Unmon's One Treasure in Form-Mountain

Engo's commentary on the case

Unmon said, “Within heaven and earth, amid the universe, there is one treasure hidden in form-mountain.” Tell me: does Unmon's intent lie at the tip of the fishing pole, or on the lantern? These are several lines from the Treatise of the Treasure Storehouse attributed to Dharma Master Zhao, which Unmon picked up to instruct the assembly. According to this account, during the Later Qin, Sengzhao composed treatises at Xiaoyao Garden and worked on the Vimalakīrti Scripture. Only then did he know that Zhuangzi and Laozi had not exhausted the wonder. Zhao honored Kumārajīva as his teacher and also visited Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla at Waguan Monastery, who had transmitted the mind-seal from the twenty-seventh Indian patriarch. Zhao penetrated deeply into its inner chamber. One day, when Zhao met disaster and faced execution, he requested a seven-day reprieve and composed the Treatise of the Treasure Storehouse.¹ Unmon picked four lines from the treatise to instruct the assembly. Their broad sense is: how is the priceless treasure hidden within the aggregates and realms? The treatise's words all accord with speech in the lineage school. Have you not heard that Kyōsei asked Sōzan, “What is it like when the principle of pure emptiness is ultimately without body?” Sōzan said, “The principle is indeed so. What about phenomena?” Kyōsei said, “As principle, so phenomena.” Sōzan said, “You may deceive Sōzan alone, but what can you do about the eyes of all the sages?” Kyōsei said, “Without the eyes of all the sages, how would one know it is not so?” Sōzan said, “Officially, not even a needle is admitted; privately, carts and horses pass through.” Therefore it is said, “Within heaven and earth, amid the universe, there is one treasure hidden in form-mountain.” Its broad intent clarifies that every person is complete and each one perfectly fulfilled. Unmon picked it up to instruct the assembly. It was already wholly present and complete. He could not go on like a lecture master, adding explanations for you. Out of compassion, he instead supplied another note beneath it: “Pick up the lantern and take it into the Buddha hall. Bring the triple gate onto the lantern.” Tell me: what was Unmon's intent in speaking this way? Have you not heard an ancient say, “The real nature of ignorance is precisely buddha-nature; the empty body of illusory transformation is precisely Dharma-body”? Another said, “See buddha-mind in ordinary mind.” Form-mountain is the four great elements and five aggregates. “There is one treasure hidden in form-mountain.” Therefore it is said: Buddhas are at the head of mind; Deluded people seek outside. Bearing a priceless jewel within but not recognizing it, Their whole lives come to rest in vain.² It is also said: Buddha-nature appears openly and majestically; Sentient beings dwelling in marks find it hard to see. If one awakens to the selflessness of living beings, How does my face differ from Buddha's face? Mind is the mind that was here from the beginning; The face is the face one's mother bore. The eon-stone may be moved, But within this there is no alteration. Some people merely recognize a bright and numinous awareness as the treasure, but they do not attain its function or its wonder. Therefore they cannot move and turn, open or clear it away. An ancient said, “At an extremity there is change; through change there is passage.” “Pick up the lantern and take it into the Buddha hall” might be measured by ordinary understanding. Can “bring the triple gate onto the lantern” still be measured? Unmon shatters your affective consciousness and conceptual thought—gain and loss, right and wrong—all at once. Setchō said, “I love Shaoyang's newly decisive mechanism; his whole life he pulled nails and extracted wedges for people.” He also said, “How long can crooked wood occupy the position? A sharp blade cuts it away, delighting people.” When Unmon says, “Pick up the lantern and take it into the Buddha hall,” this one phrase has already cut everything off. Then he further says, “Bring the triple gate onto the lantern.” When this matter is discussed, it is like fire struck from stone or a flash of lightning. Unmon said: “If you attain correspondence, for now seek an entry road. Buddhas as numerous as dust motes are beneath your heels; the sacred teachings of the three baskets are on your tongue. It is better to awaken. “Young reverends, do not indulge fantasy. Heaven is heaven; earth is earth. Mountains are mountains; waters are waters. Monastics are monastics; laypeople are laypeople.” After a long pause he said, “Pick up the mountain before my face and bring it here for me to see.” A monk then came forward and asked, “What is it like when this student sees mountains as mountains and waters as waters?” Unmon said, “Why does the triple gate pass through here?” Fearing the monk would die, he drew a line with his hand and said, “If you recognize it, it is the finest flavor of ghee. If you do not, it instead becomes poison.” Therefore it is said, “When understanding is fully understood, there is nothing that can be understood. At the mysterious place of mysteries, one must directly rebuke.” Setchō also raised the case and said, “‘Within heaven and earth, amid the universe, there is one treasure hidden in form-mountain.’ Hang it on the wall. Bodhidharma, for nine years, did not dare look at it directly. Now, if a patch-robed monk wants to see, strike him straight across the spine.”³ See how a lineage teacher of the original share never binds people with a real, fixed dharma. Gensha said, “It refuses to stay within the net and will not turn its head when called.” Even so, this too is the numinous turtle dragging its tail. Setchō's verse says: If you recognize Unmon's words, you immediately see the place where Setchō acts for people. After Unmon's final two lines of instruction, Setchō supplies a note for you: “Look! Look!” If you understand this as raising the brows and staring with the eyes, it has no connection at all. An ancient said: Numinous light shines alone, Far removed from faculties and objects. Its body exposes true constancy, Unrestrained by written words. Mind-nature is undefiled, Originally complete of itself. Merely leave delusive conditions, And there is the buddha of suchness.⁴ If you merely sit dead at the place of raised brows and glaring eyes, how can you escape faculties and objects? Setchō says, “Look! Look!” Unmon resembles someone holding a fishing pole at an ancient bank. Clouds drift softly; water stretches boundlessly. The bright moon reflects the reed flowers, and the reed flowers reflect the bright moon. Precisely at such a time, tell me: what realm is this? If you see directly, here and now, what comes before and after resembles just one phrase. The base text glosses 瞠 with the fanqie 抽庚 and defines it as staring directly.⁵