Master Shuzan held up a shippei before his disciples and said, “You monks, if you call this a shippei, you are adhering to the fact. If you do not call this a shippei, you are opposing the fact. Tell me, you monks, what will you call it?”
If you call this a shippei, you are adhering to the fact. If you do not call this a shippei, you are opposing the fact. You should not use words. You should not use no-words. Speak at once! Speak at once!
Holding up a shippei,
He issues the order to kill and to give life;
When adhering and opposing interweave,
Even Buddhas and patriarchs beg for their lives.
Shuzan Shōnen Zenji was, in his youth, earnestly devoted to the Lotus Sutra. Later he became a disciple of Fuketsu Enshō Zenji, whom we met in Case 24. Shuzan attained deep enlightenment under Fuketsu and eventually became his Dharma successor. He was the fifth of Rinzai’s descendants and passed away in 993 at the age of sixty-eight.
A shippei is a staff made of bamboo about half a meter in length and shaped like a small bow. A Zen master keeps it at his side in the zendo when he is guiding his disciples. It is one of the seven items that make up a Zen monk’s equipment. The others are the kesa, a kind of surplice; the koromo, or robe; the sutras including records of the patriarchs’ words; the hossu, a stick with a flexible, bushy end; the shujō, another kind of staff, somewhat longer than the others and used when walking out-of-doors; and the nyoi, a short wooden staff which has nowadays been replaced by the kotsu.
Once Shuzan held up a shippei before his disciples and said, “You monks, if you call this a shippei, you are adhering to the superficial fact (or negating its essence). If you do not call this a shippei, you are opposing the fact. Tell me, you monks, what will you call this?”
This koan is in the same category as Case 40, “Kicking Over the Water Jug.” In that koan, as you will remember, Master Hyakujō took a water jug, stood it on the floor, and said to the assembled disciples, “You may not call this a water jug. What will you call it?” Isan immediately kicked over the jug and left the room. With this he passed the test and was appointed master of the new temple on Mount Taii. In the present koan, a shippei is presented instead of a water jug. What will you call it to pass the examination?
As I have so often told you, everything has two aspects, one phenomenal and the other essential. If you look at the shippei only from the phenomenal side and call it a shippei, you are adhering to the phenomenal viewpoint and ignoring the essential aspect. If you look at the shippei merely from the essential point of view—that is, from the aspect of complete emptiness—and do not call it a shippei, you are opposing the fact of its phenomenal side.
There is an old Zen story which is taken to be the source of this koan. When Zen Master Shō of Setsu Prefecture was a disciple of Master Shuzan, he was asked the same question, “If you call this a shippei, you are adhering to the fact. If you don’t call this a shippei, you are opposing the fact. What will you call it?” Shō suddenly grabbed the shippei from Shuzan. Breaking it in two, he threw it on the ground and cried out, “What is this!” Shuzan shouted back, “You blind fool!” Instantly Shō awoke to great enlightenment.
Consider, for a moment, the fraction I often refer to. In this koan, the shippei is the numerator. If you call the staff a shippei, you are adhering to the numerator. The shippei does not know what its name is; it does not know that it is called a shippei. This word is merely a tag or a label given by man for the sake of convenience.
On the other hand, if you look at the shippei from the point of view of the denominator, you will not be able to call it by any name. That is because even though it contains infinite capabilities, it is absolutely empty. When you look at the shippei from its essential aspect and do not say anything, you are adhering to the denominator and opposing the numerator, the phenomenal fact.
In Zen, the most important point is whether the denominator, the essential world, the real nature, has been realized or not. Where there is no realization of this, there is no Zen. Denominator and numerator are used as expedients in explaining. Both are mere concepts of one side of the whole. In reality, there is neither denominator nor numerator, neither shippei nor non-shippei. What would you call it from the point of view of reality?
Mumon says, “If you call this a shippei, you are adhering to the fact. If you do not call this a shippei, you are opposing the fact. You should not use words. You should not use no-words. Speak at once! Speak at once!”
This commentary repeats Master Shuzan’s words, and I have already given my interpretation of them. What will you call the staff? Tell me! Quickly!
Holding up a shippei,
He issues the order to kill and to give life;
When adhering and opposing interweave,
Even Buddhas and patriarchs beg for their lives.
“To kill” means to take away the delusive concepts and thoughts which Zen students have. “To give life” means to bring these students to enlightenment. In handling the shippei, Master Shuzan freely kills the students and gives them life. We should appreciate his skill in guiding them. “When adhering and opposing interweave, even Buddhas and patriarchs beg for their lives.” This is high praise for Shuzan’s ability as a Zen master. If you fiercely attack even Buddhas and patriarchs from both sides with, “Now you are adhering to the fact, now you are opposing the fact!” they will surrender and beg for their lives, crying, “Help! Help!”