The Essential Teachings of Zen Master Hakuin

1. Yüan-wu’s lectures, Hsüeh-tou’s Hundred Koans with Verse Comments, grew into The Blue Cliff Record, regarded as the most important single work of Rinzai Zen literature.

2. Ta-p’ing Hui-ch’in was, like Yüan-wu, a Dharma heir of Wu-tsu Fa-yen. Ta-p’ing’s letter is found in a compilation titled Admonitory Instructions for Buddhist Monks, first published in the Yüan dynasty (1280–1368).

3. Fox slobber (koen) is a metaphor for a lethal poison; it can work miraculous cures by purging students of their mental illnesses and leading them to true enlightenment. Hakuin wrote, “Hsi-keng spewed up poisonous slobberings of word, thought, and deed and left them behind to await a future descendant who would be able to use them to turn his back on the master’s (Hsi-keng’s) teaching.” Hsi-keng served as abbot at ten different temples during his career. The main body of his religious teaching, The Records of Hsü-t’ang, is divided into ten sections, with one section devoted to the teachings he gave at each of the ten temples.

6. An allusion to a story found in Ta-hui’s Arsenal, ch. 2, a collection of Zen anecdotes compiled by the Sung priest Ta-hui Tsung-kao:

Attendant P’ing served Zen master Ming-an for many years. Although he trained hard and was able to grasp the essentials of Ming-an’s Zen, he was jealous of his fellow monks and attempted at every opportunity to discredit them. For this reason, Ming-an did not sanction him as his successor, despite his seniority. He told his other disciples that P’ing would meet with a violent death, which would occur, he said, holding up three fingers, “at a place like this.” However, after Ming-an’s death, Ping succeeded in becoming the master of the temple. He declared that the geomantic situation of Ming-an’s memorial tower was unfavorable, and ordered it burned. As the fire consumed the tower, it collapsed and fell open, revealing Ming-an’s corpse. To everyone’s astonishment, it was unscathed by the flames and still fresh as life. P’ing took up a hoe, split open Ming-an’s skull, took out the brain, doused it with oil, and threw it back into the flames, where it was reduced to ashes. His fellow priests reported this to the civil authorities, who severely reprimanded P’ing and forced him to return to lay status. He wandered aimlessly around the country, trying without success to gain entrance to other Buddhist communities. One day, as he was walking near the intersection of three roads, he was attacked and devoured by a tiger, fulfilling his master’s prophecy.

7. The priest whom Hakuin regarded as his master. The lineage is Gudō Tōshoku, 1579–1661; Shidō Munan, 1603–1676; Shōju Etan, 1642–1721; Hakuin.

8. A monk asked Chao-chou: “Does a dog have buddha-nature?” Chao-chou said: “Mu.” See The Gateless Barrier, case 1, translated by Robert Aitken (San Francisco: North Point Press, 1991), p. 7. Initially, Hakuin gave students this as a first koan; later, in his sixties, he began to use “the sound of the single hand.”

9. The phrase “one man or half a man” (ikkō hankō) emphasizes the difficulty, yet the absolute necessity, for a Zen master to find an heir to carry on his transmission, half a person being better than none at all.

10. In folk belief, people who trim their fingernails at night will not be at their parents’ bedsides when they die. According to Hakuin, it was a favorite saying of Shōju’s. Here it appears to caution against relaxing one’s religious efforts.

1. This dialogue, from Essentials of Successive Records of the Lamps, ch. 33, is classed as a nantō (“hard-to-pass”) koan in Hakuin Zen.

2. A teacher is said to lose his eyebrows for false or overly explicit preaching.

5. The twenty-eight Indian patriarchs in the Zen transmission from Shakyamuni to Bodhidharma, and the six Chinese patriarchs beginning with Bodhidharma and ending with Hui-neng.

6. An allusion to the teaching style of Hsüeh-feng I-ts’un, 822–908, a T’ang monk who traveled from temple to temple carrying a calabash dipper.

7. The Essay on the Dharma Pulse, traditionally ascribed to Bodhidharma, is included in a Japanese collection titled Bodhidharma’s Six Gates.

8. Ch’ang-tsung Chao-chüeh is severely criticized in Ta-hui’s writings as a propagator of “do-nothing” (buji) Zen.

9. Ta-hui was an outspoken opponent of the quietistic type of Zen that Hakuin also attacks. This entire section, thirteen paragraphs in all, beginning above with the words “Zen master Ch’ang-tsung Chao-chüeh . . .” is taken from Ta-hui’s Arsenal.

10. These questions, known as “Huang-lung’s Three Barriers,” were devised by Hsin-ching’s teacher, Huang-lung Hui-nan.

11. The eighth, or Alaya, consciousness is regarded as the source of human consciousness and all existence. When practicers penetrate to it they are considered to have finally succeeded in overcoming evil passions, but if they cling to it, it becomes another cause trapping them within birth and death. Hakuin exhorts students to “smash open the dark cave of the eighth consciousness” so that “the precious light of the Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom can shine forth.”

12. In The Sutra of Seven Women [Taisho 14], Indra and the women visit the Buddha Kashyapa. Hakuin’s account is based on that in The Five Lamps, ch. 1.

13. The four necessities are food, clothing, medicine, and shelter. The seven rare treasures are gold, silver, lapis lazuli, moonstone, agate, ruby, carnelian.

14. Cf. The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-chi, translated by Burton Watson (Shambhala, 1993), pp. 76, 127.

16. Nan-yüeh, seeing his student Ma-tsu practicing zazen, took a tile and began polishing it. When Ma-tsu asked him what he was doing, he replied that he was making a mirror. Ma-tsu told him that is was impossible to make a mirror from a tile. Nan-yüeh first replied, “And how do you expect to become a buddha by doing zazen?” Then he spoke the words Hakuin quotes here.

1. In a lengthy section beginning here Hakuin cites a long chronological line of Indian, Chinese, and Japanese teachers (starting with Shakyamuni and ending with fifteenth-century Japanese priests of the Myōshin-ji Temple) whom he singles out for praise as authentic transmitters of the true Zen traditions.

2. According to Zen tradition, Shakyamuni’s enlightenment occurred when he looked up and saw the morning star. Hakuin calls it a “bad star” (akusei), probably in the same sense as “poison drum” or “poison words,” to emphasize the power it has to destroy illusion and lead to final enlightenment.

3. That is, living beings that are womb-born, egg-born, water-born, and born by metamorphosis.

4.  The “four struts” (the characters also mean “four pillars”) allude to the Four Noble Truths: pain or suffering, its cause, its ending, and the way thereto. The “twelve elegant tones” is the twelve-link chain of dependent origination: ignorance, actions produced by ignorance, emergence of consciousness, mental activity, the five senses and mind, sensory contact, perception, craving, attachment, existence, birth, old age and death.
    The “one vehicle” refers to the Mahayana teaching preached in The Lotus Sutra.
    The “final song” is The Sutra of the Bequeathed Teaching, which the Buddha is said to have preached before entering nirvana.

5.  The first transmission of the Zen Dharma is said to have occurred when Shakyamuni held up a flower during a sermon, baffling everyone present except Kashyapa, “Great Turtle,” who broke into a smile.
    The “instruments” are the twenty-eight Indian patriarchs from Shakyamuni to Bodhidharma.
    The “blue-eyed virtuoso” is Bodhidharma, who is described in Zen history as a prince from southern India; he refuted six celebrated religious teachers before he went to China. Records of the Lamp, Empō Era ch. 3.
    The Flower Garland Sutra speaks of music from a lute strung with lion gut muting all other instruments.
    The number eight alludes to eight transmissions from Bodhidharma to Ma-tsu Tao-i.

6. An allusion to the story of Bodhidharma transmitting his Dharma to his four disciples. After summoning them and hearing each express his attainment, Bodhidharma said to one, “You have my skin”; to another, “You have my flesh”; to a third, “You have my bones”; and to Hui-k’o, who became his successor, he said, “You have my marrow.” According to legend, Bodhidharma was buried at Bear’s Ears Mountain (Hsiung-erh shan).

7. The “old nag” is Ma-tsu (the name is literally “Horse Patriarch”), an heir of Nan-yüeh Huai-jang seven generations after Bodhidharma. Hui-neng, the Sixth Chinese Patriarch, told Nan-yüeh that the Indian patriarch Prajnatara had predicted that Nan-yüeh would produce a spirited young horse who would trample the world into dust. Five Lamps, ch. 3.

8. Yen-t’ou Ch’üan-huo taught people while working as a ferryman at the Ta-i Ford after he had been forced to return to lay status during a government suppression of Buddhism.

9. “Elephant Bones” (Hsiang-ku) was a name used for Mount Hsüeh-feng in present Fukien province; here it refers to Hsüeh-feng I-ts’un, who resided there.
“Mount Lo” is master Lo-shan Tao-hsien; “Mount Su” is Su-shan Kuang-jen. “Yellow bell” and “great harmony” are names of two primary tones on the Chinese musical scale; they are used figuratively to indicate matters of elemental significance.

10. Kuang-t’ai yüan was the name of Yün-men’s temple on Mount Yün-men in Kuang-nan (modern Kwangtung). The “eighty bodies” presumably refers to his Dharma heirs, and “countless others” to those who studied with him (he was said to have had over a thousand students) without receiving his formal certification.

11. Tung-shan Hsiao-ts’ung and Hsüeh-tou Ch’ung-hsien (co-author of The Blue Cliff Record), both of the Yün-men line.

12. The “iron lion” is Fen-yang Shan-chao, the teacher of Tz’u-ming Ch’u-yüan. The “straw dog” refers to Tzu-hu Li-tsung. Tzu-hu told people, “There’s a dog around here with the head and the heart and the feet of a man.” When people asked him about it, he went “Woof! Woof!”

13.  Wu-tsu Fa-yen was born to the Teng family of Pa-hsi in Mien-chou, modern Szechwan. He practiced under Po-yün Shou-tuan (Po-yün means “white cloud”), eventually succeeding him. He lived for a time at Broken-head Peak (P’o-t’ou shan) at Mount Huang-mei. He spent his later years at Tung-shan (Eastern Mountain), in modern Hupeh.
    The “three buddhas” are Wu-tsu Fa-yen’s disciples Fo-yen T’uan-yü, Fo-chien Hui-ch’in, and Zen master Fo-kuo (the honorary title of Yüan-wu K’o-ch’in), whose names begin with the character for “buddha.”
    The “quiet man” is Ta-sui Nan-t’ang, another of Wu-tsu’s disciples, whose honorary title, Yüan-ching, contains the character for “quiet.”

14.  Ta-hui Tsung-kao lived for a period at Heng-yang, in modern Hunan. Fo-chien is the honorary title of Wu-chun Shih-fan.
    The words Dragon Pool (Lung-yüan) were inscribed on a plaque in Fochien’s chambers at his temple on Mount Ching.
    “Tiger Hill” (Hu-ch’iu) is Hu-ch’iu Shao-lung. “Yellow Dragon” (Huang-lung) is Huang-lung Hui-nan.

15. Ying-an T’an-hua was a Dharma heir of Hu-ch’iu Shao-lung; Mi-an, an heir of Ying-an; Sung-yüan Ch’ung-yüeh, an heir of Mi-an; and Yün-an P’u-yen, an heir of Sung-yüan.

16. Hsi-keng (Hsü-t’ang Chih-yü) was a native of Ssu-ming in present-day Chekiang province and received the transmission from Yün-an P’u-yen. He achieved enlightenment while working on the koan Su-shan’s Memorial Tower, in which Su-shan says, “On Ta-yü Peak is an old buddha who emits dazzling shafts of light” (the full text of the koan is given in Isshu Miura and Ruth F. Sasaki’s Zen Koan (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1968), p. 60. Hsü-t’ang served at ten different temples during his career.

17. This is based on words in a prophecy that Bodhidharma’s teacher Prajna-tara made when Bodhidharma was about to leave India for China. The golden cock was startled to learn that now Daiō was taking the Dharma transmission to Japan; the jade tortoise was sad because he was not there to carry Daiō over the seas on this important mission. See Tokiwa Gishin, Hakuin (Tokyo, Chūokōron-sha, 1988), p. 67.

18.  “Recumbent Mountain” translates Ōgaku-zan Sōfuku-ji, the “mountain name” of the Kyūshū Temple considered to be the first Rinzai Zen temple established in Japan. It was founded by Daiō Kokushi on his return after studying with Hsü-t’ang Chih-yü in China. In time, Daiō’s line became the main branch of the Japanese Rinzai school.
    “Purple Fields” (Murasakino) refers to the Daitoku-ji Temple, founded by Daiō’s heir Daitō, and located in the Murasakino district of Kyoto.
    “Deer darting by” alludes to the teaching style of the Chinese priest Wu-hsüeh Tsu-yüan. Wu-hsüeh was invited to Japan by Regent Hōjō Tokimune, who built the Engaku-ji Temple for him in Kamakura; at the opening ceremony a herd of deer ran through the temple precincts. It was taken as an auspicious sign, and the temple was given the “mountain name” Zuiroku-zan (“Auspicious Deer Mountain”). See Records of the Lamp of the Empō Era. ch. 2.
    The “bright pearl” refers to the Shinju-an (“Pearl Hermitage”) subtemple of Daitoku-ji, and by extension to its founder Ikkyū Sōjun.

19.  “Flower Fields” (Hanazono) refers to the Myōshin-ji Temple in Kyoto, which was established by Emperor Hanazono for Kanzan Egen, one of Daitō Kokushi’s disciples.
    The “eight sounds” refers to eight kinds of musical instruments: bell, drum, wind, etc.
    The “four pillars” are the four disciples of Sekkō Sōshin, the priest credited with restoring Myōshin-ji after its destruction in the Ōnin War (1467). These four disciples—Keisen Sōryū (1425–1500), Gokei Sōton (1416–1500), Tokuhō Zenketsu (1419–1506), and Tōyō Eichō (1428–1504)—founded the four main branches of the Myōshin-ji school. Hakuin was affiliated to the branch founded by Tōyō Eichō.

20. None of these three priests has any known connection with the Pure Land teaching. Hakuin’s reason for naming them here is unclear.

21. This reference is based on a verse by Yüan-wu K’o-ch’in: “Worship the Sixth Patriarch, an authentic old buddha who manifested himself in the human world as a ‘good teacher’ for eighty lifetimes in order to help others.” Tōrei Enji’s Snake Legs for the Kaien-fusetsu, p. 21 verso.

22. Sutra of Meditation on the Buddha of Boundless Life is one of the principal texts of the Pure Land tradition.

23. The identification of Rushana Buddha (signifying Illuminating) with the Sambhoga-kaya, distinguishing him from Birushana (Vairochana, the central Buddha of The Flower Garland Sutra), who is the Dharma-kaya, and from Shakyamuni (the Illuminated, or Enlightened One), the Nirmanakaya, is a doctrine of the T’ien-t’ai school.

26. Quoted from the sutra’s second chapter (“Distinguishing the Three Buddha-bodies”).

27. The six “dusts” (Sanskrit, guna), or objects of perception (corresponding to the six sense organs): color and form, odor, taste, sound, tactile objects, and mental objects.

28. According to The Meditation Sutra, to be assured of rebirth in the Pure Land, a practicer of the nembutsu must attain the “triple mind” (sanshin), the mind of perfect sincerity, the mind that deeply desires rebirth, and the mind that vows to turn its merits to benefit others; and the “fourfold practice” (shishu), to practice nembutsu alone, constantly, with reverence, and for an entire lifetime.

29. A saying found in Yung-ming Yen-shou’s Records of the Mirror Source. Yen-shou favored the combining of Zen and Pure Land practices. Wings would make a tiger even more formidable.

30. Old Clam (Rō-rakō) was a pseudonym used by the Sōtō priest Tenkei Denson, 1648–1735. He served as abbot at several temples in the Naniwa (Ōsaka) area. Shellfish were said to sleep for a thousand years; buddhas appear only rarely in the world.

31. This quotation is found in Tenkei’s commentary on The Platform Sutra, A Drop of Sea Water for the Platform Sutra, ch. 3. Zengaku Taikei, soshibu 1 (Tokyo, 1911), p. 68.

32. Mineo Daikyū attributes this to Tenkei. Kaienfusetsu-kōwa (Chūobukkyōsha, Tokyo, 1934), p. 243.

33. An annotation Hakuin inscribed in his copy of the Kaien-fusetsu identifies this person as a “priest of the Saigan-ji Temple, a Jōdo (Pure Land) temple in the village of Negoya, near the Hara post-station” (where Hakuin’s own temple, Shōin-ji, was located).

34. Tu-chan Hsing-ying, a Chinese priest of the Ōbaku Zen sect. The Shozan (Hatsuyama) Hōrin-ji is a temple he founded in present Shizuoka prefecture.

35. The Sixth Patriarch is answering a questioner who wants to know if invoking the name of Amida Buddha will enable the caller to be born in Amida Buddha’s Pure Land in the West. The ten evil acts are killing, stealing, adultery, lying, duplicity of speech, coarse language, idle talk,greed, anger, and false views. The eight false acts are ones that run counter to the eightfold holy path, which is right views, thoughts, speech, acts, living, effort, mindfulness, and meditation.

36. Although frequently attacked in Hakuin’s writings, Yün-ch’i Chu-hung is regarded in China as one of the most eminent priests of the Ming period. His commentary on The Amida Sutra (A-mi-t’o ching su-ch’ao) is one of his most important works.

37. In two of the three principal Pure Land sutras, The Amida Sutra and The Larger Sutra of Boundless Life, Amida Buddha’s Pure Land is said to lie to the west, distant by millions upon millions of buddha-lands. The third, The Meditation Sutra, contains the statement that the Pure Land is “not far from here.”

39. One of the vows made by Amida Buddha as given in The Larger Sutra of Boundless Life states that at the moment of death Amida Buddha will appear before all those who have heard his name and meditated upon him and conduct them to his Pure Land.

40. Hui-neng received the Zen transmission from the Fifth Patriarch Hung-jen at the latter’s temple on Mount Huang-mei, in modern Hupeh.

41. The priest Ch’ang-sha Ching-ts’en declared that “the world in all ten directions is the eye of the Zen monk.” A monk asked, “What is the eye of the Zen monk?” “Nothing ever leaves it,” said the master. Records of the Lamp, ch. 10.

42. The Shining Land of Lapis Lazuli in the East is the buddha-land of Yakushi, the Healing Buddha (Bhaishajyaguru). The Immaculate Land of Purity in the South is a buddha-land mentioned in The Lotus Sutra.

43. The Meditation Sutra divides aspirants for birth in the Pure Land into nine ranks according to their capacities, beginning with those of the “highest rank of the highest birth.”

44. Han-tan, a poor scholar on his way to take the imperial examinations, stopped and took a nap. He dreamed he passed the examinations with flying colors and had an illustrious career. When he woke up, he realized that life is an empty dream, and returned home.

45. The Sixth Patriarch was said to be a poor, unlettered peasant from the backward, southern part of the country.

46. The author of the commentary is given as Eikijun. It was first published in Kyoto in 1697.

48. Nan-hai Tsung-pao, a Zen priest of the Yüan dynasty, edited a text of The Platform Sutra that was published in 1291. The passage quoted here appears in his postface to that edition.

49. Queen Vaidehi was the wife of Bimbisara, king of Magadha. When her son imprisoned her, the Buddha, out of compassion, appeared in answer to her prayers and taught her how to attain the Pure Land of Amida Buddha. The story forms the basis of The Meditation Sutra.

50. The commentary is by Li Tsung-hsüan of the T’ang dynasty. In it, Li enumerates six “vehicles,” corresponding to the capabilities of sentient beings, by which they can attain “the mind of the Mahayana.” The first two lead to rebirth in the Pure Land, while the sixth and highest vehicle brings instantaneous attainment of buddhahood.

52. The cave near Rajagrha where the first collection of Buddhist sutras is said to have been compiled.

54. Imperial proscriptions of Buddhism were decreed during the Northern Wei (444–446), the Northern Chou (574–577), and the T’ang dynasty (843–845).

55. In this passage Hakuin paraphrases from Bassui Tokushō’s Japanese work Entering the Mud, Entering the Water (Wadeigasui).

56. This paragraph is a loose paraphrase from several works, chiefly The Essay on the Dharma Pulse, in Bodhidharma’s Six Gates.

1. Hakuin continues in these first paragraphs to paraphrase freely from the writings of Bodhidharma (cf. preceding section, fn. 56).

2. The quotation is found in Kao-feng’s Zen records. Hakuin takes it from Model Teachings of the House of Zen.

3. The parable of the priceless jewel, representing the Buddha’s most profound teaching, is from The Lotus Sutra.

4. The Dragon Gates (Lung-men) is a section of the Yellow River where the current flows with tremendous force through a narrow gorge. It is said to have been opened by Emperor Yü (the Great Yü). Carp who fight their way upstream past this “barrier” are said to transform into dragons.

5. The allusion is to a stork that did not perform when its owner’s boasts brought friends to see it.

6. This is from the Leng-yen ching su-chieh meng-ch’ao, compiled by Ch’ia ch’ien-i at the end of the Ming dynasty.

7. From the “Song on Realizing the Way” by Yung-chia Hsüan-chüeh: “See the man who has cut himself free from the way of practice, who is taking it easy with nothing to do, / Neither brushing illusion away nor seeking the truth of enlightenment.”

8. The phrase “reverting to tranquillity, living within it” (tannyū gōtan), from the Shurangama Sutra, describes the attainment of a state of tranquillity that, because attachment remains, is still incomplete. Ta-hui’s Letters. Araki Kengo, Daie-sho (Chikuma-shobō, Tokyo, 1969), p. 27.

10. Of the eight consciousnesses posited by the Yogachara school, the eighth, Alaya or storehouse consciousness, located below the realm of conscious awareness, is the deepest ground of the self and the source of the first seven consciousnesses, which are produced from “seeds” stored within it. As the condition of illusion in those not fully awakened, it is regarded as that which undergoes birth and death. Hakuin refers to students who have attained a state of tranquillity and attach to it in the belief it is ultimate, describing them as “nesting” within the “dark cave of the eighth consciousness.” When this “dark cave” is completely “overturned,” or “inverted,” it transforms into the so-called Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom (Daienkyōchi), which is free of all defiling illusion and reflects things as they truly are. The “Fivefold Eye” (Go-gen) enables vision and insight of every kind: of the human eye, Deva eye, wisdom eye, Dharma eye, and buddha eye.

11. According to tradition, Shakyamuni preached The Flower Garland Sutra, containing the essence of his attainment, immediately after his enlightenment. Upon finding it was beyond the ability of ordinary people to comprehend, he resolved to refrain from further teaching, but he later reconsidered and accommodated his preaching to make it more accessible. In The Blue Cliff Record (Case 6), Yüan-wu K’o-ch’in describes the Buddha divesting himself of a sublime robe covered with precious (Dharma) gems far beyond the ability of ordinary mortals to appreciate, and donning common garments to preach within the defiled world.

12. The reference is to the twenty-four Zen priests, fourteen Chinese and ten Japanese, regarded as having introduced separate teaching lines into Japan during this 150-year period. The Divine Mulberry and Dragonfly Provinces are poetical references to Japan.

13. This statement is similar to the words the Sixth Patriarch spoke when he transmitted his Dharma to his disciple Nan-yüeh Huai-jang.

14. Here Hakuin has translated into Chinese, and paraphrased, a Japanese waka poem attributed to Daitō Kokushi.

15. Ta-hui Tsung-kao (a disciple of Yüan-wu) identifies the book in question as the Zen records of Hsin-ching K’o-wen. See Tokiwa, Hakuin, p. 285.

16. One day, speaking to his assembly, Yüan-wu said, “When a monk asked Yün-men, ‘Where do all the buddhas come from?’ Yün-men replied, ‘The Eastern Mountain walks over the water.’ But not me . . . I would say, ‘A fragrant breeze comes of itself from the south, and in the palace pavilion a refreshing coolness stirs.’” The Zen Koan, pp. 163–64. At these words, Ta-hui, “his entire body running with sweat,” suddenly attained enlightenment, and “distinctions of past, present, and future ceased to exist.” Five Lamps, ch. 15.

17. Seeing that Ta-hui had become attached to his enlightenment, Yüan-wu appointed him as a special attendant, freeing him from all duties, so he was able to go to Yüan-wu’s chambers for personal instruction three or four times daily. Each time, Yüan-wu would quote a Zen saying by T’ang master Ch’ang-ch’ing Ta-an: “Being and nonbeing is like a wisteria vine wrapped around a tree,” and ask, “What does that mean?” Whatever Ta-hui said or did, Yüan-wu would immediately declare, “That’s not it!” Six months later, at a total impasse, Ta-hui asked Yüan-wu, “When you were with your master Fa-yen, I understand you asked him that same question. What did he say?” At first Yüan-wu just laughed, but finally he told Ta-hui, “He said, ‘No depiction could do justice to it.’ Then I asked, ‘What happens when the tree falls and the wisteria withers?’ He said, ‘The same thing happens.’” When Ta-hui heard those words, he was finally enlightened.

19. Nan-ch’üan P’u-yüan, living by himself in a small hut, was visited by a monk. Nan-ch’üan told the monk he had work to do up the mountain and asked him to bring some food to him at mealtime. When the monk didn’t show up, Nan-ch’üan returned and found the cooking vessels smashed and the monk fast asleep. Thereupon he took a nap himself, and when he woke up, the monk was gone. In later years, Nan-ch’üan said, “Back when I was living by myself, I had a visit from a splendid monk. I’ve never seen him since.”
Tokiwa suggests a possible connection between Wan-an Tao-yen’s verse comment and the following story. A laywoman was studying with Ta-hui while Wan-an was head monk at Ta-hui’s temple. Over Wan-an’s objections, Ta-hui allowed the woman to stay in the monk’s quarters, on the grounds that “she was no ordinary woman.” Finally, at Ta-hui’s insistence, Wan-an went to talk with her. She asked if he wished a worldly encounter or a spiritual one. He indicated the latter, but when he entered her room, he found her lying flat on her back, completely naked. “What kind of place is that? said Wan-an, pointing at her. “The place whence all the buddhas of the Three Worlds, all six Zen patriarchs, and all the venerable priests in the land have emerged,” she replied. “Would you allow meto enter?” he asked. “It isn’t a place donkeys and horses can go,” she said. Wan-an was unable to reply. “The meeting is over,” she said, turning her back to him. “Hakuin zenji Sokkō-roku kuien-fusetsu o yonde,” Annual Reports of Researches of Matsugaoka Bunko, no. 4, 1990, pp. 105–7.

20. 1. What is the Way? A clear-eyed man falls into a well.
2. What is the blown-hair sword? Each branch on the coral holds up the moon.
3. A monk asked Pa-ling, “What is the school of Devadatta?” He replied, “Filling a silver bowl with snow.” Blue Cliff Record, Case 13.

21. This paragraph and the next two consist of three separate passages taken from different parts of The Blue Cliff Record: the first paragraph is from Yüan-wu’s introductory statement in Case 77 (except for Hakuin’s own comment, “What a pitiful sight!”); the second paragraph is from Case 77; the third paragraph is from Case 53.

22. The story of Nan-ch’üan’s death is a famous nantō (“difficult-to-pass”) koan. When Nan-ch’üan was about to die, the head monk asked him where he would be a hundred years hence. “A water buffalo at the foot of the hill,” he answered. “Do you mind if I follow you?” asked the monk. “If you do,” replied Nan-ch’üan, “you must hold a stalk of grass in your mouth.”

23. When Hui-neng was nearing death, Shih-t’ou, then a novice monk, came and asked him where he should continue his study. Hui-neng answered, “Investigate thoroughly.” Ch’ang-sha’s reply, “Investigate him thoroughly,” parallels Hui-neng’s answer.

24. “Relics” are tiny gemlike fragments, said to be of such hardness that they are virtually indestructible, that are found among the ashes of a person of exceptional virtue after the body has been cremated.

25. The full quotation is: “Within heaven and earth, in the midst of the universe, there is here a precious jewel lying hidden inside a mountain of form.” The Treatise was attributed to the Chinese scholar-monk Seng-chao, 374–414.

26. The quotation is from The Mountain Hermitage Miscellany, a Ming dynasty collection of Zen anecdotes by Shu-chung Wu-yün, 1309–1386.

29. A monk asked Ta-sui Fa-chen, “When the world-ending kalpa fire comes and everything is consumed in the conflagration, will ‘this’ too be destroyed?” “Yes, destroyed,” replied Ta-sui. “Then does ‘it’ go along with the rest?” asked the monk. “‘It’ goes along,” replied Ta-sui. Blue Cliff Record, Case 29.

31. The Central Asian monk Seng-ch’ieh (628–710) lived in Ssu-chou (Chiang-su province), helping those in need and always carrying a willow branch in his hand. When people asked, “What is your name?” he answered, “My name is what.” When they asked, “What land are you from?” he said, “I’m from what land.” He became known as the Great Sage of Ssu-chou (Ssu-chou Ta-sheng), and was revered as an incarnation of the Bodhisattva Kannon.

32. Tokiwa interprets this differently. His Japanese translation reads, “A gentleman loves his wealth, but there is always a way to get it away from him.” Hakuin, p. 140.

34. The material in this passage comes from Praise of the Five Schools, ch. 2.

35. Kao-an Shan-wu was an heir of Fo-yen Ch’ing-yüan (see the previous two paragraphs) who, like Yüan-wu, belonged to the line of Wu-tsu Fa-yen.

36. East Mountain (Tung-shan) is another name for Mount Wu-tsu (Wu-tsu shan) where Fa-yen lived.

37. This is from The Records of Hsi-keng (Hsü-t’ang Chih-yü). Hsü-t’ang’s words continue, “When it is true, neither gods nor demons can penetrate its reason. When it prospers, they are quickly jealous of its good fortune.” Kokuyaku zenshū sōsho II, vol. 6, p. 369.

1. The following episode is based largely on an account found in the supplement to The Biographies of Monks of the Zen Groves.

2. Tung-shan Shou-ch’u went to study with Zen master Yün-men. Yün-men asked where he came from. “From the Ch’a crossing,” he said. “Where were you for the summer retreat?” asked Yün-men. “Pao-tz’u-ssu Temple in Hunan,” he replied. “When did you leave?” he asked. “On the twenty-fifth of the eighth month,” he said. “I’m going to spare you the three beatings you’ve earned,” said Yün-men. That night, Shou-ch’u went to Yün-men’s chambers and asked what he had done to deserve a beating. “You worthless rice bag,” said Yün-men. “Going off like that, west of the river, and south of the lake.” With this, Shou-ch’u attained great enlightenment.

3. A monk on his way to Mount Wu-t’ai asked an old woman he met by the side of the road, “Which is the way to Wu-t’ai?” “Right straight ahead,” she replied. As the monk was about to walk on, she said, “Another one fell for it.” When master Chao-chou heard about this, he immediately went to the place himself and asked her, “Which way is it to Wu-t’ai?” “Right straight ahead,” she replied. As he was about to walk on, she said, ”There goes another one.” Chao-chou returned to the temple, told his monks what had happened, and said, “Today, I saw right through that old woman.” From The Five Lamps, ch. 4.

4. At this point Hakuin breaks off the dialogue between Hsin-ching and Shang-lan and inserts a separate dialogue between Po-chang Huai-hai and his monks. This continues for five paragraphs, followed by a paragraph of comments by Hakuin; then the interrupted story is resumed.

5. When Lin-chi was studying with Huang-po, he asked him three times about the meaning of the Buddhadharma, and each time Huang-po struck him. Po-yün Shou-tuan’s verse comment is: “With one blow, he demolishes the Yellow Crane Tower; / With one kick, he turns Parrot Island on its back. / When the spirit is there, fuel it with more spirit. / Where there is no elegance, there too is elegance.” The first two lines are taken from a celebrated verse by the poet Ts’uei Hao.

6. Hakuin includes this koan, Po-yün’s ‘Not Yet There,’ among the nantō koans.

8. Nan-yang Hui-chung was a disciple of the Sixth Patriarch who lived on Mount Po-ai in Nan-yang for forty years. He lectured before emperors Su-tsung and Tai-tsung, and received from the latter the honorary title “National Master.” The koan Hui-chung’s Seamless (Memorial) Tower is Case 18 in The Blue Cliff Record.

9. “A man of Chi lived with his wife and concubine. Whenever he went out, he returned full of food and drink, telling his inquiring wife and concubine that he had dined with men of wealth and consequence. But they were suspicious, since no people of distinction ever came to their house. One day, the wife followed him. He led her throughout the city, arriving at last at the graveyard at the outskirts of the city. There he began begging leftovers from the parties of people who were offering sacrifices to the dead. When the wife returned home, she said to the concubine, “We looked up to our husband in hopeful contemplation. We cast our lot with him for life; and now these are his ways!” Mencius, IV, 33. Adapted from Legge’s translation.

10. This account of Tou-shuai’s meeting with Ch’ing-su begins a long section that Hakuin splices together from accounts in a number of different works. His main source is Rustic Records from Lo-hu (ch. 2), a twelfth century collection of Zen anecdotes with comments by the compiler Shuchung Wu-yün.

12. The appraisal of Chüeh-fan and Layman Wu-chin that appears in these two paragraphs, though it is not mentioned in the text, is by Shu-chung Wu-yün, in Rustic Records, ch. 2.

13.  The encounter between Po-chang and Ma-tsu forms Case 53 of The Blue Cliff Record, “Po-chang’s Wild Ducks.”
    The story of Lin-chi and Huang-po is found in the “pilgrimage” section of The Records of Lin-chi. The phrase “loses his country” appears in The Blue Cliff Record, Case 61: “If you set up even one mote of dust, the country flourishes. If you do not set up one mote of dust, the country perishes.”
    Feng-hsüeh’s meeting with Nan-yüan is given in Yüan-wu’s commentary on Case 38 of The Blue Cliff Record.
    Once Hsüeh-feng and Yen-t’ou were snowed in together in a mountain temple. While Yen-t’ou slept, Hsüeh-feng devoted himself conscientiously to zazen. Hsüeh-feng complained about making no progress despite all his effort. Yen-t’ou suggested that he sleep too. Hsüeh-feng replied that he couldn’t because his mind was still not at rest. Yen-t’ou gave a loud “Khat!” and Hsüeh-feng was enlightened. Cf. Five Lamps, ch. 7.
    Yün-men visited Mu-chou and repeatedly asked for his teaching, but Mu-chou just turned him away. Yün-men finally managed to slip inside Mu-chou’s hermitage but was discovered by Mu-chou, who thereupon demanded that Yün-men say something. As Yün-men was about to speak, the master shoved him out of the room, slamming the door on him and breaking one of his legs. With that, Yün-men was enlightened. Blue Cliff Record, Case 6.
    Chih-kuan’s story appears in the text; see earlier in chapter 5.

The first two years Tz’u-ming studied with Fen-yang, Fen-yang refused to allow him in his chambers, berated him whenever he saw him, and gave him only the most elementary teachings. When Tz’u-ming finally complained that he wasn’t making any progress, Fen-yang began scolding him angrily. He raised his staff and drove Tz’u-ming backward. Tz’u-ming threw up his arms to ward off the blows, and as he did, Fen-yang suddenly covered Tz’u-ming’s mouth with his hand. With that, Tz’u-ming was enlightened. Five Lamps, ch. 12.
    Ts’ui-yen K’e-hsin was an heir of Tz’u-ming. As a young monk with an inflated opinion of his attainment, he attended a summer retreat with an attendant named Shan. One day, the two monks were walking down a mountain path engaged in conversation. Shan picked up a broken tile, placed it on top of a large rock, and said, “If you can utter a ‘turning phrase’ right now, I’ll know you really studied with Master Tz’u-ming.” Ts’ui-yen couldn’t make any response. Five Lamps, ch. 12.
    A high official named Chang came to Wu-tsu Fa-yen’s temple to ask about Zen. Fa-yen said, “As a young man, did you ever read a love poem about a beautiful woman with the verse, ‘She calls constantly for her servant Little Jade, but doesn’t really need her; She calls because she wants her lover to hear her voice’? Those lines are very close to Zen.” “I know the lines,” said Chang. “Concentrate on them single-mindedly,” said Fa-yen.
    Fa-yen’s disciple Yüan-wu, who had heard all this, later asked Fa-yen, “Do you think he understood that poem?” “He only got the part about the calling,” said Fa-yen. When Yüan-wu asked what Chang had failed to understand, Fa-yen said, “What is the meaning of the First Patriarch’s coming from the West? The Cypress Tree in the Garden. See!!!” With that, Yüan-wu experienced enlightenment. Five Lamps, ch. 19.
    Ta-yüan’s (senior monk Fu’s) story appears in Five Lamps, ch. 7.
    Ta-hui was enlightened upon hearing his teacher Yüan-wu say, “A fragrant breeze comes of itself from the south, and in the palace pavilion a refreshing coolness stirs.” See chapter 4, note 16.

14. A reference to Shakyamuni’s enlightenment, said to have occurred when he looked up and saw the morning star.

15. A verse comment in The Blue Cliff Record, Case 20.

16. There is no “Year of the Ass”; hence, never.

17. Hsi-keng (Hsü-t’ang) attained enlightenment while working on the koan The Old Sail Not Yet Raised: A monk asked Yen-t’ou, “What about when the old sail is not yet raised?” “Little fish swallow big fish,” he replied. “What about after it’s raised?” the monk asked. Yen-t’ou answered, “A donkey eats grass in the garden out back.” Hsü-t’ang went to the chambers of his teacher Yün-an P’u-yen to inform him of his breakthrough. The moment he entered the door, the master could tell he had penetrated the koan, but instead of asking him about it, he asked him about another koan, Nan-ch’üan Kills the Cat. Hsü-t’ang replied immediately, “There’s nowhere on earth to put it.” Yün-an smiled, confirming Hsü-t’ang’s understanding. For about a half year after that, Hsü-t’ang’s mind was still not at peace, and when he engaged others in dialogue, he did not feel free. He left Yün-an and worked for four years on Su-shan’s Memorial Tower. One day he suddenly grasped “the point at which the old Buddha on Ta-yü Peak emits shafts of dazzling light” (a phrase that appears in that koan). From then on, he was perfectly free, and his great pride that had made him despise other students vanished. Now, when he looked at koans he had previously penetrated, his understanding of them was altogether different, and he realized clearly that it had nothing at all to do with words. Records of Hsü-t’ang, ch. 4. For the koan Su-shan’s Memorial Tower, see The Zen Koan, p. 60.

18. Daitō Kokushi was founder of the Daitoku-ji Temple in Kyoto and the chief heir of Daiō Kokushi, who had attained enlightenment while studying in China under Hsü-t’ang. Hakuin quotes from the “turning words” that Daito used to teach his students: “In the morning our eyebrows meet. We brush shoulders in the evening. What am I like? The temple pillars come and go all day long. Why don’t I move? If you can penetrate these turning phrases, the matter for which you have devoted yourselves to a life of practice is completed.” The Everyday Sayings and Doings of Daito Kokushi.

19. Kanzan Egen, the chief heir of Daito Kokushi and the founder of Myoshin-ji in Kyoto. Chao-chou’s Cypress Tree in the Garden is Case 37 in The Gateless Barrier.

20. These words appear in a verse Hsu-t’ang gave Nampo (later Daio Kokushi) when the latter was about to return home to Japan (see the introduction): “He visited Zen teachers, practiced with great devotion; Where the path came to an end, he kept on going [or, His search at an end, he returns to his homeland]; / Clearly, Jomyo preaches together with old Hsu-t’ang; / My descendants will increase daily beyond the Eastern Sea.” From The Records of Daio; also Records of the Lamp from the Empo Era, ch. 3.