Chapter 16 Chapter 09 (2) Ji Feng Koan

In the tenth category, the answer is not what the question is asked.Such as: (37) Zen Master Wushi Lingguan—a monk came to worship, and asked: "What is the meaning of coming from the west?" The master said: "Who is the one who is suitable to come and go?" (38) Zen Master Jinlun Keguan——asked: "How to behave from the previous sect?" The master said: "I haven't eaten tea today." (Ibid., Volume 7) (39) Chan Master Xueyue Lingguang—asked: "What is the root of all dharmas?" The master said: "Thank you for the instruction." (Volume 7 of the same book)

(40) Chan Master Qingliang Wenyi——Ask: "What is the Dharma body?" The master said: "This is the response body." Asked: "What is the first righteousness?" The teacher said: "I told you that it is the second righteousness." (Ibid. Volume 10) Deliberately diverging, the intention is obviously the train of thought of the questioner. The eleventh category is bizarre and far-fetched.Such as: (41) Zen Master Longyuntai—the monk asked: "What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?" The master said: "The cow was lost in the pen last night."

(42) Zen master Zhaozhou Congchen asked: "What is the heart of the ancient Buddha?" The master said: "The three women worship in a row." (Ibid.) (43) The Zen master of the Guoqing Academy asked: "Twelve points of teaching are the meaning of stopping crying. If you leave it to stop crying, please ask the master." The master said: "The two-horned girl on the top of the lonely peak." Asked: "What is the general idea of ​​Buddhism?" The teacher said: "Sakyamuni is the bull-headed jailer, and the patriarch is the horse-faced Abang." Asked: "What is the meaning of coming from the west?" The teacher said: "The east wall hits the west wall." (Ibid.)

(44) Zen master Ziguo Daoyin—the monk asked: "What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming to the west?" This kind of nonsense, of course, is intended to break the perception. In addition, when answering scholars' questions, there are some who are not original and repeat old words.Such as: (45) Zen Master Xuefeng Yicun—asked: "Shave your hair and dye your clothes, and receive the shadow of Buddha, why are you not allowed to recognize Buddha?" The master said: "It is better to have nothing than good things." (46) Chan Master Changqing Huiling——Ask: "What about the antelope when it hangs its horns?"

"What is it after all?" The master said: "The donkey matter has not gone, the horse matter has arrived." ("The donkey matter has not gone, the horse matter has arrived" Xue Lingyun Zhiqin) (47) Zen master Baofu Kechou—the monk asked: "What is the monk's family tradition?" The master said: "The clouds are in the blue sky and the water is in the bottle." (48) The only Zen master in Xingjiao—ask: "What is the Tao?" The master said: "Stab the head into the weeds." Said: "How can you be a person in the way?" The master said: "Dry shit peg." )

This is like ordinary people writing poems and allusions, which saves effort and is heavy in quality. The above eleven categories (or add "repetition of old words", twelve categories), in terms of the nature of their functions, are more obvious in terms of breaking attachments than in spreading one's heart. The reasons may be: 1. It is easier to break others' ideas than to spread one's own ideas. Second, the wonderland of Zen may only be explored on the broken road.If this is the case, then most of the income (assumed to be) from Shenhuatou belongs to the promotion.Are there fewer people entering the house?

From the perspective of frequency of use, these eleven categories have a lot of property. For example, the repeated questioning of the eighth category is less used.The second, tenth, and eleventh types are most commonly used.These three categories have a common feature, that is, it is difficult to find a precise meaning literally, that is, far from the conventions of language.Does staying away from language conventions necessarily contain good ideas worthy of reference?People in the Zen forest certainly see it this way.right?Save it for the following; here I only want to examine from the perspective, yes, difficult to understand, unpredictable and profound, it is easy to give people the impression that it contains profound and subtle principles, worthy of repeated reference.Perhaps because of this, the eleventh category, which is bizarre and irrelevant, is more popular in the Zen forest, and more people pass it on, participate in it, and learn it.One of the things that comes with this kind of respect is that people who speak this kind of words appear to be of higher morality.Actually?At least from the perspective of our ordinary people, it is not enough to do it alone, it requires talent, and it can even be said that it depends even more on talent.Take two Zen masters as an example.One is Zen Master Daoyuan of Qingtai. Someone asked him, "What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming to the West?" He replied: "Don't tell you, the cypress tree in front of the court." Can't get it out, so I had to copy what Monk Zhaozhou said.Monk Zhaozhou is not the case. Look at a passage from the original biography in Volume 4 of "Five Lanterns Meeting Yuan":

Ask: "What is Zhaozhou?" The master said: "The east gate is the west gate, the south gate is the north gate." Question: "Does a newborn child still have the six senses?" The master said, "Play ball on the water." ...Ask: "What's the name of the monk?" The master said: "Changzhou." One said: "How many Jiazi?" The master said: "Suzhou." One asked: "How to use your heart at twelve o'clock?" The master said: "You are envoyed at twelve hours, and the old monk is envoyed at twelve o'clock."... The monk asked: "What is the heart of the ancient Buddha?" The master said: "Three women worship in a row." Asked: "How is it not to change righteousness? ?” The teacher said, “A wild sparrow flies from east to west.” Asked: “What happens when a student has doubts?” The teacher said, “What is the big deal?” The teacher said, “Big doubt.” The teacher said:

"Northeast corner of Dayi, behind the Xiaoyi monk hall." Asked: "Does the cypress tree still have Buddha nature?" The teacher said: "Yes." He asked: "When will I become a Buddha?" The teacher said: "When the void falls to the ground." Said: "When will the void fall to the ground?" The master said: "When the cypress tree becomes a Buddha." Although this is almost a joke, it has the absurd momentum of "Zhuangzi·Xiaoyaoyou".But as far as Zen is concerned, such a show of talent will inevitably lead to abuse. This can be borrowed from a sentence to comment, which is "smart words and coquettishness are rare and benevolent."Below Zhao and Song Dynasties, Chan masters of the lowest rank often talked about big and useless things even in class, which is a proof that cannot be ignored.

9.2.2 Rational and irrational In this way, the title can indicate that this is a comment from outside Zen; if it is from inside Zen, it is only reasonable and not unreasonable.The so-called rationality is witty language, no matter how bizarre and incomprehensible it may seem, it always has a meaning, and this meaning can be known, or known through in-depth study, and then has the power to prompt students to understand, even enlightened.Zen classics talk about Jifeng, and almost everywhere promote this kind of rationality.Such as: (1) Zen Master Guangcheng of Datong——Ask: "What is the original person?" The master said:

"Sit together and don't know each other." Said: "Why don't you learn from others and thank you." (Volume 3 of "Five Lanterns Huiyuan") (2) Chan Master Hualin Shanjue—Seng Shen, Fang Zhan sitting, the master said: "Slow down, slow down." Said: "What do you see, monk?" The master said: "It's a pity that Xu broke the bell tower." His monk enlightened him from this. (same as above) (3) Zen master Xiangfu Yunhuo—seeing Qingliang (Zhiming) at night, asked: "What happened before the Buddha was born?" Break down the iron encircling the mountain." The master realized what he said. (Ibid Book 15) (4) Chan Master San San Zong Yin——Going to the hall: "If you talk about this matter, if you blink your eyebrows, you have already passed it." Ma Gu (Baoche) asked: "If you blink your eyebrows and don't ask, how is this?" Master Said: "It's been discussed." Gu Nai overturned the Zen bed. (Ibid Book III) (1) Respect means that you have understood. (2) Further, and thus enlightened. (3) Take a step further and gain great enlightenment. (4) It is to express complete understanding with strange actions.All in all, Jifeng language has definite meaning, and the listener gets the definite meaning, so what is said is reasonable. But when going from inside Zen to outside Zen, according to the conditions of comprehension mentioned above, there will be problems if it is reasonable to speak witty words.There are several reasons for this.First, there are so-called "dead sentences" in Zen, which seem to be clever words and cannot be understood from them.Dead sentences are of course unreasonable, and it seems that they can not be counted as witty words; the problem is how to accurately distinguish live sentences from dead sentences.If you can't, then you have to admit that some of Jifeng's language is unreasonable.Second, Jifeng language must have a definite meaning, but Zen masters answering questions casually and eccentrically, do they all have a definite meaning? (It does not seem to be necessary, and I will talk about it later.) If not, then it must be admitted that some of Jifengyu is unreasonable.Third, take a step back and say that Ji Fengyu has meaning, but the speaker seldom specifies it, and it is up to the listener to guess.However, as mentioned in example (14) in section 9.1.3 above, there can be many explanations for "the east family is a donkey, and the west family is a horse", so it can be inferred that the possibility of guessing correctly is very small.If the guess is wrong, the guessed witty language will actually become unreasonable.Fourth, as it is often mentioned in Zen classics, many scholars "can't" or "do not agree" with many Jifengyu. This means that the speaker and the listener cannot understand; In fact, it becomes unreasonable. There is a more serious problem, which is: Jifengyu should be the flash of Gude's morality and inspiration, but what people can see is only the effect, not the cause, and the appearance of the effect is bizarre, and this, obviously It can also come not from Taoism and inspiration, but from imitation.Based on imitation, it is a counterfeit product, and it cannot have the meaning based on Taoism and inspiration, so it cannot be reasonable.People in the Zen forest would probably say that bringing counterfeit products here is making a lot of trouble out of nothing.In fact, this is not the case, because the actual problem here is, is there any way to distinguish between true and false?For example, when answering "how is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west", the monk Zhaozhou once said "the cypress in front of the court", and the Zen master Heshan in Jizhou once said "the cedar tree". How to distinguish between true and false?Those who know the details will distinguish it like this: "The cypress in front of the court" came from the mouth of a super Zen master (the so-called "Zhaozhou ancient Buddha"), so there should be no problem with its truth; Zen classics, according to cats and tigers, said "pine tree", although the appearance is also strange, but the content is empty, it should be considered false and there is no problem; As for "Shan Shuzi", firstly, it was not from the mouth of a high-ranking Zen master, and secondly, there are clear traces of imitation, so it is difficult to judge whether it is true or false.Besides, there are still people who don't know the details (for example, they don't know why Zhaozhou is like a human being, and they don't know that it came from Zhaozhou), how can they tell the truth from the fake?This problem, at least I feel, becomes more difficult to solve as time goes by.See the example below: (5) Chan Master Shoushan Shengnian——Ask: "What is the mind of an ancient Buddha?" The master said: "Zhenzhou radish weighs three catties." (Ibid. Volume 11) (6) Zen Master Nantaiqin—the monk asked: "What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the West?" The master said: "One inch of turtle hair weighs seven catties." (Ibid., Volume 15) (7) Zen master Yanqing Zirong asked: "What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?" The master said: "The monk with piercing ears does not wear shoes." (8) Zen master Yinjing Yancen - went to the hall, raised the main hall and asked the scholars in the monk's room: "Why did the earthworm turn into a lily?" Water, but I hope that Bingzhou is my hometown." (Ibid. Volume 20) (9) Zen master Xuefeng Huikong——Going to the hall: "Fall down the Yellow Crane Tower with one punch, and overturn the Yingwu Island with one kick. Add spirit when you are motivated, and be romantic when you are not romantic. Handsome and handsome! Happy and happy! Like seventeen or eight The year-old champion is similar. Who cares about you! Who cares about you!The king of the heart does not move rashly, and the six kingdoms are connected at once.Stop picking up the three-foot sword, and stop playing with a bow.Take it easy!merry merry!It's like an old man in his seventies or eighties being a prime minister.With the wind and the rain, the five grains are planted, and the people are safe. " (Ibid Book 18) (10) Zen Master Huanglong Fazhong—Going to the hall: "Mr. Zhang eats wine and Mr. Li is drunk, thinking about it carefully. When Mr. Li wakes up and asks Mr. Zhang, it just makes Mr. Zhang feel unhappy. If you are not angry, it is better to go home and go to sleep ’” (Ibid. Book 30) (5) (6) It is derived from Zhaozhou monk's "Zhenzhou produces a big radish head" and "an old monk made a collar of cloth in Qingzhou, weighing seven catties".Does it have a reasonable meaning even if it is not self-invented? (7) It is a casual talk. (8) It is even more so when using Tang poetry. They all seem to come from the mouth rather than the heart. Is there any reason for this? (9) (10) If it comes from ordinary people, it is nonsense; if it comes from the mouth of a Zen master, can it be changed? Such questions will also make us think more and go further.The Southern School of Zen is particularly willing to take the road of strange police since Mazu (Daoyi) and below.This is manifested in the act of drinking a stick, holding a stick vertically, until drawing a circle, making a woman's obeisance, etc., and expressing that words are more and more incomprehensible tricks.It is difficult to understand, according to the traditional view in the Zen forest, it is because the speaker has a high level of morality, deep meaning, and the opportunity to understand, but the skill of learning people is not enough, looking at the way but not seeing it. Is that true?Because what Ji Feng was referring to was in the middle of nowhere, it had to arouse suspicion.That is to say, in the case of Monk Zhaozhou's "cypress in front of the court", I don't know if there is a definite meaning when he said it, and whether it can be used correctly.If it turns out that even he himself is not very clear, according to the conditions mentioned above, it should be counted as unreasonable.This is going too far, because Monk Zhaozhou is the Dragon Elephant of the Zen Forest, even he is suspicious, and it will cause a big uproar.Then let's take a step back and admit that what the early and famous people say is probably reasonable.Those who are late and less famous, such as those mentioned in example (5) to example (10), are all justified?I'm afraid not at all.That is to say, there are likely to be unreasonable among them, and there are even many unreasonable ones.The difficulty here is that what we see is only hearsay; and when we are suspicious, there is no reliable way to distinguish the true from the false. The above views may be harsh; let’s take it back, it’s still reasonable.Reasonable conditions can be modified, that is, no longer ask whether there is a definite meaning, but only focus on the function.In this way, Jifengyu may show some advantages.One is its abnormality. There may be more attachments that may break the common view, or further, it also implies the state of Zen, because studying Buddhism is to seek out of the world, and it is always abnormal to go out of the world.The second is its extraordinary alertness, which will encourage and even express the free and unobstructed atmosphere of Zen, which will become a force to promote enlightenment.The third is its refinement. In addition to the second type of function just mentioned, it can also be narrowed to the scope of language, which opens up a new path, that is: from the perspective of usability, crooked hitting can be used straight; From the perspective of usage, it can be expressive.The people outside the Zen forest talked about pen and writing, and they got a lot of tricks from this, and I will talk about it later when I talk about the influence. 9.3 Significance of Multiple Actions The Southern School of Zen seeks liberation and understands life and death. The practice method emphasizes pointing directly at the heart, without writing.This spirit forces Zen masters to speak less positively and plainly. But because I have to give and receive, I finally have to express something.Between the dilemma, two types of methods were squeezed out: one type still uses language, but does not use common words, and becomes a sharp edge; the other type does not even use language at all, but uses actions (including drinking and silence).This includes: sticking (beating), drinking, sticking a stick, vertical whisk, snapping fingers, sticking out tongue, spreading hands, hanging feet, changing positions, turning around the bed three times, rolling the ball, pushing the seat, lifting the meditation bed, and being a woman Obeisance, long time (silence for a moment), draw (various) round faces, and so on.What is the moral of all this?Often more difficult to solve than Jifeng.See the example below: (1) Zen master Xuefeng Yicun—there are monks worshiping, and the master beats five sticks.The monk said: "Where did it go?" The teacher hit five more sticks. (Volume 7 of "Five Lantern Festival") (2) Chan Master Sansheng Huiran—(teacher) asked the monk: "How close is it?" The monk drank it, and the master drank it too.The monk drank again, and the teacher drank again. (Ibid Book 11) (3) Chan Master Yaoshan Weiyan——The master asked the monk, "Where did you come?" He said, "Jiangxi." The master knocked on the Zen bed three times with his stick.The monk said: "A certain Jia knows where to go." The master threw down his stick.The monk was speechless. (Ibid Book Five) (4) Chan Master Wuguan Shunzhi—the monk asked: "What is the meaning of coming from the West?" The master raised his whisk.The monk said, "Is this the one?" The master put down the whisk. (Ibid Book 9) (5) Zen Master Zhang Jing Huaihui—A monk came, walked around the teacher three times, and stood up with the tin. , Quan said: "No, no. This is turned by the wind, and it will eventually fail." (Ibid. Volume 3) (6) Yang Qifang met Zen master Ciming (Shishuang Chuyuan) and set up a fast on the anniversary of his death. All talents gathered. In front of Zhen (portrait), the master put his fists on his head, drew a picture with a sitting utensil, made a circle, and then burned incense.Take three steps back and worship as a woman. (Ibid. Volume 19) (7) Zen Master Wudeng in Ezhou——One day, he paid a visit to the regular attendant of King Mu of the state, dismissed him, and was about to go out.The teacher makes a round shape with his hands, and he moves it three times, and it will work. (Ibid Book III) (8) Zen Master Fayan, the fifth patriarch, went to the hall: "The first thing about a person's life and fate must be ○. If you want to achieve this ○, you must first guard against ○. If you are a real ○ person, ○○." (Ibid. Volume 19 ) From (1) to (8) above, including beating with a stick, drinking, sticking a stick, erecting a whisk, circumambulating three times, making a woman's prostration, and drawing a circle. Being able to be irresistible to one's heart, most of us would find it difficult to even guess. The idea that a certain action always means the same thing.That is to say, it is the dumb language of Zen, which can be understood and used after entering the door.But this is not the case, for two reasons.First, take the vertical whisk as an example. For example, Zen Master Dongshan Liangjia visited Zen Master Weishan Lingyou. Dongshan asked for instructions. Weishan raised his whisk and asked, "Will you?" Dongshan replied: "No, please tell the monk." (Volume 13 of "Five Lanterns Meeting Yuan") This means that vertical blowing does not have the meaning of passing.As in the example (4) above, the monk asked Wuguan Shunzhi, "What is the meaning of coming from the west?" Wuguan raised his whisk, and the monk said, "Is this the one?" Regarding the intention of raising and lowering the whisk, Shun Weina replied: "See you before you brush, and see you after you brush."In addition, there are those who do not pay attention to vertical brushing. For example, Zen Master Deshan Yuanmi once said: "Raising eyebrows and blinking eyes, raising fingers and vertically brushing are dead sentences." (Ibid.) Second, according to the spirit of Southern Zen, a kind of expression ( words or actions), its meaning should never be obvious and definite. Another way of thinking, a certain kind of movement roughly means a certain kind of meaning close to the routine, such as sticking a drink means refuting, which is intended to break the attachment, holding a stick and vertically brushing means that the road is not far away, that is, the circle It means perfection, that is, perfection, and so on.But this understanding is also problematic.As far as sticks are concerned, firstly, beating is not necessarily a refutation. For example, Chan Master Deshan Xuanjian, who is famous for his sticks, once, Zen Master Xuefeng Yicun asked Nanquan (Puyuan) about the intention of beheading cats. ", and asked: "Will it be possible?" Xuefeng said no.Deshan said: "How can I be a wife?" (Ibid., Volume 7) My wife's heart seems to be a positive teaching, not a refutation.Second, in the minds of some Zen masters, simple actions such as sticking and drinking have supernatural meanings.Taking drinking as an example, Zen Master Linji Yixuan said: "Sometimes drinking is like King Kong King's sword; ) Zen master Jingyin Jicheng said: "You must know that my drink is not for the purpose of drinking. If there is no difference, the feeling and understanding will be forgotten. When the Tao exists, the dust does not stand; Trillions of drinks, hundreds of thousands of billions of drinks can enter this one drink, so they can enter the Perfect Teaching." (Ibid. Volume 12) Drinks are so complicated, and others can be analogized. They should be meaningful and not easy to guess. Only a very small number are easy to guess, or even guessed accurately.Such as: (9) Zen master Xita Guangmu——asked: "How is a sudden?"Said: "How is gradual?" The teacher made three strokes in the air with his hands. (Ibid Book 9) Presuming the round shape means one round of consummation, and dialing it three times means that it will be completed in stages, which is probably good. In short, these kinds of actions are more difficult to understand than verbal maneuvers, so in the teaching and receiving between master and apprentice, I am afraid that they have more role in creating an atmosphere of extraordinary emotions, and less in the role of specific guidance.From the perspective of effect, this may also be regarded as a wrong path; especially in the later period, some so-called Zen masters who are not high in morality also learned to use this method. 9.4 Limits of Effect First of all, it is an exaggeration to say something discouraging. It has been said in the past that one can attain enlightenment by studying Zen and vigorously studying Huatou Koan.As the Zen forest often says, the "nothingness" of "a dog has no Buddha nature" can be understood gradually when it is gradually deepened. I always feel that it has a sense of propaganda.The past cannot be pursued, we might as well try it now, just thinking about "nothing" over and over again, will the knowledge and lust of the world be wiped out?too difficult!This situation can also be considered from several other aspects.First, let’s assume that some or many of the Zen masters in the Zen classics have enlightened, that is, they have broken free from the shackles of the world and wandered in the free and unimpeded Zen state beyond the world. Then we can investigate, this high How did the achievement come about.Obviously, we must first start with "teaching" (Buddhist principles); otherwise, if we don't even know what is going on in the world, how can we talk about enlightenment?In this way, compared with Buddhism, Jifeng Koan is at best an auxiliary force, and it is inconsistent with reality to regard it as the main force.Second, with the knowledge of Buddhism and the feeling of seeking liberation, some accidental opportunities, such as seeing peach blossoms, listening to donkeys braying, and falling while walking, as recorded in Zen classics, can also achieve enlightenment. There may be no small chance to realize enlightenment by sharpening the case (assuming it is passed down in the Zen Forest).If this is the case, then Jifeng Koan is just an inducement, and it is an exaggeration to say that it has decisive power.Third, there may also be cases of erroneous circumstances.Taking the word "nothing" in "a dog has no Buddha-nature" as an example, when Monk Zhaozhou said it, he may have meant something, which we say is X1.This X1 is hidden, and it is up to scholars to guess.Guessing, one has to move among many possible referents.There are many kinds, how much?Theoretically, it is almost unlimited, and in practice, there are always no less than dozens.Loss and loss, assuming there are ten types, then in addition to X1, there are also X2 to X10.Guess, the chance of getting it right is one in ten, and the chance of getting it wrong is nine out of ten.If you realize enlightenment just at the time of participation, people in the Zen forest will think that this is the right opportunity.We outsiders of Zen may not see it this way, because there are very few chances that what people guessed happens to be X1.The speaker’s reference is X1, and the scholar’s ​​conjecture is (for example) X6, but I have also realized it. Isn’t this a coincidence?If this is the case, it proves that Jifeng Koan, even if it has the power to promote enlightenment, is still not certain. From the above analysis, it can be seen that the practical value of the Jifeng Koan, which is regarded as a treasure in Southern Zen, may not be as much as the amount of investment; especially those that are bizarre and difficult to understand the meaning are far from Buddhism, and it is difficult to prevent counterfeiting. From the perspective of some people, it may not be too much to say that you have gone astray and never returned?