The Outsider Asks Without Speech or Silence

Engo's commentary on the case

If this matter lay upon words and phrases, how could the three vehicles and twelve divisions of teaching be without words and phrases? If someone says no speech itself is correct, what further need was there for the patriarch to come from the west? As for the many public cases handed down from above, how would one ultimately see where they come down? Many people make verbal interpretations of this public case. Some call it “remaining for a long while”; some call it “sitting fast in place”; some call it “silent, without response.” Happily, none has any connection. When have they ever gotten hold of it? This matter truly does not lie upon words and phrases, yet it does not leave words and phrases. If there is the slightest deliberation, you go a thousand or ten thousand miles away. Observe the outsider after awakening. Only then did he know that it is not here, not there, not right, and not not-right. Tell me: what is it? Reverend Huai of Tianyi versified: Vimalakīrti is not silent and does not remain for a long while; Sitting fast and calculating makes fault and blame. In its scabbard, the hair-splitting sword shines cold; Outsiders and heavenly demons all fold their hands.² Reverend Chang of Hyakujō studied with Hōgen. Hōgen directed him to examine this story. One day Hōgen asked, “What causal episode are you examining?” Chang said, “The story of the outsider questioning the Buddha.” Hōgen said, “Try raising it.” As Chang was about to open his mouth, Hōgen said, “Stop! Stop! Do you intend to understand it at the place of the long pause?” Beneath these words, Chang suddenly greatly awakened. Later he instructed the assembly: Hyakujō has three essentials: Drink tea. Take care. Rest. If you deliberate and think further, I know you have still not penetrated. Suigan Zhen beat his chest and raised the case, saying, “Six joins with nine; blue, yellow, red, and white interlace one by one.” The outsider understood the canonical treatises of the four Vedas. He said of himself, “I am an omniscient person,” and wherever he went he sought people for debate. He framed this question intending to cut off old Śākyamuni's tongue. The World-Honored One did not expend the slightest bit of strength, and the outsider immediately awakened. He praised him: “The World-Honored One is greatly kind and greatly compassionate. He has opened my cloud of delusion and enabled me to enter.” Tell me: what is the place of great kindness and great compassion? The World-Honored One's single eye penetrates the three times; the outsider's two pupils span the Five Indias.³ Zhenru of Isan raised it: “The outsider carried a most precious treasure concealed within. The World-Honored One personally raised it high for him. The forest of phenomena appeared; the ten thousand forms stood distinctly present.” Ultimately, what did the outsider awaken to? It is like chasing a dog against a wall: when it reaches the ultimate point where there is no road, it must turn back, immediately vivid and leaping with life. If calculations of right and wrong are set down all at once, emotion exhausted and views removed, it is naturally clear through to the bottom. After the outsider left, Ānanda asked the Buddha, “What did the outsider realize, that he said he had entered?” The Buddha said, “A fine horse in the world moves when it sees the shadow of the whip.” Later people in various quarters said, “Again the wind blows into a different tune.” Others said, “A dragon's head and a snake's tail.” Where is the World-Honored One's whip-shadow? Where is the place of seeing the whip-shadow? Setchō said, “Deviant and correct are not distinguished; the fault comes from the whip-shadow.” Zhenru said, “Ānanda strikes the golden bell a second time; the fourfold assembly hears together.” Even so, it greatly resembles two dragons fighting over a pearl, increasing the fierce authority of those who possess wisdom. Setchō's verse says: “The wheel of the mechanism had never yet turned. Once it turns, it necessarily runs to the two ends.” The mechanism is the numinous mechanism of a thousand sages; the wheel is the life-pulse of everyone from the beginning. Have you not heard an ancient say: The numinous mechanism of a thousand sages is not easy to approach; A dragon gives birth to a dragon-child—do not drift along. Jōshū seized the jade worth many cities; The king of Qin and Xiangru both lost their lives.⁴ The outsider was able to hold firm and act as master, never having moved. Why? He said, “I do not ask about speech; I do not ask about no speech.” Is this not the place of the whole mechanism? The World-Honored One knew how to watch the wind and set the sail, prescribing medicine according to the illness. Therefore he remained for a long while, raising the whole mechanism. The outsider understood with his whole body. The mechanism-wheel then turned rumblingly, but did not turn toward being or toward nonbeing. It did not fall into gain or loss and was not bound by ordinary or sage. The two sides were cut off at once. As soon as the World-Honored One remained for a long while, the outsider bowed. People today mostly fall into nonbeing; otherwise they fall into being. They simply keep running between the two ends at the place of being and nonbeing. Setchō says, “A bright mirror suddenly approaches the stand. On the spot, beautiful and ugly are distinguished.” This one never moved; it required only the long pause. Like a bright mirror approaching its stand, none of the ten thousand forms can escape its shape and substance. The outsider said, “The World-Honored One is greatly kind and greatly compassionate. He has opened my cloud of delusion and enabled me to enter.” Tell me: what is the place where the outsider entered? Arriving here, each person must investigate and examine personally, awaken and understand personally. Then everywhere—in walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, regardless of high or low—it is completely present all at once, without shifting a strand of silk. As soon as calculation is made and there is a strand of rational principle, it obstructs people fatally. There is no share of entry at all. The latter part versifies “The World-Honored One is greatly kind and greatly compassionate. He has opened my cloud of delusion and enabled me to enter”: “Beautiful and ugly distinguished, the cloud of delusion opens. At the gate of compassion, where could dust arise?” The entire great earth is the gateway of the World-Honored One's great kindness and compassion. If you penetrate it, it does not require even one squeeze. This too is a gateway opened wide. Have you not heard that for three periods of seven days the World-Honored One reflected, “I would rather not teach the Dharma and quickly enter nirvāṇa”?⁵ “This makes me think of a fine horse glimpsing the whip's shadow. The thousand-mile wind-chaser can be called back.” A wind-chasing horse sees the whip's shadow and immediately passes a thousand miles; ordered to return, it immediately returns. Setchō's intent commends the outsider: only when one finds an outstanding person can they turn at one touch and return at one call. If called back, Setchō snaps his fingers three times. Tell me: does he expose it, or scatter sand?