Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (151 page)

FOYAN QINGYUAN, “LONGMEN”

FOYAN QINGYUAN (1067–1120) was a disciple of Wuzu Fayan. He came from the city of Linqiong (near the modern city of Chengdu in Sichuan Province). He is one of three illustrious students of Wuzu Fayan who were known as the “three buddhas.”
²²⁴

At the young age of fourteen, Foyan accepted the Buddhist precepts. He then proceeded to study the Buddhist scriptures and practice the tenets of the Vinaya. In the Lotus Sutra, he read a passage that said, “It is the Dharma that cannot be discerned by thinking that can be attained.” He asked his Vinaya teacher for an explanation of the passage, but received no answer. Foyan sighed and said, “Doctrinal study can’t resolve the great matter of life and death.”

Foyan “traveled south” and began study at the Dharma seat of a Zen master named Taiping Yan of Shuzhou.
²²⁵
One day as he was begging for alms in Luzhou during a rainstorm, Foyan slipped and fell to the ground. In the midst of this predicament he overheard two men arguing fiercely nearby. One of them said, “You’re still defiling yourself!” At these words Foyan had an insight. He returned to the temple to question Master Yan about it, but Yan would only say, “I’m not you. You can do it yourself,” or “I don’t understand. I can’t compare to you.” This merely increased Foyan’s uncertainty, so he went to the head monk, named Yuan Li, and tried to pose his question.

Yuan Li grabbed Foyan’s ear and pulled him in a circle around the stove, saying, “You already understand!”

Foyan demanded, “I wanted you to help me. Why are you playing a game?”

Yuan Li said, “Later you’ll be enlightened, and then you’ll know why today’s song bends your ears.”

One cold night as he sat up alone, Foyan poked deep in the ashes of a dwindled fire and saw the embers flare up. He suddenly exclaimed, “Poke deeply and you’ll find it. Life is like this!”

Foyan then picked up and read some lamp records about a former teacher. Suddenly he “penetrated the bottom of the stove.” He then composed a verse:

In the forest of knives a bird sings out.
Wrapped in a cloak and sitting up late,
Poking the fire and awakening to ordinary life,
The great gods are overturned and smashed.
In the glistening world are the self-deluded.
Who will sing a colorless song?
Realized once, it is not forgotten.
The gate is open, but few pass through it.

Yuanwu [Foyan’s younger Dharma brother] visited Foyan’s room. He inquired to Foyan about Zen master Qinglin’s “hauling soil.”

Yuanwu said to Foyan, “From ancient times until today, no one has been able to ‘go out.’ What do you say about this?”

Foyan said, “What’s difficult about it?”

Yuanwu said, “What about Qinglin’s phrase, ‘The Iron Wheel Emperor at the center of the universe’?”

Foyan said, “What I say is, in the middle of the palace of heaven, all script is discarded.”

Yuanwu left, and thereafter told people, “It’s wonderful. Elder brother Foyan has life-giving words.”

Foyan forcefully expounded the style of the Linji heritage. He taught at Tianning
²²⁶
Temple in Shuzhou and Baochan Temple at Mt. Longmen.

Foyan entered the hall and addressed the monks. Holding his staff upright he said, “Know with perfect clarity. It does not come from thought. If you have died you can speak. Dive into the pit. Jump into the moat. After all, what is it?”

Foyan addressed the monks, saying, “‘A leaf falls, and throughout the world it is springtime.’ ‘When there is no road for pursuing thoughts, your laugh kills people.’ ‘Down below is heaven. Up above is the earth.’ This speech does not enter the flow of time. ‘South is north.’ ‘East is west.’ ‘Movement is stillness.’ ‘Joy is sorrow.’ ‘A snake’s head or a boreworm’s tail both measure up.’ ‘Sparrows live in the wild tiger’s mouth.’

“What sort of speech is this? Go back to the hall!”

Foyan entered the hall and addressed the monks, saying, “Su Wu tended sheep, not submitting to an insult. Li Ling, when meeting a friend, would forget about going home.
²²⁷
Those things happened in a foreign country.
²²⁸
In this country, among all the Buddhist adepts, some leap over a hole with both feet. Some bury their bodies in dung heaps. Some revile the river gods. It’s their spirit of practice, their wondrous function. It’s even raising their feet and stamping the ground or striking the meditation benches with their staff. Muzhou always slammed the door. Luzu faced the wall until the end. Was it for the sake of people? Was it for people or not?”

The following two passages are taken from
The Record of the Venerable Ancients
.

Foyan said, “I say there are but two types of sickness. One is to ride a donkey to look for the donkey. The other is riding the donkey and not letting yourself get off of it. Don’t you see that riding a donkey to find a donkey is a fatal disease? This old mountain monk is telling you, don’t seek it! Clever people understand right where they are. They give up the ‘seeking’ disease and the crazy, thought-pursuing mind. Once you’ve seen the donkey, not allowing yourself to get off—now that is a disease that’s most hard to cure! This old mountain monk is telling you, Don’t ride it!

“You are the donkey. The great earth is the donkey. How are you going to ride it? If you continue to ride it you’ll never cure this disease. If you don’t ride it, then all the worlds in the ten directions are opened to you. If you can get rid of both of these diseases at once, then there’s nothing left in your mind and you’re called a person of the Way. What could trouble you?

“Therefore, Zhaozhou asked Nanquan, ‘What is the Way?’ And Nanquan answered, ‘Everyday mind is the Way.’”