[Case 17] Xianglin: Sitting Long Becomes Toilsome

Pointer: Only one who cuts nails and severs iron can be a true master of the lineage; how could one who dodges arrows and fears blades be an adept who moves freely in every direction? At the point where even a needle cannot enter, set that aside for now. But what about when white waves tower to the sky? Let us examine it:

[Case 17] The Case:

A monk asked Xianglin, “What was the Patriarch’s meaning in coming from the West?” [Many people are caught in doubt here. Yet this very news still remains.]

Xianglin said, “Sitting long becomes toilsome.” [Where fish swim, the water is muddied; where birds fly, feathers fall. Better shut the dog’s mouth. The eyes of a true adept. Sawing apart a scale weight.]

Xianglin said, “Sitting long becomes toilsome.” Do you understand? If you understand, then upon the tips of the hundred grasses, lay down weapons of war. If you do not understand, listen attentively to the instructions:

In ancient times, wandering monks sought out teachers, made friends and chose companions on the Way, clearing away the grass to observe the prevailing winds. At that time, Yunmen’s teaching was flourishing widely in Guangnan. Xianglin made the journey from Shu and, at the same time as Ehu and Jingqing, first called on Baozi in Hunan; only afterward did he arrive at Yunmen’s assembly, where he served as an attendant for eighteen years. At Yunmen’s side, he received direct instruction and heard it firsthand. Although his awakening came late, he was nevertheless a person of great capacity.

For eighteen years at Yunmen’s side, Yunmen would always simply call, “Attendant Yuan!” As soon as he answered, Yunmen would say, “What is it?” At the time, Xianglin also offered sayings, presented his understanding, and exerted all his ingenuity, but in the end he never came into accord with Yunmen. One day he suddenly said, “I understand.” Yunmen said, “Why not state it from a higher standpoint?” He then remained another three years. In Yunmen’s room, the great opportunities and eloquent responses he set forth were mostly for the sake of Attendant Yuan.

Wherever the occasion arose, Yunmen took it up and put it to work. Whatever word or phrase Yunmen had, he gathered it all into Attendant Yuan. Later Xianglin returned to Shu. He first resided at Crystal Palace in Daojiang and later at Xianglin in Qingcheng. Monk Zuo of Zhimeng, a native of Zhejiang, had heard extensively of Xianglin’s teaching activity and specially came into Shu to pay him respect. Zuo was Xuedou’s teacher. Although Yunmen received countless people, among those who practiced the Way in his generation, Xianglin’s lineage alone flourished most greatly.

After returning to Sichuan, he remained abbot for forty years and did not pass away until he was eighty. He once said, “Only after forty years did I become continuous and undivided.” Whenever he instructed the assembly, he said, “In general, when wandering and seeking instruction from knowledgeable teachers, you must travel with eyes open. You must distinguish monastics from laypeople and discern the shallow from the deep. First you must establish your resolve. When old Śākyamuni was at the causal stage, every word he spoke and every thought he gave rise to was an establishing of resolve.” Later, a monk asked, “What is the single lamp in the room?” Xianglin said, “Three people attest that a turtle has become a soft-shelled turtle.” Another asked, “What is the matter beneath the patched robe?” Xianglin said, “A mountain burns in the twelfth month.”

Since ancient times there have been many answers to “the Patriarch’s meaning,” but this one response of Xianglin’s cuts off the tongues of everyone under heaven, leaving you no place to calculate or make up doctrinal explanations. A monk asked, “What was the Patriarch’s meaning in coming from the West?” Xianglin said, “Sitting long becomes toilsome.” It may be said that the words have no flavor and the sentence has no flavor. Such flavorless talk stops people’s mouths, leaving you nowhere to breathe out. If you are to see it, see it directly; if you do not see it, by all means do not make an interpretive understanding of it.

Xianglin had encountered true adepts, and so he possessed Yunmen’s methods and the manner of the three phrases. Many people mistakenly understand it by saying, “The Patriarch came from the West and sat facing the wall for nine years; is that not simply sitting long becoming toilsome?” What point is there to grasp there? They do not see the ancient master’s place of great freedom! His feet stood firmly on the ground; he had none of these Buddhist views and conceptual explanations, but applied what was needed as the occasion arose. As it is said, Dharma follows the functioning of Dharma; the Dharma banner is raised wherever one is. Taking advantage of the wind to fan the fire, Xuedou points to one or two people from the side:

One, two, ten million people, [Why not act accordingly? What are you doing, numerous as hemp and millet, gathering in crowds and bands?]

Cast off the halter and unload the burden from your horns. [From this day onward, you should be utterly free and unencumbered. But have you rested yet, or not?]

Turn left, turn right, and then follow along, [Still you cannot let go. Shadows upon shadows. Then strike!]

Zihu wanted to strike Liu Tiemo. [This mountain monk breaks his staff and will no longer carry out this command. Drawing the bow after the thief has gone. Then strike! Perilous!]

Xuedou goes straight ahead like a spark struck from stone, like a flash of lightning, pressing you until you are made to see. Only if, upon casually hearing it raised, you immediately understand, will it do. Nor would it be amiss if you were descendants of his own house; only then could you speak in this way. If you can immediately understand it in just this way, it is indeed extraordinary. “One, two, ten million people; cast off the halter and unload the burden from your horns.”

Be utterly free and unencumbered, unstained by birth and death and unbound by emotional understanding of sages and ordinary beings. Above, there is no reaching upward; below, the self is cut off—just like Xianglin and Xuedou. It is not only ten million people: all the people throughout the great earth are precisely thus. The Buddhas before and the Buddhas after are also precisely thus.

If you make an interpretive understanding within words and phrases, it is like Zihu wanting to strike Liu Tiemo. In fact, as soon as he raised the matter, he struck at the very sound of her reply. Zihu studied with Nanquan, along with Zhaozhou and Cen Dahu. At that time Liu Tiemo had built a hermitage below Weishan, and none from the various quarters could do anything with her. One day Zihu specially went to visit her and said, “Could you be Liu Tiemo?” Tiemo said, “I would not dare.”

Zihu said, “Turn left? Turn right?” Tiemo said, “Reverend, do not turn things upside down.” Zihu struck at the very sound of her reply. When Xianglin answered this monk’s question, “What was the Patriarch’s meaning in coming from the West?” he said, “Sitting long becomes toilsome.” If you understand it in this way, turning left or right, you follow along. Tell me, when Xuedou composed this verse in this manner, what was his intention? Nothing could be better!

[Xinming]: “What about when white waves tower to the sky?”—“Sitting long becomes toilsome.” Is this answer acceptable?

[lvm]: Throw it into the land of the unborn!

[Dingling]: Dead water does not harbor dragons!

[lvm]: There is no place here to establish one’s life.

[Dingling]: Where is “here”?

[lvm]: It is the place that [Senior Brother Dingling] cannot forget.

[Dingling]: Then you cannot be without a share in it either!

[lvm]: Forget it. Not a single dharma may be established.

[Dingling]: Yes, this youngster knows his mistake.

[xinming]: Hello, Teacher. Since dead water does not harbor dragons, what about living water?

[lvm]: An ancient Chan master told you long ago: “Though waves arise, they do not make breakers.”

[Xiao Dong]: “LVM: Throw it into the land of the unborn!”—Teacher, do you mean that delusion is fundamentally rootless?

[lvm]: What do you mean?

[Xiao Dong]: Delusion is fundamentally rootless.

[lvm]: Then does “truth” have a root?

[Xiao Dong]: Sitting long becomes toilsome.

[lvm]: Three people attest that a turtle has become a soft-shelled turtle.

[Xiao Dong]: Teacher, what does “A mountain burns in the twelfth month” metaphorically mean?—Another asked, “What is the matter beneath the patched robe?” Xianglin said, “A mountain burns in the twelfth month.”

Does it mean that it illumines heaven and earth? Would that not make one “still a fellow below the steps”?

[lvm]: Melt away Xuefeng! It is a metaphor for utterly sweeping away all deluded attachments.

[Xiao Dong]: “LVM: Then does ‘truth’ have a root?”—I still do not understand this. Teacher, please give instruction.

[lvm]: Speaking of truth and speaking of delusion are both expedient teachings that arise in response to the person. At the fundamental level, there is originally neither truth nor delusion.

[Xiao Dong]: I bow in reverence and receive your teaching—every time you speak, you resolve my questions.

[Youth Yongshou]: This old monk took forty years to become continuous and undivided. May I ask: what became one whole?

[lvm]: “Traveling with eyes open” became one whole.

[Youth Yongshou]: When seeking out good spiritual teachers, how does one “travel with eyes open”?

[lvm]: Then you must carry a scale for weighing good spiritual teachers.

[Youth Yongshou]: If one already has a scale, why seek out good spiritual teachers?

[lvm]: To weigh his measure. This is the “student’s eye.”

[xinming]: How does one weigh them?

[lvm]: Xin weighs half a jin; Ming weighs eight liang. Weighing complete. (Note: F’s online name is XINMING.)

[Dingling]: Teacher, what does “three people attest that a turtle has become a soft-shelled turtle” signify?

[lvm]: A monk asked, “What is the single lamp in the room?” Xianglin said, “Three people attest that a turtle has become a soft-shelled turtle.”

“In the room” refers to within the mind. “A single lamp” refers to the lamp of mind. In the words of the old master, the single lamp in the room is “the numinous knowing nature in which not a single thought arises and yet there is clear, distinct awareness.” This nature is originally pure and inherently so, pervades the dharma realm, is innately complete, and is not obtained from outside. Everyone possesses it; no one lacks it. It neither increases in Buddhas nor diminishes in sentient beings.

Yet because sentient beings cling delusively, mistake the head for its reflection, turn away from awakening and unite with sense objects, let the guest usurp the host, and call a servant “master,” they bury this excellent Buddha-nature.

Look at this monk: for no reason at all, he adds a “how.” With this single “how,” he pollutes purity and departs from what is originally so. Under such circumstances, even if he recognizes this “single lamp in the room,” it can only be an approximation—the so-called “vague Buddha-nature and generalized suchness.”

If it were not vague and generalized, it would be bright and distinct, immediately present and complete. Where would there be any room for a “how”? Yet there are many who misunderstand it, and many who attain only an approximation. Therefore Chan Master Xianglin said, “Three people attest that a turtle has become a soft-shelled turtle.”

[Dingling]: I have received your instruction. Thank you, Teacher!

[Shahu]: May I ask, brother, what is it that you are receiving?

[Dingling]: Yet, with regard to deluded mind, do not seek to extinguish it.