Blue Cliff Record 87

160
Blue Cliff Record (Hekiganroku, Biyan Lu) #87
Yunmen's "Medicine and Disease"

Personnel

• YUNMEN Wenyan (Ummon Bunen, 864-949, 13th gen), disciple of Xuefeng

Yuanwu's Introduction (Sato)

For the clear-eyed person there are no holes to fall into.
Sometimes on the summit of a lonely peak the grass grows in profusion;
Sometimes in the middle of the bustling marketplace he is naked and exposed.
Suddenly the angry Nada reveals his three heads and six arms;
Suddenly Sun-face Buddha and Moon-face Buddha release their all-embracing merciful light.
The entire body is revealed in a speck of dust.
Becoming ordinary people, one blends with mud and mixes with water.
If one were suddenly to reveal the opening of the highest realization,
even the eye of a Buddha could not see it.
Even if a thousand sages were to appear, they would have to retreat three thousand miles.
Is there anyone who has attained and realized to this state?
To test, I cite this, look!

Case (Sato)

Yunmen, instructing the assembly, said, “Medicine and disease heal each other.[1] The whole earth is medicine. What is your true self?”[2]

[1] "Or: 'match each other'" (Sato).
[2] "Medicine and sickness cure each other. All the earth is medicine. Where do you find yourself?" (Sekida); "Medicine and disease quell each other. The whole earth is medicine; what is your self?" (Cleary).

Xuedou's Verse:

The whole earth is medicine.
Formerly and nowadays, why do they err on this point?
One closes the door and does not make a cart;
If one opens the way, it is naturally vast and void.
Wrong, wrong!
Although the nostrils touch the sky, they can still be pierced.

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