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WHAT ALL BUDDHAS and ancestors have maintained and transmitted, person to person, is an old mirror. This is one seeing, one face; one image, one casting [of the bronze mirror]; one practice and one realization. When a barbarian comes, a barbarian appears in eighteen thousand forms. When a Chinese person comes, a Chinese person appears in myriad years in one moment. When the old comes, the old appears. When the new comes, the new appears. When a buddha comes, a buddha appears. When an ancestor comes, an ancestor appears.
Venerable Gayashata, the Eighteenth Ancestor, was a man from Madhya, India. His family name was Uddaka-Ramaputta. His father’s name was Heavenly Canopy, and his mother’s name was Sacred Direction. She had a dream of a great deity looking into a large mirror. Soon she became pregnant, and in seven days she gave birth to Gayashata. At birth Gayashata’s skin was like polished lapis lazuli. Before he was first bathed, he was naturally clean and fragrant. He always liked to be quiet and spoke differently from ordinary children.
He was born together with a clear round mirror. This was extraordinary. “Born together” does not mean that the round mirror came from his mother’s womb. Gayashata was born from his mother’s womb, but at the time of his birth this mirror appeared spontaneously close to Gayashata and became his everyday companion.
This mirror was not ordinary. When the boy approached, the mirror would stand up, as if it were being held by his hands, and reflect his face. When he went away, the mirror would follow him, reflecting his body. When he slept, the mirror would cover him just like a flower canopy. When he sat up, the mirror would be in front of him. Thus, the mirror accompanied the boy in all his activities.
All the buddha teachings from the past, present, and future could be seen in the mirror. Every aspect of heavenly and human affairs was clearly reflected in the mirror. This mirror could reveal any teaching, ancient or current, more clearly than the scriptures. However, when the boy left home and received the precepts, the mirror disappeared. People near and far admired these extraordinary occurrences.
Although this cannot be compared with anything in this Saha World, we should consider whether anything similar can be found in any world. Know that scriptures carved on trees and stones, teachers active in farmlands and villages, yellow paper and red scrolls—these are all round mirrors. How can we regard Gayashata as exceptional?
Once, when Gayashata was traveling, he saw Venerable Sanghanandi and approached him.
Sanghanandi asked him, “What expression do you have at hand?”
Understand that this is not merely a question.
Gayashata said in verse:
All buddhas are a great round mirror.
There is no obscuration inside or out.
Two people have one understanding.
Minds and eyes are alike.
How was the great round mirror of all buddhas born together with Gayashata? From his birth, he brought forward the clarity of the great round mirror. All buddhas equally study and see this mirror. All buddhas are cast images of this mirror.
The great round mirror is beyond wisdom and truth, beyond essence and characteristics. Although there is something called a great round mirror in the teaching of the ten sages and three classes [of bodhisattvas], it is not the same as this great round mirror of all buddhas. Not all buddhas are limited to wisdom. Buddhas have wisdom, but we do not regard wisdom as buddhas. Know that speaking of wisdom is not the ultimate expression of the buddha way.
Even if you see or hear that the great round mirror of all buddhas is born together with you, there is a further teaching. This great round mirror does not belong to this life or another life. It is not a jade mirror, a bronze mirror, a flesh mirror, or a marrow mirror.
Is this verse spoken by the round mirror or by the boy? Even though the boy expounded this four-line verse, he had never studied it in scriptures or with a teacher. He said this by holding up the round mirror. From the time he was an infant he was always looking at this mirror. It seemed that he had this understanding from birth. Was the great round mirror born together with the boy, or was the boy born together with the great round mirror? They must have been born together before and after.
The great round mirror is the power of all buddhas. There is no obscuration inside or out means that there is no inside other than outside, and no outside that has any obscuration inside. This mirror has no front or back.
As for two people have one understanding and their minds and eyes are alike, being alike means one person meets another. The image inside has mind, eye, and one understanding. The reflection outside has mind, eye, and one understanding. The bodies, minds, and environs [of the two people] that emerge are alike inside and outside. There is neither self nor other. Two people encounter, two people are alike. Other is called self, self becomes other.
Minds and eyes are alike means the minds are like the minds, the eyes are like the eyes. Being alike is minds and eyes. It is just like saying that both minds and eyes are alike. Minds are alike just as the Third Ancestor [Jianzhi—Mirror Wisdom] or the Sixth Ancestor [Dajian—Great Mirror]. Eye and eye are alike just as the eye of the way is immersed in the eye.
This is the meaning of Gayashata’s words. This is what he presented to Sanghanandi upon meeting him. Take up these words and study the buddha face, ancestor face, of the great round mirror as a family member of the old mirror.
When Huineng, who would later become Zen Master Dajian, [the Sixth Chinese Ancestor, that is] the Thirty-third Ancestor [after Mahakashyapa], was practicing in the dharma assembly of Hongren, the Fifth Ancestor, on Mount Huangmei, he wrote a verse on a wall and presented it to Hongren:
Bodhi is not a tree,
the clear mirror has no stand,
from the beginning there is not a single thing:
In what place can there be dust?
Study these words. People in later times have called Huineng an old buddha. For example, Keqin, Zen Master Yuanwu, said, “Homage to the true Old Buddha of Caoxi.”
Thus, know that the clear mirror Huineng spoke of is from the beginning there is not a single thing: In what place can there be dust? The clear mirror with no stand is the life vein. Investigate it. Everything that is clear is the clear mirror. So it is said, “When brightness comes, meet it with brightness.”
How can there be dust anywhere? So, it is nowhere. Furthermore, in the entire world of the ten directions, is there any dust that is not the mirror? How can dust that is not the mirror stay on the mirror? Know that the whole world is not the dusty world, but is the face of the old mirror.
A monk in the assembly of Nanyue, Great Master Dahui, asked, “When the mirror casts a reflection, where does the light go?”
Nanyue said, “Where has the face before you became a monk gone?”
The monk said, “How come the mirror does not shine after casting a reflection?”
Nanyue said, “Even if it does not shine, there is not a single point of deception at all.”
Nanyue’s words express the realization that whatever is reflected in the mirror forms images. Although the mirror is neither gold nor jade, beyond illumination or reflection, still, it casts reflections—this is the ultimate study of the mirror.
Where does the light go is when the mirror casts a reflection. That means images go to where there are images, and reflections reflect the mirror.
Where has the face before you became a monk gone? illuminates the face by holding up the mirror. At this moment, which face is the face of the self?
Even if it does not shine, there is not a single point of deception means the mirror does not shine and does not deceive. Understand it as “The ocean dries up and yet does not reveal the bottom.” Do not disturb it, do not rattle it.
Still, investigate further: Take up images and cast [create] a mirror. At this very moment, with a hundred thousand myriad illuminations, every point is deception.
Xuefeng, Great Master Zhenjiao, once taught the assembly, “If you want to understand the essential matter, it is like an old mirror I have in myself. When a barbarian comes, a barbarian appears. When a Chinese person comes, a Chinese person appears.”
Xuansha came out and said, “What about the moment when you encounter the emergence of a bright mirror all of a sudden?”
Xuefeng said, “Both the barbarian and the Chinese person disappear.”
Xuansha said, “I have a different understanding.”
Xuefeng said, “How do you understand?”
Xuansha said, “Please ask me a question.”
Xuefeng said, “What about the moment when you encounter the emergence of a bright mirror all of a sudden?”
Xuansha said, “One hundred broken pieces.”
For the moment, investigate the essential matter spoken of by Xuefeng—what is it? For the moment, take a look at Xuefeng’s old mirror. The words like an old mirror I have in myself mean that the mirror is completely boundless and not limited to outside or inside. It is a pearl rolling on a board.
When a barbarian comes, a barbarian appears is [a thorough experience of] one red beard. When a Chinese person comes, a Chinese person appears means that this person has lived [in a civilized land] altogether with the three or five elements since the beginning of time. Xuefeng manifested the Chinese person with the power of the old mirror. Because this Chinese person is not merely a Chinese person, a Chinese person appears. Regarding Xuefeng’s words, Both the barbarian and the Chinese person disappear, I say further that the mirror also disappears.
Regarding Xuansha’s words broken into one hundred pieces, let me say: Now I am demanding of you: Give me back the broken pieces. How can you give me the bright mirror?
The Yellow Emperor had a set of twelve mirrors. According to legend, they were given by the God of Heaven. In another account they were given to the emperor by Guangcheng at Mount Kongdong.
Each mirror was used at each hour of the day, each month of the year, and each year of the twelve-year cycle.
It is said that these mirrors were the scriptures of Guangcheng, who taught the emperor that these mirrors represented the twelve hours of the day and so on, and that the emperor should use these mirrors to reflect on past and present.
If the twelve hours are not mirrors, how can one reflect on past and present? If the twelve hours are not mirrors, how can reflection be possible?
What we call twelve hours are twelve faces. Twelve faces are twelve mirrors. Past and present are the making of twelve mirrors.
Guangcheng taught this understanding to the emperor. Although these words were by someone outside the way, they represent a mirror where a Chinese person appears.
The Yellow Emperor, who arrived in a carriage, walked on his knees into the Kong Cave and asked Guangcheng about the way.
Guangcheng said, “Mirrors are the basis of yin and yang that govern you. There are three mirrors within you: heaven, earth, and humanity. These mirrors neither see nor hear. If you hold them in your mind and remain serene, your body will be just right—always serene, always pure. Your body will not disturb your mind, and you will be able to live long.”
In olden times emperors governed the world and the great way with these three mirrors. Those who clarified the great way were regarded as lords of heaven and earth.
A worldly person said, “Emperor Tai [of the Tang Dynasty] regarded others as his mirrors. He reflected on the security and insecurity of the nation in this way.” This emperor used one of the three mirrors.
In term of regarding others as mirrors, you might think that if one asks those who have studied extensively about past and present, one will be advised which person of ability to use. You might think of how emperors obtained wise courtiers like Weizheng or Fang Xuanling. But this is not what is meant by the words Emperor Tai regarded others as his mirrors.
To regard others as mirrors means to regard mirrors as mirrors, oneself as mirrors, the five elements as mirrors, and the five virtues as mirrors. When we observe the coming and going of others, there is no trace in coming and there is no direction in going. This is the meaning of human mirrors.
From wise to foolish, people are as varied and complex as the change of weather. There are human faces, mirror faces, sun faces, moon faces. The spirit of the Five Mountains and the Four Rivers purifies the Four Seas for generations. This is an influence of the mirrors.
The remarks about Emperor Tai mean that he saw through others and assessed their complexity. It is not that he asked those who had studied extensively for their advice.
Japan has had three sacred mirrors since the time of the gods. They have been transmitted until this day along with the sacred jade and sword. The mirrors are kept separately in the Grand Shrine in Ise Province, in the Hinokuma Shrine in Kii Province, and in the household office of the Imperial Palace.
From this we know that nations have transmitted mirrors. To maintain the mirrors is to maintain the nation. Legend says that these three mirrors have been transmitted as divine seats, given by the God of Heaven. Thus, the well-tempered bronze of the mirrors is a manifestation of yin and yang.
It seems that when the new comes, the new appears; when the old comes, the old appears. What reflects the old and the new is an old mirror.
Xuefeng’s words may be interpreted thus: When a Korean person comes, a Korean person appears; when a Japanese person comes, a Japanese person appears. When a deva comes, a deva appears. When a human comes, a human appears.
Even when we study coming and appearing in this way, we don’t necessarily know the roots and branches of appearing. It is just that we encounter appearing. We should not assume that coming and appearing are knowing and understanding.
Xuefeng said, When a barbarian comes, a barbarian appears. Does it mean that a barbarian’s coming is a barbarian’s appearing? The coming of a barbarian is the straightforward coming of a barbarian, and the appearing of a barbarian is the straightforward appearing of a barbarian. It is not that coming is for the purpose of appearing. Although an old mirror is an old mirror, you should study in this way.
Xuansha came out and said, “What about the moment when you encounter the emergence of a bright mirror all of a sudden?” Clarify these words. What is the meaning of bright?
He meant that the coming is not necessarily a barbarian. He meant that this bright mirror should not be regarded as a barbarian appearing.
Although the coming of a bright mirror is the coming of a bright mirror, it is not the coming of two mirrors. Although it is not two mirrors, an old mirror is an old mirror; a bright mirror is a bright mirror. The realization of an old mirror and a bright mirror has been expressed by Xuefeng and Xuansha. Their words are the essence and form of the buddha way.
Know that Xuansha’s words the coming of a bright mirror are seven penetrations and eight masteries, the crystal clarity of the eight-faceted jewel among enlightened statements. It is like [Sansheng’s words,] “I will go out immediately to meet a person,” and “As soon as I come out, I will guide the person.”
Then, is the brightness of a bright mirror the same as or different from the oldness of an old mirror? Is the bright mirror old? Is the old mirror bright? Do not simply assume that the words an old mirror mean that it is bright.
The essence of the words [by Xuansha] is “I am like this. You are like this. All ancestors in India are like this.” Quickly polish your understanding.
An ancestor said, “An old mirror is polished.” Is it so with a bright mirror? How is it? Extensively study the words of the buddha ancestor.
Xuefeng’s reply, Both the barbarian and the Chinese person disappear, means the barbarian and the Chinese person disappear together at the moment of a bright mirror. What is the meaning of both disappearing? While the coming and appearing of the barbarian and the Chinese person do not hinder the old mirror, why do they both disappear?
Even if Xuefeng said, When a barbarian comes, a barbarian appears, and when a Chinese person comes, a Chinese person appears, the coming of a bright mirror is the coming of a bright mirror. Thus, the barbarian and the Chinese person who appear in an old mirror together disappear together. This being so, in these words by Xuefeng, there is an old mirror, a bright mirror. Be clear about the teaching that the moment when a bright mirror truly comes does not hinder the barbarian that appears in an old mirror.
Xuefeng’s words When a barbarian comes, a barbarian appears, when a Chinese person comes, a Chinese person appears do not indicate that the barbarian or the Chinese person come and appear on the face of an old mirror, on the back of an old mirror, or outside of an old mirror. His words do not indicate that the barbarian and the Chinese person come and appear together with an old mirror.
Listen to Xuenfeng’s words. The moment of the barbarian and the Chinese person coming and appearing actualizes the coming and appearing of a barbarian and the Chinese person in an old mirror. To say that the mirror still exists when both the barbarian and the Chinese person disappear is to be ignorant about appearing and to be negligent about coming. It is more than confusion.
Then, Xuansha said, I have a different understanding. Xuefeng said, How do you understand? Xuansha said, Please ask me a question. Do not miss this request by Xuansha. It is not hurling insight between parent and child [master and student]. When Xuansha requested his master to ask him a question, he must have known what was going to be asked. When the thunder of questioning arises, there is no way to escape.
Xuefeng said, What about the moment when you encounter the emergence of a bright mirror all of a sudden? This question is one piece of old mirror the parent and child investigate together.
Xuansha said, One hundred broken pieces. These words mean one hundred, one thousand, or ten thousand pieces. The moment of encountering the emergence of a bright mirror all of a sudden is one hundred broken pieces. To study and realize one hundred broken pieces is a bright mirror, because letting the bright mirror express itself must be in the form of one hundred broken pieces. Where miscellaneous pieces are hanging, there is the bright mirror. Do not try to peek into a moment when a bright mirror is not miscellaneous pieces or when there are no miscellaneous pieces. A bright mirror is just one hundred broken pieces. To face the one hundred broken pieces is to face a solitary sheer peak.
Then, is the one hundred broken pieces spoken of by Xuansha an expression of an old mirror or a bright mirror? This is when you should ask for a turning word. This is no longer a talk about an old mirror or a bright mirror. You could still keep asking about an old mirror or a bright mirror. But, do sand, pebbles, and walls get to the tip of your tongue and not turn into one hundred broken pieces when you question Xuansha’s words?
In what form are the broken pieces manifested? [I say:] The moon in an ancient blue sky.
When Xuefeng, Great Master Zhenjiao, was walking with Sansheng, who would later become Zen Master Huiran, they saw a troop of monkeys.
Xuefeng said, “Each of these apes carries an old mirror on its back.”
Sansheng said, “Why do you call what is nameless for eons an old mirror?”
Xuefeng said, “A scratch is made.”
Sansheng said, “What’s the urgency? I don’t know the words.”
Xuefeng said, “It is this old monk’s fault.”
Investigate these words thoroughly. Apes means monkeys. But what are the apes Xuefeng saw? Ask in this way and endeavor further without minding the passage of time.
Each carries an old mirror means that even if an old mirror is buddhas and ancestors, an old mirror can be beyond going beyond buddhas and ancestors. Each of these apes carries an old mirror on its back means that a mirror is neither large nor small, but just an old mirror. Carries on its back is like mounting a painting of the Buddha by gluing a piece of paper to its back. An ape has an old mirror mounted on it. But what kind of glue is used?
Let me ask you: If an ape is backed by an old mirror, is an old mirror backed by an ape? An old mirror is backed by an old mirror. An ape is backed by an ape.
Each . . . carries on its back must not be a groundless statement. It is an expression that is just right. Is the right expression an ape or an old mirror? What is the right expression? Are we or are we not already apes? Whom should we ask? To have an ape within the self is not known by self or other. The self is in the self; there is no need to look for it.
Sansheng said, Why do you call what is nameless for eons an old mirror?
This is an expression by Sansheng to authenticate an old mirror. Eons means before the emergence of a single mind, single thought. No name comes out for eons. Nameless is sun face, moon face, an old mirror face, a bright mirror face of these eons. When nameless is truly nameless, eons are not eons. When eons are not eons, Sansheng’s expression is beyond an expression.
“Before the emergence of a single mind, single thought” is this very day. Temper your practice without missing this very day. Indeed, the statement nameless for eons is renowned. How can you call it an old mirror? A dragon head, a snake tail?
Responding to Sansheng’s statement, Xuefeng should have said, “An old mirror. An old mirror.” But instead, Xuefeng said, A scratch is made.
It means that a scratch has emerged. How can there be a scratch on an old mirror? A scratch is made must mean nameless for eons.
A scratch means an old mirror is nameless for eons. A scratch on an old mirror is an entire old mirror. As Sansheng had not come out of the cave—a scratch on an old mirror—the question he asked is completely a scratch on an old mirror.
Thus, study that a scratch can be made on an old mirror, and that what is scratched is also an old mirror. This is the study of an old mirror.
Sansheng continued: What’s the urgency? I don’t know the words.
He was asking what the urgency was. Was the urgency about today or tomorrow, self or other, the entire world of the ten directions or in the country of Great Tang? Investigate this thoroughly.
Regarding I don’t know the words, there are expressed words, unexpressed words, and completed words. The teaching of words is actualized now.
For example, how about the words, “I have attained the way simultaneously with sentient beings on the great earth”? In this way, words should not be like an elaborately woven brocade [decorative endeavor] or facing each other. It is like, “I don’t know who faces me” [as Emperor Wu said to Bodhidharma]; it is facing but not-knowing each other. It is not that there are no words, but just not-knowing. Not-knowing is a straightforward bare heart. It is bright and clear not-seeing.
Xuefeng said, It is this old monk’s fault. This statement may be interpreted to mean that Xuefeng admitted his mistake in the earlier expression. But it is not the case. This old monk is an accomplished master in the house [of the Buddha], who wholeheartedly practices being an old monk and nothing else. In one thousand changes and ten thousand transformations, into a god’s head and a demon’s face, the practice of the way is just being one old monk. Buddhas come and ancestors come, while myriad years arise in a single moment, yet the practice of the way is just being one old monk. The fault is the abbot’s being busy.
Reflecting on this dialogue, Xuefeng is a horn of Deshan’s lineage, and Sansheng is an outstanding disciple of Linji. Both masters, being descendants of Qingyuan and Nanyue, equally hold respectable lineages. They maintained an old mirror in this way. This is a model for those who practice later.
Xuefeng taught the assembly: “When the world is ten feet wide, an old mirror is ten feet wide. When the world is one foot wide, an old mirror is one foot wide.”
Then Xuansha said, pointing to the furnace, “Tell us. How wide is that furnace?”
Xuefeng said, “It is as wide as an old mirror.”
Xuansha said, “Reverend master, your heels have not yet touched the ground.”
Ten feet wide is called the world. The world is ten feet wide. One foot wide is called the world. The world is one foot wide. It is the ten feet wide of the present moment. It is the one foot wide of the present moment. There is no other one foot wide or ten feet wide than this.
Reflecting on this dialogue, people in the secular world say that the size of the billion worlds, the inexhaustible world of phenomena, is immeasurable and boundless. But it is a limited view of themselves, similar to pointing to a nearby village. On the other hand [in buddha dharma], we take up the world and understand it as ten feet wide. Thus, Xuefeng said, When the world is ten feet wide, an old mirror is ten feet wide. When we study this ten feet wide, we get a glimpse of the breadth of the world.
Hearing the phrase an old mirror, you may think it is like a thin sheet of ice. But it is not so. Although the breadth of ten feet is no other than the breadth of the world, you should investigate whether or not the outlook of an old mirror conforms to the boundlessness of the world.
An old mirror is not like a pearl. Do not view it as bright or dark, square or round. Even if the world of the ten directions is one bright pearl, it is not exactly the same as an old mirror.
This being so, an old mirror is not affected by the coming and appearing of a barbarian or a Chinese person. It is crystal clear vertically and horizontally all the way. An old mirror is neither multiple nor large. Wide indicates the measure of it. It does not mean breadth. Wide is like measuring two or three inches, or counting seven or eight pieces. In the arithmetic of the buddha way, great enlightenment and beyond enlightenment are counted as two or three ounces, and buddha ancestors are counted as fivefold or tenfold. Ten feet is the breadth of an old mirror. The breadth of an old mirror is singlefold.
Xuansha said, How wide is that furnace? There is nothing hidden in this statement. Study it as a one-thousand-year-old and ten-thousand-year-old statement.
When you see a furnace, who is the one that sees? When you see a furnace, it is not seven feet or eight feet. Xuansha’s question was not a confused statement. It actualizes something remarkable. It is like saying, “What has thus come?”
How wide is not asking about the size in an ordinary way. It is an understanding of being emancipated right where you are. This should not be doubted. Listen to Xuansha’s words for a teaching that the characteristics of a furnace are beyond measurement. Do not drop the ball you are holding on the ground; just smash it. This is endeavor.
Xuefeng said, It is as wide as an old mirror. Reflect quietly on these words. He did not say that the furnace is one foot wide. It is not that to say one foot is right and to say as wide as an old mirror is wrong. Just reflect on the practice of saying, It is as wide as an old mirror.
Many people think that Xuefeng was wrong in not saying, “one foot wide.” Investigate, however, the completeness of being wide. Reflect on one whole piece of an old mirror. Do not miss the practice of like. It is like [Xiangyan’s] saying, “Hold up a vital posture on the old path. Do not fall into stagnancy.”
Xuansha said, Reverend master, your heels have not yet touched the ground. What he meant by reverend master, or reverend priest, is not necessarily Xuefeng. Xuefeng is a reverend master.
Ask where the heels are. Investigate what the heels are. Investigate whether the heels are the treasury of the true dharma eye, the empty sky, the entire earth, or the life vein. Are they many, one, half, or one hundred thousand [heels]? Study in this way.
What is the ground in your heels have not yet touched the ground? The great earth is called the ground according to the views of one kind of being. Among other beings, some see it as the inconceivable dharma gate of emancipation, while others see it as the place where all buddhas practice the way.
So, what is the ground the heels are supposed to touch? Is the ground real existence or real nonexistence? Or, does the ground mean that there is not even an inch of it in the great way? Ask in this way and that way. Say it to self and others.
Is it right or wrong that the heels touch the ground? Why did Xuansha say that Xuefeng’s heels have not yet touched the ground? At the very moment when there is not an inch of land on the great earth, touching the ground is not yet, and not touching the ground is not yet.
Thus, your heels have not yet touched the ground is the activity of the reverend master. It is work of the heels.
Guotai, Zen Master Hongtao of the Guotai Monastery, Mount Jinhua, Wu Region, was asked by a monk, “What is an old mirror that is not yet polished?”
Guotai said, “An old mirror.”
The monk asked, “What is an old mirror that is already polished?”
Guotai said, “An old mirror.”
Know that the old mirror spoken of now is an old mirror throughout the time when it is polished, before it is polished, and after it is polished. Thus, when you polish it, you polish the entire old mirror. It is not that you apply mercury or something else to an old mirror and polish it. Although it is not the self polishing or polishing the self, it is polishing an old mirror.
It is not that an old mirror is dull when it is not yet polished. It is stained but not dull. It is an old mirror that has life.
You polish a mirror and make it a mirror. You polish a tile and make it a mirror. You polish a tile and make it a tile. You polish a mirror and make it a tile. Also, you polish but do not accomplish, or you accomplish but do not polish. These are all works in the house of buddha ancestors.
Mazu of Jiangxi practiced with Nanyue, who intimately transmitted the mind seal to him. This was the beginning of polishing a tile.
Living in the Chuanfa Temple, Mazu was engaged in continuous practice of zazen for over a decade. Ponder his sitting on a rainy night in a thatched-roof hut. There is no account that he skipped sitting on a cold platform when stranded by snow.
When Nanyue visited his hut, Mazu stood up.
Nanyue said, “What have you been doing these days?”
Mazu said, “I have been just sitting.”
Nanyue said, “What is your intention in just sitting?”
Mazu said, “I intend to become a buddha.”
Then Nanyue picked up a tile and started polishing it on a stone near Mazu’s hut.
Mazu said, “Master, what are you doing?”
Nanyue said, “Polishing a tile.”
Mazu said, “Why are you polishing the tile?”
Nanyue said, “I am trying to make a mirror.”
Mazu said, “How can you polish a tile and make a mirror?”
Nanyue said, “How can you do zazen and become a buddha?”
People have been interpreting this great story for hundreds of years as Nanyue’s encouragement to Mazu. It is not necessarily so. The activity of a great sage is far beyond ordinary understanding.
Without polishing a tile, how can a great sage have the skillful means to make a true person? The capacity of making a true person is the bones and marrow of buddha ancestors. Although it is fabricated, it is a furnishing [essential] of the house. Without being furniture or equipment, Nanyue’s teaching could not have been transmitted in the buddha house. In particular, this immediately guided Mazu. From this we know that the work authentically transmitted by buddha ancestors is no other than directly pointing.
Indeed, at the moment a polished tile becomes a mirror, Mazu becomes a buddha. At the moment Mazu becomes a buddha, Mazu immediately becomes Mazu. At the moment Mazu becomes Mazu, zazen immediately becomes zazen.
Thus, polishing a tile and turning it into a mirror has been maintained as the bones and marrow of the ancient buddha. This being so, there is an old mirror made of a tile. Although this mirror is polished, it has never been defiled. It is not that the tile is dirty. It is just that a tile that is a tile is polished. To actualize the work of making a mirror in this way is the endeavor of buddha ancestors.
If polishing a tile did not make a mirror, polishing a mirror would not make a mirror either. Who can doubt this? This making is making a buddha, making a mirror.
There may be those who question whether polishing a mirror becomes polishing a tile by mistake. The time of polishing cannot be fathomed by the measure of other times.
Nanyue’s expression, however, is an expression of expressions. Thus, polishing a tile is making a mirror. Those of you nowadays should also try to polish a tile to make a mirror. It will certainly be a mirror.
If a tile does not become a mirror, a human being does not become a buddha. If you look down at a tile as a lump of mud, you look down at a human being as a lump of mud. If a human has mind, a tile should have mind. Who knows that there is a mirror that is brought forth as a tile and is actualized as a tile? Who knows that there is a mirror that is brought forth as a mirror and is actualized as a mirror?
Presented to the assembly of the Kannondori Kosho Horin Monastery on the ninth day, the ninth month, the second year of the Ninji Era [1241].