[Original Text of the Koan]

While the master was serving as head seat at Yunju, he went one day to Xiji Village and encountered a visiting monk who had come from Yuantong. The monk said, “Having read the head seat’s ‘Verse on the Woman Emerging from Samādhi,’ I have gained an insight. I have come especially to ask the head seat to verify it.”

The master said, “Go away! No.”

The monk said, “I have not yet stated my understanding. Why do you say no?”

The master repeatedly waved his hand and said, “Go away! No, no.”

The monk withdrew dejectedly.

[The Elder’s Marginal Note]

This itself was verification for him. Alas, the monk did not understand and withdrew dejectedly. What a pity!

[Sawing Apart a Scale Weight]

Once, when Mañjuśrī arrived at the gathering place of the Buddhas, he found that each Buddha had returned to his own place. Only one woman remained, seated near the Buddha and absorbed in samādhi. Mañjuśrī addressed the Buddha: “Why is this person permitted to sit near the Buddha while I am not?” The Buddha told Mañjuśrī to awaken the woman from samādhi and question her himself.

Mañjuśrī circumambulated the woman three times and snapped his fingers once. He then transported her to the Brahmā Heaven, but even with all his spiritual powers he could not bring her out. The World-Honored One said, “Even if there were hundreds of thousands of Mañjuśrīs, they could not bring this woman out of samādhi. Below, beyond lands as numerous as the sands of forty-two Ganges rivers, is Bodhisattva Wangming, who can bring her out of samādhi.” Before long, the great being Wangming emerged from the earth and paid homage to the World-Honored One. The World-Honored One instructed Wangming to bring her out. Wangming went before the woman and snapped his fingers once, whereupon she emerged from samādhi.

Meditative skill involving entering and emerging is not right samādhi. In right samādhi there is neither emergence nor entry, neither movement nor stillness. In stillness, one is like a maiden, yet this does not differ from movement; in movement, one is like a fleeing rabbit, yet this does not obstruct stillness. One contemplates emptiness pervading as countless as the sands of the Ganges, while seeing that not a single thing exists; the mental realm is vast and open, and ordinary beings and sages are alike. This alone is right samādhi. Since this woman’s samādhi was not right samādhi, why should it have troubled those two bodhisattvas to transport her to the Brahmā Heaven or emerge from the earth? Therefore Chan Master Dahui wrote a verse on this koan, “Verse on the Woman Emerging from Samādhi”: “Whether she can be brought out or cannot be brought out, this samādhi is not right samādhi. Wangming and Mañjuśrī have lost their very lives in vain.”

When Chan Master Foguo Yuanwu, the teacher of Dahui Zonggao, was abbot of the Yunju practice center, Dahui Zonggao was the first seat. One day, Dahui went to nearby Xiji Village and encountered a monk who had come from Chan Master Yuantong Faxiu at Fayun Monastery in the Eastern Capital. The monk said to Dahui: “Having read the head seat’s ‘Verse on the Woman Emerging from Samādhi,’ I have gained an insight. I have come especially to ask the head seat to verify it.”

So he had come seeking verification. Chan Master Dahui therefore verified him: “Go away! No.” Is this verification? Yes! The Elder’s note says: “This itself was verification for him.”

What did he verify? He verified that this samādhi was not right samādhi. Had you not read the account of the “Verse on the Woman Emerging from Samādhi” and gained an insight? “Not [right samādhi]” is precisely correct. If it were truly right samādhi, with neither emergence nor entry, it would not allow you to establish an “insight.” If this monk had been quick-witted, he need only have said the single word “Understood.”

But who would have expected that he would fail to grasp Dahui’s meaning and still cling to his “understanding”: “I have not yet stated my understanding. Why do you say no?” Ha ha! A moment ago it was an “insight”; now it is an “understanding.” Apparently, he was so stifled that he could not refrain from speaking.

You must know that right samādhi, with neither emergence nor entry, does not fall within language. Chan Master Dahui again told him, “Go away! No, no.” Still unable to understand, he withdrew in bewilderment, at a complete loss. The Elder sighed over him: “Alas, the monk did not understand and withdrew dejectedly. What a pity!” How can one avoid such a pity? Immediately destroy that “insight” and “understanding,” and the lucid right samādhi of neither emergence nor entry will appear before you, illuminating heaven and earth. Would that not be the joy of a lifetime?

Teacher, let me stir up a few complications. 3193 13:35:20 7/13/02(442)

For your reference: lvm 15:59:36 7/13/02(781)

Thank you, Teacher! 3193 08:34:43 7/14/02(369)

You cannot stop halfway. If you are to stop, you can only stop the mad mind. lvm 11:10:46 7/14/02(198)

If one merely keeps stopping without end, does that count as an “insight”? 3193 14:49:58 7/14/02(no content)

To stop suddenly is itself the insight. Where does this “merely keep stopping” come from? lvm 15:19:49 7/14/02(no content)

Wonderful! Stop, and that is all. If there is still a “merely,” then you are again attached to stopping. 3193 15:44:23 7/14/02(no content)

Thank you for the instruction. yzhj01 08:38:36 7/13/02(no content)

Go away! No, no. Bag 12:41:51 7/13/02(no content)

Is it a bag with its opening sealed shut, less useful than a scarf? yzhj01 09:40:13 7/14/02(no content)

You bag—knowing full well that I am lazy, you still insist on speaking so obscurely. yzhj01 12:46:22 7/13/02(no content)