Gateless Gate 10

133
Gateless Gate (Mumonkan, Wumenguan) #10
Qingshui the Poor

Personnel and Date

• CAOSHAN Benji (Sozan Honjaku, 840-901, 12th gen), disciple of Dongshan
• Qingshui (Seizei, n.d., 13th gen), disciple of Caoshan

Date guess: 891

Case

A monk, Qingshui, asked Master Caoshan in all earnestness, “Qingshui is alone and poor. I beg you, Master, please help me to become prosperous.”
Caoshan said, “Venerable Shui!”
“Yes, Master!” replied Qingshui.
Caoshan said, “You have already drunk three cups of fine Hakka wine from Qingyuan and still you say that you have not yet moistened your lips.”

NOTE: "Venerable" here translates Acharya, an honorific title for a monk who leads disciples, correcting their manners and deeds. The original Chinese specifies wine of the House of Bai (Jap: Haku, hence "hakka," meaning "Haku family" or "family business of the Haku family") of the Qingyuan (Jap: Seigen) district -- wine-makers renowned for the excellence of their wine. Qingyuan (Seigen) is also the name of the 7th-generation teacher from whom Caoshan is a dharma descendant: Qingyuan (Seigen) → Shitou (Sekito) → Yaoshan (Yakusan) → Yunyan (Ungan) → Dongshan (Tozan) → Caoshan (Sozan). See BOS #5 (Qingyuan and the Price of Rice). So there is, perhaps, a Zen pun here. Further, "Bai" means "white" or "no color" -- and:

"'Color' and 'form' are the same ideograph in Chinese. So the 'wine of the House of Bai' can be read as the 'wine of the House of No Color and No Form.'" (Aitken, referencing Gempo Yamamoto)

Wumen's Commentary

Qingshui is obsequious in tone but what is his real intention? Caoshan has the penetrating eye and thoroughly discerns the coming monk. Be that as it may, just tell me, where and how has Venerable Qingshui drunk the wine?

Wumen's Verse

Poor like Fan Dan,
Of a spirit like Xiang Yu,
Though they cannot sustain themselves
They dare to compete with each other for wealth.

NOTE: Fan Dan (Hantan) was a man in the era of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 CE); he lived in extreme poverty. Xiang Yu (Kôu) was a famous war hero (232-202 BCE), who rivaled with Liu Bang (Emperor Gaozu, Jap: Ryûhô, r. 202-195 BCE), the founder of the Han Dynasty.

Aitken's Comment

I am solitary and destitute -- won't you give me alms? A world of meaning lies within these words. "Everything is totally without meaning or purpose. The whole universe is nothing but a vast desert without a blade of grass or drop of water. There's no significance, no merit, no virtue in my life. I feel completely lost." Thus have students of all religions described their "dark night" experiences. This bleak state of spirit was called "accidie" by the early Christian teachers, a word that means "spiritual sloth" -- but "sloth" implies being lazy on purpose, and there is nothing intentional here. It is actually a very promising condition -- an essential phase of spiritual evolution.
Qingshui pressed on. He presents himself fully to Caoshan. "This is where I am. What should I do now?" Most commendable.
Caoshan, with marvelous directness, rises immediately to Qingshui's urgent request and calls out, Venerable Shui!

Foyin's Verse (Cleary)

Qingshui alone and poor -- his mind's too coarse:
Caoshan takes him along the road to the inn.
Three cups of the purists' lip-wetting wine;
Add a cup after intoxication, and all seems naught.

Huanshan's Verse (Cleary)

Coashan, used to using the Zen purists' wine,
Pours it out entirely in front of others.
| The intoxication topples Zen seekers all over the world;
Yet Your Revernece is still not aware.

T.S. Eliot's Description of the Spiritual State (Cleary)

A condition of utter simplicity
Costing not less than everything.

Nisargadatta, on Helping Others (Cleary)

There are no others to help. A rich man when he hands over his entire fortune to his family has not a coin to give a beggar.

Cleary's Comment

"Qingshui is alone and poor" means Quinshui has attained nirvana: "alone" symbolizes independence, "poverty" symbolizes freedom from attachments. He approaches Caoshan, a complete Zen master, because he knows this is not yet ultimate enlightenment.
In response, Caoshan calls to the seeker. Caoshan is calling to Life as it expresses itself through this individual.
When Qingshui spontaneously responds, "Yes?" Caoshan tells him that there he has his answer.
"You have already drunk three cups of the wine of the purists of Zen, yet you still say you haven't wet your lips." To not have wet his lips means Qingshui is clinging to the peace of individual nirvana, or "not being subject to causality," as if it were the ultimate goal. Qingshui is thus ignoring the unity and infinity of Life.
The "three cups of wine" represent absolute truth (nirvana), the relative world (samsara), and their union in the Middle Way.

Low's Comment

This koan is about the magic of the mind, the magic of the mind, the magic of beig present, the magic that makes of e ery day a good day. The poverty of Seizei is not ordinary poverty, but that of the poor in spirit who, Jesus said, are blessed "for they shall see God." Therefore Seizei was no ordinary monk, but, on the contrary, one who was deeply awakened. A Zen master snatches even the dried crust from the hands of a starving man because, as master Yunmen warns, "Even a good thing is not as good as no thing." Our first question is "What is Caoshan's poverty?" and to know this we must enter into it. We must be poor Qingshui. Then we must understand Caoshan's calling him and telling him that he has drunk of the finest wine in China. What is this wine?A monk, when he became awakened wrote: "In a moonlit night on a spring day, the croak of a frog pierces through the whole cosmos and turn it into a single family. To see into this is to see truly that every day is a good day."

Guo Gu's Comment

Qingshui, an accomplished practitioner, comes to question Caoshan. He essentially asks, "I have nothing left -- nothing to grasp, nothing to obtain -- and no attachments. What more is there to do?" This was a request for instruction and also a challenge.
After one has let go of everything, one must then let go of the notion of having let go and start living.
"You have already drunk three bowls of our family Qingyuan's home-brewed wine, and yet you still say you haven't wet your lips!" Having Qingyuan's wine means having already received the teaching of his lineage.
The monk responds to Caoshan's call but does not recognize his own response as the most natural function of the awakened mind. He dwells in "dead emptiness" -- that stagnant void of holding on to nonattachment -- the state of being "destitute."
Put yourself in this situation and ask, "How is it that I am already drinking the wine?" How is it?
There is something fundamentally liberating within you that naturally frees you from moment to moment. Yet you miss it and settle for more ideas and constructs.
Chan tells us that you lack nothing. But it is hard to have confidence in the thought that you lack nothing. See through the veil of the very mechanism and habits that drive you, that shape your opinions, discriminations, and experiences and the way you relate to the world. Don't mistake them for who you are. If you can understand who you are before these constructs, before the grasping conditions, you will see that you have already drunk three bowls of Qingyuan's finest wine. As long as the illusion that you still lack something is there, you will continue to seek.
The strength of your hold on ideas can be diminished through practice. The more you practice correctly, with the right attitude of not getting caught up with gaining and losing, having and not having, the more you are able to be free and realize that, in each and every moment, you are already drinking the best home-brewed wine of Chan.

Sekida's Comment

"Qingshui is alone and poor." He has lost all his "property," that is, his deluded thoughts, self-centered ego, and so on.
Caoshan said, “Venerable Shui!” “Yes, Master!” replied Qingshui. This is an exercise in positive samadhi, calling and responding, the answer coming like an echo to the call: "The mirrors reflect the lights of the golden palace, /The hills respond to the note of the moonlit tower's bell."
“You have already drunk three cups of fine Hakka wine..." From second to second Qingshui is enjoying the fine wine of samadhi; it is complete, finished, in every second, and yet also ever present.
"...and still you say that you have not yet moistened your lips.” Caoshan is saying, "Why do you feign ignorance of what you know perfectly well, the experience of positive samadhi?"

A Stanza from the Shodoka (Senzaki)

Sons of the Shakya are known to be poor,
But their poverty is of the body; their spiritual life knows no poverty.
The poverty-stricken body is wrapped in rags,
But their spirit holds within itself a rare, invaluable gem.

Senzaki's Comment

A monk is always alone and poor. A monk who has a family and a savings account is not a monk. In this koan, Caoshan the teacher and Qingshui are both monks, so naturally each is alone and poor.
"Qingshui is alone and poor. Will you give him support?" He meant, "I have never met a good teacher, and have worked alone for my emancipation. Please impart your wisdom to me." He was not looking for comfort or pleasure. He was not seeking fame or glory. He had even given up the desire to accumulate knowledge through book-learning. He was on the verge of accepting Zen, beyound intellectualization. He was really alone and poor, both materially and spiritually.
Caoshan said, “Venerable Shui!” “Yes, Master!” replied Qingshui. The switch was turned on, and in no time there was the light of Zen. Caoshan had nothing to impart to Qingshui. There was just a tiny catch that had kept the switch from turning on. That was an idea of "alone and poor" -- an idea of "I am on the verge of accpting Zen." As I always say, when you recognize that you are going to enter into samadhi, you are just leaving it.
In the verse, Mumon says Qingshui wishes to rival the richest. I would rather say Qingshui became the wealthiest when he responded, "Yes, Master!"
"You have already finished three cups of the best wine in China" -- i.e., you have drunk of Zen practice.
"Why, then, do you say you have not even wet your lips?" These words allowed the attaiment of Qingshui.

Master Ingen's Verse (Shibayama)

Do not light a lamp: in the house is no oil. How pitiable it is if you want a light. I myself have a means to bless poverty: I will let you feel your way along the wall.

A Tale of Bankei (Shibayama)

Once a lay Zen student came to see Master Bankei, a famous Zen Master in the Tokugawa period in Japan.
The student said, “My wisdom is tightly confined within me and I am unable to make use of it. How can I use it?”
Bankei said to him, “My friend, come closer to me, please.”
When the lay disciple came a few steps closer, Bankei remarked, “How wonderfully well you are using it!”

Japanese Folk Song (Shibayama)

I'm tipsy, tipsy indeed, with one glass of wine,
Tipsy I am with a glass of wine I have not drunk.

Shibayama's Comment

Needless to say, the “poverty” Qingshui talks of does not retain its literal meaning. “I do not have either satori or ignorance, heaven or hell, subject or object. I am pure and immaculate and even a helping hand is unable to do anything for me. How would you save a poor man like me?” The monk is challenging Caoshan with this searching question so he can fathom Caoshan's response. In other words, thrusting his static insight of poverty at Caoshan, the monk wants to see how Caoshan will work. Caoshan, however, was a capable Master who could freely use his Zen.
"Do you say that you have not even tasted it?” What in the world is lacking in you? If you see, your eyes are full of “it”; if you hear, your ears are full of “‘it.” If you want to go, you go; if you want to sit, you sit. Far from being poor, what a rich man you are! Caoshan’s reply is wonderful indeed, a reply in which question and answer are completely interfused. They are one, and at the same time they are two.
If one is poor, he feels unhappy in poverty; if one is rich, he feels uneasy about it — this is the usual pattern of human life. When he transcends rich and poor, yes and no, he can be truly free and live in real peace.
Living in extreme poverty and destitution, still Qingshui answered, “Yes, Master” out of nothingness when Sozan addressed him. He showed no hesitation, no diffidence in answering — certainly he was rich enough to compete in wealth with Caoshan. Though Qingshui came out upholding his poverty, he was completely defeated by Caoshan’s wonderful working in differentiation.
("Tipsy with undrunk wine" refers to talking and acting with no-mind.)

Yamada's Comment

You should know that poverty is the best condition for proceeding along the way of Zen because, in most instances, wealth prevents us from being sufficiently serious to practice Zen. Feeling continually satisfied, the wealthy are less likely to possess the will to attain enlightenment, so they remain caught in the karmic cycle.
“I am solitary and poor. I beg you, Master, please help me to become prosperous.” The deep meaning here regards our essential nature: Solitary and poor; alone and destitute. How true! Every one of us is solitary, for everyone is the only one in the whole universe. One with the whole universe. At the same time, every one of us is extremely poor, for as I repeatedly tell you, in our essential nature there is nothing. There is neither subject nor object. There is nothing to be seen, to be touched, to be handled. It has no form, no color, no weight, no place to stay. In other words, our essential nature is totally void. On the other hand, this void has limitless treasures. It can see, it can hear, it can cry, it can laugh, run, and eat. In a word, it is limitless. Emptiness and limitlessness are characteristics of our essential nature.
Qingshui is trying to examine Caoshan’s state of consciousness or to fathom the depth of his realization.
Where and how did Qingshui drink the best wine to the full? It was, of course, when he answered, “Yes, Master!” to Caoshan’s call. That response is the perfect manifestation of his essential nature; with that response Qingshui drinks fully of the wine. Caoshan is saying: “You are perfect just like that. You are using your essential nature fully. Is there any defect in it? No. You have everything from the very beginning. What more do you want?”

Hotetsu's Verse (2024)

"Joy to the World"

Jeremiah -- O, Jeremiah!
Prophet and bullfrog --
Known before you were formed in the womb,
Your voice not your own,
Therefore authentic and free.
Alone and poor,
Therefore prosperous.
Answerer of the call!
Good friend of mine.
Your words elude reason,
And you've always had some mighty fine wine.
I will help you drink your wine.

Hotetsu's Verse (2014): Prophet and bullfrog, Jeremiah, /His original face known before it was formed in the womb, /Set apart before he was born, /Eater of holy words and flies, /Sitter alone, /Stander by the gate, /Correcter of deeds, /Server of a fine and mighty wine: /Was understanding a single word he said not unnecessary? /Have you not helped him drink his wine? /Are you not quaffing it now? /Joy to the world.

Illustration by Mark T. Morse

Appendix: Alternate Translations

Case

A monk, Qingshui, asked Master Caoshan in all earnestness, “Qingshui is alone and poor. I beg you, Master, please help me to become prosperous.” Caoshan said, “Venerable Shui!” “Yes, Master!” replied Qingshui. Caoshan said, “You have already drunk three cups of fine Hakka wine from Qingyuan and still you say that you have not yet moistened your lips.”

Aitken: A monk said to Ts'ao-shan, "I am Ch'ing-shui, solitary and destitute. Please give me alms." Ts'ao-shan said, "Venerable Shui!" Ch'ing-shui said, "Yes, sir!" Ts'ao-shan said, "You have already drunk three cups of the finest wine in China, and still you say that you have not moistened your lips."

Cleary: A monk named Qingshui said to Caoshan, "Qingshui is alone and poor -- please help out." Caoshan said, "Reverend Qingshui!" Qingshui said, "Yes?" Caoshan said, "You have already drunk three cups of the wine of the purists of Zen, yet you still say you haven't wet your lips."

Guo Gu: A monk named Qingshui asked Master Caoshan, "I am poor and destitute. I beg you, Master, please relieve my distress." Caoshan called out, "Acharya Shui!" Qingshui responded immediately, "Yes?" Caoshan said, "You have already drunk three bowls of our family Qingyuan's home-brewed wine, and yet you still say you haven't wet your lips!"

Hinton: Lucid-Black asked Master Twofold Mountain: "I am perfectly alone now, perfectly impoverished. I'm an alms-beggar here. Won't you please grant me the sustenance of your teaching?" "You are Lucid-Black, acharya, great dharma-sage!" Twofold Mountain called out in response. "Yes," replied Lucid-Black. "You've savored three cups of clear wine from our ancestral household of green-azure origins. And still you say you haven't even moistened your lips?"

Low: Seizei complained to Sozan, "Seizei is quite destitute. Will you give him food?" Sozan called out "Seizei!" Seizei responded, "Yes, Sir!" Sozan scolded, "You have finished three cups of the finest wine in China and still you say you have not yet moistened your lips!"

Sekida: Seizei said to Sozan, "Seizei is utterly destitute. Will you give him support?" Sozan called out, "Seizei!" Seizei responded, "Yes, sir!" Sozan said, "You have finished three cups of the finest wine in China and still you say you have not yet moistened your lips!

Senzaki: A monk named Seizei asked Sozan, "Seizei is alone and poor. Will you give him support?" Sozan called out, "Seizei!" Seizei responded, "Yes, sir." Sozan said, "You have already finished three cups of the best wine in China. Why, then, do you say you have not even wet your lips?

Shibayama: A monk once said to Master Sozan, "I am poor and destitute. I beg you, O Master, please help me and make me rich." Sozan said, "Venerable Seizei!" "Yes, Master," replied Seizei. Sozan remarked, "Having tasted three cups of the best wine of Seigen, do you still say that your lips are not yet moistened?

Verse

Poor like Fan Dan, /Of a spirit like Xiang Yu, /Though they cannot sustain themselves /They dare to compete with each other for wealth.

Aitken: With the poverty of Fan-tan /and the spirit of Hsian-yu /though he can hardly sustain himself, /he dares to compete with the other for wealth.

Cleary: Poor as the poorest, /Brave as the bravest, /Though he had nothing to live on, /He dared to joust with the rich.

Guo Gu: Destitute like Fan Dan /But with the spirit of Xiang Yu, /Though he has no way to earn a livelihood, /He dares to contend with the richest of them (that is, Shi Chong).

Hinton: Regal in poverty, like a penniless imperial /minister, ch'i-force like a ruthless general, /vast as sky -- he hasn't the least livelihood, /and therefore dares contest all that richness.

Low; Sekida: Poverty like Hantan's, /Mind like Kou's; /With no means of livelihood, /He dares to rival the richest.

Senzaki: The poorest man in China, /The bravest man in China, /Although he barely sustains himself, /He wishes to rival the richest.

Shibayama: His poverty is like Hantan's, /His spirit like that of Kou. /With no way of earning a livelihood /He dares to compete with the richest of men.