Fu Dashi Lectures the Diamond Sutra

Engo's commentary on the case

Emperor Wu, Gaozu of Liang, belonged to the Xiao clan. His personal name was Yan and his courtesy name Shuda. He established meritorious works, received the abdication of Qi, and ascended the throne. After taking office, he separately annotated and lectured on the Five Classics. He served the teachings of the Yellow Emperor and Laozi very earnestly and was extremely filial by nature. One day he thought of obtaining a world-transcending Dharma to repay his parents' labor. He therefore set aside Daoism and served Buddhism, received bodhisattva precepts from Dharma Master Lou Yue, put on the Buddhist kāṣāya, and personally lectured on the Radiant Light Prajñāpāramitā Scripture to repay his parents.² At the time, the great being Zhigong was imprisoned for manifesting marvels and confusing the crowd. Zhigong then divided his body and traveled through the cities teaching and transforming. One day the emperor learned of this, was moved to awakening, and held him in the highest esteem. Zhigong repeatedly performed protective acts; his concealments and manifestations could not be measured. At the time there was a great being in Wuzhou who lived on Yunhuang Mountain. With his own hands he planted two trees and called the place Twin Grove. He styled himself “the future Great Being Shanhui.” One day he composed a letter and ordered a disciple to present a memorial informing the emperor. The court refused it because it lacked the etiquette between ruler and subject. Fu Dashi, intending to enter the city of Jinling, sold fish. At the time Emperor Wu reportedly asked Zhigong to lecture on the Diamond Sutra. Zhigong said, “This poor practitioner cannot lecture on it. There is a Fu Dashi in the marketplace who can lecture on this scripture.” The emperor issued an edict summoning Fu inside the palace. When Fu arrived, he struck the lectern once from the teaching seat and immediately descended. At that time the emperor should have pushed and turned him at once, avoiding a whole scene of disorder. Instead Zhigong asked, “Your Majesty, do you understand?” The emperor said, “I do not understand.” Zhigong said, “The great being has finished lecturing on the scripture.” One person made the head and one made the tail. Speaking in this way, did Zhigong even dream of Fu Dashi? Both alike were playing with clever spirits, but what happened between them was extraordinary. Though it is a dead snake, one who knows how to handle it makes it live. Since this was lecturing on a scripture, why did Fu not divide it broadly into two parts? An ordinary lecture master might say, “The substance of diamond is firm and solid, so no thing can destroy it; because its function is sharp, it can destroy the ten thousand things.” Only exposition like this would normally be called lecturing on the scripture.³ Even so, all of you entirely fail to know that Fu Dashi only raised the pivotal mechanism beyond and slightly exposed its sharp edge, making people know where it landed. Directly and decisively, before you, it stood like a wall ten thousand fathoms high. Regrettably, Zhigong did not know good from bad and instead said, “The great being has finished lecturing on the scripture.” This is precisely “Good intentions receive no good reward.” It is like a cup of fine wine diluted by Zhigong with water, or a cauldron of soup spoiled by one mouse dropping he threw in. Tell me: since it was not lecturing on the scripture, ultimately what do you call it? The verse says: “He did not lodge this body at Twin Grove, but instead stirred up dust in the land of Liang.” Fu Dashi and the old toothless fellow encountered Emperor Wu in the same way. When Bodhidharma first arrived in Jinling, he met Emperor Wu. The emperor asked, “What is the highest meaning of the noble truths?” Bodhidharma said, “Vast emptiness, no noble.” The emperor asked, “Who is facing me?” Bodhidharma said, “I do not know.” The emperor did not accord, so Bodhidharma crossed the river and went to Wei. Emperor Wu related the exchange to Zhigong. Zhigong asked, “Your Majesty, do you recognize this person?” The emperor said, “I do not.” Zhigong said, “This is the great being Guanyin, transmitting the Buddha's mind-seal.” The emperor regretted the encounter and sent a messenger to bring Bodhidharma back. Zhigong said, “Do not say only that Your Majesty has sent a messenger to retrieve him. Even if everyone in the whole country went, he would not return.”⁴ Therefore Setchō says, “Had old Zhigong not been there at the time, Fu too would have been a hurried man leaving the country.” If Zhigong had not spoken up for Fu Dashi, Fu too should have been driven from the country. Since Zhigong was long-tongued, Emperor Wu was instead thoroughly deceived by him once. Setchō's broad intent is that Fu did not need to come to Liang territory to lecture on a scripture and strike the lectern. Therefore he says: why did he not lodge his body at Twin Grove, eat gruel and rice, and pass the time according to his share? Instead he came to Liang territory, pointed and annotated in this way, struck the lectern once, and immediately descended. This is where he stirred up dust. If one insists on transcendence, one turns the eyes toward the clouds: above, seeing no buddha; below, seeing no living beings. But when discussing the world-transcending side of the matter, one cannot avoid an ash-covered head and dirt-smeared face. One takes nonaction and makes it action, takes being and makes it nonbeing, takes right and makes it wrong, takes the coarse and makes it fine. Traveling through fish markets and wine shops, picking up crosswise and using upside down, one makes every person understand this matter. If one did not release it into activity this way, even when Maitreya descended there would not be one person, or even half a person. Fu Dashi was indeed dragging through mud and trailing through water, but fortunately there was someone who knew the tone. Had he not obtained old Zhigong, he would almost have been driven from the country. Tell me: where is he now?