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Presentation,
Explanation
and Commentary on
Pai Chang’s Sitting Alone on Ta Hsiung Mountain
Case No. Twenty-six of The Blue Cliff Record
by MING QI,
Buddhist Nun and Zen Master
of the
Lin-Chi (Jap.: Renzai) School
What
is The Blue Cliff Record?
It is an English translation
of the most famous Chinese Ch’an (Jap.: Zen) Buddhist classic Pi Yen
Lu.
This compilation of 100 cases by Chinese Zen Master Hsueh Tou
takes its name from the place of its origin in the north of Hunan
province.
These cases record the question of a disciple and his Master’s
response. The response is a Koan (Chinese: Kung-an).
The title of this famous collection is usually translated into
French as the Recueil de la Falaise Verte. This variation from the
English translation (they are both “correct”) is due to the
ambiguity of the character
(Pi) which, according to the authoritative Ricci’s Dictionnaire
Français de la Langue Chinoise, is: 1. Une pierre vert-bleu ressemblant
au jade; néphrite; jaspe. 2. Bleu-vert; vert jade; bleu de jade; azur.
What
is a Koan?
A Koan (classical definition): originally referred to a document
relating to an official transaction, e.g. an agenda to be brought before
a meeting. Zen Masters adopted this term to mean something to be thought
over.
A Koan (my definition): an enigmatic
response to a disciple by a Master. It is designed to put an end
to the disciple’s reliance on reasoning as a means toward
enlightenment, by blocking further evolution of the dialogue. Turn it
any which way such responses offer no opening for the reasoning mind.
A Koan may also be a question put by a Master to his disciple,
such as: “What is the sound of one hand?” (I have sometimes used:
“Who is the one who asks: ‘Who is the one who asks’?”) These
questions have no answer, let alone a “right” answer; and are also
intended to serve as a barrier to further reasoning. If successful they
force the disciple to switch to direct experience with reality; his
Master may assist this evolution by hitting him or shouting at him. The
disciple is urged to find a “solution” sometimes for years!
Another famous example is: (in response to the question: “Why
did Bodhidharma come from the Occident?”): “The oaktree in the
garden!”. These tactics admit no response in the usual sense. Each
time the disciple offers a reasoned “answer” he will be chased away
by blows or shouts. He can reason about a Koan as long as he wishes, he
will be baffled. Only when his reaction is immediate and relevant to the
actual situation will it be admitted. Thus by frustrating and exhausting
his reasoning process the disciple is precipitated toward an
enlightenment experience.
The
illustration is the first of the Ten Ox-herding Pictures. The waterfall
suggests a cliff and dense blue-green vegetation.
Twenty-sixth
Case
Pai
Chang’s Sitting Alone on Ta Hsiung Mountain
A
monk asked Pai Chang,1 “What’s the extraordinary affair?”2
Chang said, “Sitting alone on Ta Hsiung Mountain.”3
The monk bowed4; Chang thereupon hit him.5
Notes
1. Pai Chang is Huai Hai (also written Hwei-hai) (Jap.: Hyakujyo
Nehan) (720-814). Founder of the first Zen monastery and their
regulations. He originated “No work, No food”. All present day Zen
monasteries follow his rules.
2. The extraordinary affair is the “grand study” (
), today it designates a university, but in traditional China it
meant: the “Way” or “Tao” in Taoism, or the way toward
enlightenment, in Buddhism. It is in this latter sense that it is used
here. The monk is asking to be introduced into the “Tao” of
Buddhism.
3. This mountain [pin-yin: Da xiang (
?)] is in fact the Bai-zhang feng, where Pai Chang lived near
Lin-an in Zhejiang province in Eastern China, south of Shanghai.
4. The monk was not a novice, he was accomplished enough to
accept the response as though it were an answer, even though he lacked a
profound understanding.
5. Nevertheless he was before a great Master who didn’t let him
get away so cheaply!
Summary
of Ancient Commentaries
Pai Chang had a fearsome reputation, he was a “tiger”, but
the monk was brave enough to grab him by his “whiskers”.
Pai
Chang’s response met the challenge, but the monk’s bow showed he was
not put off, and was holding tight (to Pai Chang’s “whiskers”).
There was but one way to make him let go and the Master seized it!
They “let go” together by
wiping away the traces. Was the monk bow good? Then why was he hit? If
bad, how so?
To answer you must distinguish
who is an insider.
Pai Chang demonstrated his
great accomplishment, a lesser wouldn’t be able to handle the monk.
Another Master, Nan Ch’uan,
said that in a dream he had given two bodhisatvas twenty blows. Chao
Chou* (778-897), then a disciple, asked him who should be punished for
the sacrilege in place of the Master. He replied: “Where was my
fault?”, to which Chao Chou bowed.
Great Masters do not imitate
others, they take charge.
It’s like hand to hand
combat, all is secondary to body contact. The situation dictates the act
which expresses mastery of the situation.
A verse chants Pai Chang’s
rarity, how he changes with the circumstances, when his whiskers are
pulled he neither attacks nor defends. See how free he is.
All Masters act from the same
understanding, but their actions are all different because they
correspond to ever-changing circumstances.
* One of the greatest Zen Masters. He achieved enlightenment when
Nan Ch’uan told him: “The Way is not in the realm of knowing or not
knowing . . .” He traveled very widely during
his 120 years, and visited more than 80 of Ma Tsu’s successors. Later
Chao Chou succeeded Nan Ch’uan as Abbot of my monastery. His sayings
are collected in the Ku Tsiun Yu Lu.
The Contemporary Commentaries
of MING QI
“What’s the extraordinary affair?” This monk is like a baby
fish asking its mother: “I hear everyone talking about the ocean, but
what is the ocean?” Pai Chang was very grandmotherly not to give him
twenty whacks immediately!
Of course the “extraordinary
affair” is the “Tao” (
), the Way
toward enlightenment. But to say this is to state the obvious; the real
question is how enter into and practice it! So Pai Chang’s response is
“. . . a direct pointing to reality outside the scriptures . . .”,
the definition of Zen!
The monk understood and was
right to bow; but Pai Chang was also right to hit him! Why? Because,
while he understood the response, he did not yet understand the
“extraordinary affair”!
Ming Qi
(Lily-Marie Johnson)
Geneva,
Switzerland 25
· 4 · 2544
The
last of the Ten Ox-herding Pictures, which shows the end of the search.
The
author gratefully acknowledges the aid of several professors in the
Chinese and Japanese Departments of Geneva University.
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