Zen master Sengmi of Shenshan crossed a river with his dharma brother Dongshan. Dongshan said, “Don’t make a mistake with your steps and slip into the current.” Shenshan said, “If I make a mistake with my steps, then I won’t live to cross the river.” Dongshan said, “What is the state without mistakes?” Shenshan said, “Crossing the river with the elder.”
Student: “What does ‘making a mistake with one’s steps and slipping into the current’ mean?”
Master: “Listen closely.”
Student: “How can you save the one who slipped into the current?”
Master: “I am sorry he is clinging to the current although I am trying my best to pull him out of it now.”
Commentary:
Regard the Buddha’s and patriarchs’ words as an enemy.
“Why? Because the Dharma preached by the Realised One can neither be obtained nor be spoken; it is neither the Dharma nor the non-Dharma.”
Commentary:
The Dharma, the true-Self that the historical Buddha talked about can neither be obtained nor be explained. The true-Self is formless and boundless and contains everything, ourselves included. It not only cannot be obtained but also cannot be discarded because we are also part of it and because there is nothing but the Dharma as mentioned previously. We can no more obtain, or discard the Dharma than winds can the air.
The Dharma is beyond description because it is formless, nameless and boundless. This is why the Buddha said that the Dharma preached by him is neither the Dharma nor the non-Dharma. Ancient masters would say that even saying ‘holy’ for the purpose of describing the Dharma is like spitting upon a face washed with perfume.
Then, the key is how we should accept the Dharma talks preached for about forty years by the historical Buddha. We, to grasp the core of his talks, shouldn’t try to realise the Dharma by accepting his words in the same way we do when getting mundane knowledge through literal understanding. An ancient master named Hwang-po would say to his students, “You are fellows who pretend to have drunk pure wine after taking only lees” to scold them for clinging to literal, intellectual understanding. His remark implies that we should grasp what is beyond words and what they are pointing to when we read, or hear the Sutras.
Student: “If the Dharma preached by the Realised One is neither the Dharma nor the non-Dharma, what is it then?”
A. Attaining enlightenment means to become free from being deluded by illusions. Typical illusions are words, and we acquire knowledge through words and keep it as a form of words. Having a lot of knowledge about enlightenment refers to having a lot of words, which can imply having a host of illusions. We sentient beings are so addicted to words that we tend to identify words to things, or facts. The more plausible words are, the stronger our such tendency is. We are likely to believe that the greater our knowledge about enlightenment is, the nearer we are to enlightenment.
However, in reality knowledge becomes more of a headwind rather than a tailwind on the voyage to enlightenment. For example, ‘everything is empty’ is one of the phrases that almost all Buddhists accept as the core of the Buddha’s teaching, and it really is. Nevertheless, paradoxically, few of them attain enlightenment through the phrase, which means that most people, captivated by the literal meaning of the phrase, fail to see what it points to. In the same way, knowledge, when we are deluded by its literal meaning, can become not a teaching but another illusion that keeps us from seeing things as empty. This is why the Buddha said on his deathbed, “Never have I said a word” in order that he might prevent people from being deluded by his words.
Zen Master Sengmi of Shenshan crossed a river with his dharma brother Dongshan. Dongshan said, “Don’t make a mistake with your steps and slip into the current.” Shenshan said, “If I make a mistake with my steps, then I won’t live to cross the river.” Dongshan said, “What is the state without mistakes?” Shenshan said, “Crossing the river with the elder.”
Student: “What does ‘making a mistake with one’s steps and slipping into the current’ mean?”
Master: “Take a close look.”
Student: “What is the state without mistakes?”
Master: “You can walk on the water without your shoes getting wet.”
Commentary:
Looking down at your shoes and the current is to slip into the current.
The Buddha asked Subhuti, “Subhuti, what do you think—has the Realised One attained unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment? Has the Realised One preached any Dharma?” Subhuti said. “As I understand the principles expounded by you, the Realised One, there is no fixed Dharma called unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment, and there is no fixed Dharma worth mentioning that the Realised One preached.”
Commentary:
‘Dharma’ has multiple meanings; the true-Self, things, and the Buddha’s teaching. The Dharma’ in ‘there is no fixed Dharma called unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment’ means ‘a thing’, and so this sentence signifies ‘there is no fixed thing called unexcelled complete perfect enlightenment’. The ‘Dharma’ in ‘there is no fixed Dharma worth mentioning that the Realised One preached’ means the Buddha’s teaching, therefore this sentence implies ‘there is no fixed Buddha’s teaching worth mentioning that the Realised One preached’.
This shows what enlightenment is and what Dharma talk is. Enlightenment means the capability to see and hear everything as it is without being deluded by any words and forms, which is also referred to as seeing everything as empty. When we see everything as empty, everything, including us, is one as Emptiness, and there is nothing but Emptiness. Emptiness is the state free from words and forms, which is referred to as the true-Self, Nirvana, Oneness, the Buddha, non-I, the Pure Land, and the middle-Path. This is the essence of everything and this is why it is said in Buddhism that everything is equal as the Buddha. In the state of Emptiness, that is, when we see everything as empty, there is nothing to see or hear other than Emptiness and there is not just nothing to gain or lose but also no gainer or loser.
In this state even the word ‘the Buddha’ is no more than grime to taint the Pure Land, because it is no more than an imaginary label used as an expedient for the sake of convenience to express the state. This is why it is said that there is no Buddha in the Pure Land. In the state of Emptiness there is neither enlightenment nor one who attained it, nor is there not only the Dharma but also one who preached the Dharma.
This is why ancient masters would say that before enlightenment, there are Dharma teaching to learn, enlightenment to attain and the Buddha to see but that after enlightenment, there is no Dharma teaching to learn, no enlightenment to attain and no Buddha to see.
Student: “If the Buddha didn’t preach any Dharma, what are all the Buddhist Sutras we read?”
Master: “They are not the Sutras.”
Student: “If they are not the Sutras, what is the Sutra?”
A. With the true principle meaning the true-Self, relying on the true principle means seeing, or realising the true-Self. This scripture tells us to not to mistake the historical Buddha for the Buddha that the historical Buddha tried to show to us. The historical Buddha said, “Those who seek me by seeing my figure and hearing my voice cannot see me.” This means that his physical body with birth and death is not the essence of his being, the Buddha, because the Buddha he meant is formless and eternal without birth and death. We should recognise the true Buddha that is always before us, that the historical Buddha showed through his physical body and that we are also always revealing ceaselessly.
Patriarch Bodhidharma also said that we should not make the mistake of making the living Buddha bow to the dead Buddha. He meant that we, realising that we are the Buddha itself, should not allow ourselves to worship and bow to an image of Buddha, such as Buddha statue.
Master Dongshan said, “The Way becomes one with a man and a man becomes one with the Way. Do you want to know the meaning of this? One gets aged and the other doesn’t.”
Student: “What happens when the one who gets aged dies?”
Master: “The other doesn’t mind it.”
Commentary:
Even though the wind disappears, air is still there as usual.
For this reason, I, the Realised One always say you should know that my Dharma teaching is like a raft. Even the Dharma should be discarded, not to mention the non-Dharma.
Commentary:
The Buddha is saying that we should not be attached to even his Dharma teaching not to mention the non-Dharma, both because it is also empty and because it is just an expedient means which the Buddha used to show the true-Self to sentient beings, like a raft which is discarded when its use of helping people to cross a river is over. The reality, however, is that we, instead of seeing what the Buddha means to show to us with his Dharma teaching, tend to treat his Dharma teaching itself as a precious treasure. This is just like cherishing a raft, looking at it and keeping it well without using it to cross the river. Ancient masters would liken this situation to only seeing the finger pointing to the moon instead of seeing the moon.
No matter how plausible certain words may sound, no matter how holy an image may appear, we should not be deluded by them. This is why ancient masters would say that we should kill the Buddha if we encounter him and regard the Buddha’s and patriarchs’ words as an enemy. This implies that we shouldn’t be deluded even by the image of the Buddha and his Dharma talk, let alone the non-Dharma.
Student: “What should we accept if we should discard the Buddha’s Dharma talks?”
Master: “What can be accepted or discarded is not what is truly valuable.”
Student: “What is it that can be neither accepted nor discarded?”
Master: “It is what is left behind when all that can be discarded is discarded.”
A. For a thing to be perfect is one thing, and seeing it as perfect is another. Although God saw it as good and perfect, you cannot see it as such unless you have the same eye to appreciate it as well as God does. You may mistake an angel created by God for the snake, or God may have created the snake as a means to make everything good.
If God created everything out of nothing, all his creations are also nothing in essence whether good or bad, whether an angel, or a snake. What is the difference between good and bad if they are nothing in substance?
One day Master Baizhang, addressing his assembly, said, “Plough the rice field for me, and I’ll instruct you in the fundamental principle of the great matter.” After the monastics had ploughed the rice field for the master, they said, “Now Master, please instruct us in the fundamental principles of the great matter.” The master spread open his arms.
Student: “What did the master mean by spreading open his arms?”
Master: “He paid for the monastics’ labour one more time although he had paid in advance.”
Commentary:
The master slipped the fundamental principle of the great matter into the monastics’ hands, but the monastics, fumbling it when ploughing the rice field, couldn’t recognise it.
Zen Fools 