CHAPTER 11

Understanding Some Important Technical Terms

Public Cases

In the Zen records of sayings, stories from the history of the school are called kung-an, or public cases. The use of the term "study cases" by the Sung dynasty neo-Confucians was also derived from this. Zen masters from the Sung dynasty on had an expression "raising the ancient," which referred to the practice of taking up a story of the quest, enlightenment, or teaching method of one of the ancient Zen masters, and using it as material for explanation, discussion, investigation, or for stimulating doubt. This has a meaning similar to the expression "discussing the ancient" used in modern Chinese agricultural society. There is also an expression "versifying the ancient," which means taking up the essential point of an old public case and composing a critical or laudatory verse on it in order to resolve the doubts of students, as seen in the following examples.

Here is a verse on a public case of the sixth patriarch, composed by Zen Master Huang-lung Ssu-hsin Wu-hsin:

The sixth patriarch was not a great man back then
When he had somebody write that gibberish on the wall.
Clearly he had a verse saying there is no thing;
Yet he received the other's single bowl.

Here is a comment by Zen Master Ta-hui Tsung-kao on Huang-lung's verse regarding the case of the sixth patriarch:

Tell me, is the bowl a thing or not? If you say it is a thing, then old Ssu-hsin is not a great man either. If you say it is not a thing, what can you do about the bowl?

Here is a verse by Master Hsiu-shan on the sixth patriarch's case of the wind and the pennant:

When the wind blows, the mind moves the trees;
When clouds arise, essence rouses dust.
If you understand today's affair,
You obscure the original human being.

The Sharp Point of Potential

The sharp point of potential in Zen is a favorite topic among those who talk about and lecture on Zen studies. In reality, the cause of hindrance to the life of wisdom in Zen, and the reason why study of Zen can easily get into vain sidetracks, is precisely the error of later people in being too fond of the sharp point of potential.

The sixth patriarch was originally the first to show hints of the sharp point of potential; then it was transformed in the hands of the Masters Ma-tsu Tao-i, Pai-chang, Huang-po, and Lin-chi, becoming intensified and forming the newest and most outstanding teaching method in the T'ang and Sung dynasties. Buddhism originally had a technical term known as "corresponding to potential," which referred to a basic principle of teaching method.

The word "potential" in Buddhism has several meanings in the context of teaching method, including the student's natural endowments and power of learning, as well as the spontaneous opportunities that arise in daily life which can be employed to help a student awaken. The expression "corresponding to potential" refers to a basic principle of teaching method that must be taken seriously by anyone who is working as a teacher.

In the hands of the Zen masters, who brought forth the living application of Zen whenever they lectured and taught, the methods and sayings they used to open up the insight of students were all like marvelous pearls rolling in a dish, a sight totally unique and unlike anything else in the world. These were the sharp points of potential. This simile also sums up the quintessential meaning of both the sharp points of potential and pivotal sayings used by Zen masters since the T'ang and Sung dynasties, including the operation of the Zen teaching method wherein there is a sense of swiftness and sharpness, like the tip of an arrow, and a sense of the Taoist butcher cutting up oxen without holding the concept of a full grown ox in his mind. And this also happens to be like the function of the teaching method spoken of by Confucius in these terms: "If not aroused, they do not awaken; if not dumbstruck, they do not open up."

If we view the context of question-and-answer dialogues in terms of the operation of points of potential, sometimes it is explaining something wrong in such a way as to make it right, or explaining something right in such a way as to show how it is wrong. Sometimes it is expressing agreement, sometimes it is expressing denial. It never follows any fixed rule, but whatever it may be, the purpose is to test students' perception and realization, and to arouse their doubts in such a way as to induce them to seek on their own, awaken on their own, and reach agreement on their own.

Because of this, the sharp points of potential and the pivotal sayings of the Zen masters often may be thoroughly unexpected and unthinkable by ordinary convention, even cryptic or humorous, with an endless potential of application to various situations. But they are all situational responses and never prefabrications; every word flows from natural reality. Their operation is all in the representation of the speech, silence, or action of a given time and place; it does not mean that people studying Zen must always and everywhere be engrossed in points of potential and subtle sayings.

From the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties onward, Zen degenerated. Often there were religious transmissions by phony Zen masters who would first make up a verse-like canto, expressing sharpness of wit, to use as a fetish in religious transmission. Some would even request a specialist to compose such cantos for them to recite which they had put down as records of their own sayings to be transmitted to later generations. That such fondness for fame should even reach beyond conventional society is extremely lamentable.

But nowadays people who study Zen all take the subtle usages of sharp points of potential and pivotal sayings to be the heart of Zen. They talk about the stories and sharp wits of the ancient Zen masters and even claim that the essence of Zen is represented entirely therein. Is this not a matter for regret? The Sung dynasty Zen Master Hsueh-tou Ch'ung-hsien had already composed some verses criticizing students who became attached to Zen in this way:

A rabbit lies across an ancient road;
A hawk sees it at a glance and captures it alive.
What a pity the hunting dog is not too keen;
All it does is sniff around a withered tree stump.

Decrepit old Yun-men sails an iron boat;
South of the river and north of the river, they struggle to see.
What a pity so many people casting their hooks
Stand there in rows absentminded, losing their fishing rods.

Spinning like jades and pearls, the words of Buddhas and Masters;
Even to understand thoroughly defiles the field of mind.
Old Lu only knows how to keep on polishing rice;
How could that fashion be transmitted through the ages?

(In the poem, Yun-men was a Sung dynasty master, Yun-men Wen-yen. "Old Lu" refers to the sixth patriarch of Zen, whose lay surname was Lu.)

Example One: An Ordinary Sharp Point of Potential

When Zen Master Fa-ch'ang of Mount Ta-mei first called on Ma-tsu, he asked, "What is Buddha?" Ma-tsu replied, "Mind is Buddha," whereupon the master was greatly enlightened. During the Teng-yuan era of the T'ang dynasty (785-804) he lived on Mount Ta-mei (Giant Apricot Mountain). During that time a monk from the community of Zen Master Yen-kuan, who had gone into the mountains to cut a staff, lost his way and came upon Master Fa-ch'ang's hut.

The monk asked the master, "How long have you been living on this mountain?"

The master replied, "I only see the surrounding mountains become green and then yellow."

The monk then asked, "Which way is the path out of the mountains?"

The master answered, "Along with the flow."

When the monk got back, he told Yen-kuan about this. Yen-kuan mused, "When I was in Kiangsi I once saw a certain monk, but I have never heard what became of him since. I wonder if that's who it is." The upshot of it was that he had the monk go invite the master to come out of the mountains, but the master composed a verse saying,

A broken down withered tree stays in a cold forest;
How many times has it met the spring without a change of heart?
Even the woodcutters that come across it pay no attention;
Why should a plasterer bother to search it out?

When Ma-tsu heard that the master was living on the mountain, he also sent a monk there to ask, "What did you attain when you saw Ma-tsu, that you came to live on this mountain?"

The master replied, "Ma-tsu told me that mind is Buddha, and so I live here."

The monk then said, "Ma-tsu's Buddhism is different these days."

The master asked, "How is it different?"

The monk answered, "Recently he has also been saying 'neither mind nor Buddha.'"

The master responded, "That old fellow never ceases to confuse people. You can have your 'neither mind nor Buddha.' I am only interested in mind being Buddha."

When that monk went back and told Ma-tsu about this, Ma-tsu said, "Everyone, the 'Apricot' is ripe!"

Example Two: Sharp Points of Potential Giving Wordless Teaching, Breaking Down an Inadequate View on the Part of a Student, and Showing How the Manner of Teaching of Two Great Masters Accords Without Contrivance

When Teng-feng was leaving Ma-tsu, Ma-tsu asked him, "Where are you going?"

Teng-feng said, "To Shih-t'ou." (Shih-t'ou was another name of Zen Master Hsi-ch'ien, a colleague of Ma-tsu.)

Ma-tsu warned, "The road of Shih-t'ou is slippery."

Replied Teng-feng, "My acrobatic pole is always with me; I perform wherever I am." Then he left.

As soon as Teng-feng reached Shih-t'ou, he walked around the meditation seat once, shook his staff once, and asked, "What doctrine is this?" Shih-t'ou cried, "Heavens! Heavens!" As a result, Teng-feng was speechless. He returned to Ma-tsu and told him about this.

Ma-tsu advised, "You should go question him again, and when he answers, you should whistle twice." So Teng-feng went again to question Shih-t'ou as before, but Shih-t'ou answered him by whistling twice. Again Teng-feng was speechless. When he went back and told master Ma-tsu, Ma-tsu only said, "I told you the road of Shih-t'ou is slippery!"

Example Three: Sharp Points of Potential Guiding in Accordance with the Situation

Li Ao first saw Zen Master Yao-shan when Li was serving a term as inspector of Lang province. Li noticed the Zen master's teaching and invited the master to call on him many times. But the master never responded, so he went to call on the master himself.

When Li Ao arrived, Yao-shan was holding a scroll of scripture and paid no attention to the government official. The Zen master's attendant then announced, "The governor is here." But Li had an impatient temperament and because he had been ignored, he snapped, "Seeing the face is not as good as hearing the name," and left abruptly.

The Zen master then said, "How can the governor value his ears but demean his eyes?" Hearing this, Li came back and apologized, and then asked, "What is the Way?" Pointing up and down, the master said, "Do you understand?" "No," replied Li. The master responded, "The clouds are in the blue sky, the water's in the pitcher." Li thereupon joyfully bowed to the master, and presented a verse of praise:

He's refined his physical form into one like that of a crane;
Under a stand of a thousand pines, two boxes of scripture.
I come and ask about the Way, he says nothing extra:
"The clouds are in the blue sky, the water's in the pitcher."

Li also asked, "What are discipline, concentration, and insight?" Master Yao-shan answered, "This poor wayfarer has no such excess furniture here." Li could not fathom the inner message of this answer at which the Zen master told him, "Governor, if you wish to preserve this thing, you must stand on the summit of the highest mountain and walk on the bottom of the deepest sea. You cannot even let go of things at home, so your mental energy leaks and drains."

Li later presented another poem, which said,

He's chosen a recondite abode, to suit his rustic feelings;
Throughout the year he sees none off and welcomes none.
Sometimes he ascends directly to the summit of the lone peak;
Cutting through the clouds under the moon, the solitary sound of his whistle.

After the Sung dynasty minister Chang Shang-ying had attained awakening through Zen study, he composed a verse on the story of Li Ao seeing Yao-shan.

The clouds are in the blue sky, the water is in the pitcher.
If the light of the eyes follows the point finger, it falls in a deep pit.
The valley flowers cannot withstand the pain of wind and frost;
How can you talk about walking the floor of the deepest sea?

These three examples elucidate the mode of sharp points of potential used by the Zen masters. There are also many others, too numerous to mention. To sum up, sharp points of potential were an expedient device used by Zen masters to expound reality, a kind of teaching method using situational education. But they are not the message or purpose of Zen at all. They are only a practical methodology that changes according to the time, place, and people, and are not ultimate principles. If people who study Zen concentrate solely on sharp points of potential and pivotal sayings, that is like the Chinese joke about mistakenly taking chicken feathers for the arrow of leadership.

Caning and Shouting

People often associate Zen with caning and shouting, as though caning and shouting were inseparable from Zen. In reality, caning and shouting are just one type of applied teaching method used by the Zen masters as containing the meaning of the educational spirit of the Book of Rites.

In ancient China, hitting was sometimes used in teaching lessons, and this developed into admonitory caning. After Chinese Buddhism had its days of greatest glory through the Zen school, having gone through the structural changes instituted by Ma-tsu and Pai-chang who had founded the communal system where people lived together to cultivate Zen practice, the great Zen masters who had real insight and really applied it in practice would often attract followings of hundreds or even a thousand people of different kinds. As it is said, "Dragons and snakes were mixed up, ordinary people and sages lived together."

Therefore, it was inevitable that things would become mixed up when there were so many people staying together. Because of this, several of the great masters of the T'ang and Sung dynasties liked to keep a Zen staff in their hands, using it as a symbol of leadership, with its authority and good faith. When it was necessary, the staff could also be used as an admonishing cane, in the manner of the ruler carried by schoolteachers forty or fifty years ago. But in reality, a Zen master's cane was not used to hit people all the time; only during periods of problem study was it sometimes used to make a light gesture symbolizing reward or punishment. In the schools of later eras, when people studying Zen with a master would get nailed or put down, this was called "taking a beating." Now when we modern-day folks use the expression "getting nailed," does that mean that there is really a nail that gets hammered in?

As for the famous Zen "shout," this is an exclamation used like the cane to represent a sense of reward or punishment. The "caning and shouting" of Zen came from the fondness of Zen Master Te-shan for using the cane, and the fondness of Zen Master Lin-chi for using the shout. Therefore, in later Zen we find the traditional classic expressions of "the cane of Te-shan, the shout of Lin-chi, the cake of Yun-men, and the tea of Chao-chou."

In sum, caning and shouting were practical applications of a teaching method, in which a light stroke of the cane could represent reward, punishment, or neither reward nor punishment. In later schools they had the terms, but not the reality. Among the older masters I have seen, sometimes when they recognized an error in a student's knowledge or vision, they just laughed at the student without giving any approval or disapproval. Some would just sit there with their eyes closed, remaining silent and giving no answer. These are the relics of caning and shouting. In the past when I ran into this sort of situation, I looked into myself once again, and if I found I was wrong, I let them strike the blow.

This is a most difficult educational method to apply in actual practice. Unless one is a genuine master with highly developed talents and great virtues, there is really no way to carry it out. Therefore, at the height of the great T'ang dynasty, Zen Master Huang-po said, "There are no Zen teachers in all of T'ang China!" Someone asked him how he could say this in view of the fact that there were currently Zen teachers everywhere one went. Huang-po simply replied, "I don't say there is no Zen, just that there are no teachers."

Because of this, Huang-po's approved disciple, Master Lin-chi I-hsuan, who was later to become the founding patriarch of the Lin-chi school of Zen, explained the capacities and conditions necessary for being a Zen master: as he said, "Sometimes I first observe and then act, sometimes I first act and then observe. Sometimes observation and action are simultaneous, sometimes observation and action are not simultaneous. When observation precedes action, the person is still there. When action precedes observation, the phenomenon is still there. When observation and action are simultaneous, they drive off the plowman's ox, take away the hungry man's food, tap the bones and take the marrow, thrusting the needle in sharply. When observation and action are not simultaneous, there are questions and there are answers, it is established who is the guest and it is established who is the host; mixing in the water and joining in the mud, they are used to deal with people according to potential. If one is beyond measure, one will get up and act on it before it is even mentioned. That would be getting somewhere."

Lin-chi also had an explanation for the beating and shouting: "Sometimes I take away the subject but not the object; sometimes I take away the object but not the subject. Sometimes both subject and object are taken away together, and sometimes neither subject nor object are taken away."

Someone asked about taking away the subject but not the object. Lin-chi said, "The warm sun arouses the birth of brocade spread upon the earth; the baby's hair hanging down is white as silk thread."

Someone asked about taking away the object but not the subject. Lin-chi said, "The royal command has already been executed throughout the land; the general outside the borders is freed from the smoke and dust."

Someone asked about taking away both subject and object at once. Lin-chi said, "The whole region has cut off communications and occupies one realm independently."

Someone asked about taking away neither subject nor object. Lin-chi said, "The king goes up into the jeweled throne room; the old peasants sing joyful songs."

Lin-chi also once said, "Sometimes a shout is like a diamond sword. Sometimes a shout is like a crouching lion. Sometimes a shout is like a sounding device. Sometimes a shout is not used as a shout."