plum trees is to paint the poplar, plum, peach, and plum trees; it is not yet to have painted spring. It is not that spring should not be painted. However, apart from our late teacher, the ancient buddha, there has never yet been a person between the western heavens and eastern lands who has painted spring.

Our late teacher, the ancient buddha, alone is the sharp tip of the brush that paints spring. What is called the present spring is the spring of the painted scene, because it enters the painted scene. This does not rely on any other power or capacity; it is precisely because he lets the plum blossoms dispatch spring that it enters the painting and enters the trees. This is skillful means.

Because our late teacher, the ancient buddha, clearly possessed the treasury of the true dharma eye, he correctly transmitted this treasury of the true dharma eye to the buddhas and ancestors assembled throughout the ten directions of past, present, and future. For this reason, he thoroughly investigated the eye, and he opened and illuminated the plum blossoms.

The True Dharma Eye Treasury, Number Fifty-Three

If one's own delusion naturally arises and one thinks that the plum blossom is not Śākyamuni's eye, then one should consider: if one were to raise up and bring forth some other plum blossom of a dharma that could be more of an eye than this, how would one see it as an eye? At that time too, if one seeks the eye apart from this, then at any time it will be "facing each other, yet not recognizing"; this is because it should be "having met, yet not yet held up." Today is not my today; it is everyone's today. One should directly open and illuminate the plum blossom eye; one must cease seeking further.

Our late teacher, the ancient buddha, said, "In clear brightness and vivid distinctness, do not seek each other in the shadow of the plum blossoms. To become rain, to become cloud—this has been so from ancient times to the present. Ancient and present, vast and boundless—what limit could there be?" Therefore, to become cloud and to become rain is the doing, the saying, of the plum blossoms. The moving clouds and the falling rain are the thousand bends and ten thousand layers of color of the plum blossoms; they are its thousand merits and virtues. 'From ancient times to the present' is the plum blossom. We call the plum blossom 'ancient and present.

In ancient times, Zen master Fayan said, "The north wind, harmonizing with snow, shakes the valley woods; all things, hidden and stored, do not lament the depth. Only the ridge plum possesses abundant spirit; before the year's end, it brings forth the heart of the cold season." Therefore, unless one communicates with the plum blossom's message, it is difficult to know the heart of the cold season. The plum blossom, with its small measure of virtue, harmonizes with the north wind and makes it snow. One realizes: drawing forth the wind, making the snow, ordering the seasons, and affecting the valley woods and all things—all are the power of the plum blossom.

The Elder Fu of Taiyuan composed a verse on awakening to the Way, saying: "I recall the past, the initial time when I had not yet awakened—one note of the painted horn, one note of sorrow. Now upon my pillow, there are no idle dreams; I simply let the plum blossoms blow, large and small." Elder Fu was originally a lecturer. He was opened up by the tenzo of Jiashan and experienced great awakening. This is letting the plum blossoms blow in the spring wind, large and small.