Because Deshan had remained until nightfall while seeking instruction from Longtan, Longtan said, “It is late at night. Why do you not go down?”

Deshan then bade him farewell, lifted the curtain, and went out. Seeing that it was dark outside, he returned and said, “It is dark outside.”

Longtan lit a paper candle and handed it to him. Just as Deshan was about to take it, Longtan blew it out. At that moment Deshan suddenly attained realization and made obeisance.

Longtan said, “What truth have you seen?”

Deshan said, “From this day forward, I shall no longer doubt the tongues of the old masters everywhere.”

The next day, Longtan ascended the Dharma seat and said, “Among us there is a fellow whose teeth are like sword trees and whose mouth is like a basin of blood. One blow of the staff will not make him turn back. One day, atop a solitary peak, he will establish my Way.”

Deshan then took up his commentaries and notes. Before the Dharma hall, he raised a torch and said, “To exhaust every subtle argument is like placing a single hair in the vast void; to exhaust all the world’s ingenious devices is like casting a single drop into a great abyss.” He then burned the commentaries and notes, made obeisance, and took his leave.

[Wumen said:]

Before Deshan left the region, his heart was indignant and his mouth full of vehement words. He deliberately came south intending to extinguish the meaning of the special transmission outside the teachings. When he reached the road in Lizhou, he asked an old woman to buy some refreshments.

The old woman said, “Venerable, what text is in your cart?”

Deshan said, “Commentaries and notes on the Diamond Sūtra.”

The old woman said, “The sūtra says: ‘The past mind is unobtainable, the present mind is unobtainable, and the future mind is unobtainable.’ Which mind does the Venerable wish to refresh?”

At this question, Deshan was left speechless, his mouth like the eaves of a flat roof. Yet even so, he was unwilling to die beneath the old woman’s words. He therefore asked her, “Is there any Chan master nearby?”

The old woman said, “Five li from here is Chan Master Longtan.”

When he arrived at Longtan, he fully exposed all his shortcomings. One could say that his earlier words failed to accord with his later words. Longtan was much like a mother who, unaware of her child’s ugliness, sees that he has a little spark of fire and immediately pours foul water over his head. Viewed coolly, it is all quite laughable.

[Verse:]

Hearing of the name is not as good as seeing the face; seeing the face is not as good as hearing of the name. Though he saved his nostrils, his eyes were nevertheless blinded.

“Deshan’s staff and Linji’s shout” are celebrated throughout the Chan forest. Deshan and Linji, two great Chan masters, were the two great patriarchs of the Chan school in whose teaching staff and shout went hand in hand. Chan Master Deshan Xuanjian, whose lay surname was Zhou, left home at the age of twenty. He thoroughly studied the Vinaya collection and mastered the purport of the sūtras on nature and characteristics.

He originally lectured on the Diamond Sūtra in Sichuan and was then known as “Zhou of the Diamond Sūtra.” He wrote a commentary on the Diamond Sūtra entitled Qinglong Commentary and Notes. He heard that the southern Chan school advocated “seeing one’s true nature and becoming a Buddha”: awakening suddenly to one’s original nature, one is a Buddha here and now. He regarded this as “demonic teaching.”

According to the doctrines of the scriptural schools, one must spend a thousand kalpas learning the Buddha’s deportment and ten thousand kalpas learning the Buddha’s fine practices before becoming a Buddha. Yet these southern demons dared to say, “Mind itself is Buddha!” So he roused himself, shouldered the Qinglong Commentary and Notes, and headed straight south to refute these demons. When he reached Lizhou, he saw an old woman selling fried rice cakes by the roadside.

Fried rice cakes were a food of that time, similar to today’s glutinous-rice dumplings. He had become hungry from walking, so he set down his load and wished to buy some cakes for refreshment. The old woman asked what he was carrying, and he told her that it was the Qinglong Commentary and Notes, an explanation of the Diamond Sūtra.

The old woman said, “I have a question. If you can answer it, I will give you some rice cakes as refreshment; if you cannot, please buy them elsewhere.” Deshan said, “Very well. Ask your question.” The old woman said, “The Diamond Sūtra says: ‘The past mind is unobtainable, the present mind is unobtainable, and the future mind is unobtainable.’”

“Which mind, Venerable, do you wish to refresh?” Deshan was skilled at expounding the Diamond Sūtra and had assumed that he understood its profound meaning so thoroughly that no question could stump him. Yet here he was silenced by an old woman. He could only stare blankly, unable to reply. The old woman then directed him to seek instruction from Chan Master Longtan Chongxin nearby.

When Deshan arrived at Chan Master Longtan’s place, he said as soon as he entered, “I have long admired Longtan. Yet now that I have come to Longtan, I see neither pond nor dragon.” Master Longtan emerged from behind a screen and said, “You have personally arrived at Longtan.”

Everyone, how can “neither pond nor dragon is seen” mean that he had “personally arrived at Longtan”? This was a way of guiding him. The Diamond Sūtra says, “If one sees all appearances as non-appearances, one sees the Tathāgata.” If one sees a pond or sees a dragon, one is attached to appearances. Seeing neither pond nor dragon is precisely to be free of appearances and to see one’s true nature.

Moreover, our Buddha-nature is originally free of appearances: “To be free of all appearances is called all Buddhas.” Chan Master Longtan’s words had a double meaning. But Zhou of the Diamond Sūtra was then coarse-minded and did not immediately enter into accord with it. He merely made a polite bow and withdrew.

That evening, Deshan entered the master’s room to seek instruction. Being skilled at expounding the Diamond Sūtra, he spoke at length about its principles, while Chan Master Longtan merely responded with assent. It was already very late. Master Longtan said, “It is late at night. Go down and rest.” Deshan bade him farewell, lifted the curtain, and went out.

Seeing that it was pitch-dark outside, so dark that he could not see his hand before his face, he withdrew and said, “It is dark outside.” Chan Master Longtan rolled up some paper into a candle, lit it, and handed it to Deshan. Just as Deshan took it in his hand, Chan Master Longtan suddenly blew out the flame with a puff. Deshan was thoroughly awakened and immediately bowed to Chan Master Longtan.

How could “blowing out the candle” enable one to awaken to the Way? What principle is involved? If you cannot penetrate this point, go home and investigate it carefully. Master Longtan said, “What have you seen, that you bow?” Deshan replied, “From this day forward, I shall no longer doubt what the old masters everywhere say!”

The next day, Chan Master Longtan ascended the Dharma seat and said, “Among us there is a fellow whose teeth are like sword trees and whose mouth is like a basin of blood. One blow of the staff will not make him turn back. One day, atop a solitary peak, he will establish my Way.” (From the old woman onward, he had already received two or three blows of the staff!)

Deshan piled the Qinglong Commentary and Notes before the Dharma hall. Raising a torch, he said, “To exhaust every subtle argument is like placing a single hair in the vast void; to exhaust all the world’s ingenious devices is like casting a single drop into a great abyss.” These words reveal Chan Master Deshan’s literary brilliance. The Qinglong Commentary and Notes must surely have been written with an extravagant abundance of eloquence.

The vast void and the great abyss—the ocean—are metaphors for Buddha-nature. Subtle argument means profound speculation, while ingenious devices are a metaphor for intelligence and wisdom. Even if one exhausts profound speculation, it is only like placing a single hair in the sky; even if one exhausts all worldly intelligence and ability, it is only like casting a drop of water into the ocean. Buddha-nature is so vast and boundless. Yet Chan Master Deshan consigned to the flames the Qinglong Commentary and Notes, into which he had poured out his heart’s blood.

—Excerpted from Master Yuanyin’s lectures on The Blue Cliff Record