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BAIZHANG, ZEN MASTER Dazhi of Mount Baizhang, Hao Region, was the dharma heir of Mazu. His priest name is Huaihai. When Baizhang gave teachings to the assembly, an old man would often appear and listen to his dharma talks. The old man usually left after the talks, but one day he remained behind.
Baizhang asked, “Who are you?”
The old man said, “I am not actually a human being. In ancient times, at the time of Kashyapa Buddha, I lived and taught on this mountain. One day a student asked, ‘Does a person who has cultivated great practice still fall into cause and effect?’ I said to him, ‘No, such a person does not fall into cause and effect.’ Because of this I was reborn as a wild fox for five hundred lifetimes. Venerable Master, please say a turning word and free me from this body of a wild fox.” Then he asked Baizhang, “Does a person who has cultivated great practice still fall into cause and effect?”
Baizhang said, “Do not ignore cause and effect.”
Immediately the old man had great realization. Bowing, he said to Baizhang, “I am now liberated from the body of a wild fox. Master, will you perform for me a funeral service for a deceased monk? You will find the body of a dead fox in the mountain behind the monastery.”
Baizhang asked the practice coordinator to hit the han and inform the assembly that funeral services for a monk would be held after the midday meal. The monks asked one another, “What’s going on? Everyone is well; there is no one sick in the Nirvana Hall [infirmary].” After their meal, Baizhang led the assembly to a large rock behind the monastery and pointed out with his staff the body of a dead fox. Then, following the customary procedure, they cremated the body. That evening during his lecture in the dharma hall Baizhang talked about what had happened during the day.
Huangbo asked him, “A teacher of old gave a mistaken answer and was reborn as a wild fox for five hundred lifetimes. What if he hadn’t given a mistaken answer?”
Baizhang said, “Come closer and I will tell you.”
Huangbo approached and slapped Baizhang’s face.
Laughing, Baizhang clapped his hands and said, “I thought only barbarians had red [extraordinary] beards, but you too are a red-bearded barbarian.”
The fundamental point actualized now is great practice. According to the old man, there was already a Mount Baizhang of Hao region in the distant past at the time of Kashyapa Buddha, and during the present era of Shakyamuni Buddha there is also a Mount Baizhang of Hao region. This is a turning word actualized.
Now, Mount Baizhang in the distant past of Kashyapa Buddha and Mount Baizhang in the present era of Shakyamuni Buddha are not one and not two; neither three three before nor three three after [not many in the past or future]. It is not that Mount Baizhang in the past has become Mount Baizhang of the present; nor is it that Mount Baizhang right now was the Mount Baizhang at the time of Kashyapa Buddha. Yet there is the fundamental point of I lived and taught on this mountain.
My response to you would be exactly like what the present Baizhang said. What you should ask should be exactly like what the old man asked. If you take up one, you cannot take up another. If you neglect one, you fall into the secondary.
One day on Mount Baizhang a student asked, “Does a person who has cultivated great practice still fall into cause and effect?” Indeed, this question is not easily understood. For the first time since the buddha dharma was introduced to China during the Yongping Era [58–67] of the later Han Dynasty and since Bodhidharma transmitted the teaching from India in the Pudong Era [520–527] of the Liang Dynasty, this former student’s question had been heard through the words of this old fox. It had never been heard before. Thus, this is rare indeed.
Investigating great practice is nothing but cause and effect itself. Because cause and effect are invariably comprehensive and completely full, they are beyond a discussion of falling or not falling, or considerations of ignoring or not ignoring. If not falling into cause and effect is a mistake, not ignoring cause and effect may also be a mistake. Whenever mistakes surpass mistakes, there is falling into a wild fox body and there is liberation from a wild fox body. It is possible that not falling into cause and effect was a mistake during the time of Kashyapa Buddha but not a mistake during the time of Shakyamuni Buddha. It is also possible that even though there is liberation from a wild fox’s body during the present time of Shakyamuni Buddha, during the time of Kashyapa Buddha a different principle was actualized.
Regarding the old man’s words I was reborn as a wild fox for five hundred lifetimes, what does it mean to be reborn as a wild fox? It is not that there was originally a wild fox and it lured the earlier Baizhang to fall into cause and effect, nor is it possible that the earlier Baizhang was originally a wild fox. To say that the earlier Baizhang’s spirit went out and became a wild fox’s skin bag is a statement of someone outside the way. It is not that a wild fox came and suddenly swallowed the earlier Baizhang. If you say the earlier Baizhang fell into the body of a wild fox, then there must be the liberation of the earlier Baizhang’s body for the fox to fall into. And yet, Baizhang may fall into the body of a wild fox again, later. It is not that Baizhang was transposed into a wild fox’s body.
How could it be that cause and effect are like this? Cause and effect are not original existence, and do not begin just now. It is not that cause and effect that are inactive wait for someone. Even if the answer does not fall into cause and effect is a mistaken response, it is not that the one who says so always falls into a wild fox’s body. If such a response to a student’s question necessarily causes a teacher to fall into the body of a wild fox, then recent teachers like Linji, Deshan, and their descendents would have become thousands of foxes. Careless elders of the last two or three hundred years would have become wild foxes. However, we have never heard that they have become wild foxes. If there were many such cases, we certainly would have heard about them. Although there are few who give such answers, there are many whose answers are far more confused than does not fall into cause and effect. There are quite a few who should not even be allowed within the neighborhood of buddha dharma. Those who have the eye of practice can discern this point. Those without it do not understand.
Thus, we know. We do not say that one becomes a wild fox because of a mistaken answer, and one does not become a wild fox because of a correct answer. In this story there is no mention of what happens after becoming free of the body of a wild fox, but presumably there is a pearl wrapped within the [wild fox’s] skin bag.
Regarding this, those who have not seen or heard the buddha dharma say, “Becoming free of the wild fox body, he returns to the essential ocean of original enlightenment. As a result of delusion he became a fox for a while, but after his great enlightenment the wild fox body returned to the original essence.”
This view of returning to the original self is not buddha dharma, but from outside the way. This is not buddha dharma. To say that a wild fox is not original nature and does not have original enlightenment is not buddha dharma. To say that after great enlightenment the wild fox body is discarded is not the wild fox’s great enlightenment. This merely belittles the wild fox. Do not speak in such a way.
The story states that because of the turning word of the current Baizhang, the former Baizhang—an old fox for five hundred lifetimes—immediately became liberated from the body of a fox. Understand the meaning of this story. If you assert that a turning word by an outsider can liberate a wild fox, then there must be innumerable turning words by mountains, rivers, and the great earth from the incalculable past. However, to say that there had never been the liberation from a wild fox body in the past, but the current Baizhang’s turning words alone liberated the wild fox, is to deny the way of the ancestors. To say that mountains, rivers, and the great earth have never uttered a single turning word is to say that there is no place for the current Baizhang to even open his mouth.
It has also been asserted by many teachers, one after another, that not falling into cause and effect is not different from ignoring cause and effect. But they have never realized the bodily experience of falling into or not ignoring cause and effect within the stream of those very words. They consequently neither experience the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of falling into the body of a wild fox, nor experience the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of being liberated from the body of a wild fox. When the beginning is not right, the end is never right.
In the old man’s words, Since then I have fallen into the body of a wild fox for five hundred lifetimes, who has fallen and into what has he fallen? In the very moment of falling into the body of a wild fox, what form and color does the world continuing from the past have at present? Why five hundred repetitious births? Where did the dead body of the wild fox come from?
To say Such a person does not fall into cause and effect is to fall into the body of a wild fox. To hear Do not ignore cause and effect is to be liberated from the body of a wild fox. These instances of falling into and being liberated are just the cause and effect of the wild fox.
Nevertheless, since ancient times people have said, “Because such a person does not fall into cause and effect is an expression which seems to refute cause and effect, the speaker falls down.” This assertion is without reason, spoken by those who are ignorant. Even if the former Baizhang said, Such a person does not fall into cause and effect, his great practice would not delude others and he would not refute cause and effect.
It has also been said, “The meaning of Do not ignore cause and effect is that because great practice transcends cause and effect, it liberates the body of a wild fox.” Truly, this is realization eight or nine out of ten of the eye of practice.
Thus, in the time of Kashyapa Buddha the old man lived on this mountain. In the time of Shakyamuni Buddha he is living on this mountain. Former body and present body—sun face and moon face [in either case]—he covered the spirit of a wild fox, and manifested the spirit of a wild fox.
How could the wild fox know its life for five hundred lifetimes? If you say that it knows five hundred lifetimes with the intelligence of a wild fox, the wild fox’s intelligence does not even know the matter of a single lifetime, much less a life rammed into a wild fox’s skin bag. That a wild fox knows its falling down in five hundred lives is the fundamental point actualized. While it does not completely know the whole of one life, there are things that a wild fox knows and things it does not know. Even if the body and intelligence were permanent, the fox could not count five hundred lifetimes. As there is no way of counting so many rebirths, the words five hundred lifetimes may be a fiction.
If someone says that a wild fox knows by using the intelligence other than a wild fox’s intelligence, then it is not the wild fox’s knowing. What person can know these five hundred lives on behalf of the wild fox? Without having a clear path of realization through knowing and not knowing, you cannot speak of falling into the body of a wild fox. If there is no falling into the body of a wild fox, it is impossible to become liberated from the body of a wild fox. If there is no falling into and becoming liberated from a wild fox body, there can be no former Baizhang. If there is no former Baizhang, there can be no current Baizhang—this cannot be conceded at random. Investigate this matter in great detail with a discerning eye and crush the incomplete theories so prevalent throughout the Liang, Chen, Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties.
The old nonhuman said to the current Baizhang, Will you perform for me a funeral service for a deceased monk? This is not an appropriate thing to ask. Ever since the time of Baizhang there have been numerous teachers who have not been surprised at this statement and who have never doubted it. The fact of the matter is: how can a dead fox be regarded as a deceased monk without having received the precepts, without having participated in summer practice periods, without having awesome presence, and without the status of a monk? If one were to groundlessly perform a funeral service in the manner of one for a deceased monk for such a being, all those who have never left the household—lay men and women—should also be accorded the rites of a deceased monk. If we look for such precedents, there has never been anything like it. It is unheard of and such a case has not been authentically transmitted in the buddha way. Even if one wanted to perform such a ceremony, it would not be possible to do so.
It is said that Baizhang cremated the body of the wild fox following the customary procedure. This is not clear; perhaps there is a mistake. Know that funeral services for a deceased monk, from the moment of entering the Nirvana Hall to the practice of arriving at the Bodhi Garden [place of death], all have set procedures and cannot be changed at random. Even if the wild fox lying at the foot of a cliff claims it is the former Baizhang, how could this be the practice of a great monk, the bones and marrow of buddha ancestors? Who could clearly testify that this was the former Baizhang? Do not groundlessly regard the transmogrification of a wild fox spirit as authentic, and do not make light of the dharma standards of buddha ancestors.
As descendents of buddha ancestors, value the excellence of their dharma standards. Do not go along with such an inappropriate request as it appears Baizhang did. A single matter, a single dharma, is rare to encounter. Do not be affected by worldly customs and human sentiments. In this country of Japan, the form and manner of the buddhas and ancestors are hard to encounter and difficult to hear. As you now have the rare opportunity of hearing and seeing them, treasure them more than a pearl in the topknot. Those without such great fortune do not have the opportunity to honor them. This is sad indeed. Without realization of the lightness and gravity of matters, they lack the wisdom of five hundred years, the wisdom of a thousand years.
Thus, it is necessary to encourage yourself and others. Receiving the authentically transmitted tradition from the buddha ancestors—even one prostration or a single upright sitting—is rare indeed; greatly rejoice and celebrate this great fortune. Those who lack this heart will not possess a single virtue or acquire any benefit even if they were to encounter the emanation of a thousand buddhas. There are people outside the way who have mistakenly been entrusted with the buddha dharma. Though they may sound like they are learned in the buddha dharma, the buddha dharma they expound lacks the fruits of realization.
This being so, if kings and ministers, or even Brahma or Indra, who are not monks, come to you and ask for a funeral service of a deceased monk, do not permit it. Tell them that they should leave the household, receive the precepts, cultivate the life of a monk, and then return. If those who are attached to karmic results in the three realms, and do not aspire to actualize the life within the three treasures, bring forth ten thousand dead skin bags and try to disregard the funeral precedent for a deceased monk, do not permit it. That would not be conducive of any merit. If they wish to establish a favorable connection with the merit of buddha dharma, they should immediately leave the household, receive the precepts according to buddha dharma, and undertake to cultivate the life of a monk.
That evening the current Baizhang ascended the teaching seat and talked about what had happened during the day. The point of his talk is highly unclear. What did he talk about? It seems he said that the old man, having already completed five hundred lifetimes as a fox, became liberated from the body of the past. Are the five hundred lifetimes spoken of here counted in terms of the human world or in the manner of a wild fox? Or are they counted in the manner of the buddha way? Furthermore, how could the eyes of the old wild fox catch a glimpse of Baizhang? What is seen through the eyes of a wild fox must be the spirit of a wild fox. What is seen through the eyes of Baizhang are buddha ancestors.
In this regard, Facheng [Jingyin] Kumu, commented on the story in verse:
Baizhang personally met the wild fox;
questioned by it, his heart was greatly perturbed.
Now, I ask you, practitioners of the way,
have you completely spat out the wild fox’s saliva, or not?
In this way, the wild fox is the eye of Baizhang’s intimate experience. Even half the wild fox’s saliva spat out is the wide, long tongue sticking out, uttering a turning word of transformation. This very moment is liberation from the wild fox body, liberation from Baizhang’s body, liberation from the old nonhuman body, liberation from the entire world body.
Huangbo asked Baizhang, A teacher of old gave a mistaken answer and was reborn as a wild fox for five hundred lifetimes. What if he hadn’t given a mistaken answer?
This question is a buddha ancestor’s words actualized. Among the venerable teachers in the lineage of Nanyue there was no one like Huangbo, either before or after him. Nevertheless, the old man did not say he had given a mistaken answer to the student. Nor did Baizhang say that the old man had given a mistaken answer. Why did Huangbo dare to say, A teacher of old gave a mistaken answer? If Huangbo meant that this mistaken answer became the cause of falling into a wild fox’s body, Huangbo had not yet grasped the great intention of Baizhang. It is as though Huangbo had not thoroughly investigated the mistaken answers and the answers beyond mistake spoken by buddhas and ancestors. Understand that in this story the former Baizhang did not mention a mistaken answer, nor did the current Baizhang.
Even so, using five hundred skins of a wild fox three inches thick, the former Baizhang lived and taught on the mountain for the benefit of practitioners, and expressed his understanding to a student. Because the pointed strands of hair on the wild fox skin dropped off, the current Baizhang is one stinky skin bag. I presume that this is dropping off half a wild fox’s skin. This is freedom from falling, which at every moment is beyond mistakes. This is cause and effect, which at every moment speaks for another. This is bright and clear, great practice with great intention.
If Huangbo were to appear right now and ask, What if he hadn’t given a mistaken answer? say, “He would still fall into the body of a wild fox.” If Huangbo should ask, “How is this so?” say, “You spirit of a wild fox!”
Nevertheless, this is neither a mistake nor not a mistake. Do not concede that Huangbo’s question was well asked. Again, if Huangbo were to ask, “What would he have become?” say, “Have you grasped the skin of your own face, or not?” Further say, “Have you become free of the wild fox’s body?” Also say, “Can you answer students saying, does not fall into cause and effect?”
When Baizhang said, Come closer and I will tell you, he already answered the question, What if he hadn’t given a mistaken answer? Huangbo went closer, having forgotten about the past and being oblivious of the future, and slapped Baizhang. This slap is Huangbo being possessed by countless transmogrifications of wild foxes.
Laughing, Baizhang clapped his hands and said, I thought only barbarians had red beards, but you too are a red-bearded barbarian. This expression lacks the vitality of being ten out of ten; it is only eight or nine out of ten complete realization. Even if we were to admit that it is eight or nine out of ten, this is still not eight or nine out of ten. Even admitting that it is ten out of ten, there is not more than eight or nine out of ten complete realization.
So, say, “Baizhang’s words pervade the ten directions, though he is not yet out of the wild fox’s cave. Huangbo’s heels touch the ground, though he is still stuck on the [narrow] path of a praying mantis. Slapping and clapping hands are one, not two. The red-bearded barbarian is a barbarian with a red beard.”
Presented to the assembly of the Yoshimine Temple, Echizen Province, on the ninth day, the third month, the second year of the Kangen Era [1244].