Rinzai 6
“Because you have no faith in this, you are entangled and tied into knots. I fear that even the Governor and his staff may get entangled and their Buddha Nature obscured. I had better retire.”
He then gave a Katsu and said, “You of little faith, you never have rest. I have kept you standing a long time. Take care of yourselves!”
Commentary:
‘You have no faith in this’ means ‘you have not attained enlightenment’. ‘You are entangled and tied into knots’ means ‘you are deluded by illusions’. ‘I fear that even the Governor and his staff may get entangled and their Buddha Nature obscured’ shows his worry that the Governor and his staff may be deluded by his words without grasping what is beyond his words. When they are deceived by his words, his words become the blinds preventing them from seeing their Buddha Nature, which is to make their Buddha Nature obscured. ‘I had better retire’ means ‘I had better stop talking now since you seem to be deluded by my words’. ‘He then gave a Katsu’ is just like saying, “All I have talked about now is very simple and clear. Don’t be deceived by my words. I will express one more time what I mean that is beyond my words. That is ‘Katsu’. Do you get it?” We should know that Katsu is a summary of what he talked about so far. ‘You of little faith, you never have rest’ shows Rinzai’s pity on the assembly and implies ‘How tired you are from being deluded by illusions since you are not enlightened!’.
Student: “How can we not be entangled and tied into knots when hearing masters’ dharma talks?”
Master: “Their words are only vessels for their teaching, not teaching itself.”
Student: “What does Katsu mean?”
Master: “It contains all.”
Student: “How can I know whether or not I am entangled and tied into knots?”
Master: “What am I doing now?”
Student: “You are explaining Rinzai’s dharma talk to me.”
Master: “You are still seeing only the vessels.”
Student: “What is it in the vessels?”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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