Daishugyō

The Great Master Dazhi of Mount Baizhang in Hongzhou [successor of Mazu, posthumous name Huaihai], whenever he attended gatherings, there was an old man who always followed the assembly to listen to the Dharma. When the assembly withdrew, the old man also withdrew. Suddenly one day, he did not withdraw. The master then asked, “The one standing before me, who is this person?” The old man replied, “I am not a human being. In the past, at the time of Buddha Kāśyapa, I once dwelled on this mountain.

Once, a student asked, ‘Does a person of great cultivation still fall into cause and effect or not?’ I answered him, saying, ‘They do not fall into cause and effect.’ For five hundred lifetimes thereafter, I fell into the body of a wild fox. Now I beg the master to provide a turning word on my behalf, that I may be freed from the body of a wild fox.” He then asked, “Does a person of great cultivation still fall into cause and effect or not?” The master said, “They do not obscure cause and effect.” At these words, the old man was greatly enlightened. He made a bow and said, “I am now freed from the body of a wild fox and will dwell behind the mountain.

I venture to inform the master and request that the procedures for a deceased monk be followed.” The master instructed the rector to strike the wooden block and announce to the assembly, “After the meal, we will send off a deceased monk.” The assembly discussed this, saying, “The entire assembly is well; there is also no one ill in the Nirvana Hall. Why is this so?” After the meal, they only saw the master lead the assembly to a cliff behind the mountain, where with his staff he pointed out a dead wild fox. They then cremated it according to the Dharma. That evening, the master ascended the hall and brought up the previous incident.

Huangbo then asked, “An ancient one gave a mistaken turning word and fell into the body of a wild fox for five hundred lifetimes. If every turning were without mistake, what would that make?” The master said, “Come closer, and I will tell you.” Huangbo then came closer and gave the master a slap. The master clapped his hands, laughed, and said, “I thought the barbarian’s beard was red, but here is a red-bearded barbarian.” Now, this present case is itself great cultivation.

As the old man said, in the past at the time of Buddha Kāśyapa, there was Mount Baizhang in Hongzhou. At the present time of Buddha Śākyamuni, there is Mount Baizhang in Hongzhou. This is the present turning word. Although it is thus, the Mount Baizhang of Buddha Kāśyapa’s time and the Mount Baizhang of Buddha Śākyamuni’s time are neither one nor different, neither the former three-three nor the latter three-three.

It is not that the past Mount Baizhang came and became the present Mount Baizhang; nor is it that the present Mount Baizhang preceded and was not the Mount Baizhang of Kāśyapa’s time—yet there is the case of “once dwelled on this mountain.” For the student’s question, it is like the present Baizhang’s question for the old man. The student’s question is like the old man’s question now. To raise one is not to raise two; to let go of one move is to fall into the second. The student of the past asked, “Does a person of great cultivation on Mount Baizhang in the past still fall into cause and effect or not?” This question truly cannot be easily understood hastily.

The reason is that after Buddhism gradually spread eastward during the Yongping era of the Later Han, and after the Patriarch came from the West during the Putong era of the Liang dynasty, for the first time we hear of the old wild fox’s question from the past student. Before this, it had not yet existed. Therefore, it can be said to be rarely heard. To grasp great cultivation is itself great cause and effect. Because this cause and effect is necessarily perfect cause and complete effect, there has never been a discussion of falling or not falling, nor a way of obscuring or not obscuring.

If “not falling into cause and effect” is a mistake, then “not obscuring cause and effect” must also be a mistake. Although it is said to “use error to correct error,” there is falling into the body of a wild fox and there is being freed from the body of a wild fox. Even if “not falling into cause and effect” was a mistake at the time of Buddha Kāśyapa, there may be a principle by which it is not a mistake at the time of Buddha Śākyamuni.

Even if “not obscuring cause and effect” frees one from the body of a wild fox at the present time of Buddha Śāśkyamuni, there may be a principle manifesting that it was not so at the time of Buddha Kāśyapa. The old man said, “For five hundred lifetimes thereafter, I fell into the body of a wild fox.” How is this falling into the body of a wild fox? It is not that a wild fox existed beforehand and enticed the former Baizhang to fall. The former Baizhang originally could not have been a wild fox. To say that the former Baizhang’s spirit emerged and entered a wild fox’s skin bag is a heretical view. A wild fox could not come and swallow the former Baizhang.

If one says the former Baizhang further became a wild fox, then first he must have been freed from the body of the former Baizhang, and afterward fallen into the body of a wild fox. It cannot be that the Mount Baizhang was exchanged for the body of a wild fox. How could cause and effect be like that? Cause and effect is neither originally existent nor newly arisen; there is no idle cause and effect that awaits people.

Even if the response “not falling into cause and effect” was mistaken, one would not necessarily have to fall into the body of a wild fox. If it were inevitable that falling into the body of a wild fox occurs due to the karmic cause of mistakenly answering the student’s question, then how many thousands of myriads of wild foxes would recent masters like Linji, Deshan, and their disciples have fallen into? Moreover, how many wild foxes would the reckless elders of the past two or three hundred years be? Yet we do not hear that they fell into wild foxes. If there were many, it would exceed what is seen or heard.

It might be said that they were not mistaken, but there are far more wildly confused answers than “not falling into cause and effect.” There are also many who should not be placed within the sphere of the Buddha-Dharma. Those with the eye of study should know; those without the eye cannot discern. Therefore, we know: it cannot be said that one becomes a wild fox body due to a bad response and does not become a wild fox body due to a good response. In this incident, after being freed from the wild fox body, what happened?

Surely there must be a true pearl wrapped in a broken bag. Yet, those who have never seen or heard the Buddha-Dharma say that once freed from the wild fox, one returns to the ocean of original enlightenment nature. They say that due to delusion one temporarily falls into birth as a wild fox, but upon great enlightenment, the wild fox body already returns to its original nature. This is the heretical meaning of returning to the original self; it is not the Buddha-Dharma. To say that the wild fox is not the original nature, that the wild fox has no original enlightenment, is not the Buddha-Dharma.

If it is said that upon great enlightenment one separates from the wild fox body, abandons it, then it is not the wild fox’s great enlightenment; there would be an idle wild fox. This cannot be said. That the former Baizhang’s five hundred lifetimes as a wild fox were instantly freed by the present Baizhang’s turning word—this principle should be clarified. If a bystander’s turning word could free a bystander from the wild fox body, then since time immemorial, how many turning words have there been, as many as the mountains, rivers, and great earth?

There would have been countless turning words. Yet, since time immemorial, none have been freed from the wild fox body. It is by the present Baizhang’s turning word that one is freed from the wild fox body. This kills the doubt of the ancients. If it is said that the mountains, rivers, and great earth have not given a turning word, then the present Baizhang would ultimately have no place to open his mouth.

Moreover, many ancient masters of old have taken the saying, "The Way is the same, it is neither falling nor obscuring," and treated it as a matter for contentious debate. However, they have not yet fully penetrated the meaning behind the phrase "neither falling nor obscuring." Consequently, they have not investigated the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of falling into the wild fox body, nor have they investigated the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of freeing oneself from the wild fox body. If the head is not correct, the tail cannot be correct either.

When the old man said, "After five hundred lifetimes, one falls into the body of a wild fox," what is the ability to fall, and what is the object that is fallen into? At the very moment of rightly falling into the wild fox body, what form does the entire world from of old take? How is it that the meaning of "not falling into cause and effect" amounts to five hundred lifetimes? And from where did that single strip of skin under the rock behind the mountain now come? The Way of "not falling into cause and effect" is falling into the wild fox body; the hearing of "not obscuring cause and effect" is freeing oneself from the wild fox body.

Although there is falling and freeing, this is still the cause and effect of the wild fox. Nevertheless, it has been said since ancient times: "Not falling into cause and effect" resembles the teaching of denying cause and effect, and therefore one ultimately falls. This view has no true principle; it is the talk of blind people. Even if the former Hyakujō, following the precedent, said "not falling into cause and effect," there is the aspect of great practice that cannot deceive others; it must not be taken as denying cause and effect.

It is also said: "Not obscuring cause and effect" means not being blind to cause and effect; because great practice is cause and effect that transcends, one frees oneself from the wild fox body. Truly, this is the eye of study at eighty or ninety percent. Even so, at the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, he formerly dwelt on this mountain. At the time of Śākyamuni Buddha, he now dwells on this mountain. The former body and the present body; the sun-face and the moon-face. This is concealing the wild fox spirit and manifesting the wild fox spirit. How could the wild fox know of five hundred lifetimes?

If one says the wild fox knows five hundred lifetimes using the knowledge of the wild fox, then the knowledge of the wild fox has not yet exhaustively known the matter of a single lifetime; a single lifetime has not yet bumped into the skin of the wild fox. The wild fox must know and grasp the kōan that manifests: falling for five hundred lifetimes. It does not exhaustively know a single lifetime; there is knowing and there is not knowing. If body and knowing do not arise and perish, one cannot calculate five hundred lifetimes. If calculation is impossible, then the talk of five hundred lifetimes must be empty words.

If one says one knows using a knowing that is not the knowing of the wild fox, then it is not the wild fox that knows. Who will know this on behalf of the wild fox? If there is no passageway at all between knowing and not knowing, one cannot speak of falling into the wild fox body. If there is no falling into the wild fox body, there cannot be freeing oneself from the wild fox body; if there is neither falling nor freeing, there cannot be the former Hyakujō; if there is no former Hyakujō, there cannot be the present Hyakujō. This must not be carelessly allowed.

One should investigate and examine in this way. Lifting up and presenting this principle, one should thoroughly see through the various erroneous teachings occasionally heard during the times of Liang, Chen, Sui, Tang, and Song.

The old man, who was not a human, now addressed Hyakujō, saying, "I request to follow the precedent for deceased monks. This path must be like this." From Hyakujō onward, many good teachers have not doubted or been startled by this path. Its essential meaning is: How could a dead wild fox become a deceased monk? It has no precepts, no summer retreats, no dignified conduct, no monastic lineage. If such a being were to arbitrarily follow the precedent for deceased monks, then any deceased person who has not left home would also have to be treated according to the precedent for deceased monks.

If deceased laymen or laywomen were to request it, they should, like the dead wild fox, follow the precedent for deceased monks. However, seeking to follow this precedent is not acceptable; it should not be permitted. In the Buddha Way, such a precedent is not authentically transmitted; even if one wishes to practice it, it cannot be fulfilled. Now, the claim that Hyakujō cremated it according to the Dharma is unclear and likely mistaken.

Know that the precedent for deceased monks involves procedures from the efforts of entering the Nirvana Hall to the practice leading to the Bodhi Garden; all are regulated by precedent and are not arbitrary. Even if the dead wild fox under the rock claimed to be the former Hyakujō, how could it possess the conduct of a great monk or the marrow of the Buddhas and Ancestors? Who can verify that it was the former Hyakujō? One must not mistakenly take the transformation of a wild fox spirit as truth and thereby disrespect the Dharma rituals of the Buddhas and Ancestors. As descendants of the Buddhas and Ancestors, we should deeply revere the Dharma rituals of the Buddhas and Ancestors.

Do not comply with requests like Hyakujō did. Each matter and each Dharma is difficult to encounter. Do not be swayed by worldly customs or human sentiments. In a country like Japan, the rituals of the Buddhas and Ancestors are difficult to encounter and rarely heard of. If by chance you hear or see them, you should deeply revere and honor them more heavily than the jewel in the topknot. Those without merit lack profound faith and reverence; they are pitiable.

This is because they do not yet understand the weight of the matter. It is due to lacking the wisdom of five hundred years or a thousand years. Even so, one should encourage oneself and urge others. Even a single bow or a single period of seated meditation, if authentically transmitted from the Buddhas and Ancestors, should be celebrated as a great joy of encountering what is difficult to encounter, and one should rejoice in the great merit and virtue. Those without this mind, even if they meet a thousand Buddhas appearing in the world, will not attain a single merit or benefit. They will merely be heretics attached to the Buddha Dharma.

Even if they study the Buddha Dharma with their mouths, resembling it, their explanations will lack verification. Therefore, even if they are kings, ministers, Brahma, or Indra, if they are those who have not yet become monks and come requesting the precedent for deceased monks, do not grant permission. Answer that they should leave home, receive the precepts, and become great monks before coming.

Those who cling to the karmic retribution of the three realms and do not aspire to the noble positions of the Three Treasures, even if they bring a thousand dead skin bags to defile and destroy the precedent for deceased monks, it is merely absurd and extreme; it cannot become merit. If you wish to form good connections with the merit of the Buddha Dharma, quickly leave home according to the Buddha Dharma, receive the precepts, and become a great monk.

Now, Baizhang, in the evening, ascended the hall and brought up the previous kōan. The principle of this bringing up is originally not yet fully examined. How should it be brought up? The old man, having already ended five hundred lifetimes, is said to have cast off his former body. Now, when we speak of five hundred lifetimes, should they be counted like human lifetimes, or should they be counted like the lifetimes of a wild fox? Or should they be counted according to the way of the Buddha? Moreover, how could the old wild fox’s eye possibly see through Baizhang? To be seen through by a wild fox is to be the essence of a wild fox.

To be seen through by Baizhang is to be a buddha-ancestor. Therefore, Zen Master Withered Tree, Dharma Successor Heshang, composed a verse saying: Baizhang personally once saw the wild fox; Because he was questioned by it, his mind was too coarse. Now I venture to ask all those who study: Has the fox’s slobber been spit out entirely or not? Thus, the wild fox is Baizhang’s own eye. Even if only half of the fox’s slobber is spit out, it extends the broad, long tongue and substitutes one turning word.

Precisely at such a time, the wild fox body is cast off, Baizhang’s body is cast off, the old non-human body is cast off, and the body of the exhausted realm is cast off.

Huangbo then asked, “An ancient one gave a mistaken turning word and fell into the body of a wild fox for five hundred lifetimes. If turning upon turning is not mistaken, what should be made of this?” (An ancient one gave a mistaken turning word and fell into the body of a wild fox for five hundred lifetimes. If turning upon turning is not mistaken, what should be made of this?) This very question now is the immediate realization of the Buddha-Ancestor Way. Among the venerable elders under Nanyue, there has never been one like Huangbo, neither before nor after. Even so, the old man [the wild fox] did not say it was a mistaken response to a student.

Baizhang also did not say it was a mistaken response. Why then does Huangbo now arbitrarily speak of “an ancient one giving a mistaken turning word”? If one were to say it was due to a mistake, then Huangbo has not yet grasped Baizhang’s essential meaning. It seems Huangbo has not yet investigated the mistaken or not mistaken of the Buddha-Ancestor Way. In this episode of the story, one should study that neither the former Baizhang nor the present Baizhang spoke of a mistaken response.

Even so, with five hundred wild fox pelts, three inches thick, he once dwelled on this mountain and taught the way for students. Because there is a shedding tip-hair on the wild fox pelt, the present Baizhang has one stinking skin-bag. Measuring it, it is half a wild fox pelt that has shed and come. There is the falling off of turning upon turning not mistaken; there is the cause and effect of turning upon turning substitute words; it is clearly the great practice. Now Huangbo comes and presses the question, “If turning upon turning is not mistaken, what should be made of this?” One should say, “Also fall and become a wild fox body.” If Huangbo asks, “Why is it so?” then further say, “This wild fox spirit.” Even if it is thus, it is not about mistaken or not mistaken. Do not concede that Huangbo’s question is a well-asked question.

Also, when Huangbo presses, “What should be made of this?” one should say, “Have you groped and obtained a face yet?” Or say, “Have you shed the wild fox body yet?” Or say, “Did you answer that student ‘not falling into cause and effect’ or not?” Even so, in Baizhang’s saying “Come close, and I will tell you,” there is already the place of the Way that should make this “this.” Huangbo coming close is losing the front and losing the rear. Giving Baizhang a slap is a transformation of many wild foxes.

Baizhang clapped his hands, laughed, and said, “I thought the barbarian’s beard was red, but here is a red-bearded barbarian.” This expression is not yet ten parts of will; it is barely eight or nine parts. Even if we allow eight or nine parts, it is still not eight or nine parts. Even if we allow ten parts, it is a thing without eight or nine parts. Even so, it should be said: Baizhang’s place of the Way is thorough and adaptable, yet he has not left the wild fox den. Huangbo’s heel touches the ground, yet he still lingers on the mantis’s path. The slap and the clapping hands: one exists, two are absent. Red-bearded barbarian, barbarian with red beard.