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BODHIDHARMA, HIGH ANCESTOR, said, “One blossom opens five petals. Fruit forms naturally.”
Study the moment of the blossom’s blooming and of its light and color. The blossom consists of five petals. The blossoming of the five petals is one blossom. The true meaning of this blossom leads to [his words]: “I am originally in this land to transmit dharma and save deluded sentient beings.” This is a point of study of its light and color. It means: “The forming of the fruit is up to you.” This is the meaning of Fruit forms naturally.
Forms naturally means to practice causes and experience the effects. There are causes in the common world. There are effects in the common world. You practice causes and effects in the common world and experience causes and effects in the common world.
Naturally [self thusness] means of itself. Self is invariably you. It is four great elements and five skandhas. Because it is [as Linji said] “let it be a true person of no rank,” it is beyond self and other. This being so, what is indefinite is called self. Thusness is to accept what is as it is.
Forms naturally is the moment of the blossoming and forming of fruit. It is the moment to transmit dharma and save deluded sentient beings. It is like the time and place of the unfolding of an utpala [blue lotus] blossom that are the time and place of a blazing fire. Sparks of a gimlet and flames are all the place of unfolding and the time of aligning of an utpala blossom. Without being the time and place of an utpala blossom, not even a blink of fire is born, not even a blink of fire is activated.
Know that within a blink of fire, one hundred, one thousand utpala blossoms unfold on earth and in the sky. They unfold in the past and at present. To see and hear the present moment and present place of fire is to hear and see utpala blossoms. Without fail, see and hear the time and place of utpala blossoms.
An ancient master [Tong’an Changcha] said, “Utpala blossoms open inside fire.”
In this way, utpala blossoms definitely unfold in fire. If you want to know what is inside fire, it is the place where utpala blossoms unfold. You need to exclude human views and deva views, and learn what is inside fire. If you would doubt this, you would doubt lotus blossoms born in water, or you would doubt the variety of blossoms on branches and twigs. If you doubt this, you would also doubt the stable ground of material worlds. However, you don’t doubt these. Those who are not buddha ancestors do not know that the opening of blossoms raises the world.
The opening of blossoms is three three before, three three after [countless]. To fulfill these numbers, all phenomena are gathered and make the blossoms colorful. Let this understanding manifest and fathom spring and autumn. It is not only that spring and autumn have blossoms and fruit, but the time being always has blossoms and fruit.
Both blossoms and fruit maintain moments. All moments maintain blossoms and fruit. This being so, one hundred grasses all have blossoms and fruit. All trees have blossoms and fruit. Trees of gold, silver, copper, iron, coral, and crystal all have blossoms and fruit. Trees of earth, water, fire, air, space all have blossoms and fruit. Human trees have blossoms. Decayed trees have blossoms.
In the midst of these blossoms, the World-Honored One spoke of flowers in the open sky [illusory flowers]. But those who hear little and see little do not know what kind of color, light, leaves, and blossoms the flowers in the sky carry. They only hear the words flowers in the sky.
Know that there are teachings about flowers in the sky in the buddha way. People outside the way do not know the teachings about flowers in the sky. How can they understand them?
Only buddhas and ancestors know the opening and falling of flowers in the sky [sky blossoms] and earth blossoms, and the opening and falling of world blossoms. They alone know that flowers in the sky, earth blossoms, and world blossoms are sutras. This is a standard of studying buddhas.
Because what buddha ancestors ride on are flowers in the sky, the buddha world and all buddha dharmas are flowers in the sky. But mediocre and foolish people think that the obscured eyes in the Tathagata’s statement “What is seen by obscured eyes are flowers in the sky” means the confused eyes of sentient beings. Because their sick eyes are already confused, they think that flowers in the sky are seen in pure space. Being attached to this view, they mistakenly see that none of the three realms and the six paths, existent buddhas and nonexistent buddhas, exist. If such deluded seeing stops, they may stop seeing such flowers in the sky and think the Tathagata said that in original emptiness there are no flowers.
What a pity! They do not know from beginning to end the moment of flowers in the sky spoken by the Tathagata. The meanings of “obscured eyes” and “flowers in the sky” have not been grasped by ordinary people and those outside the way.
Buddha tathagatas practice these flowers in the sky and attain the robe, the way of sitting, and entering the room. They attain the way and the fruit of buddhahood.
Taking up a flower and blinking are both the fundamental point actualized by obscured eyes and flowers in the sky. That the treasury of the true dharma eye, the wondrous heart of nirvana, has been authentically transmitted without cutting off is called obscured eyes and flowers in the sky. Enlightenment, nirvana, dharma body, self nature, and so on are two or three petals of the five petals of flowers unfolding in the sky.
Shakyamuni Buddha said, “Someone who has obscured eyes sees flowers in the sky. When this disease is removed, flowers in the sky disappear.”
There have been no scholars who clarify this teaching. Because they don’t know the sky, they don’t know the flowers in the sky. Because they don’t know flowers in the sky, they don’t know, see, encounter, and become a person with obscured eyes.
Encounter a person with obscured eyes, and know and see the flowers in the sky. After seeing the flowers in the sky, also see that the flowers disappear in the sky. To think that the flowers in the sky stop existing once they disappear is a view in the Lesser Vehicle.
When the flowers in the sky are invisible, in what way do they exist? Mediocre scholars today only see that the flowers in the sky should be discarded. They don’t know the great matter after the flowers in the sky, or the seeding, blooming, and falling of the flowers in the sky. These scholars merely regard where the atmosphere is as the sky, and where the sun, the moon, and stars hang as the sky. So, they assume that the so-called flowers in the sky change colors, float in the air like clouds, move toward east and west, up and down, blown by the wind. To regard the four great elements that create and are created, all things in the material world, the original enlightenment, and basic nature as flowers in the sky is ignorant. Such scholars don’t know that there are the four great elements and the others due to all things. They don’t know that the material worlds rest in their conditions due to all things. They only think that all things exist due to material worlds.
They only think that flowers in the sky exist due to obscured eyes. And they do not realize that flowers in the sky cause obscured eyes.
Know that a person with obscured eyes in the buddha way is a person of the original enlightenment, of wondrous enlightenment, of all buddhas, of the three realms, of buddha going beyond buddha. Do not misunderstand that obscuring is illusion. Do not think that there is reality other than that. Such a point is a lesser view. If obscurity and flowers [in the sky] are illusion, a view such as to create and be created is also illusion. If everything is illusion, truth cannot be established. If there is no truth to be established, the point that obscurity and flowers [in the sky] are illusion cannot be established.
When enlightenment is obscurity, all things around enlightenment are things that adorn obscurity. When delusion is obscurity, all things around delusion are things that adorn obscurity.
Say for the time being that as obscurity and the eyes are equal, the sky and flowers are equal. As obscurity and the eyes are beyond birth, the sky and flowers are beyond birth. As all things are reality, obscurity and flowers are reality.
Do not discuss the past, present, and future. As flowers in the sky are not conditioned by beginning, middle, and end, and as they are not obstructed by birth and death, flowers in the sky cause birth and death to be birth and death.
Flowers in the sky are born in the sky and perish in the sky. They are born in obscurity and perish in obscurity. They are born in flowers and perish in flowers. Further, flowers in the sky are like this in other places and times.
In studying flowers in the sky, there should be a number of ways. There are views by obscured eyes, by clear eyes, by buddha eyes, and by ancestor eyes. There are views by way-seeking eyes, by blind eyes, by three thousand years, by eight hundred years, by one hundred eons, by innumerable eons. As all of these see flowers in the sky, the sky looks different, flowers appear varied.
Know that the sky is just one blade of grass. In this sky, flowers always bloom. It is like flowers blooming on one hundred blades of grass. In order to express this teaching, the Tathagata says that in the sky there are originally no flowers.
Although there are originally no flowers, there are flowers such as peach, apricot, plum, and willow. So we say that a plum tree did not blossom yesterday, but blossoms in spring.
Thus, when the time comes, flowers open. This is the moment of flowers, the arrival of flowers. At this very moment of flowers arriving, there is no other way. Plum and willow flowers unfailingly bloom on plum and willow trees. You see the flowers and know plum and willow trees. You understand flowers by looking at plum and willow trees. Peach and apricot flowers have never bloomed on plum and willow trees. Plum and willow flowers bloom on plum and willow trees. Peach and apricot flowers bloom on peach and apricot trees. Flowers in the sky bloom in the sky in just this way. They do not bloom on other grasses or trees.
Seeing the colors of flowers in the sky, you fathom the limitlessness of fruit in the sky. Seeing the opening and falling of flowers in the sky, study the spring and autumn of flowers in the sky. The spring of flowers in the sky and the spring of other flowers should be the same. Just as there are a variety of flowers in the sky, there should be a variety of springtimes. This being so, there are springs and autumns in the past and present.
Those who assume that flowers in the sky are not real and other flowers are real have not seen or heard the Buddha’s teaching. To hear the words that the sky originally had no flowers and assume that the flowers in the sky that did not exist do exist now is a lesser view based on shallow thinking. Step forward and think deeply.
An ancestor [Huike] said, “Flowers are beyond birth.”
When this teaching is realized, flowers are beyond birth, beyond death; flowers are beyond flowers, the sky is beyond the sky. Do not be confused about the before and after of flowers. Do not get into a theoretical discussion of whether flowers exist or not.
Flowers always appear to be dyed by colors, but colors are not necessarily flowers. Times [seasons] also have colors, such as blue, yellow, red, white, and so on. Spring draws flowers, and flowers draw spring.
Zhang Zhuo, who had an outstanding literary capacity, was a lay student of Shishuang. He wrote a poem on his realization:
Radiant light serenely illuminates the sands of the Ganges.
The ordinary and sages, beings with spirits, are equally my home.
A single moment is beyond birth, actualizing the undivided.
A subtle movement of the six sense roots shelters the clouds.
Removing delusions increases sickness.
Going toward true thusness is also wrong.
Follow the worldly conditions with no hindrance.
Nirvana and birth-and-death are both flowers in the sky.
Radiant light serenely illuminates the sands of the Ganges. This radiant light renews actualizing the monks’ hall, buddha hall, kitchen, and monastery gate. The sands of the Ganges are radiant light actualized, actualizing radiant light.
The ordinary and sages, beings with spirits, are equally my home. It is not that the difference among the ordinary and sages, as well as beings with spirits, does not exist. Just do not slander them because of their differences.
A single moment is beyond birth, actualizing the undivided. Moment after moment is a single moment. It is beyond birth. It completely actualizes all things. Thus, it is expressed as a single moment is beyond birth.
A subtle movement of the six sense roots shelters the clouds. The six sense roots—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind—are not merely two or three, but three and three [in a great variety] before and after. Their movement is like that of Mount Sumeru, the earth, the six sense roots, and like a subtle movement. As their movement is like that of Mount Sumeru, their no-movement is also that of Mount Sumeru. It forms clouds, it forms water.
Removing delusions increases sickness. It is not that there has been no sickness. There is buddha sickness, ancestor sickness [desire to be a buddha and ancestor]. Removing such sickness with wisdom adds sickness, increases sickness. At the very moment of removing sickness, there is delusion. Removing sickness and having delusion are simultaneous and beyond simultaneous. Delusion always comes with a way to remove it.
Going toward true thusness is also wrong. To go against true thusness is a mistake. To go toward true thusness is a mistake. True thusness is going against and going toward. There is true thusness in going against it and in going toward it. Who knows that such a mistake is also true thusness?
Follow the worldly conditions with no hindrance. The worldly conditions follow the worldly conditions. Following and further following are worldly conditions. This is called no hindrance. Hindrance and no hindrance are covered by the eye that sees through.
Nirvana and birth-and-death are both flowers in the sky. What is called nirvana is unsurpassable, complete enlightenment. It is the abode of buddha ancestors and their followers. Birth-and-death is a true human body. Although both nirvana and birth-and-death are the way of buddha ancestors and their followers, they are flowers in the sky. The root, stem, branches, leaves, blossoms, fruit, light, and colors of flowers in the sky are all open blossoms of flowers in the sky. Flowers in the sky are bound to bear fruit in the sky, dropping seeds in the sky.
Because the three realms we see and hear now are the opening of five-petal flowers in the sky, it is not like the three realms seeing the three realms. This is the reality of all things, the flower of all things. Furthermore, study that all things that cannot be measured are equally flowers in the sky, fruit in the sky, which are not different from plum, willow, peach, and apricot.
Lingxun, who would later become the abbot at Mount Furong, Fu Region of Song China, asked Guizong, Zen Master Zhizhen of the Guizong Monastery, upon first studying with him, “What is the buddha?”
Guizong said, “If I answer you, would you believe it?”
Lingxun said, “How should I not believe your truthful words?”
Guizong said, “You are it.”
Lingxun said, “How should I maintain it?”
Guizong replied, “If you have a spot of obscurity, flowers in the sky will scatter.”
This statement by Guizong, If you have a spot of obscurity, flowers in the sky will scatter is an expression by a buddha who maintains [buddhahood]. Thus, know that the scattering of obscurity and flowers [in the sky] actualizes all buddhas. The flowers and fruit of the eyes in the sky are maintained by all buddhas. Guizong actualizes the eyes by obscurity. He actualizes flowers in the sky in the eyes. He actualizes the eyes in flowers in the sky.
Flowers in the sky are in the eye, while a bit of obscurity scatters. One eye is in the sky, while all obscurity scatters. Thus, obscurity is totally actualized. The eye is totally actualized. The sky is totally actualized. The flowers are totally actualized. Scattering is one thousand eyes. There are eyes wherever the body reaches.
When and where there is one eye, there are flowers in the sky, there are flowers in the eye. The flowers in one eye are called flowers in the sky. The expression of the flowers in the eye needs to be clarified.
This being so, Langya, Great Master Guangzhao of Mount Langya said:
How splendid! Buddhas in the ten directions are originally flowers in the eye. If you want to know the flowers in the eye, they are originally buddhas in the ten directions. If you want to know buddhas in the ten directions, they are not flowers in the eye. If you want to know flowers in the eye, they are not buddhas in the ten directions.
If you clarify this, the faults belong to the buddhas in the ten directions. If you have not clarified this, shravakas dance and pratyeka-buddhas dress up.
Know that it is not that the buddhas in the ten directions are not real, but that they are originally flowers in the eye. The buddhas in the ten directions abide in the eye. Other than being in the eye, there is no abode for the buddhas.
Flowers in the eye are neither nonexistent nor existent, neither illusory nor real; they are just buddhas in the ten directions.
If you want to know the buddhas in the ten directions, they are not flowers in the eye. If you want to know flowers in the eye, they don’t seem to be the buddhas in the ten directions.
This being so, both grasping clearly and not grasping clearly are flowers in the eye, the buddhas in the ten directions. Want to know and they are not both actualize How splendid!
The teaching of flowers in the sky and flowers on the earth expressed by buddhas and ancestors is as wondrous as this.
Commentators on sutras and treatises may have heard of flowers in the sky, but the life vein [tradition] of flowers on the earth is not seen or heard by those who are not buddha ancestors. There is an expression by a buddha ancestor who was familiar with the life vein of flowers on the earth:
Shimen, Zen Master Huiche of Mount Shimen, Great Song, was a venerated heir of Liangshan. Once a monk asked him, “What is the treasure inside the mountain?” The point of this question is just like asking, “What is the buddha?” or “What is the way?”
Shimen replied, “Flowers in the sky emerge from the earth. The whole nation has no way to buy them.”
This statement cannot be seen as secondary to other statements. People everywhere usually discuss flowers in the sky as illusory flowers and speak of flowers in the sky as being born in the sky and perishing in the sky. There have not been people who understand flowers that emerge from the sky. How can they know flowers that emerge from the earth? Shimen alone understood it.
Emerge from the earth means from the earth in the beginning, middle, and end. Emerge means to open. Flowers in the sky emerge from the entire earth, open blossoms, emerging from the entire earth.
The whole nation has no way to buy them means that it is not that the whole nation does not buy them; it is just that there is no way to buy them.
There are flowers in the sky that emerge from the earth. There is the entire earth that emerges from the flowers and opens. Thus, know that flowers in the sky emerge and open both the earth and the sky.
Presented to the assembly of the Kannondori Kosho Horin Monastery on the tenth day, the third month, the first year of the Kangen Era [1243].