Rinzai came to Horin, who remarked, “As it happens, I want to ask you something, may I?” Rinzai said, “Why gouge out healthy flesh to make a wound?” Horin said, “Brilliant shines the moon over the sea casting no shade. A fish that plays is only fooling itself.” Rinzai said, “As the moon over the sea casts no shade anyway, how can the fish playing there be deluded?” Horin said, “Observing wind, I know waves will blow up; Measuring the water, I raise a sail on the small boat.” Rinzai said, “Alone shines the solitary moon, rivers and mountains are quiet. The sound of laughing alone startles heaven and earth.” Horin said, “Your tongue may brighten heaven and earth, but say a word to reveal the true-Self exactly.” Rinzai said, “When you chance upon a swordsman, show him your sword. Do not give your poem to a man who is not a poet.” Horin retired, and Rinzai made this verse: “The Great Way surpasses equality, free to go West or East. A spark from flint cannot catch up with it, nor can a flash of lightning get through it.”
Commentary:
Rinzai’s ‘Why gouge out healthy flesh to make a wound?’ means that the true-Self is so perfect that describing it in one way or another is no better than adding dirt to it. Horin’s ‘Brilliant shines the moon over the sea casting no shade. A fish that plays is only fooling itself.’ means that the moon that symbolises the true-Self is so perfect that it never casts any shade to delude people and that a foolish man makes the true-Self dirty by being deceived by words, illusions. In other words, Horin meant, “If gouging out healthy flesh to make a wound happens, it is only because you don’t know better than to be deluded by words, illusions.” Rinzai’s response ‘As the moon over the sea casts no shade anyway, how can the fish playing there be deluded?’ means, ‘I am not deluded by your words because I am clearly aware of the true-Self’. Horin’s ‘Observing wind, I know waves will blow up; Measuring the water, I raise sail a on the small boat’ means ‘Observing a man coming, I know that he is revealing the true-Self, and measuring how deep his practice is, I reveal the true-Self according to the depth of his practice’. Rinzai’s ‘Alone shines the solitary moon, rivers and mountains are quiet. The sound of laughing alone startles heaven and earth’ means ‘When the true-Self is revealing itself alone, everything in sight, rivers and mountains included, is the true-Self. The sound of my laughing is that of heaven and earth’. Horin’s ‘Your tongue may brighten heaven and earth, but say a word to reveal the true-Self exactly’ means ‘You seem to describe the true-Self beautifully. Then, can you say words to reveal it exactly one more time?’. Rinzai’s response ‘When you chance upon a swordsman, show him your sword. Do not give your poem to a man who is not a poet’ means ‘Reveal the true-Self only to an enlightened man. If you reveal it to a man who is not enlightened, he cannot recognise it, and your efforts will turn out to be as futile and fruitless as if you were to give your poem to a man who cannot understand poetry’. By this answer, Rinzai implied ‘If you are enlightened, you would recognise what I meant, just as a swordsman recognises a sword and a poet understands a poem’. Then, Horin approved Rinzai’s enlightenment, and Rinzai made a beautiful poem that describes the true-Self.
‘The Great Way surpasses equality, free to go West or East’ means that the Great Way, the true-Self is beyond even the concept equality that means emptiness because it is the state free of discrimination. It, in fact, is free to go in any direction since there is no direction such as West or East. ‘A spark from flint cannot catch up with it’ means that the true-Self is everywhere and there is no place that is not the true-Self. No matter how fast light such as a spark from flint may reach a place, it cannot surpass the true-Self, because it is already there. ‘Nor can a flash of lightning get through it’ means that the true-Self is so huge and vast, that is, boundless, that nothing can get through it.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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