Gateless Gate 23

17
Gateless Gate (Mumonkan, Wumenguan) #23
Think Neither Good Nor Evil

Personnel

• Dajian HUINENG "Caoxi" (Daikan Eno, 638-713, 6th gen), disciple of Daman Hongren
• Monk Ming
Possible Date: 663

Case

The sixth Ancestor [Huineng] was once pursued by the monk Ming as far as Mt. Dayu. The Ancestor, seeing Ming coming, laid the robe and bowl on a rock and said, “This robe represents the faith. How can it be competed for by force? I will allow you to take it away.”
Ming tried to lift it up, but it was as immovable as a mountain.
Ming was terrified and trembled with awe. He said, “I came for the Dharma, not the robe. I beg you, lay brother, please reveal it to me.”
The Ancestor said, “Not thinking good or evil: at that very moment, what is the primal face of Monk Ming?”
In that instant, Ming suddenly attained deep realization, and his whole body was covered with sweat. In tears, he bowed and said, “Besides the secret [or: "intimate"] words and secret meaning you have just revealed to me, is there anything else deeper yet?”
The Ancestor said, “What I have preached to you is no secret at all. If you reflect on your own true face, the secret will be found with yourself.”
Ming said, “Though I have been at Huangmei with the other monks, I have never realized what my true self is. Now, thanks to your instruction, I know it is like a man who drinks water and knows for himself whether it is cold or warm. Now you, lay brother, are my master.”
The Ancestor said, “If that is the way you feel, let us both have Huangmei for our master. Be mindful and hold fast to what you have realized.”

Wumen's Comment

It should be said of the sixth Ancestor that his action sprang from urgent circumstances. His kindness is like that of a grandmother who peels a fresh litchi, removes the seed, and puts it into your mouth so that all you have to do is swallow it.

Wumen's Verse

It can't be described! It can't be pictured!
It can't be sufficiently praised! Stop trying to grasp it with your head!
The primal face -- there is nowhere to hide it;
Even when the world is destroyed, it is indestructible.

Version in The Platform Sutra (trans. Red Pine)

Less than two months later [after departing from Hongren], I [Huineng] reached Tayu Ridge. Unknown to me, several hundred people had been chasing me, hoping to catch me and take away the Patriarch’s robe. But they had all given up halfway, all except one monk, whose surname was Ch’en and whose Buddhist name was Hui-shun. He had previously been a general of the third grade, and he was a rough character. He caught up with me at the ridge, and I offered him the Patriarch’s robe, but he wouldn’t take it. He said, "I’ve come all this way for the Dharma. I don’t want the robe." So I transmitted the Dharma to Hui-shun there at the ridge. He was ready to hear, and as soon as I spoke, his mind opened up. Then I told him to go back north and teach others.

Aitken's Comment

Rather than setting up "good and evil" in the mind, set up right views -- the first step of the Eightfold Path. These are the views that are in keeping with the interdependence of things and their essential emptiness. "Don't think good; don't think evil" means really, "Find the silent place of essential harmony in you mind, and be ready for what might come."

Fenyang's Verse (Cleary)

Few people believe in the Buddha in their own mind;
Unwilling to take responsibility for it, they suffer a lot of cramps.
Arbitrary ideas, greed and anger, the wrappings of afflictions,
All are conditioned on attachment to the cave of ignorance.

Cleary's Comment

What is essential is the heart of the teaching, not its outer dressing. If the formalities of Buddhism had become objects of ambition and contention, the Sixth Patriarch was certainly will- ing to give them up in order to preserve the living heart, more than willing, he was obliged. As it turned out, Ming could not even lift the robe. The living meaning of Buddhism cannot be understood on demand, or by insisting on picking it up by preconceived ideas. Even the formalities of Buddhist practices cannot be wielded with genuine effect by those who are really just ambitious self-seekers underneath it all. Suddenly Ming had a change of heart. He realized that what he really needed was truth, not the mere name or claim of truth. This is also a representation of the universality of Buddha-nature in all conscious beings. Even an egotistic, compulsive, and tyrannical mentality has an opportunity to change its orientation and act through original Buddha-nature rather than through the personality of conditioned mental habits.
"Thinking good and evil" means continuously thinking about one thing or another, and then reacting to your own thoughts emotionally and intellectually, learning to represent artificial conceptions and opinions to yourself as objective truths. In order to introspect in the Zen sense, this process of "thinking good and evil," and its preoccupation with mental contents, are suspended for the sake of clarity of vision into the impersonal essence of mind underlying all consciousness.

Guo Gu's Comment

“This robe symbolizes entrustment (of the dharma)." The words “entrustment [of the dharma]” pierced right through Huiming’s heart. Entrustment in Chinese is sometimes translated as “conviction.” Here it does not mean faith of belief; it means the seal of approval, like a stamp. The impression made from a stamp has the same image as on the stamp itself. So entrustment really means “oneness” or “identity.” Identity of what? Hongren’s mind and Huineng’s mind were identical; their minds were one in accordance with the workings of buddha-nature — awakening.
"What is your original face?" Huineng, here, is asking Huiming to put down everything he has known about himself and see what is there. What is the freedom that is not bound by good and bad, like and dislike, birth and death? Had he stopped at merely “don’t think of good or bad,” it would not be Chan or buddhadharma. It would simply be stupidity. If this “not thinking of good and bad” were all there was to gaining enlightenment, then it would be very easy: all you’d need is to get yourself hit over the head with a hammer, go into a coma, and there, you’d be enlightened! Huineng was actually asking, what is it, right here and now, that is already free from this duality, this separation?

Low's Comment

When I first heard this koan I was filled with dismay. My vision of a monastery at the time was an idealistic one in which I imagined all the monks selflessly devoting themselves to spiritual practice, having none of the baser emotions of greed, jealousy, anger, and lust that flourished lavishly in my own psychological back yard. The idea that a monk would chase another monk for what must have been miles because of envy disguised as altruism I found extremely hard to accept.
But as my own Zen training progressed, I discovered that far from resolving the emotion of envy, spiritual practice can sometimes inflame it. Ramana Maharshi tells of the hermit who was so jealous of Maharshi's spirituality that he rolled a huge rock down on him hoping to kill him. Devadatta, Buddha's cousin, made three attempts to kill Buddha. The third patriarch [Sengcan, d. 606] was killed by an enraged Daoist. For the West the prime example of spiritual envy and havoc it can wreak is the story of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas.
Envy is a mixture of I must have and I can't have. Hidden inside us all is the need to be unique, to be the only one. This paradoxically arises because we are the only one. Buddha said when he came to awakening: "Throughout heaven and earth I alone am the honored one. He spoke for all of us. Each of us is Buddha; each of us is the honored one. Our problem is that we feel others must know about our uniqueness too. A great part of our effort in life is directed toward seducing others, cajoling them, forcing them, persuading them to accept this. But it has the effect of tearing us apart because the very presence of others proves our claim is mistaken. The more we try, the more glaring the mistake becomes.
Many people take up Zen in the hope that at last they will have found the way by which they can discover to their own and others' satisfaction that they are special. The dream of the misunderstood child who becomes a princess overnight, a Cinderella, or a hero, seems at last capable of being fulfilled. On this side of the gateless gate one can only dream and imagine what it must be like to penetrate, to know one's own true nature. When others break through it is in a way a fundamental betrayal. Not only has someone else won the prize, but the prize has lost its earlier value of being able to confer uniqueness upon me. I am doubly denied. The pain from tis can be excruciating. It was the pain that drove Ming to run after Huineng.
Driven by pain channeled into loyalty and idealism Ming was determined to show the thief what was right, and so enable good to triumph over evil, right to vanquish wrong.

Sekida's Comment

Beginning with Huineng, Zen developed in a new way. He is one of the three great figures in Zen history, the other two being the Buddha and Bodhidharma. Huineng's father, a government official, died when Huineng was three years old, and Huineng was brought up by his mother. As he grew up, the family became more and more poverty-stricken, and he supported his mother by gathering and selling firewood.
One day he delivered a load of wood to a customer's house and happened to overhear a man reciting a sutra. When the man came to the passage, "Without abiding anywhere, let the mind work," Huineng was suddenly illuminated. The man told Huineng he was reciting the Diamond Sutra, given him by the Fifth Patriarch, Hongren [602-675]. Huineng wanted to visit the Fifth Patriarch. He made the long journey from southern China to the northern provinces.
After staying with the Fifth Patriarch for eight months, the famous midnight transmission of the Dharma Seal was performed by the patriarch. Before dawn, the Fifth Patriarch conducted Huineng to the nearest ferry, where they parted, and Huineng went southward. As soon as it was known that the Dharma Seal, the robe, and the bowl had been carried off by a layman whom they had not much respected, there was a great commotion among the monks, and a band of several hundred, led by one named Ming, set out after Huineng. During the two-month pursuit many of the monks dropped out of the chase, and in the end it was Ming alone who succeeded in overtaking Huineng at a pass on Taiyu Mountain.
The Elder Monk Ming. As a layman he had been a general of the fourth rank. In manner he was rough and outspoken. In his practice of Zen and in other ways, however, he seems to have been assiduous.
Ming tried to move it. To Ming, the robe and bowl were the most holy things -- the Dharma itself. He knew that an unenlightened man should not touch them. He held out his hands but trembled and faltered, and could not even touch the robe.
As heavy as a mountain. Mentally, Ming found the robe as heavy as a mountain. Even granted that he could touch the robe, he could not raise it. He knew clearly the difference between himself and Huineng. Overwhelmed by the tremendous solemnity of this fact, he broke down and asked for help, calling Huineng his teacher. Truly, he had found a patriarch in Huineng. As he had thrown away all his ego's stubborn way of thinking, Ming was able to enter true samadhi. He was humble. His mind was empty. Then came the Sixth Patriarch's words:
"Think neither good nor evil. At this very moment, what is the original self of the monk Ming?" Ming's mind had already been emptied. There was no thinking of good or evil; no Ming, no others. With the Sixth Patriarch's words, Ming's emptied mind resounded as an empty cave resounds to a shot. Now realization had to occur, because the original self is nothing but the emptied mind. And that emptied mind was mobilized and made to rush to the threshold of consciousness, to be recognized by consciousness itself.

Senzaki's Comment

The kernel of this koan is, "What is your true self?" The title of this koan, "Think neither good, nor not-good," is showing you the way to meet your true self. The whole story tells you how the mind of Ming was cornered by the situation. He could do nothing else but turn inward and face his own buddha-nature squarely.

Shibayama's Comment

Although the Buddhism that emphasized religious experience flourished after the time of Bodhidharma, it still retained a strong Indian influence in its teachings. It was Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch, who almost completely wiped away the remaining Indian characteristics and laid the foundation for the new Buddhism in China called Zen.
When all the dualistic oppositions such as good and evil, right and wrong, love and hatred, gain and loss, and the like are completely transcended, and when one lives in the realm of the Absolute, where even a thought of consciousness does not work, where is Huineng? Where is Monk Ming?What there is, is "the Reality of body and mind have dropped away." This is the moment when one's searching has been forever set at rest. At such a time, the Reality fo the True Self is vividly and thoroughly revealed. At this extreme moment, Monk Myo could fortunately be awakened to his True Self. He could at last have fundamental peace and freedom.

Yamada's Comment

"What I have preached to you is no secret at all. If you reflect on your own true face [your true self, your essential nature], the secret will be found within yourself." This means: Reflect upon your own self nature. There you will find the true secret, the true intimacy, the self-evidence of the inner self. It is being cold, being hot, being glad, being sad, being sorry, being hungry, being sleepy, getting up, walking, laughing, eating, drinking, etc. It is nothing but the activity of your true self.
"Keep hold of what you have realized and nourish it well." This last part of the instruction is most important. After having attained enlightenment, we must cherish the Dharma and do our best to bring the sacred infant to maturity. This is the highest duty of a Zen student. And the way to do this is shikantaza, just sitting.

Hotetsu's Verse

Ming's primal face, without thinking good or evil, was thinking good and evil.
Maybe he knew. If so, what then? Softening? Hardening?
Freedom.
To become dry, dive into the lake.
Steadfast attention to the grip
Is the only release.

Illustration by Mark Morse, http://www.thegatelessgate.com/

Appendix: Alternate Translations

Case

The sixth Ancestor [Huineng] was once pursued by the monk Ming as far as Mt. Dayu. The Ancestor, seeing Ming coming, laid the robe and bowl on a rock and said, “This robe represents the faith. How can it be competed for by force? I will allow you to take it away.” Ming tried to lift it up, but it was as immovable as a mountain. Ming was terrified and trembled with awe. He said, “I came for the Dharma, not the robe. I beg you, lay brother, please reveal it to me.” The Ancestor said, “Not thinking good or evil: at that very moment, what is the primal face of Monk Ming?” In that instant, Ming suddenly attained deep realization, and his whole body was covered with sweat. In tears, he bowed and said, “Besides the secret [or: "intimate"] words and secret meaning you have just revealed to me, is there anything else deeper yet?” The Ancestor said, “What I have preached to you is no secret at all. If you reflect on your own true face, the secret will be found with yourself.” Ming said, “Though I have been at Huangmei with the other monks, I have never realized what my true self is. Now, thanks to your instruction, I know it is like a man who drinks water and knows for himself whether it is cold or warm. Now you, lay brother, are my master.” The Ancestor said, “If that is the way you feel, let us both have Huangmei for our master. Be mindful and hold fast to what you have realized.”

Aitken: The Sixth Ancestor was pusured by Ming the head monk as far as Ta-yu Peak. The teacher, seeing Ming coming, laid down the robe and bowl on a rock and said, "This robe represents the Dharma. There should be no fighting over it. You may take it back with you." Ming tried to lift it up, but it was as immovable as a mountain. Shivering and trembling, he said, "I came for the Dharma, not for the robe. I beg you, lay brother, please open the Way for me." The teacher said, "Don't think good; don't think evil. At this very moment what is the original face of Ming the head monk?" In that instant Ming had great satori. Sweat ran from his entire body. In tears he made his bows saying, "Beside these secret words and secret meanings, is there anything of further significance?" The teacher said, "What I have just conveyed to you is not secret. If you reflect on your own face, whatever is secret will be right there with you." Ming said, "Though I practiced at Huang-mei with the assembly, I could not truly realize my original face. Now, thanks to your pointed instruction, I am like someone who drinks water and knows personally whether it is cold or warm. Lay brother, you are now my teacher." The teacher said, "If you can say that, then let us both call Huang-mei our teacher. Maintain your realization carefully."

Cleary: The Sixth Patriarch of Zen was pursued by Elder Ming all the way to a mountain ridge. When the Patriarch saw Ming coming, he cast the robe and bowl (of the patriarchate) onto a rock and said, "This robe symbolizes faith; could it be right to fight over it? You can take it away." Ming tried to pick it up, but it was immovable as a mountain. Vacillating, in fear, Ming said, "I have come for the Teaching, not the robe. Please instruct me." The Patriarch said, "Not thinking good, not thinking evil, right at this very moment, what is your original face?" Ming immediately attained great enlightenment. His whole body ran with sweat. In tears, he bowed and asked, "Is there any meaning beyond the esoteric intent of the esoteric words you have just spoken?" The Patriarch said, "What I have just told you is not esoteric. If you turn your attention around to your own state, the secret is after all in you." Ming said, "Though I went along with the assembly at Huangmei, in reality I had not seen into my own state. Now that you have pointed out a way of entry, I am like a person who drinks water and knows for himself whether it is warm or cool. Now you are my teacher." The Patriarch said, "If you are thus, then you and I alike are students of the Fifth Patriarch. Keep it well on your own."

Guo Gu: The Sixth Ancestral Master was chased by Ming all the way to Mount Dayu. The ancestor saw Ming coming, so he placed the robe and bowl down on a roack and said, "This robe symbolizes entrustment (of the dharma). How can it be taken by force? Take it if you want it." Ming tried to pick it up, but it was as immovable as a mountain. Ming hesitated and became frightened. He retorted, "I came for the dharma -- not the robe. Please teach me, postulant." The ancestor said, "Not thinking of good, not thinking of bad, at just this moment, what is your original face?" At this, Ming was greatly awakened. His whole body was dripping with sweat; in tears, he bowed in reverence and asked, "Is there any other significance beyond this secret teaching and meaning?" The ancestor said, "What I have just told you is not a secret. If you turn the light around and illuminate your own (original) face, what is secret is right there." Ming said, "Though I followed along in the congregation at Huangmei, I've never had insight into myself. Today I received your instructions and had an opening, like aperson drinking water who knows for himself whether it is cold or warm. I shall regard you as my teacher, postulant." The Sixth Ancestral Master said, "If this is so, then both you and I take Huangmei as our teacher. Let us protect and uphold this (teaching)."

Hinton: The Sixth Patriarch fled. Lumen, the head monk, pursued him into the Hidden-Vast Mountains, all the way to the pass. When he saw Lumen approaching, the Sixth Patriarch threw his robe and bowl onto a rock, and called out: "This robe is the embodiment of dharma itself. Is that something to fight over? Go ahead: take it!" Lumen struggled to pick it up, but it was like a mountain: utterly immovable. Hesitant and trembling with fear, he said: "I came in search of dharma, not a robe. You, not yet even a vowed monk -- instruct me, open my understanding." "Don't think about right answers, don't think about wrong," replied the Sixth Patriarch. "Right here in this very moment, what is the original face of Head Monk Lumen, the face that's been gazing out since the very beginning of things?" At that, Lumen had a great awakening. His entire body ran with sweat. In tears, he bowed reverently and asked: "The ancients handed down secret ch'i-mind hidden in secret words, but isn't there ch'i-mind more profound still?" "There's nothing secret in what I've told you today," replied the Sixth Patriarch. "If you go all the way back to the beginning, illuminate the gaze of your own original face: that is the secret that stays with you always." "Though I've long practiced with the sangha at Yellow-Plum Mountain, I never truly awakened to the gaze of my own original face. But here today, thanks to your lucid instruction -- I've taken a drink, and it's like the water itself knows how warm or cold the drink is. In this, someone not yet even a vowed monk has become my teacher." "If it's really like this for you, then we share together Yellow-Plum Mountain as our teacher. Take care to treasure and nourish your right answer."

Low: The sixth patriarch was chased by the monk Myo up to Daiyurei. The patriarch, seeing Myo coming, laid the robe and the bowl on a rock and said to him, "This robe represents the faith; is it to be fought for? I allow you to take it away." Myo tried to lift it, but could not. It was as solid and immovable as a mountain. Hesitating and trembling, he ventured, "I came for the teaching, not for the robe. I beg you to teach your servant." The patriarch said, "Don't think 'This is good, that is bad!' At such a moment where is your original face?" At this Myo, all at once, was greatly awakened; his whole body was covered with sweat. With tears streaming down, he bowed and asked, "Beside the secret words and the secret meaning, is there anything else deeper still?" The patriarch answered, "You have realized your true self, and anything deeper comes from your mind alone." Myo observed, "When I was with Obai togetehr with the other monks, I did not awaken to my true self. Now I have received your instructions it is like a man drinking water for himself, and knowing whether it is cold or warm. You are my teacher!" The patriarch said, "We both have Obai for our teacher. Hold fast to what you have learned from him."

Sekida: The sixth patriarch was pursued by the monk Myo up to Taiyu Mountain. The patriarch, seeing Myo coming, laid the robe and bowl on a rock and said, "This robe represents the faith; it should not be fought over. If you want to take it away, take it now." Myo tried to move it, but it was as heavy as a mountain and would not budge. Faltering and trembling, he cried out, "I came for the Dharma, not for the robe. I beg you, please give me your instruction." The patriarch said, "Think neither good nor evil. At this very moment, what is the original self of the monk Myo?" At these words, Myo was directly illuminated. His whole body was covered with sweat. He wept and bowed, saying, "Besides the secret words and the secret meaning you have just now revealed to me, is there anything else, deeper still?" The patriarch said, "What I have told you is no secret at all. When you look into your own true self, whatever is deeper is found right there." Myo said, "I was with the monks under Obai for many years but could not realize my true self. But now, receiving your instruction, I know it is like a man drinking water and knowing whether it is cold or warm. My law brother, you are now my teacher!" The patriarch said, "If you say so, but let us both call Obai our teacher. Be mindful to treasure and hold fast to what you ave attained."

Senzaki: In confirmation of his realization, the Sixth Patriarch received the bowl and robe from the Fifth Patriarch. They had been given from the Buddha to his successors, generation after generation. An envious monk named Myo pursued the Sixth Patriarch, intending to take this great treasure away from him. The Sixth Patriarch placed the bowl and rob on a stone in the road and told Myo, "Thes objects just symbolize the faith. There is no reason to fight over them. If you wish to take them, do so now." When Myo tried to lift the bowl and robe, they were as heavy as mountains, and he could not budge them. Trembling in shame he said, "I came for the teaching, not for material treasures. Please teach me." The Sixth Patriarch said, "Think neighter good, nor not-good. Now, what is yur true self?" At these words Myo was illuminated. Perspiring all over, he wept and bowed, saying, "You have give me the secret words and secret meaning. Is there a deeper teaching still?" The Sixth Patriarch replied, "What I have told you is no secret at all. When you realize your own true self, the secret belongs to you." Myo said, "I trained under the Fifth Patrairch for many years, but could not realize my true self until now. Through your teaching, I have found the source. It is like a perosn who drinks water and knows whether it is cold or warm. May I call you my teacher?" The Sixth Patriarch replied, "We studied together under the Fifth Patriarch. Let us call him our teacher. Just treasure what you have attained."

Shibayama: The Sixth Patriarch was once pursued by the Monk Myo up to Daiyurei. The Patriarch, seeing Myo coming, laid the robe and bowl on a stone, and said, "This robe symbolizes faith; how can it be fought for by force? I will leave it to you to take it." Myo tried to take up the robe, but it was as immovable as a mountain. Myo was terrified and hesitated. He said, "I have come for Dharma, not for the robe. I beg you, please teach me, O lay brother!" The Sixth Patriarch said, "Think neither good nor evil. At such a moment what is the True Self of Monk Myo?" At this Myo was at once enlightened. His whole body was dripping with sweat. With tears he made a bow and asked, "Beside these secret words and meanings, is there any further significance or not?" The Patriarch said, "What I have just told you is not secret. If you will realize your True Self, what is secret is in you-yourself." Myo said, "Although at Obai I follwed other monks in training, I did not awaken to my True Self. Thanks to your instruction, which is to the point, I am like one who has drunk water and actually experienced himself whether it is cold or warm. You are really my teacher, lay brother!" The Patriarch said, "If you are so awakened, both you and I have Obai as our teacher. Live up to your attainment with care."

Verse

It can't be described! It can't be pictured! /It can't be sufficiently praised! Stop trying to grasp it with your head! /The primal face -- there is nowhere to hide it; /Even when the world is destroyed, it is indestructible.

Aitken: It can't be described; it cant be pictured. /It can't be praised enough; stop groping for it. /The Original Face has nowhere to hide. /When the world is destroyed, it is not destroyed.

Cleary: It cannot be depicted, cannot be drawn; /It cannot be praised enough, stop trying to sense it. /The original face has nowhere to hide -- /When the world disintegrates, this does not decay.

Guo Gu: It cannot be described or pictured; /Nor can it be praised enough -- so quit your struggle. /The original face has never been concealed; /Even if the world extinguishes, it cannot be destroyed.

Hinton: You can't picture it in words -- ah -- can't capture it in paint. /You can't protray it in praise -- ah -- just give up experience! /Gazing out since the beginning, can your original face hide? /Even if this world ends in ruin, that you remains unscathed.

Low: You describe it in vain, you picture it to no avail; /Praising it is useless; stop trying to grasp it! /There is nowhere to hide it; /When the universe is destroyed, it is not destroyed.

Sekida: You cannot describe it; you cannot picture it; /You cannot admire it; don't try to eat it raw. /Your true self has nowhere to hide; /When the world is destroyed, it is not destroyed.

Senzaki: You cannot describe it, you cannot picture it. /You cannot admire it, you cannot imagine it. /It is your true self; it has nowhere to hide. /When the world is destroyed, it will not be destroyed.

Shibayama: Your may describe it, but in vain, picture it, but to no avail. /You can never praise it fully: stop all your groping and maneuvering. /There is nowhere to hide the True Self. /When the world collapses, "it" is indestructible.