Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (19 page)

A monk asked, “Master, why do you say that mind is Buddha?”

Mazu said, “To stop babies from crying.”

The monk said, “What do you say when they stop crying?”

Mazu said, “No mind, no Buddha.”

The monk asked, “Without using either of these teachings, how would you instruct someone?”

Mazu said, “I would say to him that it’s not a thing.”

The monk asked, “If suddenly someone who was in the midst of it came to you, then what would you do?”

Mazu said, “I would teach him to experience the great way.”

A monk asked, “What is the essential meaning of Buddhism?”

Mazu said, “What is the meaning of this moment?”

Layman Pang asked, “Would the master please give your esteemed view about the clear-eyed ancestors?”

Mazu looked down.

Layman Pang said, “Other teachers can’t play the lute. Only the master does it so sublimely.”

Mazu then looked up. Layman Pang bowed. Mazu then returned to the abbot’s room. Layman Pang followed him, saying, “Just now something skillful turned awkward.”

Layman Pang also asked, “Although water has no muscle or bone, it supports ten-thousand-pound ships. What is the principle this displays?”

Mazu said, “Here there is neither water nor boat. How can you speak of muscle and bone?”

One evening, the monks Xitang, Baizhang, and Nanquan were viewing the moon with Master Mazu.

The master asked them, “At just this moment, what is it?”

Xitang said, “Perfect support.”

Baizhang said, “Perfect practice.”

Nanquan shook his sleeves and walked away.

Mazu said, “A sutra enters the Buddhist canon. Zen returns to the sea. Only Nanquan has gone beyond things.”

Baizhang asked, “What is the essential import of the school?”

Mazu said, “It’s just the place where you let go of your body and life.”

Mazu asked Baizhang, “What teaching do you offer people?”

Baizhang held his whisk up straight.

Mazu said, “Just this? Nothing more?”

Baizhang threw down the whisk.

A monk asked, “How can one gain accordance with the Way?”

Master Mazu said, “I’ve never gained accordance with it.”

The monk asked, “What is the essential meaning of Zen?”

Mazu struck him and said, “If I didn’t hit you, I’d be laughed at from every direction.”

The young teacher Danyuan returned from a pilgrimage. He drew a circle in front of Master Mazu, stepped inside it, bowed, and stood there.

Master Mazu said, “So, you don’t want to become a buddha?”

Danyuan said, “I can’t deceive you.”

Master Mazu said, “I’m not like you.”

Danyuan was silent.

When Deng Yinfeng was taking his leave, Master Mazu said to him, “Where are you going?”

Yinfeng said, “To Shitou’s.”

Mazu said, “Shitou’s road is slippery.”

Yinfeng said, “I’ll carry a wooden staff with me. When I encounter such places I’ll be ready.”

Then he went off.

Upon arriving at Shitou’s, he circled the meditation bench, loudly struck his staff on the floor, and asked, “What is the essential doctrine?”

Shitou said, “Blue heavens! Blue heavens!”

Yinfeng didn’t speak, but returned and reported this to Master Mazu.

Master Mazu said, “Go there and ask him again. Wait for his answer, then make two roaring sounds.”

Yinfeng again went to Shitou and asked the question as before. Shitou made two roaring sounds. Yinfeng again didn’t speak. He returned and reported this to Master Ma.

The master said, “Like I told you, ‘Shitou’s road is slippery.’”

A monk drew four lines on the ground in front of the master. The top line was long and the three underneath were short. He said, “It can’t be said that the one on top is long and the three underneath are short. Leaving the four descriptions that use these words aside, how does the master describe them?”

Master Ma then drew a line on the ground and said, “Without speaking of long and short, I’ve answered you.” (When National Teacher Nanyang Huizhong heard of this incident, he said, “Why didn’t he ask this old monk?”)

A scholar monk came and asked, “I’d like to know what teaching the master offers.”

Master Ma asked the monk, “Professor, what teaching do you offer?”

The scholar monk said, “I lecture upon more than twenty volumes of scripture.”

Master Ma said, “Are you a young lion?”
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