A. Being the Buddha is quite different from living as the Buddha. If someone, for example, whose father left enormous inheritance for him is living poorly from hand to mouth without being aware that he is extremely rich, is he rich, or poor?
We are like a rich man who is not aware that he is rich. So, sentient beings are referred to as Buddhas who are not aware that they are Buddhas. The purpose of Buddhism is to get sentient beings to realise that they are Buddhas.
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.
A. It is not because it doesn’t appear before us but because you can’t recognise it that you can’t see it. It always reveals itself before you even at this moment when you read this writing, not to mention when you attend retreats. You can’t see it because it is covered with a multitude of various shapes of things and can’t hear it because it is covered with countless fancy and plausible words.
What you have to keep in mind is that when you read Buddhist literature such as the sutras and records of ancient masters, or listen to Dharma talks, you should read and listen beyond words. In Buddhism a Dharma talk refers not to remarks or texts but to a gate. Even if you are content with intellectual understanding of each word you read and listen to, you have failed to understand what you read or listened to if you have not attained enlightenment, that is, you have not passed the gate. This is why some ancient masters would say that all the sutras are only Mara’s talks if we are deluded by words without grasping the core.
When a monk was making a farewell speech, master Daeja said, “Where are you going?” The monk said, “I am going to Gang-seo.” The master asked, “Can you take me?” The monk answered, “I cannot take even one who is superior to you, not to mention you.”
Student: “Why can’t the monk take the master?”
Master: “Because he degrades the master to a sentient being if he takes him.”
When another monk was making a farewell speech the next day, master Daeja said, “Where are you going?” The monk said, “I am going to Gang-seo.” The master asked, “Can you take me?” The monk answered, “Of course, I can take even one who is inferior to you as well as you.” The master said, “I am so old now that I cannot walk such a long way. How are you going to take me when you don’t have money to hire a horse and cart?” The monk answered, “Don’t be worried. I will take you in comfort.”
Student: “The master is too old to walk such a long way. You said that the former monk wouldn’t take him lest he should degrade him. How can the monk take the old master such a long way in comfort without degrading him to a sentient being?”
Master: “His going is the master’s going.”
Commentary:
The Buddha is always with you although he never moves at all.
On the way to see Horin Rinzai met an old woman, who asked him, “Where are you going?” “To Horin,” replied Rinzai. The old woman informed him, “Horin is away just now, so you cannot visit him.” “Where did he go?”, asked Rinzai. But the old woman was already walking off. Rinzai called after her and, when she turned around, he hit her.
Commentary:
We should be aware that the old woman was testing Rinzai to see whether he had the wisdom to discern the true-Self that is the essence of Horin without being deluded by the words ‘Horin is away just now, so you cannot visit him’. When Rinzai asked her where he had gone, she showed the true-Self by walking off. Grasping the woman’s meaning, Rinzai called after her and hit her when she returned as a token of appreciating her intention.
Student: “Was Horin in the temple, or was he actually away as the woman said?”
Master: “Why do you dismiss the woman’s kindness?”
A. It is because each sentient being has his or her own different perspective according to his or her karma; how highly educated he is, where he has lived, how rich he is, and so on. Let’s suppose there is a hamburger in front of five people as of 6pm. It will look more delicious and more attractive to one who ate neither breakfast nor lunch than to one who ate both. It may be a nice food to someone, but can be junk food to someone else at the same time. In fact, the hamburger never says, “I am delicious and attractive” nor does it have a prejudice in favour of hungry people, or against the full.
In the same way, when the Buddha reveals itself before us, it actually appears as one and the same to everyone, but looks different due to our perspectives created by karma. This is why ancient masters would say to their disciples, “Even if it appears ghost-faced and god-headed before you, never say that you don’t know it.”
When a monk was making a farewell speech, master Daeja said, “Where are you going?” The monk said, “I am going to Gang-seo.” The master asked, “Can you take me?” The monk answered, “I cannot take even one who is superior to you, not to mention you.”
Student: “Why can’t the monk take the master?”
Master: “Because he degrades the master to a sentient being if he takes him.”
Rinzai came to Myoge, who asked him, “Why all this coming and going?” Rinzai said, “Vainly wearing out the straw sandals.” Myoge said, “And in the end then what?” Rinzai retorted, “This old fellow does not even know what we are talking about.”
Commentary:
Although Myoge’s ‘Why all this coming and going?’, may appear to mean ‘What is the use of coming and going without practising steadily in one place?’, it actually implies ‘Do you know the true-Self that is leading your body to come and go?’. Sensing Myoge’s intention, Rinzai responded wisely by revealing the true-Self through saying ‘Vainly wearing out the straw sandals’. Myoge tested him one more time by saying ‘And in the end then what?’. Rinzai lost no time in retorting by saying ‘This old fellow does not even know what we are talking about’ which means ‘Why don’t you recognise the true-Self we are showing to each other now?’.
Student: “What were they talking about?”
Master: “They were talking about what can’t be said with words.”
A. It is true it appears that the richer we are the more innocent we are, and the poorer we are the guiltier we are. However, we should remember that what we do and say is carved unseen in the universe, the true-Self. What we have done will not be lost to eternity. Everything that we do has its own time to manifest its result, just as each plant has its own different rate of growth.
In other words, no one and nothing is beyond causation because not only the fortune they are enjoying now but also the suffering we are troubled by are the result of causation. Everything ripens at its time and becomes fruit at its appropriate hour. A Chinese proverb says that although the heavenly net is so sparse that it is unseen, nothing can escape it.
Zen Fools 