Whatever he was asked about Zen, Master Gutei simply stuck up one finger.
He had a boy attendant whom a visitor asked, “What kind of teaching does your master give?” The boy held up one finger too. Hearing of this, Gutei cut off the boy’s finger with a knife. As the boy ran away, screaming with pain, Gutei called to him. When the boy turned his head, Gutei stuck up one finger. The boy was suddenly enlightened.
When Gutei was about to die, he said to the assembled monks, “I received this one-finger Zen from Tenryū.1 I’ve used it all my life but have not exhausted it.” Having said this, he entered nirvana.
The enlightenment of Gutei and the boy have nothing to do with the tip of a finger. If you realize this, Tenryū, Gutei, the boy, and you yourself are all run through with one skewer.
Old Tenryū made a fool of Gutei,
Who cut the boy with a sharp blade.
The mountain deity Korei raised his hand, and lo, without effort,
Great Mount Ka with its many ridges was split in two!
Gutei’s name was originally a nickname given him because he was always chanting the Gutei Butsumo Dharani. The dates of his birth and death are not recorded, but he was undoubtedly a contemporary of Ōbaku and Rinzai. As a sincere Buddhist priest, Gutei earnestly attended to his daily duties, but when the following incident happened, he was not yet enlightened.
In the temples and monasteries of ancient China, it was customary for a guest, in greeting a host, to walk around the seated master and with head bared, to bow deeply. One day a nun called Jissai, which means “true world,” came into Gutei’s room. She walked around his seat three times. Then, without taking off her bamboo hat, she stood in front of him and said, “If you can say a word that satisfies me, I will take off my bamboo hat and make a bow.” Gutei could say nothing. The nun did not bow or remove her hat.
It is not so difficult for ordinary people to find something to say in such a situation. What would you say? You could use any greeting at all, such as, “Welcome,” or “How do you do?” or “I’m glad to meet you.” Gutei thought he should say something smacking of Zen, but he could not think of a single word, so he remained silent. Sincere as he was, he could not pass the gate set up by the nun because he had not yet experienced enlightenment.
The nun challenged him three times and still Gutei could not come up with a response. As she was preparing to leave, Gutei, worried about the lateness of the hour, kindly said, “It’s already dark. Why don’t you stay here for the night.” The nun rejoined, “If you can say something, I’ll stay.” Gutei was again dumbstruck. The nun departed.
After she left, Gutei was terribly ashamed and chided himself, “I have the form of a man, but I lack a man’s spirit. I couldn’t answer even one word upon her examination.” He made up his mind then to start on a journey to search for good Zen masters and to undergo severe Zen training with them.
During the last night in his own monastery, Gutei had a strange dream. The reigning deity of the locality appeared to him and said, “Do not leave. In a few days, an incarnate bodhisattva will come here and preach to you about the Dharma.”
And so it happened. The very next day, the Zen master Tenryū came to the monastery. Gutei welcomed him with great respect and related in detail the story of the nun, his own decision, and the ensuing dream. Upon hearing this, Tenryū stuck up a finger. At that instant, Gutei experienced deep enlightenment.
The point of this koan is just holding up one finger. What does it mean?
There is an ancient Zen text called Believing in Mind (Shinjin-Mei), in which the line appears: “One is everything. Everything is one.” In the absolute world, the world of enlightenment, the logic of “One is everything, everything is one” reigns. When Tenryū sticks up a finger, that one finger is the whole universe. When we stick up one finger, there is nothing but one finger in the whole universe. When you stand up, there is nothing but standing up in the whole universe. When Gutei saw Tenryū holding up one finger, he realized clearly that the one finger and the whole universe are one. There isn’t anything else that remains. There is nothing outside it. That is enlightenment.
“The enlightenment of Gutei and the boy have nothing to do with the tip of a finger. If you realize this, Tenryū, Gutei, the boy, and you yourself are all run through with one skewer.”
Mumon says that the enlightenment of Gutei and the boy have nothing to do with the tip of a finger. The finger was merely the medium. It provided the stimulus or shock which brought Gutei and the boy attendant to enlightenment. Shakyamuni Buddha attained his great enlightenment when he saw the twinkling light of Venus in the eastern sky. Kyōgen came to realization when he heard the sound of a small pebble bouncing against bamboo. The pink blossoms of distant peach trees triggered Reiun’s sight into Sight after thirty years of hard Zen practice.
These people all came to enlightenment through various means. In each case mentioned, realization made the person aware that his self nature is empty, limitless, and one with the whole universe. You cannot find enlightenment in the tip of a finger. When you experience satori, you will come to realize the same thing. Then Tenryū, Gutei, the boy, and you yourself will all be run through with one skewer.
Old Tenryū made a fool of Gutei,
Who cut the boy with a sharp blade.
The mountain deity Korei raised his hand, and lo, without effort,
Great Mount Ka with its many ridges was split in two!
What does “Old Tenryū made a fool of Gutei” mean? It is an example of the type of irony of which Zen is very fond. It can be explained by calling to mind Shakyamuni Buddha’s declaration that all living beings have Buddha nature. Hakuin Zenji put it another way: “Every living being is intrinsically Buddha.” Gutei is, of course, a living being. That being so, what need is there to try to bring him to enlightenment by holding up a finger? Isn’t it sheer nonsense to try to make a Buddha out of a Buddha? So this expression could be paraphrased, “You rascal, Tenryū—you are making sport of poor Gutei!” Other interpretations of this phrase are that Gutei makes a fool of old Tenryū, and that old Tenryū and Gutei together make fools of us all. I think you can understand that, in principle, these three interpretations are not different from one another.
“The mountain deity Korei raised his hand, and lo, without effort, Great Mount Ka with its many ridges was split in two!” According to a Chinese legend, Korei, a mountain deity of great strength, divided Great Mount Ka in two—one part Mt. Shuyō, the other Mt. Ka—by the mere touch of his hand, thereby allowing the waters of the Yellow River to flow through. In the same way, Tenryū, by sticking up one finger, broke Gutei’s myriad-piled delusions (concepts, philosophies, etc.) into pieces. When one finger is held up, the essential world appears, annihilating all delusions.
1. Nothing is known about Master Tenryū except for the following mondo (question-and-answer exchange) held between a monk and him.
A monk asked, “How can I get out of the three worlds?” [In Buddhist philosophy, the three delusive worlds are those of desire, form, and no-form.] Master Tenryū said, “Where are you right now?”
Tenryū is supposed to have had Master Taibai Hōjō as his teacher.