Blue Cliff Record 92, Book of Serenity 1

2
Blue Cliff Record (Hekiganroku, Biyan Lu) #92
Book of Serenity (Shoyoroku, Congrong Lu) #1
The World Honored One Takes His Seat

Personnel

• BUDDHA Shakyamuni, Siddhartha Gautama, "The World-Honored One" (480-400 BCE).
• MANJUSRI, Bodhisattva of Wisdom.

Yuanwu's Preface (Sato)

One brush of the strings and one knows the song:
Even in a thousand years, it would be hard to find such a one.
Seeing the rabbit, one lets loose the falcon,
Acting all at once with complete swiftness.
All words are governed in a single phrase;
The myriad worlds are gathered in a grain of dust.
Living together and dying together;
Completely free to go this way or that.
Is there anything which can act as proof of this?
To test, I bring this up, look!

Wansong's Preface (Sato)

Even if you close the gates and stay asleep, you can guide those with the highest aspiration.
You dare look to and fro, and bend and stretch your body –
only for the sake of those with the mediocre and low aspiration.
How could you bear sitting on the curved wooden chair and sport with your devil’s eyes?
If there is anyone nearby who does not agree, step forward.
Never would I consider him a queer fellow.

Case (Sato)

One day, the World-Honored One ascended to the rostrum [and sat there]. Manjusri* struck the table with the gavel and said, “Contemplate clearly the Dharma of the Dharma-King! The Dharma of the Dharma-King is like this!”
Thereupon, the World-Honored One descended from the rostrum.

*Dogen's 300, #141, gives "Mahakasyapa." (Loori)

A Thousand Years Later on the Other Side of the World, Chapter Two

Xuedou's Verse (Sato)

Among the ranks of the sages, the adept knows well:
The Dharma-command of the Dharma-King is not like this.
If there were a person of saindhava* in the assembly,
What need would there be for Manjusri to strike the gavel?

*“Saindhava” (jpn.: sendaba) stands for an extremely agile response by the pupil to his master.

Hongzhi's Verse (Sato)

The true wind of supremacy – do you see it or not?
Mother Creation* moves incessantly her loom and shuttle,
Weaving the ancient brocade, embracing all forms of spring.
How could you stop the Prince of East** from leaking them?

*The Goddess of Creation.
**I.e., “God of spring.” When the four seasons are compared to the four directions of the world (east, west, south, north), “spring” stands for “east”; therefore, the “Prince of East.”

Interjections

One day, the World-Honored One ascended to the rostrum.

Yuanwu: Guest and host both lose. This is not the only instance of indulgence.
Wansong: Today he's not at rest.
Loori: What for? Is there something to be imparted?

Manjusri [or Mahakasyapa] struck the table with the gavel and said, "Contemplate clearly the Dharma of the Dharma-King! The Dharma of the Dharma-King is like this."

Yuanwu: One son has intimately understood.
Wansong: I don't know what's going on in his mind.
Loori: Before a word is spoken, he understands.

Thereupon, the World-Honored One descended from the rostrum.

Yuanwu: Sad man, do not speak to sad people; if you speak to sad people, you'll sadden them to death. Beating the drum, playing the lute, two masters in harmony.
Wansong: Deal again another day.
Loori: Ascending and descending in a thousand assemblies. Still, there is only one who got it.

Yuanwu's Comment

While the World Honored One paused, he was confronted by Manjusri, and immediately got down from his seat. It is like the story of Emperor Daizong asking National Teacher Nanyang Huizhong about making a seamless memorial tower [BCR18/BOS85], and also like the story of the outsider asking Buddha, "I do not ask about the spoken or the unspoken" [GG32/BCR65]. Observe the behavior of those transcendent people; when did they ever enter a ghost cave for their subsistence? Some say that the meaning lies in the silence; some say it lies in the pause, that speech illumines what cannot be said, and speechlessness illumines what can be said -- as Yongjia said, "Speaking when silent, silent when speaking." If you can immediately and directly attain fulfillment, then you will no longer see that there is anything ordinary or holy. Everyday you will walk hand in hand with all the Buddhas.

Wansong's Comment

"Clearly observe the Dharma of the King of Dharma; the Dharma of the King of Dharma is thus." Even Manjusri, the ancestral teacher of seven Buddhas of antiquity, saying this, still needs to pull the nails out of his eyes and wrench the wedges out of the back of his brain before he will realize it.

Hakuin's Comment

When we behold the profound wellspring of the teaching clearly, Buddha and Manjusri are two mirrors facing each other. The matter of ultimate importance is perceived before it's triggered.

Tenkei's Comment

The action of taking the high seat does not mean there is anything to teach; it is inexpressible. Manjusri saw where it was. The teachng of the master of teaching is entirely like this, with nothing whatsoever to explain. The Buddha immediately got down from the seat because if you try to take the advantge, instead you don't get it.

Sekida's Comment

When he was dying, the Buddha said, "In my forty-nine years of teaching I did not preach even one word." This saying embodies all the teachings of his lifetime. "Clearly understand the Lord of Dharma's Law, the Lord of Dharma's Law is like this." This was the formula pronounced at the end of the Buddha's preaching. At the beginning of the preaching the phrase used was "Illustrious disciples assembled here, listen to the first principle of the Dharma." But in this case, Manjusri said the closing words when the Buddha had just ascended the platform and the audience was attentively waiting to hear him speak. By this strange action Manjusri demonstrated that "before a word is spoken, the sermon is already delivered." The Buddha agreed with Manjusri and descended from his seat.

Yamada's Hekiganroku Comment

Before he utters anything, everything is finished. When the Buddha is sitting there quietly, that is essential nature itself. For those who have eyes to see, they will understand immediately and say, "The World-Honored One is giving wonderful preaching today!" What else is necessary after this? To say anything else is unnecessary.

Yamada's Shoyoroku Comment

What is the difference between striking the gavel and sitting in silence? If you grasp the true world, you realize that each action is the essential world itself. Just sitting. This exhausts it completely. Nothing has to be attached to it. But Manjusri hit the gavel and told the others to look. Some Japanese translations take this as saying, "If you look clearly, you will realize that this is the Dharma-King's Dharma." The other translation is "Look clearly!" I would like to take the latter: "Like this! This is it!" Nothing more.

Wick's Comment

When you truly understand the Dharma, it's just thus, just this; it's as is. All kinds of words and phrases have been invented in Zen to express thusness or "as-is"-ness, but none are needed. Don't add anything extra. Just let everything be as it is. That's liberation. But letting everything be as is, is difficult for us because we're always trying to fiddle around with things, always adding something, wishing something were taken away. We're always putting another head atop our own. If you're frightened, be frightened, leave it at that and don't add anything extra. What does it mean to let it all be and let it all go? And what about when you can't let it go, what then? Well, if you're holding on, hold on. That's liberation too. Why do you practice Zen? If you think you're going to become something else, you're fooling yourself. If you think that you don't need to practice zazen because everything is perfect as it is, that is an erroneous view.

Loori's Comment (Dogen's 300, #141)

While the World-Honored One is still settling in his seat, Mahakasyapa steps in and precipitates the whole matter, so the World-Honored One descends from his seat. If at the time there had been a live one among the assembly, the hoax would have been revealed. There are some that think the meaning of this case lies in the World-Honored One's silence or his taking the high seat in the first place. Nothing can be further from the truth. There are others that look to the striking of the mallet to understand. This too misses it completely. The dharma is not to be found in ascending the seat, striking the mallet, Mahakasyapa's speech, or the World-Honored One's silence. If you can see into it here, you have seen into the hoax.

Loori's Verse

A single path of spiritual light
from the beginning nothing is hidden.
Subtly communicated without effort --
at once, the spring breeze opens a thousand blossoms.

Rothenberg's Verse

Please Take Your Seats

It's hard to find someone who can guess the tune
the moment the first note is heard.
Let the hawk go when he sees a hare,
the suddenly swiftest is caught.

As for summing all words in a single phrase,
grabbing the universe in just one point,
dead and alive at once the same time --
who can take it?

Climb down from your throne,
Give the next guy a chance.

Charlie Pokorny's Verse

Cracking open the treasure storehouse
Each jewel shines from within, in between
And all the way through
A thousand faces at Green Dragon Temple.
Clearly observe thus:
Dharma rains down, great earth shivers –
A pair of eyes looks up:
Transgressed just for all of us.

Sturmer's Verse

The sound of a mallet
striking a block --
does this split in tow
your hard-fought serenity?
When no one is there
to oberser them
hermit crabs traverse
the bottom of a rock pool.

Hotetsu's Verse

Each moment, a gavel bang.
Each moment as sharp as that whack.
This is the Dharma of the Dharma-King.
Birthless, deathless, thunderingly silent.

A Thousand Years Later on the Other Side of the World, Chapter Two

Appendix: Alternate Translations

Case

Sato: One day, the World-Honored One ascended to the rostrum [and sat there]. Manjusri* struck the table with the gavel and said, “Contemplate clearly the Dharma of the Dharma-King! The Dharma of the Dharma-King is like this!” Thereupon, the World-Honored One descended from the rostrum.

T. & J.C. Cleary: One day the World Honored One ascended his seat. Manjusri struck the gavel and said, "Clearly behold the Dharma of the Kinf of Dharma; the Dharma of the Kinf of Dharma is thus." The World Honored One then got down off the seat.

T. Cleary (Secrets of the BCR): One day Buddha took the high seat. Manjushri struck the gavel and said, "Clearly behold the teaching of the master of teaching; the teaching fo the master of teaching is thus." The Buddha got down from the seat at once.

Hinton: One day, the World-Honored-One ascended to the teaching platform and sat. Sutra-Kill Manjusri, regal teacher of Buddhas, sounded the announcement mallet and called out: "Behold the Dharma Emperor's dharma! Look closely! The Dharma Emperor's dharma is exactly this here before you!" The World-Honored-One thereupon rose and descended from the teaching platform.

Sekida: The World-honored One one day took his seat on the platform. Manjusri struck the table with the gavel and said, "Clearly understand the Lord of Dharma's Law, the Lord of Dharma's Law is like this." The World-honored One descended from his seat.

Shaw: Attention! The World Revered One one day took his seat (on the dais from which the Law was proclaimed). Manjusri struck the table with the white gavel* and said: Understand clearly the Law, the Royal Law. The Royal Law is like this. The World Revered One at once came down from his seat.
*'The White Gavel' was used for opening and closing special meetings when the Law was to be proclaimed and instruction given about it. At the opening, when the gavel was used, the following formula was pronounced: 'The Assembly Law, the Dragon Law. The Assembly Vision of the First Principle.' At the close of the meeting the words used were: 'Understand the Law clearly, the Royal Law. The Royal Law is like this.'

T. Cleary (BOS): One day the World Honored One ascended the seat. Manjusri struck the gavel and said: "Clearly observe the Dharma of the King of Dharma; the Dharma of the King of Dharma is thus." The World Honored One then got down from the seat.

Wick: Attention! One day the World-Honored One ascended the platform and took his seat. Manjushri struck the sounding post and said, "When you realize the Dharma-King's Dharma, the Dharma-King's Dharma is just as it is." At that, the World-Honored One descended from the platform.

Loori (Dogen's 300, #141): One day the World-Honored One ascended the teaching seat and the assembly came together. Mahakasyapa struck the mallet and announced: "The World-Honored One has just expounded the dharma." The World-Honored One descended from the teaching seat.

Xuedou's Verse

Sato: Among the ranks of the sages, the adept knows well:/ The Dharma-command of the Dharma-King is not like this./ If there were a person of saindhava in the assembly,/ What need would there be for Manjusri to strike the gavel?

T. & J.C. Cleary: Among the assembled multitude of sages, if an adept had known,/ The command of the King of Dharma woulnd't have been like this./ In the assembly, if there had been a "saindhava man,"/ What need for Manjusri to strike the gavel?

T. Cleary: In the assembled ranks of sages, an adept would know/ The teaching of the master of teaching isn't like this./ Had there been a fluent interpreter in the group,/ What need for Manjusri to strike the gavel?

Hinton: In the crowd of sage-masters, maybe some monk understood/ that Dharma Emperor's dharma-teaching isn't like this at all.// But if people there were in perfect accord with that teaching,/ why would Manjusri swing his mallet to announce anything?

Sekida: The brilliant ones among the constellation/ Know the Lord of Dharma's Law is not like this./ Had Saindhava been there,/ Manjusri need not have struck with the gavel.

Shaw: In the whole succession of Holy Ones, those who were alert had knowledge that the 'Royal Law' was not like that. Even if there had been only one Sindava* in that great congregation, why should Manjusri have knocked with that white gavel?
*'Sindava.' A Sanskrit word, transliterated into Chinese, means a retainer who is instantly aware of any needs or wants of his Lord, even before his Lord says a word. The word occurs in the Parinirvana Scripture.

Hongzhi's Verse

Sato: The true wind of supremacy – do you see it or not?/ Mother Creation moves incessantly her loom and shuttle,/ Weaving the ancient brocade, embracing all forms of spring./ How could you stop the Prince of East from leaking them?

Cleary: The unique breeze of reality -- do you see?/ Continuously creation runs her loom and shuttle,/ Weaving the ancient brocade, incorporating the forms of spring,/ But nothing can be done about Manjusri's leaking.

Wick: Do you see the true manner of the primal stage?/ Mother Nature goes on weaving warp and woof;/ the woven old brocade contains the images of spring --/ nothing can be don about the Spring God's (Manjushri) outflowing.

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