Gateless Gate 28

Gateless Gate (Mumonkan, Wumenguan) #28
Dogen's 300 #140
Longtan's Name Echoed Long

Personnel

• LONGTAN Chongxin (Ryutan Soshin, 753-852, 10th gen), disciple of Tianhuang Daowu (748-807).
• DESHAN Xuanjian (Tokusan Senkan, 782-864, 11th gen), disciple of Longtan.

Case

One day Deshan kept asking Longtan for instruction till nightfall.
Longtan finally said, "The night is late. Why don't you go to bed."
Deshan thanked him, made his bows, raised the door curtain and left.
Seeing how dark the night was, he turned back and said, "It's pitch black outside."
Longtan lit a lantern and handed it to Deshan.
Just as Deshan reached for it, Longtan blew it out.
At that Deshan came to sudden realization and made a deep bow.
Longtan asked, "What have you realized?"
Deshan replied, "From now on, I will not doubt the words of the old master who is renowned everywhere under the sun."
The following day Longtan ascended the rostrum and declared, "There is a man among you whose fangs are like trees of swords and whose mouth is like a bowl of blood. Strike him and he won't turn his head. Someday he will settle on the top of an isolated peak and establish my Way there."
Deshan brought his sutra commentaries and notes to the front of the hall, held up a torch and said, "Even if you have exhausted abstruse doctrine, it is like placing a hair in vast space. Even if you have learned the vital points of all the truths in the world, it is like a drop of water thrown into a big ravine."
He then burned all his commentaries and notes. After making his bows, he left.

Wumen's Comment

Before Deshan had crossed the border, his mind was full of resentment and his mouth speechless with anger.
He wanted to go the way south, intending to refute the doctrine of the special transmission outside the sutras.
When he got to the road to the province of Rei, he asked an old woman if he could buy a tenjin [refreshment, a light meal] from her.
The old woman said, “Your Reverence, what are all those books you are carrying in the cart?”
Deshan said, “Those are commentaries on the Diamond Sutra.”
The old woman said, “In that sutra, it says the past mind can't be caught; the present mind can't be caught; the future mind can't be caught. Your Reverence, with which mind are you going to take the tenjin?”
This one question tightly shuts Deshan's mouth, but hearing the old woman's words, he still did not completely die away. He asked her, “Is there a Zen master near here?”
She replied, “Master Longtan lives about five ri [i.e., about 2 km or 1.25 miles] away.”
After Deshan arrived at Longtan's, he was entirely defeated. It must be said that his former and latter words are not consistent. It seems that Longtan, forgetting his own unsightliness, took too much pity on Deshan. Seeing a live charcoal in Deshan, he immediately threw muddy water over his head to extinguish it. Looking at the whole affair coolly, I think it is just a farce.

Wumen's Verse

Seeing the face is better than hearing the name;
Hearing the name is better than seeing the face.
Even though he saved his nose,
Alas, he lost his eyes!

Aitken's Comment

If your defenses are impervious, no one can get in — and you can’t get out. There is no fissure through which your vine of life can find its way to the sunshine. You have no way to grow. One of the hallmarks of the mature Zen student is the capacity to acknowledge and accept correction. Looking back at GG13, we can see how Deshan’s early willingness to accept suggestions evolved into a way of teaching. When Xuefeng remonstrated with him for appearing too soon, he simply turned and went back to his room. No self-justification. Beautiful! Deshan was still feeling a bit defensive, however, when he showed up to see Longtan.
Longtan kindly answered Deshan’s many earnest questions until late at night. Then abruptly he showed him true darkness, and Deshan could light his Dharma candle at last.
“From now on I will not doubt the words of an old priest who is renowned everywhere under the sun.” How do you see this? What are the words of renowned Longtan?
“Someday he will climb the highest peak and establish our Way there.” Our Way, the Buddha Dao, is surely not a matter of isolation. The last of the Ten Oxherding Pictures, intended to show steps on the Buddha Dao, shows Budai entering the marketplace with “bliss-bestowing hands” — mingling with butchers and prostitutes, not off on a peak somewhere. Longtan is making a difficult point here: Deshan’s basic character, which appeared to be antisocial and preoccupied with emptiness when he was young, permitted him to evolve a teaching that can only be called trenchant silence. Character development is like this. The passive young person becomes a tolerant parent. The angry young person stands up for justice as an adult. The bundle of affinities we call the self is patterned uniquely at birth, and it evolves with inspiration — and we evolve it — for better or for worse. The pattern of Deshan’s character was evident from the beginning: aloof and fervent. Given his bundle, he evolved to be teacher of Xuefeng and Yantou, and out of his line emerged the Yunmen and Fayan schools.

Baiyun's Verse (Cleary)

When light and dark overcome each other, that is not worth talking about;
As long as there is any interpretation, this is not yet intimacy.
When the paper torch went out, the eyes emerged.
Breaking through the empire of China, finding no one at all.

Baoning's Verse (Cleary)

All at once a cascade comes down before the cliff;
In the middle of the night, the sun is bright in the palm of his hand.
Opening wide his mouth, he expresses the energy of spirit;
With whom will he travel freely throughout the world?

Dahong's Verse (Cleary)

When light and dark form each other, things are vague and remote;
Who would have known the back of his head would gush with spiritual light?
All in all he drew the line, cutting off the path of a thousand distinctions;
South, North, East, West, he arrives at his native village.

Cleary's Comment

Overall, the story illustrates a sudden shift from ratiocinative conceptual consciousness to immediate all-at-once cosmic consciousness. The "darkness outside" represents unknown dimensions of reality beyond the confines of ordinary perception and thought. The Zen teacher hands the hesitant seeker a paper torch, which represents the ordinary exercise of the intellect, thus demonstrating the incommensurability of the tiny light of the torch with the immense vastness of the dark. This simple action further shows how the impression of illumination given off by the torch depends on keeping the eyes trained on the immediate vicinity of the torch itself, just as reason only works within its own self-circumscribed parameters.

Guo Gu's Comment

Longtan saw that Deshan’s conundrum — all of his questions that poured out one after the other, late into the night — had created a ripe opportunity. Had Longtan given him the answers, which would have been from a conceptual point of view, all of Deshan’s power would have been diffused and rendered useless. When a person’s life questions collapse into a single, existential “Why?” — when the practitioner reaches a state of unification when the mind is engulfed in the sense of wonderment — that is indeed a wonderful occasion. All the master had to do was to shatter that wonderment, leaving the person completely open to what is right here and now in that state free from grasping. This strategy of inducing awakening is called taking away the object and leaving the person.
What brings you to the condition of awakening is the four prerequisites to practice: great conviction; great vow; great determination; and great doubt, or questioning. Great conviction means that you have confidence in yourself and in the efficacy of your method as well as in your teacher and in the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha). Without real practice you will still have vexations that will affect you and everyone around you. So you have to go through practice. But practice is not about getting rid of what you have. You simply need to see through all of your vexations and deluded thinking. It’s like cleaning a room. Perhaps at the beginning you make the room cleaner so you can actually see the spaciousness of the room. But the bottom line is that it does not really matter whether the room is clean or dirty — openness is always there. It’s just that it is hard to see its nature when it is cluttered.
Great vow means that you are not practicing for yourself but for the benefit of others, for those around you. Everything you have and are comes from others. When you let go of yourself, your mind becomes less self-referential. Recognizing the pain and needs of others will inspire you to work hard to help them. Moment to moment, offer yourself.
Great determination means being steadfast and enduring and that, at any time, you are ready to let go of anything — even your life. In Chinese, great determination literally translates as “ferocious zeal.” You must be diligent and careful about how you are living your life, how you are practicing. Are you perpetuating attachments? Or are you untangling them? This takes patience and steadfast practice.
Great doubt means a sense of wonderment. “Who am I?” Am I synapses in the brain, some wires joining one part of the brain to the other? Am I my past, my experiences, my future hopes? Am I my family, my values? All of your life’s questions must collapse into the gong’an or huatou you are working on.
When Deshan asked his many questions, Longtan did not answer any of them. This pushed him into a corner, in a state of great wonderment/puzzlement. So when Deshan reached for the lantern to light his way, Longtan put it out; this caused Deshan’s great awakening. His darkness was fully illuminated. There is much to do in your life, and with so little time. I wish you the best on your journey. But in all that you do, where is your light?

Low's Comment

What happens when the light goes out? How dark it would be. In such darkness what could be seen? The alchemists say, "Our sun is a black sun."

Sekida's Comment

Longtan acted intuitively, not conceptually, in blowing out the candle. Sensation (the first nen) plays an important role in realization, and Longtan intuitively knew this. The sudden change from light to darkness had a great effect on Deshan. But if the action had been done intentionally, all would have been spoiled.

Senzaki's Comment

Can't you see the dull face of Deshan, receiving a lighted candle that illuminated only a few feet around him? Then Longtan blew it out! The hungry dog suddenly turned into a lion. Johann Tauler, the fourteenth-century mystic who was a disciple of Meister Eckhart, had an experience like Deshan's. He wandered in the world of wilderness and passed through absolute darkness and the bottomless abyss. Then suddenly he entered into the realm of inner truth and declared, "God is Nothingness." Zen students: do not tarry in the realm of nothingness. Pass through the darkness and see that "God is Everything." Until that moment, candles and torches are blown out in vain.

Shibayama's Comment

As it was dark outside, Deshan turned around and said, "It is pitch dark outside." Not only outside but iwthin, his mind too must have been like a dark abyss. Psychologically, he was in a touch-and-go situation. Longtan quietly lit the candle and handed it to him. Just at themomen when Deshan was about to take it, he blew it out with one breath. What superb working! What excellent instruction! In an instant the whole universe was in sher darkness again, and at this moment, all of a sudden Deshan's relativistic self was dispersed, like a barrel unhooped. This is the great inner conversion which has been described in Zen: "The world has collapsed and the iron mountain has crumbled!"

Yamada's Comment

How incompentent intellectual understanding can be! Why did Deshan come to realization so soon after he met the master? He was ready for it. Previous to that moment, knowingly or unknowingly, Deshan's practice had been accumulating and had matured sufficiently so that the hard ball of doubt broke with one probe from the master. When Longtan blew out the candle, he was actually blowing out the darkness! Deshan deeply realized Longtan's view that all living beings are Buddha from the beginning.

Daido Loori's Comment (Dogen's 300)

Deshan made the long journey to southern China in order to discredit the "special transmission outside the scriptures" only to be defeated by an old woman selling rice cakes who buried him in his own rhetoric. Since Deshan did not ask for clarification, the old woman did not give any.
Deshan finally found his way to Longtan, where, although his eyes went blind, he nonetheless ultimately lost his nostrils. Yet evenin his blindness, he was able to find his way to Guishan, who tried to get him to step off the hundred-foot pole, but the time was not yet ripe. In the end, however, he was finally able to untie that which was bound and see the last word of Zen. Then, carrying his bowls, he followed the clouds and was freely blown by the wind. Now tell me, what is Deshan's blindness and how did his lose his nostrils?

Daido's Interjections

Deshan Xuanjian was a scholar of the Diamond Sutra.
     (Although he is like an overburdened mule, still, there's a fragrant air about him.)
...Entering the monastery gate, he said, "For a long time I heard about the Dragon Pool (Longtan). But now that I have arrived, I see neither the dragon nor the pool."
     (There is little doubt that he is blind. The question is, what kind of blindness it it?)
Longtan said, "You have arrived personally at the Dragon Pool."
     (This is too intimate a statement for him. He doesn't get it.)
...Longtan lit a paper lamp and offered it to him. When Deshan was about to take the lamp, Longtan blew out the light.
     (Teacher, student, temple, discussion -- all taken by the sheer darkness. Nothing remains.)
Deshan suddenly experienced great enlightenment and made a full bow.
     (What did he see?)
Longtan said, "What did you see that made you bow?"
     (Easy to say, but what is it really?)
Deshan said, "From now on I will not doubt your words."
     (Bah! He should be driven out. First it was the sutra hanging from his nostrils, now it's a teacher. Where are your own provisions?)
..."There is a person here. His fangs are like swords. His mouth is like a try of blood. When I give him a blow, he does not turn his head. Someday he will get to the top of a solitary peak, stand on my path, and advance."
     (Like an overly meddling grandparent, he spoils the child.)
..."Investigating commentaries is like placing a hair in the vast emptiness. It is like adding a drop of water to an ocean of essential matters in the world." Then he burned his books and bowed.
     (Blind! The baby gets tossed out with the bathwater.)

Daido's Verse

Within darkness there is light;
within light there is darkness.
If you really see it,
you will go blind.

Hotetsu's Verse

He shone with the light of his knowledge.
It was a beautiful, wonderful thing, really.
Also beautiful is how much farther it is possible to see
In the dark.

Appendix: Alternate Translations

Case

One day Deshan kept asking Longtan for instruction till nightfall. Longtan finally said, "The night is late. Why don't you go to bed." Deshan thanked him, made his bows, raised the door curtain and left. Seeing how dark the night was, he turned back and said, "It's pitch black outside." Longtan lit a lantern and handed it to Deshan. Just as Deshan reached for it, Longtan blew it out. At that Deshan came to sudden realization and made a deep bow. Longtan asked, "What have you realized?" Deshan replied, "From now on, I will not doubt the words of the old master who is renowned everywhere under the sun." The following day Longtan ascended the rostrum and declared, "There is a man among you whose fangs are like trees of swords and whose mouth is like a bowl of blood. Strike him and he won't turn his head. Someday he will settle on the top of an isolated peak and establish my Way there." Deshan brought his sutra commentaries and notes to the front of the hall, held up a torch and said, "Even if you have exhausted abstruse doctrine, it is like placing a hair in vast space. Even if you have learned the vital points of all the truths in the world, it is like a drop of water thrown into a big ravine." He then burned all his commentaries and notes. After making his bows, he left.

Aitken: Te-shan visited Lung-t'an and questioned him sincerely far into the night. It grew late and Lung-t'an said, "Why don't you retire?" Te-shan made his bows an lifted the blinds to withdraw, but was met by darkness. Turning back he said, "It is dark outside." Lung-t'an lit a paper candle and handed it to Te-shan. Te-shan was about to take it when Lung-t'an blew it out. At this, Te-shan had sudden realization and made bows. Lung-t'an said, "What truth did you discern?" Te-shan said, "From now on I will not doubt the words of an old priest who is renowned everywere under the sun." The next day Lung-t'an took the high seat before his assembly and said, "I see a brave fellow among you monks. His fangs are like a sword-tree. His mouth is like a blood-bowl. Give him a blow and he won't turn his head. Someday he will climb the highest peak and establish our Way there." Te-shan brought his notes on the Diamond Sutra before the Dharma Hall and held up a torch, saying, "Even though you have exhausted the abstruse doctrines, it is like placing a hair in vast space. Even though you have learned all the secrets of the world, it is like letting a single drop of water fall into an enourmous valley." And he burned up all his notes. Then, making his bows, he took leave of his teacher.

Cleary: Once Deshan questioned Master Longtan until late at night. Longtan said, "It is late; why don't you retire?" So Deshan said good-bye and raised the screen to go. Seeing that it was pitch dark outside, he turned around and said, "It's dark outside." So Longtan lit a paper torch and handed it to Deshan. As Deshan reached out to take the lamp, Deshan blew it out. At this Deshan suddenly had an insight. He bowed to Longtan, who asked him "What principle have you seen?" Deshan siad, "From now on I won't doubt the unterances of the Zen masters." The next day Longtan went up in the hall and said, "there is someone here whose fangs are like sword trees, whose mouth is like a bowl of blood. Even if you hit him with a stick he won't turn his head. Some day he will establish our Way on the summit of a solitary peak." Deshan subsequently placed his commentaries in front of the teaching hall, took up a torch, and said, "Even to investigate all the mystic discernments is like a hair tossed into space3; even to exhaust the pivotal workings of the world is like a drop thrown into a gigantic canyon." Then he burned his commentaries, bowed, and left.

Guo Gu: Once when Deshan was getting instructions from Longtan, he stayed on into the night. Longtan said, "It's late; why don't you go?" Deshan said good-bye and lifted up the curtain to go. He saw that it was dark outside, so he turned back and said, "It is dark outside." Longtan then lit a paper lantern (with a candle inside) and handed it to Deshan. As Deshan was about to take it, Longtan blew the candle out. At that moment, Deshan suddenly had an insight. He then bowed to Longtan, who said, "What principle have you seen?" Deshan said, "From this day forward, I will no longer doubt your words." The next day Longtan went up to the teaching hall and said, "Among you, there's a fellow with teeth like swords and a mouth like a bowl full of blood. Strike him a blow and he shall never turn back. In the future, he will go to the summit of a solitary peak and establish our path there." Deshan then went in front of the teaching hall with all of his commentaries and annotations (on the Diamond Sutra). Holding up a torch, he exclaimed, "Exhausting all the sublime theories is nothing more than placing a single hair in the vastness of space. Investigating the workings of the world is like throwing a single drop of water into a great abyss." He then burned his commentaries and annotations, paid homage (to Longtan), and bid farewell.

Hinton: Mirror-Sight Mountain hungrily questioned Dragon-Lake into the night. Finally, Lake said: "The night is deep. You should have left by now." Mountain bowed in homage, raised the blinds, and left. But seeing it was dark out, he stepped back in and said: "It's pitch-dark out there!" Lake lit a paper-lantern candle and offered it to him. Then, just as Mountain reached out to take it, Lake blew it out. At this, Mountain was suddenly awakened. He bowed reverently, and Lake asked, "You just saw the inner-pattern of Way. Tell me, what is it?" "That from this day on, here amid all beneath heaven, I'll never doubt the tongue of an old master." The next morning, Dragon-Lake took his place before the sangha and said: "Here among you worthy monks is someone with fangs like a forest of swords and a mouth like a bowl of blood. Attack him with a stick and he won't even turn his head. The day will come when he'll journey to a lone mountaintop and establish our Buddha-Way there." Mountain thereupon gathered all of his writings, his notes and commentaries, carried them to the front of the Dharma Hall, and piled them there. Holding a torch, he explained, "Even if you understand all the intricacies of dark-enigma itself, it's barely a hairsbreadth adrift in the vast emptiness of this Cosmos. And even if you comprehend through and through that loom of origins at the heart of things, it's barely a drop tossed into endless seas." Having said this, he lit the pile of papers, bowed reverently, and then walked out.

Low: Tokusan and Ryutan spent all night discussing Zen. At last Ryutan said, "It is late. Time for you to go." Tokusan thanked him and departed, but outside the temple he found it was very dark, so he went back in. Ryutan lit a candle and haded it to him, and the moment that Tokusan took it, whoo! Ryutan blew it out. At this, immediately, Tokusan came to awakening. Ryutan asked, "What have you seen?" Tokusan said, "From now on I know that the ancients did not lie." The next day Ryutan ascended the rostrum and said, "There is one among you whose fangs are like swords and whose mouth is a bowl of blood. Strike him with a stick but he will not turn his head. Some day he will climb the highest peak to establish our way there." Tokusan took his notes on the Diamond Sutra to the front fo the temple and, with a flaming torch in his hand, said, "Even though you have conquered the esoteric doctrines, it is like throwing a hair into vast space. Even though you have learned all the secrets o fthe world, it is like a drop of water dripping into the vast ocean." And he set light to all his notes. Then, making a bow, he took leave of his teacher.

Sekida: Tokusan asked Ryutan about Zen far into the night. At last Ryutan said, "The night is late. Why don't you retire?" Tokusan made his bows and lifted the blinds to withdraw, but he was met by darkness. Turning back to Ryutan, he said, "It is dark outside." Ryutan lit a paper candle and handed it to him. Tokusan was about to take it when Ryutan blew it out. At this, all of a sudden, Tokusan went through a deep experience and made bows. Ryutan said, "What wort of realization do you have?" "From now on," said Tokusan, "I will not doubt the words of an old osho who is renowned everywhere under the sun." The next day Ryutan ascended the rostrum and said, "I see a fellow among you. His fangs are like the sword tree. His mouth is like a blood bowl. Strike him with a stick, and he won't turn his head to look at you. Someday or other, he will climb the highest of the peaks and establish our Way there." Tokusan brought his notes on the Diamond Sutra to the front of the hall, pointed to them with a torch, and said, "Even though you have exhausted the abstruse doctrines, it is like placing a hair in a vast space. Even though you have learned all the secrets of the world, it is like a drop of water dripped on the great ocean." And he burned all his notes. Then, making bows, he took his leave of his teacher.

Senzaki: Tokusan cam to Ryutan at night and asked many questions. The teacher said, "It's getting late. Why don't you retire?" Tokusan bowed and opened the screen to go out. Turning, he said, "It is very dark outside." Ryutan offered Tokusan a lighted candle so that he could find his way. Just as Tokusan received it, Ryutan blew it out. At that moment, Tokusan's mind was illumined. Ryutan asked, "What have you attained?" "From now on," said Tokusan, "I will not doubt the renowned teacher's words." During his lecture the next day, Ryutan told the monks, "I see a monk among you whose teeth are like a sword tree, whose mouth is like a bowl of blood. If you hit him hard with a big stick he will not so much as look back at you. Some day, this monk will mount the highest peak and carry on my teaching there." Tokusan brought his commentaries on the Diamond Sutra to the front of the lecture hall and burned them, saying, "However abstruse the teachings are, compared to this enlightenment hey are like a single hair floating in the great sky. However profound all the truths are in the world, compared to this enlightenment, they are like adrop of water in the great ocean." Then he left Ryutan's monastery.

Shibayama: Tokusan once called on Ryutan to ask for instruction and stayed until night fell. Ryutan said, "It is getting late; you had better leave." At last Tokusan said good-by, lifted up the door curtain, and went out. Noticing that it was dark, he turned back and said, "It is dark outside." Ryutan thereupon lit a candle and handed it to him. Tokusan was about to take it when Ryutan blew it out. At this Tokusan was all of a sudden enlightened. He made a bow. Ryutan asked, "What realization do you have?" Tokusan replied, "From now on I will not doubt the sayings of any of the great Zen Masters in the world." The next day Ryutan mounted the rostrum and declared, "Among the monks here there is a fellow whose fangs are like swords, and whose mouth is like a bowl of blood. You may strike him with a stick but he will not turn his head. Some day in the future, he will establish his way on a steep and lofty peak." Tokusan then took out his notes and commentaries on the Diamond Sutra, and in front of the monastery hall he held up a burning torch and said, "Even though on masters various profound philosophies, it is like placing a single strand of hair in the great sky; even if one gains all the essential knowledge in the world, it is like throwing a drop of water into a deep ravine." Taking up his notes and commentaries,he burned them all. Then he left with gratitude.

Verse

Seeing the face is better than hearing the name; /Hearing the name is better than seeing the face. /Even though he saved his nose, /Alas, he lost his eyes!

Aitken: Seeing the face is better than hearing the name; /hearing the name is better than seeing the face. /He saved his nose, /but alas he lost his eyes.

Cleary: Hearing the name is not like seeing the face, /Seeing the face is not like hearing the name. /Even though he managed to save his nostrils, /Nonethless he blinded his eyes.

Guo Gu: It is better to see him face-to-face than to hear of his fame. /Yet seeing him face-to-face is not better than hearing of his fame. /Even though Longtan saved (Deshan's) nose, /He blinded his eyes.

Hinton: Hearing the name is nothing like seeing the face. /Seeing the face is nothing like hearing the name. /No one lops off your nose for crimes committed, /so why all this struggle? It'll blind you for sure.

Low: Better to see the face than hear the name. /Better to hear the anme than see the face. /He may have saved his nose /But, alas! he lost his eyes.

Sekida: Hearing the name cannot surpass seeing the face; /Seeing the face cannot surpass hearing the name. /He may have saved his nose, /But alas! he lost his eyes.

Senzaki: Hearing cannot surpass seeing. /You saw the teacher, and now seeing cannot surpass hearing. /Your nose is very high, /But after all, you are blind.

Shibayama: Far better seeing the face than hearing the name; /Far better hearing the name than seeing the face. /Though he saved his nose, /Alas, he has lost his eyes!